The Walking Dead season 9, episode 9 recap: Adaptation

The Walking Dead season nine midseason premiere started off with a bang, er whisper, presenting new obstacles for the group.

The Walking Dead is finally back to its roots after struggling to appease fans over the last couple of seasons. It may not be entirely back to its original form, but it has made great strides in getting there. With the introduction of season nine’s Big Bad, The Whisperers, things are about to get crazy.

After escaping the grasp of the Whisperers back at the cemetery, Daryl, Michonne, and Eugene made their way back home with Jesus’ dead body in tow. Meanwhile, back at Alexandria, there is a slight problem that everyone else is unaware of–Negan is free. In the dark of the night, Negan walks around the community taking in all the changes that have occurred while he’s been locked away. He’s intrigued to find a tomato to chomp down on and then silently creeps into Judith’s room and steals her compass.

He doesn’t get too far before Judith catches him trying to jump the wall. Can I just say that little Judith went from an invisible character to one of the most badass characters of the series?  She proves this when she aims a gun at Negan telling him he has to come down or else. Eventually, she lets him go after he promises to not hurt anyone, even if they hurt him and threatens to shoot him if he tries to come again. Total badass.

Tara began to worry about the group and sent out people to go looking for them unbeknownst to the fact they were heading back towards the Hilltop. Also, we have no idea why Daryl and Michonne have those “X” scars on their back but they alluded to it during a conversation. Wonder what that was all about? Once again, they are bombarded with The Walking Dead Whisperers mixed in with some real walkers.

The group managed to take them all down and took one of them, a young girl, as a hostage. She didn’t answer any of their questions and before they were attacked again, it was decided she would come with them. This is definitely not going to end well!

Meanwhile, Negan enjoyed his newfound freedom as he took in the sun and nature all around him. Unfortunately for him, he managed to lose his supplies and then got sick when he tried to drink water from the lake. Side note: During Talking Dead, executive producer Greg Nicotero pointed out a huge Easter Egg in the scene where Negan is kneeling and vomiting. It was in the same spot that Abraham and Glenn were murdered by him as they were kneeling. Crazy, right?

Ultimately, Negan’s journey led him to the Sanctuary which he found in ruins. He went with the hope that things would be as they were, but when he realized everything was different, he knew where he had to go–back to Alexandria. After arriving back at Hilltop, everyone tries to question the girl but she’s fairly useless in providing any information. Michonne decided to go to Alexandria to let them know about the Whisperers while Daryl was left to “handle” the girl if necessary.

Speaking of The Walking Dead curveballs, while Rosita was taking care of Eugene at the infirmary, he tries to confess his love for her once again. But before he can finish his thoughts, Rosita runs outside to throw up. Hmmm, pregnancy anyone? Yes, she is indeed pregnant–with Siddiq’s child. They messed around before she was with Gabriel and now, she’s expecting.

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In the cell, Henry started to strike up a friendship with the Whisperer girl and stood up for her when Daryl began berating her. It was all part of Daryl’s plan, however, because he wanted to get more information out of the girl but the only way he could think of was through Henry. Eventually, the girl revealed her name–Lydia. If you’ve read the comics, you know exactly who she is.

As Negan makes his way back to Alexandria on a motorcycle, he’s thrown off course when Judith shoots at him from a distance. Hey, she did say that she would shoot him if he came back. She came around to the idea that he wanted to be in the cell again, but what would come of that is yet to be seen.

One of the teams that Tara sent out to look for Daryl and Co. were Luke and Alden who had no idea the group had safely returned. Instead, they started following a path of arrows that Luke believed were left behind by Yumiko. But spoiler alert, it wasn’t her that left them–it was the Whisperers. The trail of arrows eventually led them to a clearing where they heard walkers nearby. But one guess as to who it really was, yup, you got it.

Luke and Alden began to notice that the walkers stopped doing their walker thing and stood in complete silence surrounding them. The Walking Dead midseason premiere ends on an epic note as one of the Whisperers aka Alpha (ahhh finally!) comes running up to the two men and says, “Trail ends here.”

The Walking Dead airs every Sunday on AMC at 9 PM EST!