9.06: The Walking Dead - Who Are You Now?

[ctg]

Ezekiel and Carol

The Survivors encounter unfamiliar faces outside the safety of their community's walls and must decide whether or not this new group can be trusted.

 

[REBerg]

This was a great introduction to the Post-Rick series.
The uncertainty of accepting a new group into the Alexandria community took a back seat to discovering all the changes that have taken place in the six years that have passed since Rick was taken away. Chief among these was Carol's new long gray locks.
I guess it's a bad idea to tell Carol that you like what she's done with her hair. She might just might burn you alive in response.
Sure, she claimed that the ex-Saviors should not have hurt her kid. Her retaliation seemed overly severe, considering that the kid started the fight and the bad guys could have killed him right on the spot. They did let her keep her horses and wagon, if not her wedding ring.
Another big surprise was Michonne's new addition to the family. Her son, however, seemed to be a little too young to be Rick's offspring. Miscasting, or another story to come?
I still can't accept Negan as anything other than a major future problem. His interaction with Judith as she did her math problems was not convincing. His killer dog story seemed more like a warning about his own nature than the newcomers.

 

[ctg]

There are days, when I don't get any replies. This is the third restart for this episodic review, but even after that I love Michonne's introduction. You can hear her missing missing Rick, her lover, her husband, her companion. He just isn't coming back, because nobody comes back from the death.

She has realised that the world of yesterday isn't coming back no matter how much effort they put in to build a society. The darkness and the dead are still out there, eight, nine years later. Then you see this and you wonder, what Nicotero said just couple years earlier was lies.

It is an impossible zombie, with arm stuck in the tree. It has exposed skeleton, living worms consuming its body. Even a bird sits within biting distance. But it is not part of the whisperers, people wearing zombie masks just for giggles and you remember that at the end of the dead life wins. Just like it won long haired Caroline.

What I find curious is that Darul ended up being a hermit. He chose willingly the isolation among the dead, while Negan remained in safety behind the bars. But their stories isn't the main part as the new comers are the McGuffin. Luckily Judith wasn't far away from "Badass" Dr Evil, who has turned Rambo in his spare time or other main characters, who take the new comers under their wing in no time.

The life wins and nobody alive is left behind.

The restart with new young people makes the old cast obsolete. Instead of allowig the old people to be old, and naughty, they still provide a function. And they are healthy unlike our elders. There are no sick living in the Rickland. All is well and ASZ looks like an old home.

This is the TWD I always wanted. I believed that one day they would be able to be proper survivors, beyond the horrors of apocalypse. And they would not miss the old world. Just dream about it as a fantasy. What you see is the world almost exactly as it is seen in the comics., and it makes me happy. I can once again recommend TWD for everyone. Well, not for the children, but everyone up from 16 years old.

The important thing at this point is to tell you that there was no new comers in the comics and the Ricklandia was united behind the council that controlled Rick. It is interesting that the new comers never tried to make their own community. Instead it seems that they swindled their way through the apocalypse, the rot and the dead.

What I find surprising is that there are no more kids then what we see six years ago. Unlike in the other times of the peace, the communities didn't grow up in the numbers. Instead they aged. So, Dr Evil's plan to create a repeater on top of old water towers, isn't good one, because if rest of the world followed the pattern, most of them are still living among the sh*t. But that is the catch 22, because if you don't make babies you have no future as one day the time will run out and then it's too late.

Maybe the reason for lack of the children is AMC secrecy and the problem with child actors. I don't understand why Saviours, now nomads with zombies pulling their wagons, didn't shag either even though their stereotypes would have done a lot more hankie pankie.

I loved Negan giving wisdom to Judith. Luckily our favourite girl isn't stupid. She has all brains in the world under that comboy hat. It is equally interesting that for being a smart *ss he didn't sense the danger like Michonne did. Maybe all that time in the prison dulled his edge or then he was always like that and was only ever good on giving commands.

Dr Evil however seemed to have lost his brain for jumping down five meters to strain his leg when the whisperers arrived, mixed in the hoard. Look carefully and you'll see them walking normally. Not like the zombies. Just slowly as they are masking themselves to be the dead.

I strongly believe that the Whisperers are worst enemy TWD crew has ever faced. The reason is if the dead are the worst enemy, and they follow the principals of the zombie life, then just one can gather together a hoard and aim it better than the dead would do on their own.

Her retaliation seemed overly severe, considering that the kid started the fight and the bad guys could have killed him right on the spot. They did let her keep her horses and wagon, if not her wedding ring.

Remember that she's a psycho. The nomad Saviours didn't knew that by taking the ring, they were going trigger her murder rampage. Big mistake.

 

[nixie]

The real Carol came out tonight, we've seen it before at the prison and Terminus. She is probably one of the most dangerous people left in this world.
I'd say the ex prisoner had a lucky escape, Michonne would have taking her out, I think if she hadn't been with the others, they'd have let them stay in Alexandria.
Not sure how the little boy can be Rick's, he looked a lot younger than five.
I'm also wondering how Gabriel managed to get back to the group.
Someone has given Eugene survivor lessons.
All in all a good episode it's looking positive, like someone has given it a good shake, still want too see end of Negan.
So the whisperers wander with the dead, that's scary.

 

[svalbard]

Looks new life has being breathed back into the series. I loved this episode. It had a fresh feel to it. I like the newcomers and I wonder if the community they came from, Coalport, will play a part in the future.

Negan has a part to play and I feel it will be one that will lead to his rehabilitation to society. He has a connection to Judith although she is not naive about him and is fully aware of his past.

 

[ctg]

All in all a good episode it's looking positive, like someone has given it a good shake, still want too see end of Negan.

Negan has a part to play and I feel it will be one that will lead to his rehabilitation to society. He has a connection to Judith although she is not naive about him and is fully aware of his past.

Is it because Michonne thought Judith to not the trust the man who lives in their basement or is she genuinely smarter than most of the people around? Henry at her age was a typical boy and he didn't listen warnings and guidelines. He did what he wanted. Judith in the other hand seems to have learned from the past and she is applying those teaching to the future.

Here is what the showrunner is saying about the situation:

An incarcerated Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and young Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) will share more “very interesting” scenes together as The Walking Dead Season Nine continues to unfold, says showrunner Angela Kang.

“We’re really interested in telling a very different story for Negan, since we’re dealing with a different kind of passage of time than we saw in the comics. We thought hard about how prison might affect this character, and the confinement that he’s had, and the limited access he’s had to the community and the world beyond,” Kang told THR.

“It’s a big part of his story, going forward: exploring Negan and where he’s at in his journey in things, and the kinds of complex relationships he has with the various people in Alexandria — including this sort of secret relationship he has with Judith.”

Judith inherits that relationship from late half-brother Carl (Chandler Riggs), whose comic book counterpart would sneak away to Negan’s cell for infrequent talks with the mellowed villain.

“We all internally [in the writers’ room] love the relationship between Negan and Carl in the comic book,” Kang added.

“This gave us an opportunity to tell a very different sort of story, because Judith is a different kind of child than Carl. It’s really fun to put those two together. They get to have some very interesting scenes together this season.”

Aspects of Carl’s comic book storylines will also play out with Henry (Matt Lintz), now a teenager after the six-year time skip, while Judith emerges as her own fully-realized character — even as she dons her late brother’s oversized sheriff’s hat and his accompanying place in the story.

“With Judith, she bears certain similarities to Carl. She’s also very much her own character as well,” Kang shared with EW.

“She’s really spunky. She’s funny. She is an apocalypse native. That makes things a little different than a kid who remembers life before the apocalypse. What’s exciting about it is we get to have that feel of the Grimes kid who’s 10 years old, like we have in the comics, but we’ve really been enjoying finding Judith’s unique version of what that story is because she, again, has a very different background than Carl.”

In picking and choosing parts of Carl’s story and having those significant comic book beats play out on screen, a new element exclusive to the television show has been introduced: Jude’s younger brother, R.J. Grimes.

Judith is also having to navigate a world with a “dead” — but actually missing — Rick Grimes, acting as a reversal of the comic books: there Judith had died alongside her mother, Lori, who both perished when the villainous Governor attacked the group’s newfound prison home.

Judith could also take on one of her father’s comic book storylines and go on to play an important role in Negan’s potential redemption, which Morgan believes is possible for the villain after almost eight years of solitary confinement.

“50 percent of the people are ready for Negan to meet a grisly end, and the other 50 percent are liking Negan and want to see, certainly, what else can happen there,” Morgan said on The Rich Eisen Show.

“I think they’re hoping for some redemption. And in the comic book, there is a slight amount of redemption. I don’t know how we’ll follow that story and if we will, because we do switch it up from the comic book to keep people that are fans of the comic interested in the show. But it’s certainly been an interesting year playing the different sides and finding new shades of Negan, and I very much have enjoyed that.”

‘The Walking Dead’ Will Continue to Explore the Judith and Negan Dynamic

So, according to the writers Negan is on a path of redemption, therefore, what do you he should do to redeem himself? Save someone or save everyone, while risking his own life?

 

[svalbard]

Save Judith.

 

[Judderman]

This was another pretty good episode. Not a load of action but just enough to keep it interesting. I was concerned when some of the saviors turned up again. But Carol made short and brutal work of them.
Will the new folks cause trouble to the Hilltop. We should be seeing Maggie et al next week.

The priest has found a new partner. One of the most eligible in the community! A strange combo.

By the way, barely related, but AMC's Better Call Saul season 4 just finished. One of the greatest shows on TV!

 

[grip junky]

I liked this one a lot. I get Carols actions (not so much the fire) with all the consumerism of durable goods here, we have a 20 year supply and with the plant life you can eat their is no need to rob anyone. Live like a highway man die like one. Should have been by rope or blade, but I get it.

 

[Judderman]

The newcomers mentioned two other communities. I wonder if we will hear more of those (if still existing), or at least if they are far away.

 

[svalbard]

This was another pretty good episode. Not a load of action but just enough to keep it interesting. I was concerned when some of the saviors turned up again. But Carol made short and brutal work of them.
Will the new folks cause trouble to the Hilltop. We should be seeing Maggie et al next week.

The priest has found a new partner. One of the most eligible in the community! A strange combo.

By the way, barely related, but AMC's Better Call Saul season 4 just finished. One of the greatest shows on TV!

We won't be seeing Maggie again. Her last scene in the series was with Negan in the previous episode. My understanding is that her absence will be revealed over time.

 

[ctg]

My understanding is that her absence will be revealed over time.

She will be seen, but only on limited time. AMC has shorted their problem with her without revealing any details, but her appearance in this season is limited to one episode.

Following the quiet departure of The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan, whose Maggie Rhee left Hilltop sometime during a six-year passage of time, the community has a new leader.

An initially hesitant Michonne (Danai Gurira) offered to escort newcomers Magna (Nadia Hilkes), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), Connie (Lauren Ridloff), Kelly (Angel Theory) and Luke (Dan Fogler) to Hilltop with Siddiq (Avi Nash), where she said their leader might take in the displaced group.

“I’ll escort you personally, talk to her,” Michonne said, before embarking on a journey that will be detailed in episode 907, “Stradivarius.”

The “her” rules out Maggie’s right-hand man Jesus (Tom Payne), as well as former Savior Alden (Callan McAuliffe), who took up residency at the Hilltop after being imprisoned there during Season Eight.

That suggests Enid (Katelyn Nacon), who relocated to Hilltop from Alexandria to keep a watchful eye on a then-pregnant Maggie after the death of husband Glenn (Steven Yeun), has succeeded her as leader.

Following the jump six years into the future, the previously teenaged Enid would now be in her early 20s — making her more than capable of overseeing the farming community while Maggie is away.

In its weekly character power rankings, Skybound reveals Tara (Alanna Masterson) will be “instrumental” at Hilltop in the wake of Maggie’s exit, suggesting Tara may have assumed leadership duties, or at least a key role in its day-to-day operations.

“We will find out a lot more in the following episode what it is that people know and what they don’t, and what’s going on at the Hilltop. That’s part of the story,” showrunner Angela Kang confirmed with EW.

Answers about Maggie’s whereabouts are also on the way, to arrive ahead of Cohan’s planned return to the series. Cohan’s last episode was 905, the sendoff for Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln — but unlike Lincoln, who will not be returning to the television show, Cohan is expected to return in Season Ten.

“We have had creative story conversation about what could happen with the character, and that’s all I know,” Cohan told EW.

The actress has since moved on to spy dramedy Whiskey Cavalier, which has been ordered to series by ABC for a 2019 debut.

“I hope it’ll work. We’ll cross that bridge [when we get to it],” Kang told ComicBook.com of working around Cohan’s other commitments.

“Lauren and I have had conversations, and she’s excited to come back, even if it’s not for a full season. We can work with that. That’s scheduling problems. We’ll figure out the story. She’s great. We have a great relationship, and she still loves the show. Sometimes our actors need to spread their wings a little bit. We get that.”

‘The Walking Dead’: Who is the New Leader of Hilltop?