The Walking Dead - Season 9 (1 Viewer)

[johnnybear]

How far do you take a destroyed world overrun by living dead corpses before it gets boring? They've run out of ideas and are doing everything they can to keep the interest, even if that means killing off the main characters of the show! No way it's going to last another ten years!
JB

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Surprised to find myself, after finally viewing this premiere, kind of digging the new direction. Mainly because it's almost like a western now (even the music had a touch of Morricone), but mainly because it was zombie light. There is no suspense or interest in brainless walking props anymore. The zeitgeist of the zombie era, for whatever reason that was, is past. So let's just tell an interesting story about three competing societies struggling to rebuild a new world with all the human conflicts and challenges that entails. And it's nice to see full color again (FTWD diss).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm enjoying the tentative first steps back toward civilization, and the conflicts inherent within them.

Having Enid apprentice with Siddiq was a very smart move. We're up to around half a dozen communities now, and trained doctors are a finite supply. It isn't possible to produce a crop of doctors with the education and training that medical school followed by a residency would have provided before society collapsed. But training several people to at least the competency of a combat medic, along with the other pragmatic skillsets required from this new world, would seem like a strategic imperative. He should probably have a handful of Enids following him around and learning from him.

It also gives Enid as a character a role to play in this new society, while leveraging the fact that she has much deeper relationships with the other characters than Siddiq does.

Maggie's larger point is spot on: some people are redeemable, and some people are not. The blacksmith was redeemable. Gregory was not. There a strong argument to be made for humane treatment of even irredeemable monsters. But I don't think any of the communities have reached a point of stability and security sufficient enough to indulge those arguments.

 

[Greg.K]

Maggie's larger point is spot on: some people are redeemable, and some people are not. The blacksmith was redeemable. Gregory was not. There a strong argument to be made for humane treatment of even irredeemable monsters. But I don't think any of the communities have reached a point of stability and security sufficient enough to indulge those arguments.

Which is why Rick's sparing of Negan is really ludicrous.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The TV-sadist in me is probably sticking with the show until Rick's arc is done. I just don't care that much for the rest of the cast of characters anymore.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Which is why Rick's sparing of Negan is really ludicrous.

Right. If anyone should have been hung in public it was Negan.

But I must say I am enjoying this relatively zombie-free civilization rebuilding arc for the show.

 

[MarkMel]

This episode was better than the season premier. I am always interested in how they were going to rebuild their world.

 

[johnnybear]

If they were to hang Negan then they'd better prepare his shitting pants!
JB

 

[ScottH]

The TV-sadist in me is probably sticking with the show until Rick's arc is done. I just don't care that much for the rest of the cast of characters anymore.

But Rick isn't any more interesting than the others either. Negan is the only interesting character left. I'm hoping he takes over for Rick when he's gone.

 

[TravisR]

I thought I was going to barf when I saw Aaron's busted arm.

 

[Patrick Sun]

But Rick isn't any more interesting than the others either. Negan is the only interesting character left. I'm hoping he takes over for Rick when he's gone.

I am pretty tired of Negan as well.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Second episode hit series low ratings

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

That's some low ass ratings. And this is before Rick Grimes leaves even.

But I must be a contrarian, because I actually like where the show is going for once in about three years. And I doubt AMC will give up on it anytime soon; they'll just cut the budget as necessary, and try to goose it along.

 

[johnnybear]

Cut the cash for the zombie make-up!!!! Then we'll start seeing the dead who don't look too hard at the camera so we don't see the cheap effects up close!
JB

 

[TravisR]

And I doubt AMC will give up on it anytime soon; they'll just cut the budget as necessary, and try to goose it along.

Yeah, I'd be surprised if there aren't less episodes next year and they'll use the "This will allow us to tighten and focus the story" excuse.

 

[Tommy R]

This episode was better than the season premier. I am always interested in how they were going to rebuild their world.

Yeah, I liked this second episode a lot better than the first. Interestingly, I think the last 4 season premiers have been extremely not good and represent the worst of each season.

I see potential in this direction they are going, so I'll keep watching for now.

 

[TJPC]

I want one summing up 2 hour episode and a big THE END!

I actually found “Fear The Walking Dead” better this last season!

 

[johnnybear]

Hopefully Rick doesn't die and then they can bring him back for the finale! Hell, it's gotta come, you can't keep the interest in the show the way they're going!
JB

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Now that the fundamentals for civilization are in place, the tension comes from whether the survivors, with all of their traumas, will be able to act civilized.

The course that Maggie is embarking upon feels satisfying in the moment, but will ultimately lead to ruination for herself and for Hershel Jr. She certainly had her reasons for killing Gregory, and the young women from Oceanside had their reasons for doing what they did, too. Executing an 11-year-old boy in cold blood is a true atrocity.

Maggie comforts herself with these facts. But a civilized society has no room for extralegal punishment. And this is a time and a place where nobody has clean hands. All of our main characters have killed, sometimes for no other reason than to save their own skin. If everybody is empowered to seek vengeance against everybody, then the bonds necessary to make a society work are torn apart.

Negan, Gregory, and the Saviors who committed true atrocities deserve to die. But it can't be on anybody's whim, because the killings won't stop with the people who most deserve it. There needs to be agreement about what is acceptable, and what is not, and what the procedures are for adjudicating violations. In the absence of that, it's just mob rule. And mobs can be fickle.

I would say the odds are very good that Maggie's attempt to kill Negan instead gets herself killed.

 

[johnnybear]

Tis the season that will make or break the franchise! They must be mad saying the show can continue for another decade or more with their star about to leave the show!!!
JB