The Calm Before The Storm?
Sunday night saw the beginning of the ninth season of AMC’s highly successful The Walking Dead. Despite sagging ratings in recent years, it’s still one of the most watched shows on television. The new season brings with it a few changes in front of and behind the camera that have given the series an entirely new tone. Scott Gimple is out as showrunner, with Angela Kang, a long time writer for the series, now in charge of the gang. Gimple’s tenure ceased with the end of the “All Out War” that saw the Hilltop, the Kingdom, Alexandria, and Oceanside come together to stop Negan’s tyrannical rule over their communities. The Scavengers were obliterated by Simon, leaving only their leader, Jadis, alive. Carl dies from a walker bite while helping Siddiq and Morgan has hit the trail once again. Maggie shows signs of breaking away from Rick’s vision for the future of all of their communities.
Prior to the premiere, information was released stating that the ninth season would see the exit of Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan). The loss of both of them means that the series will take a major detour from the comics yet again. This brings up a ton of questions such as who will take Rick’s leadership role in Alexandria? Who will replace Maggie? Will they die or will they leave like Morgan? What happens to Judith? We won’t know for at least a few more episodes.
Mild Spoilers Ahead!
Season nine opened with Rick, Michonne (Danai Gurira), and young Judith (Chloe Garcia) having a nice little family moment and all of the communities settled into a mildly pleasant atmosphere. As the show continues, though, we see that some communities aren’t quite as idyllic as they appear. Many of the survivors at the Sanctuary, which is now under the guidance of Daryl (Norman Reedus), are beginning to grumble about not having enough food. They also appear to dislike Daryl and prefer Rick, treating him like a nicer version of Negan (but signs, literal signs, are everywhere showing that the community still respects Negan). Maggie has set up a sound little democracy on the Hilltop, but has to deal with dissenters such as the persistently devilish Gregory (Xander Berkeley) on a daily basis.
While on a joint community supply run, Ezekiel (Khary Payton) is almost killed by walkers. When he is rescued, he and Carol (Melissa McBride) share a kiss. He eventually proposes to Carol on their return from the supply run, but she denies him. The group is then forced to take an alternate route back to their communities as a bridge has collapsed under the weight of a walker herd. When one of the wagons gets stuck in the mud, the group’s struggle to free it attracts walkers and one of the Hilltop’s younger citizens, Ken (A.J. Achinger), is killed while attempting to free the horses.
Once Maggie returns to the Hilltop, she notifies Ken’s parents of his death. Brett Butler is nearly unrecognizable as Ken’s mother, but she does an excellent job as a mother spiraling into severe depression after learning of her son’s death. Gregory sees Ken’s death as a chance to make a play for power in the community, and he manipulates Ken’s father (John Finn) into assisting him.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! STOP NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE PREMIERE!!!
With hints here and there about unease in the communities, specifically the Hilltop and the Sanctuary, the leaders make moves to remedy the situation. Daryl tells Rick that he doesn’t want to lead the Sanctuary anymore and shows signs of siding more with Maggie than Rick. Carol offers to take over as the leader of the Sanctuary (a pretty solid move in my opinion, as she has consistently proven that she can handle herself quite well in bad situations). Maggie’s moves are a bit more vicious.
Rick approaches Maggie, whose community is thriving, about providing more assistance for the other communities, specifically the Sanctuary. She agrees, but only at a large price, making demands that Rick agrees to, but with some obvious reservations. The tension is getting quite thick between these two. Maggie is then attacked by Ken’s father, who has been convinced by Gregory to murder her.
It is at this point that Maggie makes her own power play. Instead of imprisoning Gregory, she has him hanged in the community in full view of many of the citizens. Daryl apparently supports her decision, but Rick doesn’t appear to agree with her. Michonne notices children watching the hanging and attempts to stop it, but is too late. Maggie, not phased one bit, tells the people to get their kids back in bed. Gregory dies begging for his life. It’s a brutal end for the character, but not necessarily undeserved.
Summary
This episode was full of new things. From the growing divide between Maggie and Rick to the revelation that the communities are growing not only food, but corn for use as fuel in vehicles. Governments appear to slowly be developing in the communities as well. Carol once again seems to have her head on straight and while she doesn’t want to marry Ezekiel right now, she appears to be open to a romantic relationship with him. Enid is in a wheelchair thanks to Ken’s father, but that’s probably just a temporary thing. Characters that have taken a backseat in recent seasons are now moving to the front of the story. Heck, even the title sequence has been freshened up for the new season.
The only thing really missing from the episode was Jeffery Dean Morgan as Negan. No doubt that he’ll be taking on a bigger role in later episodes, but for now, showrunner Angela Kang has him on the backburner.
The episode was very good. It wasn’t the best season opener (Season Two’s opener is still my favorite), but it was definitely a nice change of pace. I was never really that upset with any of Scott Gimple’s choices in the series except for the death of Carl, but the tone of the series has definitely changed under Kang’s guidance and that was immediately evident in the first episode. Hopefully the season will only get better.
On a sad note, I hated hearing that Scott Wilson, who portrayed Hershel on The Walking Dead, passed away over the weekend due to complications from leukemia. The series paid tribute to him at the end of the episode. Wilson was an excellent actor and his portrayal of Hershel was one of the best things about The Walking Dead while he was on the series. He’s one of the cast members that I always wanted to meet but never had the chance to see in person. Rest in peace, Mr. Wilson.
Gulf Coast Fan Fest is this weekend. I’ll be there and so will three cast members of The Walking Dead. Seth Gilliam, Denise Crosby, and Joshua Mikel will all be at the event and I hope to meet all of them. I’ve had opportunities to meet Denise Crosby before, but time and/or expenses always prevented me from approaching her. Seth Gilliam was supposed to be at an event I attended last year, but he had to cancel and I didn’t get to see him. This will be the first opportunity for me to meet Joshua Mikel, and I really want to tell him just how much I loved to hate his character, Jared.
As always, thanks for reading. Keep an eye open for my Throwback Thursday post and a full report on Gulf Coast Fan Fest after this weekend!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 