The Walking Dead: Season 9

“Last season brought the culmination of “All Out War,” which pitted Rick Grimes and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their leader, Negan. With Negan’s life in his hands, Rick had a character-defining choice in front of him, and he spared Negan to uphold the values his late son, Carl, championed – values that created conflict within his group.

Now, with our survivors rebuilding civilization under Rick’s leadership a year and a half after the end of the war, it’s a time of relative peace among the communities. However, the world they knew is rapidly changing, nature is literally taking over, and, as time passes, the communities confront unexpected obstacles and danger. But nothing can prepare them for the formidable force they’re about to encounter, threatening the very idea of civilization our survivors have worked so hard to build.”

For me, the past few seasons of The Walking Dead haven’t exactly lived up to the standard of AMC storytelling that I’ve been accustomed to. The lack of progression in the storyline was one thing that has plagued the series for several seasons, often relying too much on flashbacks, telling of the same block of time over the course of several different episodes from a different point of view, and a horrible balance of character exposition. For all intents and purposes, I was done with the show, but I couldn’t have been happier to witness the turn-around in Season 9 to become one of my favorites yet.

The Walking Dead Season 9 opens several months after the conclusion of the war with the Saviors. The groups of Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Sanctuary are working together toward a common goal: survival. Rick faces one of his most difficult challenges yet, trying to keep the peace as people from all sides of the war aren’t quick to forget what the Saviors, especially Negan, have done.

This season seems like two seasons in one, as many are aware it marks the departure of several main characters who wanted to be written out of the show. After this happens, the show takes an unexpected turn by jumping ahead six years into the future. From this point the show is basically reborn, with different characters leading the cast, new characters being introduced and new problems to deal with. Long gone are the days of driving cars and carrying guns. As the years have passed as everything possible has been scavenged in the area, the communities rely on horse drawn carriages, bow and arrows, and farming/hunting to feed themselves. The communities are transformed from what they used to be into self-sustaining sanctuaries that seem to have known peace for all these years. However, an enemy arrives that none of them know how to deal with and how to fight, changing the balance of all the communities who must once again come together to protect each other.

One of my favorite aspects of this season is the new group that is introduced stemming from the comics: Yumiko, Magna, Connie, Luke and Kelly. They are a very diverse group of individuals who easily take charge of situations and seem like a very good fit for the show. One small deviation from the comics is that Connie is deaf, played by Lauren Ridloff who is also deaf. This injects a new sense of tension into the show from a unique point of view of the challenges in surviving the dangers of this world without the ability to hear. It is used very effectively in several episodes, and her camaraderie with Darryl is one of the surprise highlights of this new group dynamic. I know I’m in the minority when it comes to Darryl. His character’s closed off nature always made him seem very one-dimensional, something I really wasn’t a fan of. That seems to change in this season, though, as his relationship with Henry and Lydia become something much more personal for him and his own abusive past. But, by far, the best newcomer in Season 9 is Cailey Fleming who plays Judith Grimes. She’s one of the best child actors I’ve seen, delivers her lines with perfection, with her interactions with Negan becoming the best parts of the episodes they’re featured in.

I can’t pinpoint exactly what changed for this season to become so much better than previous ones. The storytelling is much cleaner, well-organized. Pacing is quicker, characters are given equal and meaningful moments for them to grow. Time actually passes for once. These improvements, for me, have breathed new life into the show that I used to think needed to come to an end.

Video

The Walking Dead Season 9 is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.78:1. The transfer on these episodes are consistent with the way the show has presented the series, with a grainy, gritty look, with muted colors to give the palate a more bleak look to it that parallels the tone of the show.

Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby TrueHD 7.1, which sounds very good for the most part. The balance between the dialogue on surrounds at times felt a little off balance, as I would have difficulty hearing dialogue at the sound level I had it on, then had to turn it back down for some of the action sequences that became too overwhelming at that level. This only happened on a few occasions but otherwise the track sounded great.

Special Features

Several episodes have commentary throughout the series. The rest of the extras are located on disc five and include:

• Seasons of Change
• In Memoriam
• The Whisperers: Behind the Mask
• Rick Farewell
• Time Jump
• Deleted Scenes
• Inside Episode
• Making Of

The Walking Dead Season 9 has taken a turn for the better as the series handles the departures of some main characters very well. With Season 10 right around the corner, there are some big surprises in store for us next season, and I for one cannot wait to find out what they are.