Spoilers The Walking Dead - Season 9 discussion and spoilers

I have the suspicion that Henry's reckless behavior will require more personal loss to make him understand that revenge and hotheaded behavior are never worth it. Sort of like what Carl had to learn between seasons three and four.

Yes, she's the combination of all three of her older family members. I wonder how she will relate to her brother...

Well, she was a lawyer in the pre-ZA world, but as far as her detective skills go, look back to season three's "Walk With Me", where she quickly concluded that the Governor and his me killed the National Guard survivors from bullet holes and blood on one of the vehicles, or how just using common sense to understand that the Governor was not what he seemed to be. If Andrea listened to her early on, she would still be alive.

Yep--its unexpected, but I think Father Gabriel is one of the most level-headed, normal people around. He's exactly as he presents himself and has nothing to prove as a man or member of the community. That is very appealing to the sane of the ZA.

 

Right. I'll have to keep that in mind...

 

Sure is interesting how things have developed over the years. Carol burning the Saviors might be my favourite Carol moment. At least until the next badass Carol moment. Judith is also turning out to be a fun character, and her scene with Negen was certainly a highlight.

So, is Gabriel now Alexandria's leader? I mean, I get the impression that decisions need unanimous votes from the ruling council, but does not his position sitting at the centre of the table denote some leadership of some sort? And damn, him and Rosita? An interesting pairing and I'm interested in seeing where that goes.

 

So last episode's epilogue wasn't just a flash forward, but a real time jump-- that's a relief. And, oddly, there doesn't seem to have been any major deaths in the interim.

It's very interesting to see all the changes wrought over six years, especially in Micchone. She talks to herself a lot these days and she's not the sole boss of Alexandria-- they've instituted a council. I wonder if that was a part of her Constitution from the start. She's raising two kids, Judith the Mini-Rick, and Rick's kid. Despite still being in mourning for Rick, she had to be talked into helping strangers by Judith-- but then, Rick had to be talked into it by Carl. And what is that X-shaped scar on her back? Did she need surgery or is that a relic of yet another Evil Overlord? Or was Enid just holding the c-section manual upside down?

We didn't see much of Daryl in this episode. It seems like he might have gone feral-- or is he just out on some kind of mission?

Carol and Ezekial have moved in together and are raising Henry. And Carol is still Carol-- she knows when not to fight, but she has no mercy when she does. That was decidedly creepy when she burned up the last of the Saviors. When Henry saw that the ring was back on her finger, he knew enough to not even ask.

Eugene has hardened up a bit over the jump and now can make short work of Walkers-- he's also got a thing for Rosita, but she has hooked up with Gabriel, of all people. Didn't see that coming.

Siddiq is still around doctoring people, but no sign of Enid as yet-- although he did mention nurses. And Aaron is still around, and a member of the council. And Negan is still in the basement, which has a convenient window where he can talk to Judith and help her with her homework-- I wonder if they intentionally made that reminiscent of Sesame Street.

Strangely, the bridge is still shattered after all these years-- or has it been shattered again? There were allusions to a recent incident that put a strain between Alexandria and the Hilltop, undoubtedly involving Maggie's departure (or death). No confirmation yet if Jesus is still alive. Or Tara.

And even though it must be about ten years since the start of the Zombie Apocalypse, there are still random herds of Walkers that can take people by surprise. And now there's an added twist-- they can talk.

"Don't let them get away!"

 

I’ll be honest, I thought that was the best TWD episode I’ve seen in a while. I really don’t miss the Rick/Maggie/Daryl tension. Shame to see that the various communities has become estranged from one another and can’t believe the remaining Saviours are still hanging around the same place. Damn that was brutal from Carol, she’s still got it!

Judith’s adorable, and Judith and Negan’s Sesame Street scene might be a trifle too adorable, but the time jump does at least put some distance between Negan and his crimes and I’m intrigued to see where they take this now, I mean he can’t stay in that cell forever but most options seem unworkable. He could have a face turn but he was so bad is that feasible? But having him just escape and revert to evil overlord seems equally weak imo.

I see what people are thinking about Magna’s group, but it was interesting that we saw them alone and no inherent badness was apparent. I have a sneaking suspicion that if one of them is a wrong’un it isn’t Magna (my money’s on the music teacher).

With reference to something bad happening, and that X on Michonne’s back, I wonder if Alexandria suffered a similar (but likely nowhere near as bad) set of circumstances as Terminus?

Nice to see Eugene has grown somewhat, that bit where he stabbed those walkers up was nice to see, clearly his social skills haven’t improved as much.

Oh an Father Gabriel is a love machine!

 

Another good episode!

Judith is adorable, especially training with Michionne. Also the sight of another offspring of Rick filled me with joy. Michionne's injury looks painful - I wonder what happened?

Negen seems a lot more down to Earth, which is my favourite take on him so far. I did enjoy seeing how broken he was when Maggie was off to him last week, but him chatting to Judith about Maths was fun. I wonder how long he'll be a prisoner, and if he truly has changed in his time incarcerated.

Gabriel is working his way through the cast then?

The Saviors being in the same place all these years seemed a a bit off, but Carol dealing with the problem was amazing, and reminded me why I love her so much in the first place. She also found Daryl at the end and is she taking him home?

 

Just 0.01 million fewer watched the first post Rick episode, so the predicted mass exodus has not (yet) occurred.

 

One thing I found odd is that Rosita and Eugene weren't on the ruling council. I mean they have been around longer than most of those people. You had one guy on the far left and one lady on the far right who I don't think has ever had so much as a speaking line on the council for some reason.

Also I am curious about the solar pannels the windmill and what does that mean. Do they have electricity for some of the homes and buildings? I am always curious about that. Do people inside still have functioning lights and if your lucky maybe even a radio or tv and dvd player or anything like that?


Jason

 

That's an interesting point. How is it that they have not lost anyone significant in nearly a decade when the early year or two was a slaughterhouse to numerous characters--including the stronger survivors?

I would think so; she's witnessed or heard about leadership by one--The Governor, Rick during his "Ricktatorship" days at the prison, the Claimers, Dawn at Grady Memorial and Negan. All were run by dominance and fear or retribution, which has no chance to restore the laws and social interaction of the pre-ZA world. Even Deanna--Michonne's short-lived mentor--ruled in ways the heroes found questionable (like banishing wrongdoers out into the wild). Anyone watching TWD from the point of Michonne's introduction would never see it coming, but she's been one of the top 3 most rationsal, genuine leader characters in the show's history.

Another Carl/Judith parallel--much like Carl saving Tyreese's group whe they arrived at the prison.

That was such a teasing Easter-egg of a moment. There has to be a bigger story behind the "X"--and not from one-off antagonists like the Wolves--but something on a larger scale.

Well, Eugene always has his hands....or some of Negan's ex-wives. One of them seemed to have genuine affection for him, but he ignored it, or did not understand it.

Jesus is alive; he was seen in the Talking Dead preview watching the herd of walkers with Aaron.

Same here.

Well, let's look at the evolution of choices from Ann/Jadis and Rosita; Jadis wanted Rick, but that was never going to happen because he was--in no way--attracted to her, and of course, he's involved with Michonne.

In Rosita'a case, she had Abraham (who dumped her), and only seemed to hook up with Spencer Monroe as an act of rebound sex, and she pretty much implied that their "relationship" was not serious. With Father Gabriel, he was the one guy who actually tried to relate to her...understand her and show faith in her all at a time when there was no romantic feeling between them. We can assume that led to the two getting to know each other on a deeper level (probably spiritual as well), allowing her to express herself in ways she could not with anyone else, including Abraham. Its easy to see that leading to romantic feelings, and its also a fitting relationship, since the other guy who is interested in her--Eugene--has to swallow the fact she's with the man Eugene constantly derides because of his faith.

 

I suspect the ruling council isn't necessarily about seniority, but rather who is interested in leadership, and who has the organizational skills necessary to run the town.

 

Pretty much how I see it, and Rosita certainly doesn't seem like the type who'd want to sit and "rule"/make decisions and would rather be doing more hands-on work. Same with Eugene, he'd probably be too nervous or angsted up to operate on the "council" and is more comfortable just doing the more technical things.

 

That wasn't Walkers, that was The Whisperers. The link is to the TWD wiki's comics Whisperers page, so there could be potential spoilers there.
This was a great start to this new era of TWD.
I was bit surprised how hard Michonne has become. I was wondering if we'd ever seen the x scar on her back, and since others are asking about it, I guess we haven't. I wonder how long we'll have to wait to find out what happened?
I really like Judith. I loved the scene with her and Negan, he definitely seems to be doing a lot better than the last time we saw him. I actually wouldn't mind it if he really was reformed and got out and joined the Alexandrians. He was a great villain, and I think it would be interesting to see what kind of good guy he could be now.
Rosita and Gabriel was a surprise, that's not a pairing that would have occurred to me.
Judging by how quick he was to take out some of the zombies, and how willing he was to sacrifice himself, it seems like Eugene has gotten over at least some of his cowardice.
I like Magna's group, I hope they stick around.
Wow, Carol burning the Saviors was pretty intense. I guess you really don't want to mess with her kid.
The introduction of The Whisperers was very creepy.
I was a bit surprised we didn't get at least a reference to Maggie.
Hmm, so is Daryl living out in the wild by himself or was just out for the day?

 

Well they don't call Maggie by name but I think it's kind of implied that something bad has happened to her with the talk about how the communites are no longer that close.


Jason

 

The trouble is he was such a full on villain that I don't see how he can be fully reformed. Yes there's a tradition of evil fiends redeeming themselves, but usually this is an end of life kinda thing. Think Vader. Negan did some horrendous stuff, not in self defence, not for revenge, not even in anger or the heat of the moment. Lord knows how many -Good Place points he's on

 

And yet no major deaths resulted from it. I wonder if everyone has an X.

Ah, that's right, I saw that.

Yeah, I found that out after I wrote my post. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or not.

 

Depends on which side of the bridge everyone was on. Could be that without cars and a bridge, it's just a much longer or harder commute, so they've somewhat drifted apart now that both are somewhat self-sufficient.

Maybe more opportunity for Negan to integrate into the group now that the Saviors are totally gone and he has no base to fall back to for support. More temptation for him if he had a power base and support, with all that gone maybe he doesn't feel that pulling as strongly?

 

Yeah, you're probably right.

 

How long until AMC or whoever makes toys starts selling those toy RIck Grimes action figures shaped like the one in the last episode.


Jason

 

Unfortunately, you will never find that out as the actress has unceremoniously been dumped from the show.

 

Has she been dumped or did she leave to do another show and will return in a smaller role in future seasons? Granted I think they screwed her over in regards to money which is actually something that has happened before with other people as well. I think AMC has some dirty ways of doing business.

Jason