It's been a while since I've talked about The Walking Dead. When it started out, it was one of my favorite shows ever with the first four seasons being exemplary television. However, things took a major drop down for me in the fifth season and ever since then, every season has been a frustrating mixed bag. There was always something sprinkled into each season that gave me hope that I'd see the show return to its glory days, but for every high, the showrunners come up with a brand new boneheaded decision that kills all good will, each worse than the last. By season 8, it seemed that the nail was finally in the coffin when it was decided that to "progress the story," Carl Grimes, arguably the second most important character in the series and one who was the most likely to take up reigns as the primary protagonist overall, was killed off. To add even further insult to injury, this season was confirmed to be the last for Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee, so that was three big characters that the show loses in such a short amount of time. In addition to all this drama, interest in the show began to decline, with the ratings being a grim reflection of that. To put it simply, it's been a dark time for the show, and one that it seemed it would never recover from...until Season 9, or more specifically Angela Kang, swooped in and saved the day. Adapting material from the story arc fittingly known as A New Beginning, Kang brought a fresh new direction for the show to take in spite of the mess that came before, and for anyone who stuck around to see it through, such as myself, I believe it's safe to say that their patience has been rewarded...at least for now. So let's see what makes The Walking Dead Season 9 succeed, and whatever problems still persist:
UPS
- To put things into simple terms, it really does feel like the show has undergone a new beginning. For starters, the tone is much lighter and the characters go through optimistic developments, such as Carol forming a relationship with Ezekiel and the two starting a family by taking in Henry as a surrogate son, Daryl starting to come into his own as a friend, a protector, and even as a leader (which is a real treat given the poor treatment of the character in the last few seasons,) and even more poignantly, Maggie finally coming to terms with Glenn's death and having the strength to spare Negan. Overall, the new developments have pushed the show forward in truly magnificent ways and it's all the better for it.
- The new opening theme. If there was any indication that this show was going in a different direction, then it definitely starts here. Seriously, this opening is so unique and sets itself apart from the previous openings. It really does give you the impression that the show was changing, and I couldn't help but embrace it.
- Though it will never be the same without him, and the episode itself may have been overwhelmed by the hype surrounding it, I think Rick did get a proper sendoff. Not only did we see him fight till the bitter end, but we also got to see him have moments with Sasha, Shane, and Hershel (with the latter being especially moving due to it being Scott Wilson's last scene before passing away.) What makes this even better is that, despite this being his last appearance on the show, Kang and the showrunners make the decision to spare him from death and simply send him off on a new journey, which will take place in a trilogy of movies set for 2020. All in all, he may no longer be on the show, but as Andrew Lincoln put it, the story of Rick Grimes is far from over.
- The Whisperers. I don't know how else to say it, but they fucking nailed the Whisperers. After a (mostly) superb introduction, the promotional material for the second half was really ramping up the excitement at them becoming the new villains of the series. Though her southern accent admittedly sounded pretty goofy in the promos, all doubts were put to rest once Samantha Morton proved to be downright chilling as Alpha, providing a cold, vicious, almost animalistic presence to the role. Cassidy McClincy is also great as Lydia, with the dynamic between her and Daryl being something that I particularly look forward to seeing in Season 10. Ultimately, though, the true standout for me is Beta, primarily because they took a complete dud of a character from the comics and helped him become a breakout star in the show, and honestly, after careful consideration, out of every character that the showrunners have casted, Ryan Hurst as Beta may be the one they have nailed the best. I am truly impressed with the Whisperers so far and as such, they made this season more memorable than it already was.
- "Scars" and "The Calm Before." Despite my positivity so far, I will admit that it took a while for me to truly express my love for this season. As good as it was, I felt that the show's problems forever held it back from reaching the same magic it had during its early years...and then these two episodes dropped and swept me off my feet. "Scars" really brought to light that after so long, the show was finally hearkening back to what made it the phenomenon that it was in the first place, being the darkest episode since "The Grove." "The Calm Before" then takes a page from Game of Thrones by providing the big shocker in the penultimate episode, all while being an utterly suspenseful hour and a half of television the whole way through. Again, if Season 9 was a sign that things were looking up for the show, then these are the episodes that solidified and sealed the deal.
DOWNS
- Jesus ended his tenure in the series as a massive waste of a perfectly good character. One of the major problems of previous seasons was that every right-hand man Rick had that wasn't Daryl or Shane got the short end of the stick, and Jesus is no exception. After such a promising introduction, the character fell to the sidelines before having the tired "pacifist in times of conflict" trope dumped on him to provide unnecessary drama, all while never getting the chance to truly stand out on his own or show off his amazing martial arts skills, something that Tom Payne himself was very adamant about. What makes this worse is that Season 9 was finally starting to showcase Jesus in an interesting way, with him becoming a reluctant leader of the Hilltop, forming a budding relationship with Aaron, and showing us all what a true badass he could be. Overall, Jesus was one of the many characters that this show just never utilized to their full potential. Now with so few characters left, let's hope the showrunners can put this bullshit to rest.
- As much as I hate to admit it, I wasn't too keen on how Negan was used throughout the season. Seeing as we haven't reached the part of major importance for him in this storyline, it meant that there wasn't much need for him to be as prominent. Still, I wished they could have done more with him than just having him sit around in a cell and spend a whole episode being an aimless wanderer before going back to where he was. It didn't help that two of the characters he shared a majority of his screen time with, Rick and Carl, were no longer around. Basically, the more he was around, the more pointless he felt, and that is not how I should be feeling about one of my favorite characters in this series. Thankfully, it seems that this will be rectified as the season finale planted the seeds for his redemption arc to fully come into fruition, and his moment with Maggie is easily one of the best moments of the season, if not the series.
The Walking Dead Season 9 did what I thought could not be done in a while and brought the show back to what made it so great in the earlier seasons. Sure, it still could do a little bit more, but for now, this is truly the best this show has been for a while, and I hope it gets better from here. Thank you Angela Kang for saving this show, and let's hope it stays that way.
And that's it for this post, guys! Tune in for more coming your way :)
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