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

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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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The Walking Dead Season 9, Episode 4 “The Obliged” Review

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There’s no denying The Walking Dead is enjoying a resurgence this season. The Obliged was another fantastic episode.

Michonne was heavily featured tonight as we see her life in Alexandria running everything in Rick’s absence. Michonne is doing a little of everything from settling gardening disputes, playing with Judith, and tending to the sick. And when she’s suffering from some sleepless nights, it’s time to go kill some walkers.

That led to an interesting scene as Michonne spots a black walker hanging from a tree. Now Michonne has a new problem — Negan won’t eat. He’s on a hunger strike as he wants a conversation. He chats Michonne up about his wife dying from cancer, their desire to have a child like Carl and ultimately how her death helped to not make him weak.

Humble Negan is a far more interesting character this season. Season 8 Negan never had to resort to mind games like this strike to learn Lucille’s location. Negan tried to find some common ground with his dead wife and Michonne’s dead children, but Michonne wasn’t biting. Still, Michonne’s growing unease whenever she sees a bat is telling.

There really wasn’t enough time to spend on Gabriel and Anne this week and their subplot felt very under served. Anne seemed to consider giving Gabriel the old tie ’em down and let a walker devour them trick she pulled on Negan, but had a change of heart. She knocked him out just long enough to roll out. Gabriel broke down presumably at the thought of no more sweet, sweet junker loving.

While last week made it appear as if Maggie and Daryl were heading to kill Negan immediately, she went back to Hilltop to get supplies while Daryl returned to the camp. But now it’s payback time.

Jesus seems torn on his loyalty. He accuses Rick of making a bad call in keeping Negan alive, yet sends a warning to Rick that Maggie is headed to Alexandria. Pick a side dude!

Rick’s got enough problems as Eugene tells him the bridge is a wash. A new storm is coming to basically wipe it out. I’m wondering if the plan is to give Rick a death like Madison from Fear the Walking Dead where he gets washed away, but with no body there’s some chance he’s still alive. That would give Judith a reason to stay with everyone at least.

The only problem with Rick’s pending departure is it’s placing the burden of his focal storyline — that the Saviors can be redeemed — onto other characters. Carol basically told Rick she wasn’t interested in being the Saviors’ keeper any longer and they were going to have to fend for themselves. These conversations are really starting to feel like goodbyes for Rick. He left both Carol and Eugene with a comforting pep talk and encouragement.

Upon learning the news of Maggie’s march, Rick sets out for Alexandria, but Daryl offers him a ride. Rick quickly realizes something is up when Daryl misses the turn. They get into a tussle and fall into a conveniently placed cliff. Hard not to agree with Rick and wonder if Daryl set it up.

One huge improvement this season has been the writing and this pit conversation was a highlight of the night. Daryl called Rick out for not avenging Glenn, but saying he wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him. Rick countered reminding Daryl that he spared Dwight, but Daryl dropped the Oceanside bombshell.

Rick explains that if Negan dies, he becomes a martyr and all those people will have died for nothing. Daryl says Rick doesn’t have enough faith in their crew and that he’s chasing something for Carl that isn’t meant to be. Daryl has a point. The strength of the writing is that neither guy comes off like an idiot and they both have viable points. However, we got the first live F-bomb on The Walking Dead and it came out of nowhere!

They don’t fully hash things out before another fracas breaks out at the camp. Jed and the Saviors have somehow figured out Oceanside killed their crew. That’s some impressive powers of deduction. Carol’s Kingdom troops get ready for a brawl and enough shots ring out to attract one of the two nearby walker hordes. This is not good news.

But for those of us who love creative walker death traps, The Obliged delivered again. Rick and Daryl trying to climb out of the pit while walkers slide down was pretty ingenious. The walkers always come off so much more dangerous when they’re a menacing obstacle capable of wrecking any great plan with their overwhelming numbers. Rick pulls Daryl up after telling his ‘brother’ to take his hand. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m going to miss the Rick and Daryl brotherhood immensely the rest of the series.

With the horde closing in, Rick spots a horse and uses it to lead the horde away from the camp. Daryl thinks now is the time to blow up the bridge, but Rick isn’t having it. Daryl seems to understand Rick’s grand purpose for the bridge, which is still escaping me.

In a nice callback to the first episode, Rick’s horse gets spooked by the walkers and he gets thrown off onto a cement block. Maybe he avoided a broken neck, but he’s impaled. As both hordes slowly converge, this definitely looks like the last stand for Rick Grimes.

The Obliged set up a strong Michonne/Negan conflict, let Rick and Daryl reaffirm their brotherhood and set the final steps in motion for Rick’s death/departure resulting in another strong episode.

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