‘The Walking Dead’ mid-season premiere recap: We can make it
Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 9, "Rock in the Road." To read our recap of Episode 8, click here.
Well, it’s a start.
After opening its seventh season with a run of over-long, graphically violent and generally painful episodes, The Walking Dead returns with a renewed sense of energy and -- dare I say it -- fun. All it took was clotheslining a bunch of zombies. And keeping Negan almost entirely out of the episode.
“Rock in the Road” finds our heroes back together, organizing for the fight against the Saviors, which we are all quite ready to be rid of. But it’s clear that The Walking Dead is a much more exciting and gratifying show to watch when Rick and the rest are active in their pursuit of survival, not passively taking abuse. The show suffered when the heroes suffered, and now that they’re ready for war, we’re ready for the new direction the show is going to take us in.
My kingdom for an ally
Hey Gregory and Ezekial, couldn’t you guys bend a little bit? The first step on the journey to destroying Negan is putting together an army, and Rick makes the case in front of the two communities he knows are also subjugated by the Saviors (that all-women community Tara found hasn’t popped up again). Gregory obviously said no, but our little go-getter Enid managed to rally a few supporters. Jesus, meanwhile, decides it’s time to inform them all of the existence of the Kingdom.
In the land of the tiger and the Fallout cosplay, everyone is reunited with Morgan, although he doesn't really help them in their bid to get the Kingdom on Team Kill All the Saviors. He helps convince King Ezekial to stay out of it and preserve the peace they have, even though the King's own people (Richard and Benjamin) want to fight. Daryl sticks around so he won't be found out by the Saviors which oh-so-conveniently places him near Carol and in a place to help convince Ezekiel to pick up the fight.
Speaking of Carol, she's still chilling on her own, and still the object of Ezekiel's interest. She didn't get to do much this episode but goodness, is it good to see her, even for a brief scene with Benjamin of all people.
Lady dynamite
Who knew The Walking Dead could find new material in a setting they've used so many times before? Our survivors have been up against a herd on a highway so many times over the course of the show, but somehow there was a fresh take on the action and a visually exciting sequence. On this particular stretch of highway, the group comes upon a blockade, complete with explosives, the Saviors have set up to deal with herds. They steal the explosives (thanks to Rosita's handy military background) but not before an actual herd comes along. Since the Saviors had strung steel cable in between two cars, Rick and Michonne hotwire them and use them to clothesline the entire herd of zombies and miraculously save everyone (as usual).
Even the characters realize how uncanny this particular escape was, as they sit drenched in sweat. Michonne, our new queen of positivity, tells Rick "we can make it." And hey, it's hard not to believe her.
Meet the neighbors
Back at Alexandria, all is not totally well. The Saviors show up looking for Daryl and, naturally, break things and threaten people, and discover a completely empty store room. You'll recall that in the episode's cold open, a very stressed Gabriel steals all the food and a bunch of weapons and heads out in a car, with a very creepy person in the back seat. The Alexandrians suspect this is what happened (minus the stranger), but Rick doesn't want to believe it. He finds a note Gabriel left, "boat," and concludes he's at the houseboat where he and Aaron found the supplies in the first place. Of course, everyone goes off right away (although Aaron's beau does not want him to) and they end up surrounded by a huge group of people with very pointy weapons. And Rick? Rick smiles.
Does he know them? Does he think he can win them over? Is he just happy to see other people who aren't the Saviors? Who knows, but at least he's in a good mood. We like the upward momentum of the show so far.
Scroll through photos from Season 7 below.
