The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 7 “Stradivarius” Review

After last week’s shocking ending of the episode with the debut of The Whisperers as Eugene and Rosita were hiding from them, This week, we have a character driven episode as we witness more of Magna and her group, Daryl and Carol and much more. The Walking Dead usually does great with their character driven episodes and it was no stranger that this one is a very good one which sets up the mid season finale on next week’s episode. But now, it is time to give my thoughts about the seventh episode of the ninth season of The Walking Dead.

Rosita was running in the woods as she was escaping The Whisperers but we do not see Eugene with her. She hears whispers from different directions during this as she was horrified from realizing that the dead were talking. She passes out and while this was going on, Aaron and Jesus found her after they see that a flare was fired. Aaron and Jesus were also trainning as well and it is finally great again to see Jesus acts like his comic counterpart as far as action goes. Rosita mentioned to them that she left Eugene in a barn for him to be safe and for her to alert the rest for help.

At The Hilltop, we find out that Jesus is now the leader, but he seems to not liking the responsibility of leading a community since he was a scouter. He is a leader by name, but Tara is running the place and it is about time that Tara had a better position from what she was in the last few seasons. You would most likely ask yourself “where is Maggie?” Well that question has been revealed as Siddiq revealed to Michonne that Maggie went with Georgie from Season 8 to build another community. This explains the “open ended” way to have her return in a future season. But I wish that she got a better sendoff.

Carol and Henry visit Daryl as he has stayed there for six years. He was originally looking for Rick’s body, but he got used to the area so he just stood there. That is Daryl being Daryl everyone. Carol wants Daryl to help her take Henry to The Hilltop so he can learn how to craft weapons as a blacksmith. Daryl also has a dog now that helps him build traps for incoming walkers. There was also a scene with the dog being trapped in one of the traps as the walkers were about to eat him alive. Daryl tried to save him, but Henry winds up saving them both. As a dog owner myself, I was on the edge of my seat hoping that the dog would not die in that scene. Another thing I liked about Carol and Daryl’s interaction is that these two has had chemistry going back to season 3 and it finally was displayed here once again. Carol also gives Daryl a much needed haircut and I bet that the fans wanted that for the last 5 seasons.

Michonne changed her mind of taking Magna and her group to The Hilltop and decided to do it but once a few scouts from Hilltop notify Michonne that Rosita needs care, she goes.  She still does not trust her after the introduction meeting with the counsel on last week’s episode as Michonne was very suspicious of Magna. When they went back to the area where Judith found them, they discover that everyone else at the camp is dead so they spent a night at an old building until the next morning. Michonne notices that the walker herd is the same one from when Magna’s group were introduced. Magna and her group did not want to put down Bernie since he turned so Michonne did it. It has been a long time since we had a scene like this. Michonne and Magna’s conversation is also very good as the writers of the show did not hesitate to make Magna and her group big parts of the show.

Based on the information Rosita gave to Daryl, Aaron, and Jesus, the three of them go out to look for Eugene and this is where the episode ends.

This episode is worth watching as it is building up to the impending doom of the danger of The Whisperers (especially since the next episode is called Evolution) so how the rest of the group will react to them will be something to look forward to. Daryl and Carol’s scenes were my favorite parts of the episode along with his new dog and once again, it is great that Tara is not taking a backseat anymore. Even Enid is now the new doctor of The Hilltop and I believe the reason for that is the way she saved Aaron when he got his arm injury. This season continues to grow stronger each week.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @julianexcalibur

The Walking Dead is on AMC Network every Sunday at 9:00 PM EST.

Julian Cannon

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.