Thematically, “One More” is all about the past and how we let it shape our future. Aaron and Gabriel’s trek from one dilapidated building to the next is littered with constant reminders of the world that once was, and the devastation of its fall. Skeletal remains of families cuddled together offer windows into their intimate final moments, ancient walkers lie semi-dormant after years of baking in the Virginia sun, while the pair’s discoveries of expensive whisky and once popular cuddly toys present totemic throwbacks to a lost civilisation. 

But neither Aaron nor Gabriel are under any illusions about the society they once knew. “The fact that people would pay $2000 to get drunk is a huge part of what was wrong with the world”, says Aaron, sipping single malt over a meal of cooked boar in a warehouse the duo are spending the night at. “This world isn’t built for the way we used to be”, adds Gabriel a few hours later, with the pair now slouched drunkenly over bean bags following a marathon poker session.

There’s a palpable sense of mutual respect shared between these two characters, both jaded yet principled father figures, who often go hours at a time without uttering a word during their journey, but are more than willing to laugh together at their own expense, be it after an unexpected encounter with a muddy puddle or close shave with that aforementioned boar. The episode is an enjoyable waste of time in their company, even if Gabriel’s minutes-long monologue about a dull childhood memory does drag on a little too long.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the boar and whiskey the duo happily hoover up belonged to someone; a grizzled hermit named Mays, played by Terminator 2’s Robert Patrick. The Walking Dead’s single-episode guest villains usually come and go with little impact, but – thanks to Patrick’s performance and some choice lines from the writing team (including a delayed joke about using the Bible as toilet paper) – Mays makes for a compelling micro-antagonist. 

Sure, the like-for-like homage to The Deer Hunter’s famous russian roulette scene feels a little derivative, but the actors make it work, ratcheting up the tension and peeling back unexpected sides of their characters, before delivering a killing blow of a last-minute turn that – for once in The Walking Dead – even I didn’t see coming. Gabriel’s cold-blooded murder of Mays might have shocked both Aaron and ourselves, but can we really fault him for commiting the act? Like the priest said, the man was a threat to himself and others, no matter how redemptive he appeared to be in his final moments. 

The episode’s final coda, in which the pair discover May had imprisoned his brother to watch his wife and child slowly decompose in front of him, only seems to vindicate Garbiel’s actions, and his understanding of a world where “evil people are the rule, not the exception”. These two characters were once The Walking Dead’s figureheads of quixotic belief; one in a God, the other in the goodness of people. They will return to Alexandria with those beliefs still intact, but a little more beaten than before. And so life in the apocalypse goes on. 

The Verdict

4

4 out of 5

The Walking Dead TV show

What could have been more mindless filler is instead a thematically ripe Walking Dead chapter that restored our interest in two long-time bit-players.

The post The Walking Dead season 10 episode 19 review: “One of season 10s strongest episodes to date” appeared first on Game News.

“It’s been ten years gone by; what lies ahead are two more to come and stories and stories to tell beyond that,” said Walking Dead chief content officer Scott Gimple.

“What’s clear is that this show has been about the living, made by a passionate cast, team of writer/producers, producers, and crew, bringing to life the vision put forth by Robert Kirkman in his brilliant comic — and supported by the best fans in the world. We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on [The Walking Dead], and then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead — brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices, and new mythologies. This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres. Evolution is upon us. The Walking Dead lives.”

The show’s current showrunner, Angela Kang, added: “I look forward to digging in with our brilliant writers, producers, directors, cast and crew to bring this epic final chapter of Robert Kirkman’s story to life for our fans over the next two years. The Walking Dead flagship series has been my creative home for a decade and so it’s bittersweet to bring it to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol. Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career and I’m thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together.”

The first spin-off is currently set for 2023. Presumably, that spoils at least part of The Walking Dead’s potential body count – Daryl and Carol are set to lead the standalone show, which must be music to the ears of ‘Caryl’ shippers everywhere. 

There’s another spin-off, titled “Tales of the Walking Dead”  which is “an episodic anthology with individual episodes or arcs of episodes focused on new or existing characters, backstories or other stand-alone experiences.” Negan origin, anyone?

In The Walking Dead’s immediate future, the next episode – once season 10’s finale – is set to air on October 4 (opens in new tab), with six more episodes tacked on to the current season coming in early 2021. The Walking Dead movies (opens in new tab), starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, are also currently in the works.

While the sun is setting on the mainline Walking Dead franchise, the future looks strong for the series: there are movies, spin-offs (including Fear the Walking Dead and the new show World Beyond both set for October releases), and more adventures with Daryl and Carol. There’s still life in The Walking Dead yet.

The post The Walking Dead to end in 2022 with extra-long season 11 appeared first on Game News.

Now, “Morning Star” takes clear inspiration from “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”, the second episode of Thrones’ season 8, which was all about tying up loose ends before setting up one last fight. For the Walking Dead, that’s a (hopefully) final encounter with the Whisperers.

No longer content with her strategy of espionage and attrition, Alpha has decided to escalate the conflict into a full-on siege, sending her entire army (dead and alive) shuffling towards Hilltop’s gates, in what Negan refers to as a “well-deserved massacre”. Thankfully, Lydia’s return into Alexandria’s ranks – and the intel she possesses – gives the survivors enough time to prepare for the oncoming assault, setting the stage for an episode that centres on the calm before the storm. 

Knowing that tonight could be their last, every character uses the episode to get their house in order and make their peace with one another. There’s reunions, apologies, arguments, admissions, and even some unexpected make-up sex, all of which are designed to leave viewers guessing as to whose scenes will be their last. Indeed, judging by the state of where the episode ends, this battle won’t be without its casualties. 

Using turpentine distilled from pine tree sap as makeshift gasoline, the Whisperers drench Hilltop’s defenders in flammable liquid, vulnerable to volleys of flaming arrows, and caught between a burning Hilltop and hordes of Walkers. Negan, meanwhile, is on the other end of the carnage, seemingly launching arrows at his former captors without any concern for their safety, despite attempting to reason with Alpha against making such a power play earlier on in the episode. If he really is acting as a double agent for Carol, then he’s certainly biding his time. 

It’s worth highlighting Norman Reedus’ performance in “Morning Star”. The actor excels at drawing an emotive tenderness from Daryl’s gruff exterior. His final scenes with Carol, Ezekiel, and Judith make for the episode’s most compelling moments, while any sequence showing everyone’s favourite biker bro launching a medieval flail into zombie skulls is worth savouring. The Walking Dead is really making it look as though Daryl is about to get the chop, which would certainly allow for a sense of high-stakes consequence that The Whisperers just haven’t conveyed until now. 

While it felt a little jarring for the episode to end just a few minutes into the battle’s duration, the intensity and confidence of its opening moments bodes well for an action-packed follow up that won’t pull its punches. While I remain somewhat concerned that the night-time setting will repeat the mistakes of its nearly unobservable mid-season premiere, “Squeeze”, what we’ve seen so far from this all-out war isn’t just competently crafted – but genuinely entertaining. 

The Verdict

3.5

3.5 out of 5

The Walking Dead TV show

A somewhat derivative but nonetheless compelling precursor to what could be the biggest battle in Walking Dead history.

The post The Walking Dead season 10 episode 11 review: “Tying up loose ends before setting up one last fight” appeared first on Game News.

“Silence the Whisperers” opens, like so many other Walking Dead episodes, with a soap opera style, low-key musical montage. On this occasion, we catch up with everyone’s beleaguered states of mind at Alexandria and Hilltop to the tune of Gordi’s “Heaven I Know”. Daryl, Michonne, Judith, and AJ are a happy nuclear family (with Carol playing the part of the moody teenager who stays locked up in her room for dinner); Yumiko and Magna are finally consummating their relationship; Lydia still feels like an outcast in her own home; Sadiq’s PTSD refuses to subside; and Ezekiel is on the brink of suicide. 

Oh, and on top of that, a tree that may or may not have been cut down by The Whisperers has destroyed Hilltop’s defenses, leaving the settlement vulnerable to an all-night barrage of Walker herds. 

Episode 4, despite its title, wants you to forget about The Whisperers for a second, and remember that these communities of people are just that: people, each with their own individual fears, desires, needs, and emotional baggage. Everyone’s hurting – a message that is hammered home most surprisingly by Ezekiel’s suicide attempt, which sees one dreadlocked leader being slowly talked down from a ledge by another, Michonne. It’s tough to watch this once iron-willed and gregarious king acting as a shell of his former self but, annoyingly, the scene is mismanaged by the pair sharing an awkward, unearned kiss.

That embrace, which was the talk of The Walking Dead season 10’s Comic-Con trailer, is written off soon after, with the pair admitting it as nothing more than a desperate grasp to feel something on Ezekiel’s part. It’s a moment designed to acknowledge the fact that these characters have been through some of the worst the apocalypse has had to offer, yet the scene feels designed to be a trailer talking-point rather than adding anything meaningful to their stories.

Speaking of characters bound by mutual respect, Lydia and Negan continue to bond over their shared pariah status in Alexandria, culminating in the accidental manslaughter of Margo at the hands of the former Saviour boss, who steps in to rescue Alpha’s disowned daughter from an undue beating. Seeing Negan affectionately calming a terrified Lydia, before horrifyingly realising what he’s done, is easily the episode’s best scene, adding texture to two characters who have been difficult to truly empathise with until now.

More than that, Lydia now has two surrogate father figures to look up to in Daryl and Negan, fleshing out season 10’s ruminations on parenthood and generational tensions. In any case, I’m fully on board with Team Negan at this point, and I hope his upcoming trial at Alexandria can officiate his full retribution in the eyes of both the show’s on-screen characters and its long-term audience.

Yet, all of these moments are mildly interesting pieces of flotsam caught amidst a stagnant stream of inconsequential fluff. The entire siege scene at Hilltop falls flat, not least because it suffers from the kind of poor lighting that infamously ruined Game of Thrones season 8’s most ambitious battle scenes. Not only does it scream of meaningless filler, but the pacing of the sequence fluctuates preposterously, interspersed throughout the episode without the needed context explaining where it’s situated in the overall timeline. Then, suddenly, it’s resolved off-screen without little fanfare.

You have to ask, what was the point of this entire sequence, other than to once again leave our characters questioning whether The Whisperers are playing a cruel game of shock and awe? Whatever the aim, it’s hard to argue The Walking Dead achieved anything that’s left the show better off. The episode ends with Michonne, Judith, and Luke riding off to Oceanside while Daryl begins the hunt for a now missing Negan, setting up the threads for the next few episodes. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m excited.

For more, check out our full Walking Dead recap (opens in new tab) to catch up before season 10, or watch below for our guide to everything else worth checking out right now. 

The post The Walking Dead season 10 episode 4 review & recap: “Inconsequential siege makes for meaningless filler” appeared first on Game News.

“I was surprised a little bit,” Huth said of the suddenness of the comic book ending, which Kirkman announced just a week before the final issue in July. “Robert has always said ‘The comic is gonna go forever’ and I knew it wouldn’t literally go forever. I was a little surprised that he did it without preamble, but that’s very Robert as well.”

Of the impact it’ll have on the show’s own future, Huth reasoned: “I loved how he wrapped it up and left those characters where they were, and I think it opens up a lot of possibilities for us.”

For those who haven’t read the final issue (spoilers for the Walking Dead comic), the series ends with a significant time jump decades into the future, with many finding peace in a world with a reduced walker population. Maggie is President of the Commonwealth, Michonne leads Alexandria, and several offspring of iconic characters live on in harmony. It’s a hopeful conclusion that the series may yet one day emulate.

Don’t expect it to happen just yet, though. Huth eases fears, saying: “I know a lot of fans are worried that with the comic book ending, that means we’re ending. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. We have followed the blueprint but things are so different between the show and the comic now that, despite not having that set path to follow, I have no doubt that Angela [Kang, the showrunner] and the writers can continue to tell these characters’ stories for a long time to come, just based on the incredible foundation that Robert left us.”

Phew. For more of our coverage in the lead-up to The Walking Dead season 10 (opens in new tab) premiere, be sure to check out the first excerpt from our interview with Avi Nash (opens in new tab) (Siddiq) on Danai Gurira (Michonne) leaving the show.

The Walking Dead returns to the UK on Monday, October 7 at 9pm on FOX and in the US a day earlier on Sunday, October 6 on AMC.

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Scars was a flashback-focused episode, set during the few weeks after Rick “died” in episode 5 (opens in new tab). To put a long and terribly tragic story short, Michonne is betrayed by a old, pre-apocalypse friend and her band of feral children, who end up branding both her and Daryl before the former kills them all in a fit of parental rage when Judith’s life is threatened. To say it was a tough watch is putting it lightly and the internet had plenty to say about what went down.

Hello? Is this the Academy?

At the beating heart of Scars was Dania Gurira, who gave it her all as a mother fighting to protect her children, no matter the cost. It can’t have been an easy episode to film, but Gurira displayed the rawness of Michonne’s strength and vulnerability as tactfully and emotively as always. Naturally, fans took notice, and have rightly taken to Twitter to praise the hell out of the actress who, last week, nearly didn’t receive her own credit in the Avengers: Endgame (opens in new tab) poster. 

“Scars” is one of the best episode #TheWalkingDead episodes ever. You can give Danai Gurira her Emmy now. pic.twitter.com/VqHlYFbEzhMarch 18, 2019

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#TWD #TheWalkingDead MICHONNE DID NOT WANT TO KILL THOSE KIDS. YOU COULD SEE THE PAIN ON HER FACE WHEN SHE HAD TO. I AM FUCKING CRYING SO HARD. DANAI GURIRA DESERVES ALL THE AWARDS. MY GOD. pic.twitter.com/oK31gO037qMarch 18, 2019

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I’m going to be honest with you #TWDFamily I was so caught up with @DanaiGurira that I really didn’t have time for sympathy for the feral kids. That says a ton about Danai’s incredible performance. #TheWalkingDeadMarch 18, 2019

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Won’t somebody think of the children?!

Yes, there was a lot of infanticide in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, but it never came across as exploitative. The scene in question was directed and choreographed with enough sensitivity to make it appear both heartbreaking and necessary all at once. Still, it was a tough moment for Michonne, and indeed the show as a whole, and people had opinions. 

Me: Michonne isn’t gonna have to drop all of these kids is she?Me 2 Minutes Later:#TheWalkingDead pic.twitter.com/IHwBtYMHKAMarch 18, 2019

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Michonne be like… #TheWalkingDead pic.twitter.com/2WvY3AmXdpMarch 18, 2019

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#TheWalkingDead 914 is one of the most intense, nerve-racking episodes of I ever watched. May be the darkest episode TWD has ever done. But so, so, so, so good. Have someone or something to hold.March 13, 2019

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Long live the Queen of Alexandria

Whatever your thoughts about the episode, everyone came out of it with a newfound respect for Michonne, who has already become the most interesting and captivating leads of the show since Rick’s exit. What’s more, Scars saw her finally overcome her fears in the present day, deciding to rebuild bridges with the other communities in time for the upcoming fair. Everyone’s in agreement; this katana-wielding badass is a true Walking Dead legend. 

When I was huge pregnant, I didn’t even wanna walk from the bedroom to the living room. Michonne is a real one. #TheWalkingDead @AMCTalkingDeadMarch 18, 2019

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Michonne flipped over every Walker for 9 months straight looking for signs of Rick. Lori hooked up with Rick’s best friend within 3 – 7 business days after thinking he was dead. #twd #TheWalkingDeadMarch 18, 2019

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Michonne did what she had to do!!! I stan a badass pregnant mom that will do anything to protect her kids! #TheWalkingDead pic.twitter.com/GqcHKRwzrTMarch 18, 2019

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Oh, and in case you were wondering…

Of course we can’t have an episode of The Walking Dead season 9 without Henry being weird and creepy in some way, and this brief moment saw him let Lydia fiddle with his newfound scar from the fight with The Whisperers in episode 13 (opens in new tab). Funnily enough, this scene has its origins from the comic books, only between Lydia and Carl instead, but it’s somehow even more disgusting than on the page…

My hatred for Henry grows with every episode #TheWalkingDeadMarch 17, 2019

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Lydia touching Henry’s scar on #TheWalkingDead is gross, sure. But this was her in the comics… pic.twitter.com/3I5z3jzN0AMarch 18, 2019

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Now please excuse me while I go and throw up for the next 24 hours. Henry hating aside, the general consensus on Scars is a hugely positive one, even for those who haven’t been too taken by season 9’s soft refresh of The Walking Dead so far. 

What’s more, with just one episode left before the big finale (which will presumably focus on the upcoming trade fair between Alexandria, Hilltop, and The Kingdom), even bloodier things could be in store for Michonne and company. Fingers crossed she isn’t forced to make mince meat of any more feral children this time…

In the mean time, check out the biggest questions we have about the upcoming Walking Dead movies (opens in new tab), and how Rick Grimes might return to our small screens.

The post “You can give Danai Gurira her Emmy now”: The internet reacts to The Walking Deads best episode in years appeared first on Game News.

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It turns out, however, that we’re not being treated to a full, Walking Dead prequel episode. Instead, the scene is all playing out in Lydia’s head, as she’s seen reminiscing to Henry while the pair are locked away in Hilltop’s cells, with the whole episode revolving almost entirely around her character’s past and present life, clumsily bouncing between the two timelines with little finesse or forethought. 

I’m all for The Walking Dead using flashbacks to characterise its survivors and fill in their backstories with fresh revelations (I actually think the show doesn’t use them nearly enough), but this particular journey to the past is executed horribly, awkwardly conjuring up Lydia’s memories whenever the person she’s talking to triggers another recollection. The only way it could have been more cliched is if the character began every flashback with “It all started when…” while a harp plays in the background and one scene ripples into the next. 

The flashbacks are also a detriment to the larger story at play in The Walking Dead season 9 (opens in new tab). What made The Whisperers so scary up till now is that we don’t know who they are, what they’re capable of, or even why they do what they do. As Henry himself rightly points out, “walking around in dead people’s skins is pretty messed up”, but Lydia’s story tells us everything we need to know about Alpha and her culture of clandestine warfare, deconstructing the myth and revealing the woman behind the wizard’s curtain. This wouldn’t be a problem if it was the end of the season, or even the beginning of the next. But it’s not. We’ve literally just met The Whisperers, and we now already know almost everything about them. 

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Worse still, Alpha’s evolution from midwestern housewife to draconian killer comes out of nowhere, mainly because the scattershot nature of the flashbacks doesn’t give actress Samantha Morton enough time to make that transition seem believable. An entire episode devoted to Alpha’s backstory later in the season would have been a better approach, but the fact of the matter is, I’m not scared of her anymore, and we’ve barely met her! And it’s all thanks to these stupid, stupid flashbacks. 

It’s not as if the present day scenes shared between Lydia, Henry, and Daryl fare any better either. While it’s nice to see Daryl take on the gruff but wise mentorship role to Henry that normally would be reserved for a character like Rick, even Norman Reedus can’t save Omega from its slow motion nosedive. For one thing, the trio barely leave the cell block, which keeps the episode looking as bland as it feels, and it turns out that grown up Henry is just as annoying and stupid as his younger self. 

He continues to speak in matter of fact monosyllables like a weird, creepy child (“I like you”, “I’m glad you and my mom are friends”, “I just ate a worm”) and is still, seven years on from when he nearly got everyone at Hilltop killed, putting the entire community at risk when he decides to let Lydia out of her cell for the night. Thankfully no one dies this time around, but I won’t lie; I was kind of hoping for Lydia to save us the trouble and whack him round the head with that hammer while she had the chance. 

Outside of the flashback scenes, we also see our new group of survivors (Magna, Yumiko, Connie, and Kelly) go out to search for Luke and Alden, before coming back and going out again, only to finish the episode by, yep, returning to Hilltop having achieved absolutely nothing. It’s about as uneventful a series of events as they come, furthering absolutely nothing in the plot aside from re-emphasising just how cliquely this quintet of newcomers are, barely integrating with the larger cast of characters outside the odd one-to-one conversation. At least there’s one moment of brief humour, as Tara tries to figure out whether a herd of Walkers are undead or humans in disguise (“Funky walk? Check. No Weapons? Check”), but that’s about it.

Omega is easily the weakest episode of season 9 so far, feeling about as trite, frustrating, and manufactured as The Walking Dead can get, not to mention completely undermining any sense of danger or intrigue we had about The Whisperers. Episode 10 seems to imply that we’ll be getting more flashbacks to Lydia’s past throughout the rest of the season, but I can only hope that AMC steps up its game and learns how to use them to enrich the show’s continuing story, rather than devaluing it. 

Verdict: The first real misstep in an otherwise solid season, Omega is hopefully the exception to the rule in this new era of The Walking Dead. 

The post The Walking Dead S9.10 review: “Trite, frustrating, and manufactured” appeared first on Game News.

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About one half of the 45 minute chapter is almost as slow moving and jejune as The Walking Dead season 9, episode 7 (opens in new tab), Stradivarius, but the rest is the scariest the show has been in years. I am, of course, talking about the scenes involving The Whisperers, so let’s start on that, with full spoilers for The Walking Dead season 9 ahead.

Aaron, Jesus, Daryl, and Dog are out to rescue Eugene from a Walker herd that’s acting awfully strange and, from as soon as the pre-credits opening in which we see them wandering in circles like deranged animals, it’s skin-crawling stuff. Evolution’s director Michael E. Satrazemis goes full gothic horror for the episode’s final conflict, setting the scene in a graveyard layered with fog, and dialling down on the camera cuts to keep the tension bubbling throughout. 

Even though most of us know who The Whisperers are at this point, and those who don’t aren’t naive enough to go along with Eugene’s silly theory that the zombies have evolved, the known unknowns of this new enemy are chillingly evoked via Evolution’s thick atmosphere of suspense.

The Walking Dead has always been its own worst enemy when it comes to the immediate horror of its setting, desensitising its audience to the fear factor of the zombies with inevitable oversaturation. Like most of the survivors themselves, we’re no longer surprised or spooked by Walkers, but the addition of The Whisperers has now given both viewers and characters new reasons to be afraid of the big bad Z, where every shambling corpse might be a living enemy in disguise.

And this time, it was poor Jesus who ended up as the sacrifice to AMC’s demand of a mid-season character death, but not before showing off his karate chops one last time with some slo-mo action shots. While it does feel cliche for The Walking Dead to kill a main character with every finale and premiere like clockwork (as if they don’t know how else to create a cliffhanger), Jesus’ death was one of the most shocking seen this side of Negan’s home run with Lucille. When that Walker suddenly evades his kick only to stab him and eerily whisper “You are where you don’t belong” in his ear, we’re as stunned and dismayed as Jesus looks, coming out of nowhere as it does.

For all its shock value, however, Jesus’ demise reminds us that this is another Walking Dead character who had never been given much to do since his introduction to the show, nor has he developed out of his “good guy who looks a bit like the messiah and (literally) kicks ass” role. Recent hints of a romance with Aaron could have been an avenue for growth, but this iteration of Jesus has never been as interesting as his comic book counterpart, making his death come across as somewhat cheap and pointless, though AMC deliver the blow with memorable sangfroid.

Outside of The Whisperer’s introduction, there are also various character interactions designed to re-emphasise the frosty tensions between Alexandria, Hilltop, and The Kingdom. Michonne refuses to send a delegation to The Kingdom’s upcoming fair (which, let’s face it, is probably going to be the key setting for a massive disaster during the latter half of season 9), reprimanding Carol’s pleas by arguing that “we’ve got to take care of our own now. It’s just the way it is.” 

Meanwhile, Hilltop itself doesn’t exactly welcome the Alexandrian visitors with open arms, and even the usually perky Tara treats Michonne with an icy matter of factness. Season 9 is going hard on the references to this mysterious crisis, but I think it’s safe to say the message has been received pretty clearly by now. Next year, the show needs to stop dangling the same carrot and start explaining what exactly went down in the six years since Rick “died” to create this Cold War standoff between the three communities, otherwise it’ll start to look like it’s wasting the viewer’s time.

Additionally, Henry’s new apprenticeship at The Kingdom doesn’t get off to a great start, as his jealousies for Enid and Alden’s romance leads him to fall in with new characters Abbie, Rodney, and Gage, who like to spend their time getting drunk and urinating on Walkers. Yep, it’s another love triangle with Enid at the centre (not to mention more stupid kids doing stupid things with Walkers), and I’m already bored of the entire thing, so the less said about that, the better. 

And finally, Negan. His therapy sessions with Gabriel featured some refreshing spots of light humour to complement the scarier scenes (“something that was in my ass goes right up your nose”), especially as the audience has basically been making fun of Gabriel ever since his introduction, but the last clincher, in which we see him make his escape, feels like a natural development for the mid-season finale. 

This is the right time to let Negan out, I think. He’s been in that cell for eight episodes, and more than seven years in the timeline, so his identity has no doubt permuted as a result. What will he do with his newfound freedom? Who will he choose to be? It’s an interesting subplot for the rest of season 9, but hopefully we don’t have another Governor on our hands…

And that’s it for The Walking Dead in 2018. Taken together, the first half of season 9 has undoubtedly been a strong run, especially when you look back at how far the story has come since the finale of season 8, or indeed this season’s premiere just a few months ago. The show began to exhibit signs of flagging in its last few episodes, but Angela Kang’s fresh direction has held steadfast for the most part, with Evolution leaving enough story threads for yet more interesting twists and turns in the future. If The Walking Dead needs one new year’s resolution for 2019, it’s to stay the course and not ruin the goodwill built up over this octuplet of episodes. I’m keeping all my fingers crossed. 

Verdict: The Walking Dead’s mid-season finale isn’t quite as climactic as it thinks it is, but executes a compelling closer for 2018 nonetheless. 

The post The Walking Dead S9.08 review: “The scariest the show has been in years” appeared first on Game News.

The Walking Dead season 9 (opens in new tab) has had some cracking openers so far, and The Obliged is no different. Beginning with a shot of Michonne’s stomach (adding more fuel to the Richonne baby rumour mill), we learn that the samurai has been spending her nights chopping Walkers to bits without Rick’s knowledge. The scene tick tocks between her day to day chores in Alexandria and her secret outings with the slick elegance of a Better Call Saul montage, starkly juxtapositioning Michonne’s leadership duties with her addiction for carnage. 

It’s another layer on this season’s theme of post-war psychology; can these characters, having been through so much, ever adjust to world free of a violence and conflict? With Maggie running an assassination attempt on Negan, aided by Daryl, and The Saviours breaking out against Carol and The Kingdom in a full blown gunfight, probably not. 

Rick and Daryl’s relationship is also a focal point for The Obliged, and while there’s a creeping sense of deja vu as they fisticuffed off the main road and into the brush again (which is exactly what happened in The Walking Dead season 8 (opens in new tab)), it’s good to see them finally hashing out their differences, knowing that this could be their last moments spent together. Yes, it’s awfully convenient that both fell into a giant pit conveniently placed in their path for no explainable reason, forcing them to lay out their grievance without distraction, but Lincoln and Norman Reedus are both on fine form down in that hole, convincing us to empathise with both characters’ deeply polarised positions.

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How will Rick leave The Walking Dead season 9? (opens in new tab)

Rick and Daryl’s escape from the pit is surprisingly intense, too, as zombie upon zombie begins to inevitably fall in alongside them. At one point, I even thought AMC was about to kill Daryl before our very eyes, but the Dixon brother managed to escape right at the last minute thanks to Rick’s impeccably strong forearm. Frankly, I was rooting for a less happy ending. Killing off a fan favourite character out of nowhere right before the much telegraphed denouement of Rick would have been a great bait and switch surprise for viewers, on par with the shock value of a Game of Thrones Red Wedding, but I think the showrunners are a little too cautious to axe all of their star characters in one season, especially as ratings for the show continue to fall.

In any case, another, more surprising tête-à-tête was that between Michonne and Negan, who’s on hunger strike purely for the sake of wanting some attention. Out of nowhere, it seems, season 9 has decided to draw equivalences between the pair as though they’re two sides of the same coin, with Negan even spewing that hackneyed line that every TV villain is apparently doomed with repeating; “we’re the same, you and me.” Ugh. Despite her taste for zombie blood, Michonne is nothing like Negan, and not even close to becoming him, so this undeserved parallel just felt out of place and a little bit silly. 

At least Jeffrey Dean Morgan is still captivating from the comfort of his new cell. Is Negan’s sobriety all an act to win over his captors, or is he genuinely a reformed person? Most of us will be leaning towards the former, I’m sure, as we’ve been here before with The Governor, but Dean Morgan’s more earnest performance is still a treat nonetheless. That said, the creepy way in which Negan pathetically asked to see Lucille again, as though it were his actual wife, was seriously disturbing stuff, especially once the character learns that his baseball bat has been left out alone in the wild, and begins angrily banging his head against the wall (remind you of anyone, Shane fans?). 

And then there’s that cliffhanger. I can’t remember the last time The Walking Dead has ended as powerfully as this. Look, we all know that Rick isn’t going to die impaled by a pipe and eaten alive by hundreds of Walkers, but this was still a heart pounding place to end the episode, especially as that final, bird’s eye view shot of our favourite sheriff surrounded by zombies echoed the very same conclusion to The Walking Dead’s premiere from all the way back in 2010. 

Having to watch this man put himself at risk yet again for the sake of trying to build a better future against all odds, only to be abandoned by everyone, including his own horse, makes those anguished screams all the more painful to watch. It’s almost inevitable that Daryl will come riding in at the last minute to pick him up, but I’m happy to go along with AMC’s thoughtfully tailored tragedy for now. 

Verdict: Emotive and suspenseful, The Obliged leaves us in an incredibly dramatic place for Rick’s valediction, silly characterisation moments aside. 

The post The Walking Dead S9.04 review: “An entertaining chapter regardless of its relevance to Rick’s exit” appeared first on Game News.

As you can see from the poster above, Rick, Carol, Michonne, Daryl, and the others are swapping Alexandria for Washington D.C. That’s the rotting Capitol building in the background, which certainly opens up a lot of brand-new possibilities for a new narrative without Rick. Whisper it, but the show is starting to feel fresh again.

That’s not to say The Walking Dead season 9 isn’t falling back on a few familiar faces or, in this case, a familiar chopper. Yep, that helicopter is mysteriously hovering above Michonne’s shoulder. Is that Georgie, the figure who offered the Hilltop a new strategy to survive, showing up again – or is she running things from The White House and has sent our favourite set of survivors a personal invite to the nation’s run-down capital? So. Many. Possibilities.

Even if the show continues in Washington D.C., that’s still a fair old trek for Rick and the rest. How did they come to that decision – and why? I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bit of a time jump, but nothing much. After all, the characters don’t look particular aged or haggard, compared to how rough they normally look anyway.

Will The Walking Dead season 9’s shift east have you coming back for Rick’s final bow? Let us know down below!

If that doesn’t make you excited for what’s to come then try our new TV shows (opens in new tab) list on for size. There’s bound to be something there for you…

The post The Walking Dead season 9 poster reveals a brand-new, iconic location (and *that* helicopter) appeared first on Game News.