the walking dead

The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 10 “Omega” Review

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Another week, another review of a episode of the AMC Network hit series The Walking Dead. Last week, the show returned exactly where it left off last fall with some great moments and a head scratching moment (who let Judith outside the walls again all alone?) and it ended with the long awaited debut of the leader of The Whisperers, Alpha. This week, we not only follow up from the ending of last week’s episode, but we also get a backstory of Alpha and Lydia which was told in flashbacks during the episode. Alpha did not get a backstory in the comic series yet so this was an interesting twist. Without further ado, here is my thoughts of the episode..

Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

This episode begins with one of the many flashbacks of Alpha and as I am writing this review, I will put all of the flashback scenes on this section of the review. Alpha had hair and it was the beginning of the apocalypse as her along with her daughter Lydia and her husband Frank are in a shelter with many other survivors. Frank wanted to leave the shelter with other people because their supplies are running low and that they need to get more. Alpha did not agree with this at all as she believes that it is too dangerous to even search for supplies. She also brings up that she does not want to give Lydia away if they both die out there. Frank also comes off as abusive with the way he talks to Alpha (side note, during these flashback scenes, Alpha’s birth name was never mentioned at all) and Lydia had no choice but to see them argue. Alpha did calm her down with a game of checkers afterwards and these flashback scenes showed the great bond she had with her daughter. In another flashback during the episode, Alpha smothered a man to death as she believes that he was “too weak” and that he would eventually get the entire group killed. As this was happening, Frank who is now afraid of her, holds Lydia as he was disgusted of what he had just seen. The next flashback, Alpha, who now has her head shaved, says that the dead body needs to be removed, but everyone in the room said to wait until the morning to do so. But the dead body turns into a walker as Lydia walked towards him as the walker attacks. Frank saved her, but the walker bit another person and after they put the walker down, it was there where Alpha decides that they all have to go. Frank refused, but Alpha pushed him against the wall and told him to be quiet in a “shhh” gesture. Alpha and Lydia leaves from that point on.

Daryl is still interrogating Lydia and she reveals to him that she was abused by both her parents and that Alpha killed her husband. Lydia also tries to convince Daryl that he more of The Whisperers than he is with his group. Daryl was not having it at all on this scene as he fired back at her that he was not. After that, Henry and Daryl have a conversation as Daryl believes that she is a waste of time to try to get information but Henry wants to give her more time. Daryl however, does believe that she is not a bad person, but damaged and scared.

Tara leads a group to search for Luke and Alden and they seen a few walkers eating horses (more horses are now gone *sad face*) and Yumiko told them to watch the walker’s hands to make sure that they are not carrying knives. They do realize that the horse was cut open before the walkers devoured the horse. I am starting to like Tara as a leader now if you ask me. As this was going on, The Whisperers were watching them the entire time. Later that day, Magna found a new set of tracks that could have been done by The Whisperers. There were walkers that tried to take them out, but that was not happening at all. They all questioned if it was worth saving him since they all could have gotten killed. When the group splits up, we see that more Whisperers were watching without notice.

Towards the end of the episode, the group at Hilltop notices that The Whisperers are approaching the gate and then we get a similar scene from the comics as Alpha walks right through The Whisperers and stands in front of the gate as she demands The Hilltop to bring her back her daughter.

I like character development episodes especially since we did not get a backstory on Alpha in the comics. Henry and Lydia’s interactions were a little puzzling since in the comic series, Carl Grimes was there with Lydia. Daryl also improved as the person to ask the questions and I believe this episode, he has said more words than any other episode he has been on. The Whisperers are to be taken seriously and I love how the show is making them a big threat as to when Negan and The Saviors were. Another great episode of this great ninth season so what more could I ask.


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The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 9 “Adaptation” Review

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

After a very long three month break that felt like forever, The Walking Dead is back on television on Sunday nights. With the new threat of The Whisperers along with Negan out of his cell, what can possibly happen? The beginning of the second half of the ninth season sets up all of those questions along with how the group will come together after the death of Jesus. The next challenge of our characters is only under walker skins and they are not as easy to take out as it seems.

The episode continues from the cliffhanger of the last episode as Michonne, Yumiko, Daryl, Aaron, and Magna kills the remaining Whisperers at the graveyard. They did not have enough time to grieve about Jesus at the time, but they will once they bury his body at The Hilltop. On their way back, they encountered a mix of walkers and Whisperers on a bridge and this time to make sure tell which is the difference, Daryl shoots the herd one by one with the crossbow bolts at the legs as a number of them stumbled over and fell as some of the walkers devoured them. One of them raises their arms up and surrenders as the group unmasked the Whisperer. Here, we find out that it is Lydia (played by Ozark’s Cassady McClincy). Michonne and Daryl takes her back to The Hilltop and interrogates her about The Whisperers but she just lies to them during the conversation. I would also like to note that I liked the interaction between Michonne and Daryl on their way back as they both talked about Rick Grimes. Daryl locks Lydia in her cell and Daryl noticed that Henry has his attention to her so Daryl decides to listen to their conversation from the window outside the cell.

Negan escaped his cell on the mid season finale and he is walking around Alexandria Safe Zone to see how much it has changed since he has been in the cell. This goes on for a few minutes until he begins climbing over the wall. As he does this, Judith encounters Negan and tries to stop him. But Negan told her a story about how Rick and Michonne told him that he would serve a purpose for the future (The conversation they had at the season 8 finale). He also told Judith that he promises to never hurt anyone again. Judith believes him and she lets him free. There was also another funny scene where Judith says to him “Language, i’m a kid asshole” after Negan cursed up a storm after falling off the motorcycle. Negan does go back to The Sanctuary but to only find out that it is abandoned everywhere besides a few walkers. He noticed that one of the walkers were one of his former lieutenants before he killed him along with a few other walkers. He also went back to Alexandria with Judith after his trip back to The Sanctuary.

Rosita finds out that she is pregnant and you would think that Gabriel is the father right? Nope. It is Siddiq as they both were a couple in secret before she started dating Gabriel. Eugene as nosy as he is, overhears this and it makes me wonder if he will spill the beans to Gabriel.

The episode ends with a similar scene on issue #132 of the comic series as Alden and Luke were captured by Alpha and The Whisperers. The looks on their faces of seeing and hearing The Whisperers were priceless.

Great episode in my opinion and although we did not get an answer to the mysterious X scars on Michonne and Daryl’s back, I have a feeling that we will get that resolved within the next few episodes. Who else is ready to see Alpha in action? I would also recommend watching 908 and 909 back to back as the transition from one episode to the next is very seamless.

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Breaking News: Danai Gurira to exit The Walking Dead

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Danai Gurira, who has played one of the iconic characters “Michonne” is set to exit the post apocalypse show after Season 10. The news broke today via The Hollywood Reporter.

Danai has signed a new deal for her to appear in a limited number of episodes during Season 10 and this will be a massive change to the hit television show. Last year, Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) has left the show, but he will reprise his role on the upcoming AMC films that will be focused on his character. There is no word yet if the same fate will happen with Danai.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 9, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Danai has been a fan favorite since she first appeared back in Season 3 of the show and she has become a breakout star of the show. Danai has also appeared on All Eyez on Me, Marvel’s Black Panther, and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and on all of those roles, her performance has been highly praised.

Gurira had been in talks with AMC for a new contract since well before season nine started. With Lincoln and co-star Lauren Cohan’s (Maggie) departures already on the books, sources say re-upping Gurira became a top priority as the two camps worked out details on an exit strategy. Meanwhile, Gurira’s co-stars — Norman Reedus (Daryl) and Melissa McBride (Carol) — signed multiple-year “franchise/universe deals” with AMC.

This is also one of the biggest changes from the comic series to the show as Michonne in the comic series is still alive and is now a Lawyer in The Commonwealth.


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The Walking Dead News: Another Character is Crossing Over to Fear The Walking Dead

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The first news of the year of The Walking Dead universe is a great one. Austin Amellio who has played as Dwight from Seasons 6-8 will reprise his role on the sister show Fear The Walking Dead.

The news broke today as many fans speculated when he would return and if he would return on the main show or the sister show. Austin Amellio said in a recent panel at Walker Stalker Con New Jersey that he would love to return on the show to reprise his role.

He last appeared on the Season Finale of the eighth season of the show as Daryl exiled him from Alexandria and he was looking for his wife Sherry ever since. With the current show doing a six year time skip, Fans would wonder how and where he will make his appearance on Fear The Walking Dead but hopefully, our questions will be answered in a few months when the show returns. In fact, how would Morgan react to seeing him return on the show? Dwight will also be the second character from the original show to cross over to Fear The Walking Dead and it looks like that more characters could cross over in the future.

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The Worst of Video Gaming in 2018

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

This year in the world of video gaming, we have had many widespread acclaim of great games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spider-Man for PS4, Monster Hunter World, God of War, and Dead Cells. When you think of the positive of gaming in 2018, Those games come to mind first on the top of my head. Even some of the major gaming headlines made the news around the net as we found out in reveal trailers that The Elder Scrolls VI is in development, along with Doom Eternal, and The Last of Us 2. And we were even shown gameplay of Cyberpunk 2077 and Death Stranding which has been anticipated for some time now which made the gaming community happy.

In between the great releases and great news that shocked the industry, there has been bad news and disappointing games that has been released to the public and the reception ranged from negative, to downright universally panned by not only the gaming community, but also by the major outlets that covered the news. The news did not sit well with the developers and studios that were producing the games and their damage control of these situations were met with an even bigger backlash than it originally started. Today, I give you the worst in gaming of 2018 and I shall begin with the handling of the Playstation Classic.

In 2016, Nintendo released the NES Classic Mini which featured the best games of that console at the time. I remember trying to buy one, but they were sold out everywhere and the lines to get one at various stores were endless. Nintendo also released the Super Nintendo Classic in 2017 and even though they produced more of the consoles, the same effect happened as they were sold out everywhere. I did eventually got one a few months later and I am satisfied. Trying to follow suit, Sony announced in the fall that they would release the Playstation Classic in December. I loved the Playstation and I was excited for this. This was until we found out that many games such as Crash, Spyro, and more would not be included in the game roster that was already lackluster. The bigger news is that many games that were included in the console were not the American versions of the games as they were the PAL versions of the games and the PAL versions were notorious for not running in full speed when you play them. Sony has had potential with this console, but it has flopped and the sales of the PlayStation Classic has been much lower than the Nintendo counterparts to the point that many retailers are putting it on sale now.

One of the biggest news stories in the fall is the major news of TellTale Games studious is shutting down. This news broke shortly after the release of the second episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season as it came out of nowhere to the public as this studio has made great games from the IP’s of The Walking Dead, Batman, Game of Thrones, and much more. About 90% of the staff were let go without warning and only kept a number of them to finish a Netflix series. The rest of the former staff got picked up from different gaming developers since the public outcry and I have interviewed one of them about the situation a few days after the news. Skybound eventually announced that they plan to finish the final season of the game and although that is great news, the damage has been done already. There were more stories that came out about the company, but not to the level of how Konami treated their staff before Metal Gear Solid V was finished.

Bethesda could not escape bad news ever since the reveal of Fallout 76 has made it to light. A few months before its release, The developers stated in many interviews of what features would be in the game and what could players expect differently in this game than the last game and boy oh boy did almost none of it matched up to the final product. What we got, was a product that was a buggy, unplayable mess that angered the players and the fans of the series. It is so bad, that the guys at GiantBomb refused to finish the game to review it since it was frustrating for any of their staff members to play it all the way through. The fact that the developers has taken out NCP’s in this game which was needed in the first place can tell you how out of touch they are with their fans. But it does not end there.

The Pre-order bonuses included a high quality duffel bag if you bought the Power Armor edition of the game. The picture of what was ad is completely different from what the customers got when it arrived to them and it was not good at all. The closest that anyone has received great quality duffel bags was at a press gaming event where they were given out for free. Bethesda originally did not accept refunds at all, but they offered affected customers that bought the edition of the game an in-game currency that is worth only $5.00 and that did not sit well along with the data breach that happened a few days later. What a crappy year for Bethesda overall.

As i quote the former WCW Champion and current member of the WWE Hall of Fame Goldberg, “Who’s Next? Blizzard, You’re Next”. At BlizzCon, Blizzard held a showcase for their upcoming titles and many fans speculated that the fourth installment of Diablo would be announced. But that did not happen as we got an announcement of a mobile game Diablo Immortal. With the age of micro-transactions and lootcrates are here today in mobile and console gaming, the fans reacted negatively to this announcement because of those possible factors and due to the fact that this announcement was made at the near end of the conference. They even held a Q and A afterwards and one person asked them if this was an April Fool’s joke which gained a huge laughter from the audience. Another question that was asked is if the game would be released on PC and when the developer answered that there would be no plans for a PC release, the audience booed even louder. You would think that it is Roman Reigns out there during the height of his main event status in WWE talking on the microphone with the way the crowd responded. It was that bad.

And finally, I have saved the best for last and that is EA Games. That is right, EA all year has been in the gaming news for bad reasons and it was also ranked number five of the most hated companies in America this year. The year started off with them with the continued controversy of the way Star Wars Battlefront 2 was handled with their micro-transactions (which was eventually fixed, but the damage has been done). And it reached to a point where the federal government had to come in and investigate their practices. There were also rumors about Disney parting ways with EA to look for another developer to make their Star Wars games. In the early spring of the news of EA, the first trailer of Battlefield V was released and the reception to that trailer was mixed to negative due to EA and DICE changing too much historical content of World War II along with a long, dragged out press conference that did not showcase more than a few minutes of game play at all. The news got worse for them a few weeks later when they started to sell DLC’s for their DLC’s in The Sims 4. Pretty weird if you ask me why they did that, but the fans were not happy about that at all. The only good thing that came out of EA this year is A Way Out, but even that great game could not save what was going on with the slaughter of news out of EA because time and time again, they proved to have learned nothing from their mistakes and that was on full display at E3 this year when EA had their conference. They announced a streaming game cloud subscription along with a subscription to get some of their games on the PC. That did not stop at all as there was also an announcement of another Star Wars game. The way this was done was that Vince Zampella was sitting in the crowd as one of the correspondents talked to him and then and right there, he made the announcement just like that without any details and without a trailer, or even a logo or promotional art. That was one of the blandest video game announcements I have ever seen in my life and it was also funny to see the non-existing crowd reaction to the news as well. How is it that the CEO was out there saying that the conference was all about saying that the company has changed and then proceeded to talk about money and subscriptions with their out of touch agenda. How is it that years ago, EA used to be a great developer but just like Konami, they turned to the dark and greedy side. I wish I can finish what I am saying about the crappy year of EA, but I just come to find out that I cannot since the rest of my thoughts are locked away in a paid micro-transaction lootcrate.

In all seriousness, there is more gaming headlines and disappointments that made the news such as Metal Gear Survive, the lack of the news of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the introduction of the Event Pass of PUBG, and much more. But these headlines takes the cake for me since this is what I think about first in an awful year of headlines in the gaming industry.

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Top 15 The Walking Dead Comic Book Moments of 2018

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It is the near end of the year and  the comic book series of The Walking Dead has reached new levels of storytelling. From the introduction to The Commonwealth which holds about 50,000 survivors, to the different philosophies between Rick and Pamela, to Michonne finding her daughter, and to Rick and Dwight’s conflicts. This year there were moments that divided the opinions of readers and fans that have been talked about all year and I put together a list of the top 15 moments of the comic series of The Walking Dead of 2018. This list also has some spoilers so if you are not caught up, Read the issues before reading the list.

Before I do, take a look at what made the list last year right here.

15. The Princess has had enough (#178: New World Order 4/6)

After Sebastian tried to make a move on Yumiko, Magna jumped in and tried to stop it. But that did not work since Sebastian pushed her down. Then The Princess points her spear to him as Sebastian orders the Commonwealth soldiers to arrest her. That was not working either as she fought every single one of them. This was a cool scene and by this point, I warmed up to her character much more than her debut last year. The scene stopped when Mercer threw his hatchet towards her hand for her to drop her spear.

14. First look at The Oceanside (#181: Together Strong)

The Oceanside has been first mentioned way back in issue #139 which was about almost four years ago. It has never been seen before until Rick took Pamela over there in this issue. The full two page spread shows a beautiful sight of the ocean with a sunset along with a few houses. While there is a dark setting of the world of The Walking Dead, there are a few high points of scenery and this is one of them.

13. The planning of a trial (#183: And Michonne Without Her Sword)

Politics is something I would have not ever encountered in this series, but it is a reminder that the old ways can still happen even in a post-apocalypse world. Michonne used to be a lawyer before this all happened and Lance thought that it was a good idea to give her a job as a lawyer. When Michonne arrived to another section of The Commonwealth, she and her daughter sees that the soldiers are beating down Anthony who also had an argument with the soldiers before the beat down. It was also here where Michonne realizes that one of the soldiers was Jerome who she has meet earlier in the issue. It is also here that Lance tells her that she has to defend the soldier’s actions in the trial and we have seen the early stages of the trial as of now.

12. Introduction of Sebastian and Mercer (#177: New World Order 3/6)

Sebastian is the son of the leader of The Commonwealth Pamela. He seems to get away with anything and tries to abuse his status to people who are under him and we got a pure example of that when he lashes out at Mercer for not keeping a closer eye on him while he was with Kayla. But little did he know, Mercer already killed the lurking walkers before he even opened his mouth. I so far, am mixed about the character, but there is room to see where his story goes.

11. Maggie and Dante (#177: New World Order 3/6)

After sparing Negan’s life way back in issue #174, Maggie and Dante gets closer and while they were kissing in the barn at the Hilltop, Sophia walks in to see it happen. I will talk more about that in a moment, but to see Maggie finally moving on and wanting to be happy is a good feeling even though she said it herself that she is ashamed about it.

10. The Princess and Mercer are together (#181: Together Strong)

As soon as the cover of this issue was shown three months before it’s release, I had a feeling that these two would get together. Mercer and The Princess were clearing walkers until they realize that they are boxed in and surrounded by more of them. After the rest were killed, Princess suddenly kisses Mercer as the thought that they were having a moment. A few issues after this, they become a couple. Sure it’s odd for a visual standpoint, but love is love.

9. Rick Introduces Pamela to the communities (#182: The Commonwealth Grows)

The comment Pamela made upon arriving Alexandria about how much of a “dump” the outside gates were to what she is used to is eye catching. She has it so good at The Commonwealth that she wants to look down on Rick. But not only that Rick’s vision of a “New World Order” is different than hers, but she sees how the communities survive without too much of a law and order. Rick introduced her to The Hilltop, The Sanctuary, The Oceanside, and The Kingdom with stories about past characters that used to be there. This was very nice to see.

8. Dwight gets arrested (#185: On Guard)

Dwight who has been on Rick’s radar since Issue #169 has gotten arrested by the Commonwealth soldiers. He intentionally did this so he can send a message to Rick that the entire community needs help and that they are just smoke and mirrors. Dwight who has been second in command for Negan for years, sees the same in him as he does to The Commonwealth as he thinks that it is a lust for power and that their leader Pamela is doing this all for show. Dwight and Rick had a few moments talking about their different views of the place, but what is coming for Dwight will prove otherwise.

7. Maggie and Sophia (#178: New World Order 4/6)

Right after Sophia caught Dante and Maggie together, they had a talk and she was upset that Maggie did not tell her about their relationship. Maggie also insisted that she wanted to feel happy and loved again and although she will never forget Glenn, he would have wanted her to move on as well. Timeline wise, it has been almost fou years since Negan killed him and she has not healed from that day until they first spoken a few issues prior. This felt like a mom to daughter talk after the husband dies and it was an emotional one.

6. First look inside The Commonwealth (#176: New World Order 2/6)

This very large area which is made up of communities together in one is a sight to see on The Walking Dead. It feels like a normal day over there to see a football game, people eating out at restaurants, people eating ice cream etc. The survivors that went there were stunned to see all of this and they wanted to know if it was too good to be true. Seeing Lance say to them that there was over 50,000 residents over there made my jaw drop.

5. Michonne giving up her sword (#179: New World Order 5/6)

This is the second time that Michonne gave up her sword and it looks like it is for good this time as she decided to stay at The Commonwealth since her daughter is now there and that she has a job there as a lawyer. Eugene was puzzled by this but he understood her. Michonne gives Eugene her sword right before Pamela and a few others along with Eugene, Magna, siddiq, Yumiko, and The Princess go back to take Pamela to Alexandria.

4. The riot (#183: And Michonne Without Her Sword/#184: Eugene Tinkers)

A riot is something I wanted to see on The Walking Dead for years and we finally got it. Once the news about Michonne having to defend Jerome and the Commonwealth soldiers for killing Anthony come out, the residents did not like that at all. A full fledged riot escalated as the soldiers had to use riot shields and nightsticks to stop the residents from rioting. But that only worked for a while until Pamela arrived to see the riot along with Rick and his group that is seeing this for the first time. Part of the riot mob beat up Michonne and Jerome until it was broken up by Dwight, Mercer, and the soldiers. At the court hearing, Michonne defended the soldiers but asked the judge to drop all charges and the judge will consider it. Talking about this as I am reading it is mindbending for The Walking Dead as never in a million years would I think that a riot and a court trial would take place in this series.

3. Michonne and her daughter reunite (#176: New World Order 2/6)

After Michonne found a missing poster of herself that was written by her daughter Elodie, she did not waste any time to go look for her. Lance thought that she could be dead, but Michonne knew in her heart that she is alive. After the meeting between Pamela and the survivors, Michonne asked her if she can see her daughter. We find out that she works at the bakery and once they seen each other, Elodie dropped her cake and hugged Michonne. This reunion is one of the best moments of the comic series and I loved it.

2. Dwight’s death (#186: The Powder Keg)

I did not see this coming as it was a shocking moment for the last issue of 2018. Dwight who was about to kill Pamela so he can show Rick the way the community should be run was shot in the head by Rick. This whole thing happened because Michonne asked Pamela to come talk to Rick and Dwight without letting the two of them know that she was coming. Pamela overheard the conversation before she and two soldiers entered the room and she asks Dwight to leave the place. Dwight refuses and after some talking, BAM. Dwight was one of my favorite characters since his debut back in issue #98 and to see him go was very unexpected. Rick also blames Michonne for this because Rick could have handled it and he will now never forgive her for this at all.

1. Michonne finds out that her daughter is still alive (#175: New World Order 1/6)

I told myself that this is one of the biggest non death cliffhangers I have ever seen on The Walking Dead and I also said that no moment for the rest of this year will top this. As the group are introduced to Lance, he leads them to The Commonwealth. But on their way there, they stop by “the wall of the lost” as many residents place missing people posters of their friends and families. Of those posters, one of them was written by Elodie This made Michonne cry as she thought that she was dead the entire time and that she wants to look for her right now. The poster also featured a pre-apoclapyse Michonne when she used to be a lawyer and that symbolizes that no matter how long you have moved forward, your past will come right back to hit you. This is an amazing moment and I would love to know how they will pull this off on the television series.

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THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 9, EPISODE 8 “EVOLUTION” REVIEW

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The final episode of the first half of the ninth season of The Walking Dead ends with a shocking surprise along with a shocking death as well. The episode is a reminder that The Walking Dead is a horror show and for the first time since Negan gave Glenn and Abraham their brutal deaths, the horror of the show has been set in tone as we finally got the brutal attack by The Whisperers. There were also great moments during the episode as well that involved Carol, Megan, and Michonne. Now it is time for me to give my thoughts about the newest episode as The Walking Dead will not return for a few months after this episode.

Over at Alexandria, Father Gabriel has been given the role of taking control of Alexandria after the others leave to look for Eugene. He visits Negan in the cell twice as the first time, Negan kept bouncing a ball off the wall while he talks to Gabriel about Rosita and again later that day as Negan taunts Gabriel. Gabriel wants no part of taking Negan’s humor so he tells him for once in his life to shut up. Negan asks what is going on as Gabriel tells him that he should be out there helping Rosita but he is there with him right now. As they finish talking, Gabriel leaves but the guard that was with Gabriel forgot to lock the cell and Negan escapes later that night when he noticed the door was not locked after his ball went through the cell! I did not think that he would escape this early, but I am glad that he is out now.

Henry has taken Carl’s role from the comic as he wants to learn about crafting weapons. He later meets Endid, Alden, Gage, Addy, and Rodney during dinner. Henry along with Gage, Addy, and Rodney decided to drink alcohol later that night and when Henry notices that Rodney and Gage were toying with a walker that was under some wood, Henry decides to put it down but he is stuck at the pit the walker was in. Henry ended up at the cell in The Hilltop as Earl told him that he will be there for two days for him to think about his actions. Earl also told him that he will speak to Jesus about releasing him early.

Also at Hilltop, Michonne brings Magna and her group there and there is still disdain between her and Tara over the years (which has not been explained why yet, but we will find out) as Tara does not want anything to do with the group, but she does say that Jesus and her will talk about it. Tara also updates Michonne about the status of Eugene and Rosita as Michonne was not aware about what happened to them. As Michonne and Siddiq were seeing Rosita, Siddiq apologizes to Michonne to not letting her know about Maggie and then Rosita wakes up to tell them both that she knows where Eugene is.

Thanks to Daryl’s dog, Eugene has been found at the barn as Eugene thinks that the herd from two episodes ago is looking for him since he said that he heard them circling around a few times. Eugene also mentions that it was not a normal herd at all. Daryl tried to divert the herd by using an alarm earlier that day, and firecrackers at night and even his dog tried as well but that did not work as The Whisperers were directing them. When Michonne, Magna, and Yumiko finally show up at the haunted looking graveyard, the action begins as they help clear the herd. Jesus even showed off his badass looking ninja skills to take down some of the zombies. As Jesus was clearing the herd in the graveyard that was trying too get through the gate, he is viciously and shockingly stabbed to death by a Whisperer which caught him off guard. After Jesus was killed, everyone kills some of the other Whisperers that were approaching them and then goes examine one of the walkers that they killed and they realize that it was a person wearing zombie skin as the group looked in horror. Following this, The Whisperers and the heard circle back around the group as they whisper more words as the episode ends.

This was an amazing episode as the horror and the atmosphere was jumped up more than a hundred times. The surprise attack of The Whisperers was very well done and it was also creepy to see it play out on screen. I also loved that they used the graveyard for that scene because the fog added the terror of what was not coming. With Negan now out, Ezekiel planning the fair, the threat of The Whisperers, and situation with Henry, We are ready for a jam packed second half once it returns in a few months. We also did not get Alpha in this episode, but I have a feeling that she along with Beta will appear within the first few episodes of the second half. The first half of Season 9 has been refreshing and even with Rick Grimes’ exit, the show is still strong while he is not there. What will come in the second half, we will have to see.

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

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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.

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

The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 6 “Who Are You Now?” Review

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Six long years has passed since the disappearance of Rick Grimes as the rest of the characters are moving on. But some of them are still grieving in different ways that I have never thought of. Rick has been the one person to lead the right way for the last few years and it struck me even more when I did not see Andrew Lincoln’s name on the opening opening sequence and we will have to get used to that every week from this point forward. With the end of last week’s episode when we got introduced to Magna’s group and a 10 year old Judith Grimes, it is time to dive deep in “Who Are You Now?”

Michonne visits the area where her and everyone else last seen Rick Grimes as they still think that he is dead. She has a great monologue about how they are pushing forward for the last few years. We are also shown Daryl as he is fishing and living by himself in the woods. Also to add, Carol and Ezekiel are full fledged married and she even has longer hair now. When Michonne leaves the area, she sees the bridge as we found out that it was never rebuilt since the explosion. Michonne is also the new leader of Alexandria as she has toughened up to not let any new survivors in at all. But that will soon change.

Carol has also changed in the last six years as she is much more bold and stronger now than ever and I believe that is what love does for you. She takes Henry (who is now a teenager) to the Hilltop so that he can learn how to craft items as a blacksmith. During the trip, they run into a few Saviors and who would have think that they were still the bad guys six years later. I also wished that there was an explanation on the fallout of the riot before the time jump but that might happen in a few more episodes. Regina and Jed of The Saviors has robbed Carol and Henry and they also took Carol’s wedding ring and Henry was shocked to see that Carol just let them do that. She later tracks down the Savior that took her ring and burned him and the rest alive. That was pretty dark and it reminded me of when Carol burned those Saviors alive way back in Season 6.

There were also scenes of Rosita and Gabriel as Gabriel wants to try to communicate with other survivors via the radio. This was an interesting twist from the comics since Eugene is the one to do that in the comics. When they realize that the signal is very weak, Rosita and Eugene heads to the water tower to place an amplifier to boost the signal. But the trip back will have a shocking discovery with them but more on that towards the end of my review. Also, can we have Gabesita trending because Gabriel and Rosita are now a couple.

Judith Grimes brings Magna and the rest of her group to Alexandria as she also pleads with Michonne to let them stay. Gabriel and the counsel which includes Aaron, Michonne, and others also interviewed all of them and asked them questions about what they were doing before the apocalypse and who they are as a person now. This scene mirrored the one in the comics as Rick Grimes was the one to ask them the questions. Michonne does not fully trust Magna since she lied about her background as she notices a prison tattoo and a knife in her belt (can I also note that Magna has a knife everywhere she goes because she had a few more after this scene). Michonne wants to take them all to the Hilltop. We also find out that Michonne has a son so this must mean that she was pregnant before the time jump. Imagine if Rick comes back from wherever the helicopter took him to find out that he has another son?

We get a nice scene with Negan helping Judith with her homework and he is still in the cell. Negan tried to play a mind game on her to reveal who the new people are but Judith was smart enough to know to not buy into his tricks at all. I would like to see more scenes with these two.

 

The episode ends as Eugene and Rosita tries to camouflage themselves from a zombie herd. But the shocker is straight out of issue #130 of the comics as some of the “zombies” were whispering asking where were the two that they just seen. Eugene and Rosita were shocked to hear this as this is the first appearance of The Whisperers!

This episode moved up the pace from last week’s episode but there are two questions that rings into my head. What was the fallout of that camp riot with The Saviors and where is Maggie and how will her disappearance be explained for the rest of the season? Other than those two questions, this was a great episode that not only dealt with the emotions of the three characters that were tied to Rick Grimes the most, but it gives us more exciting story lines to look forward to especially now since The Whisperers are now here. There are two more episodes left for the first half of Season 9 and we are just getting started.

The Walking Dead premieres live every Sunday at 9pm EST on AMC Network

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The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 5 “What Comes After” Review

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Last week, Rick got injured by falling of his horse which leads him to getting impaled on a metal rebar as he loses conscious as the episode ends. This week, not only we are shown the final moments of Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, but we also see new characters at the end of the episode along with a good twist from the comic series. Time to deep in “What Comes After” which is also the same name as volume 18 of the comic series (the material of volume 18 however, was also most of the first half of Season 7 of the TV series).

Rick gets his way out of the scary situation by pulling himself up with the belt he had on as the double herds of walkers were approaching him. He then gets on the horse to lead the herd away as he is bleeding out on his way. During this along with the beginning of the episode, Rick has hallucinations from previous scenes of his journey starting with the hospital along with the characters that are no longer here such as Hershel at the barn, Shane at the scene of the pilot episode before he was shot, and Sasha. The scenes with Hershel were heart warming as Rick apologizes for what happened to him and his family. It is also important to note that this scene is the very last scene Sott Wilson has ever been filmed as he passed away during the weekend of New York Comic Con. Rick’s scenes with Shane however, were not that very heart warming as Shane makes it known that he himself was a pain in the butt. He also asks Rick about his daughter as well.

Another hallucination during this episode is when Rick is standing over a large amount of characters that are dead (or yet to be dead) and that mirrors the issue 100 variant cover of the same scene.

Maggie finally arrives at Alexandria as her and Michonne are talking about Negan. I love that Michonne mentioned that if Glenn would have wanted her to do what she wanted to do. Michonne lets her see Negan and this scene mirrored the one on Issue 174 which was released last December. Negan wants Maggie to kill him so he can be with his wife but Maggie refused as she would rather let him live and suffer. If Lauren Cohan was not leaving the show this year, I bet this scene would have happened on the next season but I understood why it had to happen.

Jadis is also seen driving the van that used to belong to Heath who went missing back in Season 7 and my theory about what happened to him seems to be coming to light. But more about her later.

Rick leads the herd to the camp as the bridge that we thought was going to break, did not. But as the others are coming to his aid, he thinks that they are part of the hallucination he has seen earlier. He then shoots his gun at the dynamite that he noticed as the bridge explodes. Everyone looks shocked as they (including myself) thinks that Rick has died. But we find out that the helicopter Jadis has been in contact with has been called after she found him by the river as Jadis also tells them that they have a B. I still do not know the meaning of A and B, but I am still curious. The helicopter takes Rick Grimes away as his status after this is missing.

We are then shown another time skip of about 5-6 years as we are finally introduced to Magna and her group as they were trying to get away from a herd until a 10 year old Judith Grimes saved them. She also wields a shotgun and is wearing Carl Grimes’ hat as the episode ends.

In the Comic Series, Magna and her group were introduced almost the same way at issue #127. The few differences is that on the comic series, they were introduced two years after All Out War ended and that it was Jesus and Heath that saved her and her group.

I love this episode. I know that the way Rick’s exit was handled will be up for debate in the coming days and even months since AMC promoted that this will be his last episode. Leaving his exit opened ended means that he might come back in the future. We also know that Lauren Cohan will come back soon as well, but we do not know exactly when. Putting those two moments aside, the callbacks to previous seasons gave me memories of why I love the show in the first place. I just wish that Carl, Lori, Andrea and a few others were shown. Maggie’s interaction with Negan felt like a closure of their story as Negan was not up to his usual mind tricks at all. He was broken and he knew that his time was running thin once he seen Maggie. More questions are also in the way as i think of will we find out more about the helicopter, how will the group move on from Rick not being there, how will Magna’s group react to the communities and much more. This episode is an emotional roller coaster.

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