The Walking DeadAMC
Tonight is the season finale of The Walking Dead season 9, and while this is not a dedicated hype piece for it (its very good, just not as crazy as the last two weeks), I wanted to reflect on the season as a whole.
Im not sure how long youve been following my writing, but Erik Kain and I gained something of a reputation as the guys who were constantly tearing The Walking Dead apart for the better part of the last two years. Weve been covering it for much longer but yes, it did seem like every week we had some new terrible aspect of the show to rip during the Negan War, easily the worst era of the series.
And then season 9 happened.
I have struggled to find almost anything bad to say about The Walking Dead this year. After seeing all sixteen episodes, I dont believe there is a truly bad one among them, but there are a number of all-time greats, which I was not expecting to see nearly a decade after the show started, and with such a marked decline the last two years before this.
The bad things about season 9 have been out of its control. The show is missing Carl, a bad decision made last season, but made do with Henry. The show had to deal with the very high profile permanent departure of Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and semi-permanent departure of Lauren Cohan (Maggie), and handled it as best they could.
The Walking DeadAMC
A whole bunch of the credit has to go to Angela Kang, who has worked on the show almost since its inception, but was tasked with showrunner duties at the beginning of this season when it was at its critical and ratings low point, with huge cast departures looming. That is a tough job.
And yet, she did it. She and the directors and writers and actors were able to make this work. The Walking Dead season 9 has been beautifully filmed, often fantastically written and has breathed new life into old characters, and brought new ones along that have been well-received.
One of the biggest success stories of the season has obviously been whats happened with Norman Reeduss Daryl. I very publicly questioned whether Reedus would be able to lead the show in Ricks absence, given that hed been reduced to doing little but mumbling and grunting for several years, but it turns out all he needed was an actual script and an actual role to play. Reedus has gone from mute loner to a reluctant leader of the community, ending this season practically with a little family unit of his own between Dog, surrogate daughter Lydia and his budding relationship with Connie.
Tons of characters have shined this season. Magnas entire group (which these days seems more like Yumikos group). Michonne, Negan, Judith, Tara, Enid, Lydia (especially Lydia) and of course, new villains Alpha and Beta, who have turned the Whisperers into without question the most terrifying villains the show has ever seen.
The Walking DeadAMC
The crown jewel of this season will no doubt be remembered as The Calm Before, which turned the second most iconic death sequence from the comics into the first most iconic death sequence in the show, easily besting the idiotic Negan cliffhanger from season 6. It was horrible, clearly, but also beautifully handled, surprising both viewers and comic readers alike, deviating heavily from the source material by killing off main characters whodont even exist there.
I am comparing The Walking Dead season 9 not just to past seasons of the show, but to everything else Ive watched on TV over the past year. And yes, its absolutely up there with any other show. My favorites of the year have been Daredevil, Titans, Killing Eve, The Americans, Better Call Saul, Sharp Objects, The Handmaids Tale and more. And while I wont say The Walking Dead is the best out of all of those, it has turned into a show I eagerly look forward to watching every single week, and it has yet to disappoint me for all sixteen episodes.
Enjoy the finale tonight. It wont be as buzz-worthy as last week, but its a solid ending for a stellar season, and I cannot wait to hopefully see this trend of quality continue in season 10.
Follow meon Twitter,FacebookandInstagram.Read my new sci-fi thriller novelHerokiller, available now in print and online. I also wroteThe Earthborn Trilogy.
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Season 9 Of The Walking Dead Ends As It Began, Miraculously ...
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Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero