Tonight The Walking Dead returns to AMC. In the first half of the season, we said goodbye to Rick Grimes. While our main group believes that he is dead, we know that he was taken away in a helicopter and that his story will continue in some future TV movies. There was a time jump, and folks tried to moved on, but Michonne still struggles with the loss of Rick. She was at odds with daughter Judith, who welcomed some new arrivals to Hilltop. Meanwhile, Negan has spent the past several years locked in a cell in Alexandria (why didn’t they just kill him?!), and Carol is married, living in the Kingdom, and helping to raise Henry as her son.
As the first half of the season came to a close, Daryl, Jesus, and Aaron were on a rescue mission to save Eugene and Rosita, who had been injured and were being pursued by an unusually intelligent herd of walkers. This herd was a lot more organized than usual, double-backing and following them at every turn—and Eugene swears that he heard them talking. The herd ended up cornering them into a cemetery and attacked. As Jesus was about to kill one of the walkers, it quickly dodged his weapon and then stabbed and killed him with a knife, whispering “You are where you do not belong”—certainly not your typical walker behavior! The others managed to kill this “walker” and then discovered that it was a normal human wearing a mask made out of walker flesh. Meanwhile, back in Alexandria, Negan discovered that Gabriel forgot to lock his cell, and decided to make his escape.
Who are these new “Whisperers” with the ability to control the walkers, and what do they want? Do they plan to attack Alexandria, Hilltop and/or The Kingdom? What does Negan plan to do with his newfound freedom? Will he go back to his old ways and rally his troops to get his revenge? Or will he just quietly go away? (I really hope it’s the latter!) I did not enjoy the last two seasons with all the Negan stuff, but the first half of this season was a surprising return to the great show I once loved—I didn’t even miss Rick, and I’m actually really looking forward to tonight’s midseason premiere! While I do wish the show would think about winding things down and plan an ending, it’s already been picked up for a tenth season, and Norman Reedus (Daryl) has signed on for 3 mores seasons (I guess they are trying to lock down at least one of the original characters for the long haul), so there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.
In tonight’s midseason premiere, “Adaptation”, the communities thought they could build a better future separately, but the recent loss of one of their own drives them to band together; new leaders rise when a disturbing and dangerous threat is unmasked; an escaped captive revisits his past.
Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Worst Cooks in America, Counterpart, Black Monday, and SMILF.
For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including Black Monday, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/10/19 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.
