The Walking Dead:
The Complete Ninth Season review by Bobby Blakey
Since its debut on AMC in 2010, The Walking Dead has continued to entertain even some of the weaker seasons have managed to be better than most shows out there. With the show going into its tenth season it’s the perfect time to revisit the previous season and now Lionsgate Home Entertainment is bringing it home with The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season.
If you have never seen the series for some strange reason the show follows Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by the walking dead. Last season brought the culmination of “All Out War,” which pitted Rick Grimes and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their leader, Negan. With Negan’s life in his hands, Rick had a character-defining choice in front of him, and he spared Negan to uphold the values his late son, Carl, championed – values that created conflict within his group. Now, with our survivors rebuilding civilization under Rick’s leadership a year and a half after the end of the war, it’s a time of relative peace among the communities. However, the world they knew is rapidly changing, nature is literally taking over, and, as time passes, the communities confront unexpected obstacles and danger. But nothing can prepare them for the formidable force they’re about to encounter, threatening the very idea of civilization our survivors have worked so hard to build.
As with every season there are major losses and this season it no different. I admit that the last few seasons have been hit and miss for me, with last season kind of getting me back to it. My concern was if this new season could keep me interested and while it limped along for me at first I found the new threat more compelling than anything we have gotten in a long time and in turn dived right back in. Sure there are some slower episodes and the lighting is still awful in a lot of the episodes, but the good far outweighs the bad this time around. Knowing that some major characters were departing left me with some intrigue to how it would be handled and I can say I was bit disappointed.
The biggest one of the season that focuses on a player there since day one was about what I expected since they already announced that there would be some spin-off movies or something focusing on the character. The other major one that has been around for a long time seems to have just vanished. Not sure if I missed something but it seemed like they were there and then not. I’m sure this was to keep it open ended for them, but still felt like a cop out. I love the new big bad’s known as Whisperers most notably Sons of Anarchy alumni Ryan Hurst who is just all kinds of badass, but sadly not used enough.
The last two episodes of the season really stepped up its game with it not only offering up some big deaths both expected and unexpected, but also using this as a catalyst to jump the story ahead once again. As expected the show ends with another cliffhanger of sorts setting more mystery for the next season that has already been announced to be losing another regular. After where they went here I am back with interest peaked to see where they take the next season with all these changes across the board in story and character line-up.
In addition to the complete season this release offers up bonus content including multiple making-of featurettes, including a look at the memorable deaths of the season, deleted scenes, and a bonus scene. Step into the world of the undead again when The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.