Spoilers The Walking Dead - Season 9 discussion and spoilers

Starting it now, looks like I got lucky on the DVR front as it's a 1:25 recording.

 

Pretty surprised who we lost, I was just kinda expecting it to the same as in the comics (#144), but I suppose it's good for a change up. Is it a spoiler to say? I will just in case

Spoiler

Rosita & Ezekiel among others

I was really surprised about Henry though given he became the "new Carl" and took over his storyline with Lydia, so I just assumed they'd continue that some more. But I guess not, hey ho.

 

Very good episode, the final minutes from Alpha showing Daryl the Mega Herd, the encounter with the heads on pikes intercut with the people back at The Kingdom looking for the missing people, Siddiq's story and showing the "flashback" of everyone trying to fight back.

Very well done episode.

I can't say I'm bothered by any of the deaths other than "maybe" the leader of the Highwaymen as he just seemed like a potentially interesting character and interesting group (though the rest of the Highwaymen are still around) but I can't say any of the deaths are ones that rocked me to a level of, "man this show won't be the same without him/her." Henry's probably the "biggest" loss as it means Carol has lost another child she's been close to. Yeesh. But as a result his death will have the biggest impact on the surviving characters (Daryl, Ezekiel, Carol and Lilly.) Tara's another "big" loss as I enjoyed her character her humor and such was just nice addition to have in such a tense series but, again, her being gone isn't disruptive on the level the loss of, say, Glenn was.

But, it was a really good episode.

The directing, the lighting, the music, the prosthetic/SFX work on the heads on a pike scene was just very, very, damn well done.

 

I thought it was very well done, as well. I can't say it had much of an emotional impact on me, compared to other major deaths on the show. It was sad but none of the characters were as interesting or well-developed as Glenn or Abraham, so it really didn't get to me.

I am also a little disappointed about the Highwaymen: I thought they had great potential.

I'm just glad Jerry wasn't on one of the spikes; that would've really pissed me off!

 

I can't wait until Negan is un-leashed on the Whisperers! I'm hoping he will show up to kick ass and chew bubblegum, but finds himself all out of bubblegum!

 

So that was a tad brutal.

Poor Carol. She'll be the only one left on the planet at the series' end when she loses her 666th child figure.

So Enid and Tara were surprising losses, though Henry not so much. The others that were there I just can't remember. However, seeing all the heads on pikes was so shocking.

 

Lucille will enjoy the taste of Whisperer Meat

 

Tara was the blandest character ever; I am relieved to be done w/ her. At least she got to sign for Hilltop before she went.

As an aside, I'd like to see a community NOT make up their own name, but rather just be like, "We're D.C." (and actually live there).

 

Both Alexandria and Oceanside were the names of those communities before the apocalypse.

 

I don't think she meant she had a thousand Whisperers. I know she told Daryl her people were among the mega-herd, but that could just be misdirection to make Daryl think their numbers are much larger. I suspect the mega-herd is primarily Walkers and any Whisperers among them are a tiny minority.

And indeed, both Alexandria and Oceanside actually exist in the real world.

 

Spoiler: comics speculation, not really spoilers

I can't think of any significant Lydia related plot points left from the comics. Rest of Carls story can easily be delegated to Judith. Spoiler-code just in case.

 

After ten years the show has finally caught up to my comic book reading. This episode was actually the end of the last collected volume I've read. I have the next four volumes purchased from Comixology--so for those who have read the books, is there any advice on how far I should read in the next volume before episode 16 comes around?

 

Damn. I guess things were going too well in the Zombie Apocalypse. That certainly rivals anything Negan did, including clubbing Glen and Abraham to death, and certainly one of the most grisly scenes in a very long time. The Whisperers have officially graduated from silly Trick-or-Treaters to a Savior-level threat.

I can't believe that Enid and Tara are both dead. I'm really going to miss those two. And the audience probably won't miss Henry much, but I think Alpha is going to regret killing him when Carol catches up to her. And I can't help but wonder what the reaction of the Highwaymen will be to their leader's death-- will they blame the Kingdom or will their alliance be further cemented by revenge?

I loved the signing of the compact-- "John Hancock eat your heart out." I'm glad it happened before the massacre.

 

Is it wrong that I had visions of an Avengers style moment? "Someone get this man a baseball bat."

Shit that caught me totally off guard, the misdirections were very well done and I didn't expect to see Tara and Enid on pikes, or Henry or the old lady or the Highwaymen. Can't help feeling Alpha has made something of a mistake leaving three of the most lethal people of the apocalypse still alive, but hey Negan kept making that mistake too.

I guess the only annoyance is that once again we have a threat reliant on a strong leader. Kill Alpha and I'm not sure the Whisperers would be half the threat they clearly are now. Damn Samantha Morton is scary though!

 

Beta seems just as intimidating, if not moreso, than Alpha.

 

He's intimidating, but not sure how much of a leader he is.

 

Losing Tara and Enid was more of a gut punch than Glenn for me, mainly because I knew that was coming a year in advance, but still... I'm glad though neither Ezekiel and/or Jerry were on the pikes.

 

Michonne, a la King Ta Challa in Infinity War re: Captain America, about Negan:

"Someone get this man a bat!"

 

The reveal sequence was excellently done. From the great FX work on the piked heads, to the score, the cutting to those missing them first so that your dread can build before the shock of seeing it for sure, and for me the most affecting thing was having the heads all have mournful expressions on relatively still-human faces rather than nasty-ass walker faces with angry grimaces or gnashing of teeth. I don't even think I'll miss Tara particularly, but her face haunted my dreams last night.

 

A little shocking to see, i guess, but no overall loss IMO. Didn't expect Enid to die, expected Henry to have more to do, but otherwise meh. Show is so spread out that we barely spend time with any of the characters, so if you aren't the big focus, you're just wallpaper or a chess piece to push around anyway. Only a couple people left that would leave a big impact/hole if they killed, the rest? Meh. We're beyond the small band of survivors where killing even the lesser of the 7 or so is an impact. We've got dozens (hundreds?) of named characters, so throwing a few of the B-listers up on spikes doesn't impact me much any more.

Also, really having a hard time caring about the Whisperers. It was creepy for a second, but they've gone way too much towards generic psycho bad guys and didn't do enough with the 'faceless bad guys controlling other zombies' bit that is the scary part. Another over the top leader type. Ok. And why our group can't handle these guys is beyond me, seems like less of a threat than some they've had to deal with before. Smaller group, no fortifications, no particular heavy weapons or even ranged weapons at all minus the shotgun Alpha carries around. What's the issue?