The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 9 Review

The Walking Dead

Rock in the Road

Season 7 Episode 9 Review

**SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW, EPISODE AND COMICS FOLLOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Generally when "The Walking Dead" returns from a mid-season hiatus, it hits on all cylinders.  Last year's mid-season premiere brought the demise of the entire Anderson family as well as Carl loosing his eye.  Two years ago brought the end of the lovable Tyreese in a truly shocking moment.  So when we came back again, we were expecting something equally huge to happen.

It didn't.

And that was alright, because it brought something more.  It brought hope to a hopeless world, and to a seemingly hopeless season.  The first half of season seven saw two beloved characters getting their brains bashed in in horrific style, followed by separate stories from our heroes, all subjugated by Negan's tyrannical rule.

Now everyone is back together, no longer willing slaves to Negan's Saviors, and ready to fight back.  Rick has gained his mojo again, and with his fellow survivors he's planning on taking down a seemingly impossible foe.

When the episode opens, Father Gabriel - who was on watch that night - is seen stealing supplies and food rations and getting in a car.  Before driving off we see another person in the car with him, which is more than likely the person seen at the end of the last half of the season spying on Alexandria.  It seemed like Father Gabriel was resorting to his old cowardly ways, but it seems he was taken under duress, but smart enough to leave a note and his Bible behind.

Rick and company are still at the Hilltop, trying in vain to convince Gregory to go to war with the Saviors.  Gregory is as cowardly and spineless as ever, yet trying to maintain a sense of superiority that everyone sees right through.  Giving up on him, they're about to leave when Enid stops them and tells them she rounded up some Hilltop colonists who are more than willing to go to war with Negan. 

Rick is worried about Alexandria, fearing Negan will go there when he finds out Daryl escaped, but Jesus shows them a Savior walkie, so they can listen in on any transmissions being made.  Jesus decides it's time for Rick to meet Ezekiel...King Ezekiel.  So they head to the Kingdom where Richard meets them on the outskirts of the community and takes them to have an audience with King Ezekiel.  We haven't seen the Kingdom since the second episode, and it was refreshing and humorous to see their completely outlandish way of surviving by pretending to be a part of a Medieval fair, and it really helped lighten the mood.

Before going to Ezekiel, they spot Morgan and they reunite, and Morgan tells them he found Carol and rescued her by killing a man, and tells them she left the community.  He didn't tell them by "left" he meant she lives a few miles away, because she didn't want anyone knowing where she was.

Jesus brings Rick and the others before King Ezekiel and SHIVA SHIVA SHIVA IS THERE OMG SHIVA IS AWESOME SHIVA IS LIFE I LOVE SHIVA I LOVE SHIVA...

Anyway, Rick meets King Ezekiel and his pet tiger SHIVA (in a very humorous running gag, when Jesus introduces them they're standing far back from the tiger, and Jesus tells them he forgot to mention that he had a tiger, the same thing Morgan told Carol when he brought her).  Morgan is also there and learns about Abraham, Glenn, Spencer and Olivia, but still believes going to war is a bad idea and it would be better to just capture Negan.  Ezekiel says he'll take Rick's plan into consideration, and Rick tells Ezekiel a story he heard as a child about a girl who was the only one in her kingdom to dig a rock in the road that kept hurting and killing people on their way to the kingdom, and once she dug it up she found a pile of gold on the inside that was left by the king, to show that whoever was brave enough to move the rock deserved a great reward.

As Ezekiel thinks about the offer, Benjamin goes into the woods and finds Carol, to make sure she's still safe.  He offers her food and water, and tells her that there's not many people left, and they need to help one another.  Carol gives her some of her own motherly advise - telling Benjamin he's terrible at stealth and will more than likely die on his own.  He asks if she'll die for being on her own, and you can just see her scoffing on the inside - this is Rambo Carol after all, who single-handedly took down an entire colony of cannibals.  We need that Carol back ASAP.

Ezekiel ponders his decision, and finally decides that the agreement he has with the Saviors - giving them supplies and in return they don't enter his land - is good enough and he doesn't want to risk open war.  However, he does agree to harbor Daryl since Negan's men won't step foot inside the Kingdom, and Rick leaves a begrudging Daryl behind in hopes of changing Ezekiel's mind.  How ironic that Carol - whom is Daryl's BFF - is also at the Kingdom.  I sure hope the two run into each other!

On their way back, Rick and his group find a Savior trap for Walkers, two cars connected by a thick wire with bombs attached to it.  Rosita instructs everyone on how to remove them without going off, and they manage to take a bunch of them before a whole herd of Walkers arrive.  At the same time Negan comes over the walkie instructing people to go to Alexandria to find Daryl, so Rick sends Jesus and Sasha on foot back to the Hilltop while he and Michonne hot wire the cars and then clothesline hundreds of Walkers with the wire between the cars (much like the opening scene of the movie "Ghost Ship").  This is easily the most amazing sequence I've seen in the series, and it was a pure delight to see Rick and Michonne again working together and literally mowing down hundreds of Walkers in a truly visually stunning way. 

The group makes it back to Alexandria as Negan's right hand man Simon arrives with other Saviors, demanding Daryl's return.  Rick tells them Daryl isn't there, and they still invade the town - and finds a completely empty pantry in the process - but no Daryl.  After they leave, Rick asks Aaron what happened, and he and Tobin tell him that Gabriel left in the night with the supplies.  Rosita - who seems to be gaining a huge attitude problem - immediately thinks the worst of Gabriel, but Rick isn't so sure.  Upon investigating he finds the Bible and a note Gabriel wrote with one word: "Boat."  Rick and Aaron know it's the boat they found supplies at earlier, and they - along with Michonne, Tara and Rosita - travel back to the boat house, where they're immediately ambushed by a gang of people with lots of guns and a fighting spirit, and Rick smiles as the episode ends.

As I said, certain mid-season premieres include a lot of death and heartbreak.  Since the entire first half of the season had those themes in spades, they decided to offer hope, rebellion and unity with the mid-season premiere, and to me it hit all the right notes, and makes me even more excited for the final seven episodes of the season as they prepare for All Out War.

The Score: A+