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Walking Dead Season 9 Review: Ep 6

Walking Dead Season 9 Review: Ep 6

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 9, EPISODE 6: "WHO ARE YOU NOW?"

REVIEW New in Town.

Source :BY MATT FOWLER / IGN

Warning: Full spoilers for The Walking Dead episode "Who Are You Now?" follow...


Hey, new things! We like new things, right? For the most part?

Acting a bit more like the smaller time jump from the middle of Season 6 (which kicked off in "The New World" and featured Rick and Michonne's conscious coupling) and less like the big year and a half we just skipped over coming into Season 9, "Who Are You Now? featured a remix of Alexandria - with some of the changes landing better than others.

It's been six years. Arguably, given that amount of time, which was mostly used to age up Judith and Henry (who's still hella annoying, just much bigger), a lot more should have happened. Honestly, aside from the kids growing up, this could have easily been a two or three year jump given the gravitas of the changes. They weren't all that big, all things considered. The most surprising element here was that Alexandria and The Kingdom were still standing and that these folks were all still in it. When have we ever known anyone in this universe to last in a place this long? These characters all got a pass because if the cameras had kept rolling, just for the sake of drama, everything would have gone to s***. The jump allowed them a reprieve, of sorts.

That's not to say everything was copacetic and calm. Something happened with Hilltop. And whatever that was, whenever it gets explained to us, it's probably why Maggie's no longer around. Maybe. Sure, it could be that somehow relations with Hilltop disintegrated and no one's allowed to see Maggie anymore so she'll just remain off-screen. No actual death has been confirmed. We only know Lauren Cohan's done with the show for now. (Even if that annoyingly wasn't acknowledged on screen this week or last.)

The Walking Dead: "Who Are You Now?" Photos
Also, is whatever happened to Maggie tied to why Michonne is so strict about security these days? Only barely alluded to, it seems like there was some incident or adventure involving a person or persons being brought in and then causing havoc and it's made her want to lock down the entire place - for what seems like a while now. So it's not like these characters haven't experienced loss since Rick choppered away, it's just that it wasn't big enough topple their entire communities. I am curious though about Hilltop and what's going on over there with Jesus and Enid (is she gone or aged up?) and whether or not Maggie's alive. Carol's taking Henry there so we'll touch on all this eventually.

"Who Are You Now?" was a good catch-up episode that constantly offered up new information, which kept things moving. The new characters - Magna (the disagreeable one), Yumiko (the injured one), Connie and Kelly (who are apparently sisters, according to Talking Dead), and Luke - are fine. And all very sad about "Bernie," apparently. Their predicament, and Judith's stubborn kindness, were our entry point here, and it was partially through their eyes that we witnessed new Alexandria. Which was different, but the same. Alexandrians were caring, but cautious - akin to where Alexandria was when it first became a part of the show. Except now it wasn't accepting any new members. By the end, exceptions were made and Michonne softened enough to allow the new people to stay. Having them face a council as a group was a good way to give us a quick overview of each new face.

So what's up with Negan? Well, he's still behind bars. Again, it's one of those revelations that maybe could have worked a little better if this episode were only two years down the road, and not six. Because after six freakin' years Negan seems to be in pretty good spirits. And I like his genial relationship with Judith. He's always been at his best with kids and it's been his caring about kids, Carl in particular, that basically opened him up for any type of sympathy from us whatsoever.

Also, I see Michonne subscribes to the Lori school of thought involving making your kids still do goddamn algebra homework even though the entire world's been lost to gruesome oblivion. To be fair, at least Michonne's doing it in a world where thriving communities now exist and people will have to know basic math in order to build stuff and do rudimentary engineering. For poor Carl, he was just on Hershel's farm so bored out of his mind that he was allowing walkers to kill Dale.

What We Want to See in The Walking Dead Movies
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Carol, sporting a long Geralt of Rivia-style white mane, now has the family that was not only robbed from her when the zombies hit, but also the family she basically never had because Ed was an abusive pig. And she's still a badass den mother - or you could use "Queen" here, which she hates - ready to murder an entire Savior brigade because they roughed up Henry a little bit. As mentioned, Henry's still terrible. He's just as impetuous as he was as a kid, when he was supposedly taught not to be impetuous anymore. Will he ever learn to be an unassuming psycho like his adoptive mother or will he always barrel headfirst into every dangerous scenario?

Anyhow, all these years later, "Who Are You Now?" wrapped up that whole Jed the Savior arc from the beginning of the season. As soon as he showed up I knew, or at least hoped, he'd get put down immediately. Because I did not want any of the past still lingering this large. Jed showing up, as grimy as ever, was okay as long as it was just to close out his story. Because we never actually saw what happened when everyone started shooting back in Episode 4. So like a Ghost of Christmas Past, Jed showed up, acted like a tool, and got deservedly burned alive. That was an awesome moment for Carol. I don't know where's she's at physically, with being able to fight back or gun down a bunch of people, but she can certainly stealth her way into an enemy camp and set a dozen souls ablaze. I mean, aside from killing Lizzie, this may have been her darkest deed.

Now, let's sift through the new changes, from "YAY" to "UGH, GABRIEL'S STILL SLOBBERING ON SOMEONE?"

(Yay!) Michonne is currently raising <del>Rick's</del> Shane's daughter, Judith and her and Rick's son R.J. ("Richard Jadis", I choose to believe). So yes, she did get pregnant before the bridge explosion. It's a pretty stable household considering Michonne seems to constantly chat it up with dead people.
(Aww) Aaron, now all Winter Soldier'd out with a metal arm, adopted baby Grace, who was seen here briefly as a little girl. Now... was she supposed to be Negan's or just...a rando zompocalypse baby?
(Okay) Negan's still locked up in the basement, but he seems to be in a better mental state.
(I Guess I'll Get Hot) Dr. Siddiq "Beard" Smolderson.
(Who'da Thunk?) Eugene is now a capable killer. Mullet-free, he's able to handle himself out there in the wild, killing walkers quickly and efficiently.
(We Exactly Thunk) Daryl vanished into the woods at the end of Episode 5 and...never came out. He just lives in the wilderness and stabs things with a stick. At least all the fishing gets him to bathe. Sorta.
(Still Crazy After All These Years) Carol's at home with her Queenly life, though still ready to fire it up when anyone threatens her family.
(Oh Henry!) Henry's still a punk.
(Surviving the Game) Rosita's basically been around so long that she's become a character by default. She's never been rounded out fully: She's always been defined by who she's with, either romantically or other. Even when Abraham was killed, her story shifted to "being angry over Abraham's death." Now she's with Gabriel, which unfortunately stands as another element that overshadows who she might be as a character.
(It's the Dead Eye, Isn't It?) Somehow, Gabriel's still out there smashing. Season 9 basically decided this guy wasn't an inept coward anymore and started giving him multiple romances. It's not, like, gross or anything (okay, it is) but it also doesn't feel right. Because he's not really a formed character either, so pairing him with anyone is also just more candy coating on a hollow shell. And before anyone out there argues that Eugene should be with Rosita, let's first explore the idea that no one should be with anyone. I know that's very un-TV of me, but don't get boxed into the whole idea of Eugene and Rosita simply because he "liked her first."
Finally - dem Whisperers! Yes, right at the end, as Rosita and Eugene tried to avoid becoming walker chow, they heard the herd groan out guttural sentences. For those who don't read the comics, there's some fun stuff ahead. It was a cool way to end the episode, after a roller coaster of change-ups.

THE VERDICT
The Walking Dead used a handful of new characters to bring us into the lives of Alexandrians (with some adjacent Kingdom-related goings-on) six-years later, with some changes working better than others. The most surprising twist, in all of this, was that everyone was still in the same spot after this long, but the episode still worked because the flood of new information, and new faces, carried us through swiftly.

Andrew Lincoln to Return As Rick Grimes in Walking Dead Movies. Spoilers.

Andrew Lincoln to Return As Rick Grimes in Walking Dead Movies. Spoilers.

 

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers forTHE WALKING DEADSeason 9 episode "What Comes After," which premiered Sunday on AMC.

 

Andrew Lincoln may have exited AMC's The Walking Dead with Sunday's episode, but the character's story will continue in a trilogy of original movies for AMC.

In order to draw a walker herd away from the communities, Rick had to blow up the bridge leading to Alexandria. He was found, barely alive, in the aftermath of the explosion by Jadis, who sought help from the mysterious helicopter that's been flying around this season, and they were both taken away. According to The Walking Dead chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, these big-budget, feature-length TV movies will explain what comes after.

 

Source : CBR

Walking Dead’s Michael Cudlitz Breaks Silence About Season Premiere....

Walking Dead’s Michael Cudlitz Breaks Silence About Season Premiere....

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the season seven premiere of “The Walking Dead.

If you watched last night’s season premiere of “The Walking Dead,” then you know the answer to the bloody and brutal question of who Negan killed in the season six finale earlier this year. The episode, titled “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be,” took out not one but two beloved members of the “Walking Dead” cast, taking out Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) with many swings of a barbwire-covered baseball bat.

“Look, for anyone who follows the graphic novel, he’s on borrowed time,” said Cudlitz. “Denise took his death graciously two episodes prior… so I think at that point I had gone beyond where he was in the graphic novel. I know [creator Robert Kirkman] always said he was not happy with how he took Abraham out in the graphic novel, so I was curious to see where we go from there. And yeah, I think in the group, he made it very clear to Negan that if he was going to take somebody, take me if it’s going to help protect the rest of the group.”

Of course Abraham was but the first to die, and Negan took out Glenn in retaliation for Daryl punching the villain.

Back in August, Cudlitz teased his character’s final fate and touched upon his character’s borrowed time. “Now we get to see what a world with Negan and Abraham both in it will be like,” Cudlitz said back in August. “That’s something we don’t see in the graphic novels. So a lot of cool stuff happens. For me, knowing that his potential death had come and gone, it was a moment to go, ‘Oh cool, they really aren’t going to stick with what the graphic novel does.’ As a fan of both the novel and the show, it was cool.”

Airing Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC, “The Walking Dead” stars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peleteir, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Green, Danai Gurira as Michonne and more'''

(via Entertainment Weekly)

New "Walking Dead" Character Slated To Arrive in Season 7 !!!!!

New "Walking Dead" Character Slated To Arrive in Season 7 !!!!!

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers for AMC's "The Walking Dead" (and the Image Comics series it's adapted from) follow.
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It seems that every "Walking Dead" fan out there is counting down the days until the season-7 premiere on October 23, especially since it will no doubt be a make-or-break moment for the show. Will the first episode live up to the hype? Was the decision not to reveal the identity of Negan's victim worth it? Or was it just a frustrating troll move? We'll see.

In the meantime, some other details surrounding the new season are coming to light. As reported by Cinema Blend, it looks like the show's producers are casting someone named "Brion." Described as an "educated, poker-faced leader," the role could be either male or female, and would be someone who's trying their damnedest to lead a group of their own to survival.

That means it's likely not going to be any of the Alexandrians, Saviors, or even anyone from The Kingdom. Cinema Blend has several different theories about the mystery character's identity, including the somewhat minor Pete from Oceanside and Magna, who leads the group of drifters encountered by Jesus on the road. They eventually get invited back to Alexandria, although they don't exactly trust Rick and the other leaders of the community.

Another, more controversial theory is that the role is none other than Alpha, the badass, bald-headed, and fairly messed-up leader of The Whisperers. For any non-comic readers out there, they're a tribe of survivors who wear zombie skins so they can walk among the undead and live like animals. It's difficult to imagine the show would cast a male actor in this role, but anything is possible.

If any of these theories comes true, that would mean Season 7's taking a big leap ahead in the timeline established by the comic. That said, it's certainly feasible, since Brion isn't slated to appear until the tenth episode. There's still a lot of time before we'll know for sure.

Three Actors Promoted to Series Regular on "The Walking Dead"!!!!

As revealed by The Hollywood Reporters, three key players in the town of Alexandria have gone from possible zombie fodder to less likely but totally still on the table zombie meal: Tovah Feldshuh, Alexandra Breckenridge and Austin Nichols.

Feldshuh portrays the leader of Alexandria, Deanna Monroe -- a new character based on an existing one from the comics -- while Nichols plays Deanna's son Spencer and Breckenridge plays Rick's potential love interest Jessie Anderson.

As Hollywood Reporter points out, this brings the total number of series regulars on the show up to 18, so it's almost a fair bet to say that some of these regulars won't stay regular throughout all of season six -- unless their zombified corpse appears in every episode following their potential demise.

"The Walking Dead" Season 6 premieres Sunday, October 11, at 9/8c.

 

Source : CBR

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