Six years have passed, and there’s A LOT of ground to cover.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Staff Writer
The Walking Dead: “Who Are You Now?”
Season 9, Episode 6
Airdate: 11/11/2018
***SPOILERS INCOMING***
The Walking Dead took a massive step forward at the end of last week’s game changing episode, jumping six years into the future. There are both good and bad things about this.
Let’s start with the good. It’s fascinating to see these survivors have to deal with a world that is actually, literally falling apart around them; in particular, the infrastructure at The Kingdom (the first appearance of that location this season) is crumbling. It’s also rather fascinating to see this characters exist and function in a world without their former leader, Rick Grimes.
Rick’s presence is definitely felt in this episode, and that’s OK. But it’s not at the forefront of things, and that’s also OK. In the wake of his “death,” Rick’s other half Michonne has taken over as Alexandria’s head of security, while a council (comprised of several residents of the community led by Father Gabriel) is responsible for making all of the big decisions. It’s not all happiness and sunshine, though. The community of Alexandria has become somewhat locked-down in the years since Rick’s death, and they’re not letting any new settlers in. Ezekiel is trying to plan a “fair” to “bring the communities back together” so it appears that while they still can work still work together (Henry is heading to the Hilltop community to learn how to be a Blacksmith), it’s not the network of communities that Rick had envisioned. Something has happened to drive them apart, and it’s not clear yet what it is.
There are disadvantages to this time jump, however. It’s so abrupt that it’s a little jarring. While it’s cool to see that Eugene is a badass zombie-fighter now, there has been absolutely no build up to that. The same goes with the romantic relationship between Rosita and Father Gabriel, which is just really weird. That relationship feels like little more than a plot device for a story with Rosita and Eugene, and that’s not necessarily something I’m interested in seeing.
And while I’m intrigued by the mystery of what happened to split the group’s up (and it could possibly be explained in flashbacks), not having it explained here distracts from the episode’s story, making the Alexandrian citizens’ reluctance to answer questions about it seem like nothing more than a stalling tactic. If there’s one thing The Walking Dead cannot afford to do right now after the last two seasons of bad ratings, it’s stall for time.
There are also plenty of other loose ends left to address. For instance, what happened to Oceanside? They weren’t mentioned once. Did something happen to Maggie (as we won’t be seeing Lauren Cohan on our screens anytime soon), and if so, what happened? Why is Daryl living alone in the woods? I’m hoping these will all be explained in due time. A little mystery is good, but a lot of vague information all at once is too much to tackle.
Also, at the end of this episode, we were introduced to the show’s newest villains. I don’t want to give too much away yet for those who have not read the comic book series, but for those who have, you know exactly what those talking walkers that passed by a hidden Rosita and Eugene mean.
The Whisperers are here.
SCATTERED THOUGHTS:
– The “fair” is actually a concept from the comics, and it’s organized by Rick there. It takes place at Alexandria, although it appears that it will happen at the Kingdom on the show. In the show, if my prediction is right, look for it to happen sometime around the Season 9 finale. Spoiler alert: it does not have a happy ending.
– I’m really digging some of the new looks on display tonight.
– Not only does Carol now look like Laurie Strode from the new Halloween film, but she’s also setting bad guys on fire like her.
– This also not the first time she’s set Saviors on fire. See “The Same Boat” from Season 6, where she also set Saviors on fire and felt significantly more disturbed about it.
– Very surprised, however, to see that whatever was left of the Saviors is now gone. They recently played a big role in the comics, so this is yet another notable instance of diverging from the source material.
– New Judith is not a bad actress, but some of the dialogue she was given was a little too cringey.
– Negan’s still in his cell after all these years, but at least he got a haircut.
– Apparently, Rick got Michonne pregnant before he flew away and they had a boy, who’s now six years old and named RJ. I’ve seen some people comment online that RJ isn’t Rick’s son (because of his skin color) and that’s absurd; Rick’s genes just aren’t the dominant ones. I mean look at Carl, he literally got all of Lori’s worst qualities and that’s why he’s dead now.
– Henry is literally the worst kid to have ever been featured on this show.
