Sunday, November 25, 2018

The Walking Dead: Season 9 Episode 8 - Evolution (Discussion)

Hello friends and welcome back!  Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.  My family and I did which led to a very late night watching The Walking Dead!  So, as is becoming a tradition every season, I'm going to have to skip this recap and just open it up for group discussion!  I'll be all caught up by morning and we can chat in the comments.  See you next year for Season 9.2!

11 comments:

Mike V. said...

RIP Jesus. Clearly we weren't supposed to know (as a show watcher) that the whisperers were humans dressed as walkers. lol Even with knowing it was still eerie to watch the walker suddenly "wake up" and go to town on Jesus. I guess all of our theories of Jesus/Aaron getting together went down the drain (even though that is what happened on the comics) and as Thomas Payne mentioned on Talking Dead...after 6 years... there was probably something going on there.

Anyway...what on earth happened in these 6 years post RICK? I guess Michonne talking to Carol was supposed to clarify that time has just passed and they're all looking out for their own. But, it seems like something permanently scarred them all.

Funny with negan...I instinctively thought that he might lock himself back in the cell (like it was mentioned on TD happens in the commics)...but then he went out. I really hope they're planning for a different Negan tactic than what we've been accustomed to the past few years. Based on the scene from next episode (February 10th)...they seemed to hint he might have a soft spot for another kid. That was already hinted at with his interaction with Judith.

Creepy vibe was definitely off the charts in that final sequence. I agree with Kirkman that they're really hitting on that "scary" feeling more than they have in the past. We'll see if they keep it up!

The Henry story with the peer pressuring kids? painful to watch!

Sidenote: Still love that Daryl's dog's name is "DOG". lol

MJ said...

Haven't bee able to read your recap yet - been shopping LOl. Will go read now - just wanted to post my thoughts first.

OMG ! They killed Jesus ! Guress your long prophesized coupling will not occur Mike !

Even though I knew what the Whisperers were - still creeped me out. And di not know they sewed the skins on ! Ewwww.

But damn Fr Gabe - losing his shit with Negen - and left the cell open. And most of you are probably too young to get the shout out with Negen having a ball and throwing it in the cell - its from an old movie The Great Escape.

Daryl's face when he turned the herd and then they turned back was priceless.

Really want to know what Michonne has done to get such a frosty welcome. They even took their weapons. I could see from the newbies but from Michonne and Siddiq ? That is crazy.

And Henry - in trouble the first nigh mom leaves. I could care less about him.

I liked that Michonne took the newbies with her - though it was not really sensible since she didn't trust them supposedly.

Mike V. said...

My only recap is that comment above! lol (I was busy too. :))

Nope long prophesizing won't occur but I commented on that above! It's a divergence from comics.

I mentioned the same thing about Whisperers! Though you were the one that told me what they were! lol

Grrrrr GABE...yeah he messed up. Good call on The Great Escape. I know the movie, but did not catch the reference.

lol on Daryl's face...yeah. Crazy stuff.

Wondering same thing with Michonnne...but not sure if we were meant to think they covered it with her and Carol's conversation. I don't think so.

Agreed on Henry...(think we're on same page on whole episode)

Jason B. said...

Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I accidentally read a spoiler saying that Jesus was going to die. So I knew that your prediction of him and Aaron getting together wasn't going to work out too well haha. But you're right, they do eventually get together much later on in the comics (I'm 10 issues behind right now, and the last one I read they hadn't gotten together yet as far as I remember, so it was very recent).

I always hate when they kill comic characters off early in the show, but I guess after losing both Rick and Maggie this season it doesn't bother me as much. I was annoyed when I heard about it, but I'm kind of glad I got that out of the way so that I could appreciate how awesome of a death he had while watching the episode haha.

Jesus was severely underused in the show compared to his comic counterpart, and I guess that annoyed Tom Payne as much as (probably more than) it did many comic readers. I guess he didn't directly ask to be written off the show, but he'd understandably been very frustrated over the past couple seasons and the writers knew it. I feel like Angela Kang would have been willing to improve his character, so I'm not sure why she/they went with just killing him off instead. Tom definitely seems to be cool with it though, and he was very satisfied with the death he got.

Here's the interview where I got all of that from:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-tom-payne-exits-jesus-fate-explained-1163273

I find it funny that Jesus's situation completely mirrored Tom Payne's. Jesus was always stuck at Hilltop when he just wanted to be out fighting, just like Tom Payne wanted. You can see Jesus's disappointment when Daryl says "if anyone's staying behind it'll be me," and watching it again later it's like it's just Tom Payne reacting instead of the character haha.

I'm intrigued to find out what happened during the time jump, whatever it is definitely didn't occur in the comics. Some people pointed out that one of the trailer scenes shows Michonne with her old hair style, which may mean that we will get some flashbacks to it. Either way, we know we'll find out one way or another in the second half.

MJ said...

Ha ! Joke is on me - you didn't do the recap. LOL

Didn't know Jesus/Aaron was in the books though.

I know TD voted that he's gonna look for Lucille - but would they really keep that around ? What worries me is that Negen is on the loose and Michonne, Aaron and Siddiq are all away.

Since I didn't read the comics I can't comment on Jesus's usefulness - but yes they could have done more on the show with his character. he'd become a peacemaker between others in-fighting. maybe if they ever show what occurred during the 6 years they will have him back and he will get more to do.

Mike V. said...

Didn't we see Lucille a couple episodes ago? Granted that was 6 years ago. lol Yeah I have no idea. They might keep it to remember what they've lost. Good point on Negan being out and Alexandria being vulnerable. But with no followers how much power will he have?

I have heard that Jesus was underutilized from a show/comic comparison. But totally agree that when we were first introduced he was this stealthy ninja like weapon. And then we didn't get much of that. (Sorry you got spoiled Jason, but funny about knowing my predication was in doom!) Interesting background on Tom Payne and Jesus's paths. Yep, he got to be the one saving the group in the end this time.

Flashbacks would be a good way to fill in gaps. Hopefully, we get a Maggie appearance if they do that.

MJ said...

LOL - yes it was 6 years ago. Just read that Kang said in an interview that when the show comes back that we will def see some of what happened during the 6 years to inform how the characters are today. She specifically mentioned Michonne and Daryl as having some important/changing moments during that time.

Jason B. said...

Daryl seems about the same as when we left him at the end of episode 5 - walking off into the woods alone haha. But he does have the same X scar on his lower left back that Michonne has, so that's likely at the heart of the "changing moments."

Michonne told Negan that Lucille was just left laying out in the field where their final battle was (whether that's true or not), I don't think we actually saw it though did we?

Yeah I still enjoyed Jesus in the show for the most part, and definitely Tom Payne playing him. But it is unfortunate that he didn't get utilized much, especially since Tom had to train so much for only a handful of scenes.

Mike V. said...

Lucille - I'm pretty sure we saw the bat in that episode where Michonne opened up the episode taking her aggression out on some walkers at night. The bat was just lying there on the grass and the camera zoomed in on it as the opening credits started. But again..that was 6 years ago now on the show.

Agreed on Jesus....still a good character, but could've been a lot more.

Good point on the X scar being tied to whatever happened to cause the rift. I'm sure that's the case! (makes sense and lines up with what Kang mentioned about Daryl/Michonne in MJ's post)

Jason B. said...

Ooh okay, I remember being unsure about whether that was Lucille or not, but I was able to watch it later on with better lighting and it wasn't. I think the significance of Michonne's reaction was that she had just bashed the walker's head in with a bat and it reminded her of what Negan did. The blood on the top of the bat also resembled the barbed wire.

Mike V. said...

Yeah..that makes sense that it wasn't ACTUALLY Lucille, but just a reminder for that episode.