The Walking Dead | Season 9 | Episode 1 | A New Beginning [AMC] [SPOILERS]

NUTZZ

:: The Walking Dead - Season 9 Premiere ::

Episode 1 - "A New Beginning"

Airdate - October 7th on AMC at 9/8c | October 8th on FOX UK at 9PM

Rick and his group make a risky run to D.C. in search of tools they need to build a new world.

* This is an extended 86 minute episode (including commercials)

Season Promo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlwj05R9Jo

Episode Promo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWJhcetqzo8

NUTZZ

5

Season 9 Episode 1 | Opening scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu_1CleK7Fo

Early reviews

Early critical reception for the ninth season of The Walking Dead has been generally positive, with critics noting its improvement over the two previous seasons, but remain cautious if the series can maintain its improved quality for the entire season. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 72 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Reviewing the season premiere, Sarah Moran of Screen Rant wrote the episode "feels like the fresh start the series so desperately needs, trading grim wartime for a more peaceful period of growth and reflection" and praised the changes made by new showrunner Angela Kang. Erik Kain of Forbes called the first episode "the best episode since season 6 and better than many in that season as well."

Brandon Davis of Comicbook.com wrote a highly positive review based on the first three episodes, praising the more character-driven narrative. In another review from Comicbook.com, Cameron Bonomolo also praised the first three episodes of the season, writing, "The Walking Dead is now a political drama viewed through the lens of a zombie apocalypse, turning greater focus to more complex character-driven conflict that is at its strongest since the Frank Darabont-led first season." Bonomolo also called the third episode "jaw-dropping" and that it "delivers some of the finest mystery and drama the show has ever seen in its eight-year run." Jeff Stone of IndieWire wrote a positive review based on the first three episodes and gave them an "A-" grade. He called season 9 a "huge step up for the show" and that the episodes "are as strong as anything the show's done since the heyday of Season 4.

NUTZZ

5

The new opening credits for Season 9!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahqnJkoPf0

Agent Coulson

It's out there in the wild.

Sudden Valley

its an okay opener - some over the top set pieces but some grand work laid for conflicts between the main characters.

ED E

Agent Coulson wrote: »

It's out there in the wild.

Fo shur?

jonon9

Its that time of year again, Heres hoping its gonna be a good season.

thefishone

4

ED E wrote: »

Fo shur?

just watching it.

Agent Coulson

ED E wrote: »

Fo shur?

Ye watched it this morning.

MaxyJazz

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Ye watched it this morning.

Where did you watch it ! Pm if you can’t put up the link here please

fritzelly

7

Well hello Maggie! We are Maggie. This is gonna be interesting.

jonon9

Lets see it wasnt a great opener but it was ok the Maggie plot should be interesting.

TerrorFirmer

Was only OK but to be fair, yards better than any of the crap that was the previous season. Thank god, seems to be a renewed focus on the walker threat. Please god don't let it fizzle out into more petty internal politics no one gives a crap about.

unkel

You're all a bunch of masochists

I watched and enjoyed the first season. Then I watched the first ep of the second season. Twice - just to make sure. I just had to conclude that the same thing was happening over and over again.

Is there any reason why I should start watching it again?

endacl

unkel wrote: »

You're all a bunch of masochists

I watched and enjoyed the first season. Then I watched the first ep of the second season. Twice - just to make sure. I just had to conclude that the same thing was happening over and over again.

Is there any reason why I should start watching it again?

Because the same thing will happen again, and you liked it?

unkel

That's why I stopped watching after I struggled through the start of the second season. It was the same as the first season. So is there any compelling reason to keep at it, or are all 9 seasons just the same thing happening over and over again?

NUTZZ

5

Poll added

brianregan09

5

Spoilers inbound , So pathetic that it took this long to kill Gregory such a threat to them , delighted he was finally , also I know this seems silly but why wasn't sanctuary shut down if its such a drain on resources and put them all to work , seems the obvious thing to do, there just doing the same thing now but under no threat (ie feeding the saviors at a cost to themselves)

2 Scoops

6

Dialogue was a bit better, Daryl actually had complete sentences! Think there's a new producer

Collie D

Can anybody explain the need to take the farming tools from the museum? OK, maybe I can accept the plough even though there must be plenty lying around abandoned including more modern ones. But why the unnecessary risk with the wagon?

Actually no. I can't even get my head around the plough.

Nice little twist at the end which could bode well for the future but I'm only watching to see how it ends at this stage. The reviews in an earlier post do give me some hope but I'm not sure I care any more whether it improves. I just want to see a resolution.

Unearthly

Collie D wrote: »

Can anybody explain the need to take the farming tools from the museum? OK, maybe I can accept the plough even though there must be plenty lying around abandoned including more modern ones. But why the unnecessary risk with the wagon?

Actually no. I can't even get my head around the plough.

Nice little twist at the end which could bode well for the future but I'm only watching to see how it ends at this stage. The reviews in an earlier post do give me some hope but I'm not sure I care any more whether it improves. I just want to see a resolution.

I think we will all be looking like walking dead rotten corpses before this show ends. AMC are quite bullish this show is in their long term planning

fritzelly

7

Because farm machinery needs diesel and they don't have..oh wait...nope no reason but adds some suspense to the first episode
Thought the exact same thing about the wagon - why??? Unless I missed something about petrol/diesel degradation being mentioned which would be very real by now.
Actually the more I think about it that is the way they are going, by now petrol would be pretty much useless ergo the horses which have never really been used before now.

bazz26

I'd say there were not too many old style horse drawn ploughs or wagons knocking around, hence why they raided the museum. Season 9 is set about 2 years after season 8 and as said, resources such as, gasoline and diesel that run modern machines have become scarce or none existent. Vehicles break down or seize and the ability to repair them becomes harder as time goes on. Power is gone because there is no fuel to generate it, technology from the last 100 years or so is either degraded/broken or useless. They are going back to basics around surviving and being self sustaining by using the likes of horses for transport, windmills, etc. Necessity is the mother of invention.

w/s/p/c/

6

7/10 for me, solid start with a bit of promise.

About time that snake Gregory got what was coming to him. Great to see Daryl get more dialogue as someone previously mentioned. You just knew that the kid was going to die when he was saying he wanted to be taken on as an apprentice.

Would love to see more of it set in Washington, but that maybe the only time we see them in the urban setting. Knowing what we know about Rick (anyone see the ad Fox ran before the show? Would totally ruin it if you were not in the know about AL departing) and Maggie and what's coming down the line for their characters, really eager to see where they go after Maggie showing her ruthless streak at the end of the episode.

Scraggs

That ridiculous wagon... should have just left it and brought the plough.
Honestly hated the episode. Hate the King and Carol together. Hate Michonne and Rick. Hate the noob red shirts.
Just can't understand why the sanctuary people weren't dispersed and integrated into the other communities.
I'm not sure what I was expecting tbh but it wasn't this.

Cantona's Collars

The kids death wasn't done well at all,a big panic over a dozen or so walkers that the group are dab hands at dispatching with ease,4 of them got rid of all the walkers when they were trying to save Ken as he lay on the ground.
Nice to see the end of that weasel on Hilltop though.
The upcoming row over the bridge looks to be a pointless plot device, judging by the building work going on in the settlements they seem to have people that are capable of repairs on it using timber so well planed that they must have a fecking sawmill.
I still keep watching despite these obvious annoyances.

Utopia Parkway

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

The kids death wasn't done well at all,a big panic over a dozen or so walkers that the group are dab hands at dispatching with ease,4 of them got rid of all the walkers when they were trying to save Ken as he lay on the ground.

Wasn't a bad episode compared to some in the last couple seasons but that part did annoy me. A mad panic over what looked like about 15 walkers out in the open. With the amount of them there they should have been able to dispatch them all with ease. Instead they freak out and abandon some of their stuff and the kid goes back to free the horse.

Ezekiel and Carol together was a bit weird. I can only imagine this means one of them is going to be killed later in the season.

The Talking Bread

Can someone explain to me was the season premiere brought forward a week and why? ? It was originally meant to air on the 14th?

EDIT, ah I see, it premiered at Comic Con.

Was that a surprise airing?

Never seen a big show do that before

The Talking Bread

Scraggs wrote: »

That ridiculous wagon... should have just left it and brought the plough.
Honestly hated the episode. Hate the King and Carol together. Hate Michonne and Rick. Hate the noob red shirts.
Just can't understand why the sanctuary people weren't dispersed and integrated into the other communities.
I'm not sure what I was expecting tbh but it wasn't this.

see you next week!

ebbsy

7

I thought it was a good episode.

That Negan arc should have been played out over one season, not 2 though.

fritzelly

7

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Can someone explain to me was the season premiere brought forward a week and why? ? It was originally meant to air on the 14th?

All promos for it said the 7th

The Talking Bread

fritzelly wrote: »

All promos for it said the 7th

Fair enough, not sure where I got October 14th from?

Bit peeved as I have a week off this week and could have streamed it Sunday night!
Still nothing huge happened and Gregory's residency at The Hilltop was ridiculous at this stage so no big shock what happened to him

paw patrol

i was upset Ezekiel didn't get eaten alive :mad: and I'll miss Gregory.

As a character I thought he was one of the best

bear1

Ehh... the cgi of the birds, jaysus.
It was an ok episode but i can see why it got the lowest rating for an opener.
It was fairly boring all things considered and these flash forwards are kinda annoying.
Looking forward to Negan coming back.

The Talking Bread

bear1 wrote: »

Ehh... the cgi of the birds, jaysus.
It was an ok episode but i can see why it got the lowest rating for an opener.
It was fairly boring all things considered and these flash forwards are kinda annoying.
Looking forward to Negan coming back.

Meh, I'm not. I know they are trying to stay true to the comics re Negan and

I anticipate his time is going to be short once Rick dies

but it is ridiculous that he wasn't killed.

Mr E

7

I gave up on last season about 5 episodes in.

I watched the first one this season and liked it. I'll give it a few more and see how it goes.

FreudianSlippers

6

New showrunner on Talking Dead making mostly all the right noises about her vision for the show going forward - not slamming the previous seasons (she's been a writer for years anyway) but definitely addressing what I've considered to be a lot of the problems; they won't be solved in one episode, even though I do believe this was a soft reboot, but definitely an improvement IMHO.

Riskymove

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

and the kid goes back to free the horse.

jaysus they really see their audience as morons I think

The kid has a large machete and there is one walker near the wagon.....kill walker with machete?.....nope he'll just cut the rope and wave his arm around in front of the walker

Blazer

Riskymove wrote: »

jaysus they really see their audience as morons I think

The kid has a large machete and there is one walker near the wagon.....kill walker with machete?.....nope he'll just cut the rope and wave his arm around in front of the walker

I turned it off after that, same old cliched crap. I think I’m done with it until the season is over and see how it goes.
I’m watching new shows at the moment and I’ve to watch the wire yet .

uncleoswald

6

Cautiously optimistic.

Riskymove

Blazer wrote: »

and I’ve to watch the wire yet .

Do it.....NOW!!

Reggie.

Riskymove wrote: »

Do it.....NOW!!

On my list also

Banjaxed82

1

It needed more scenes were 2 people were talking...and talking...and talking.

That wagon scene were your man dies was such lazy writing. This far into a zombie apocalypse and someone is picked off by a tiny hoard while trying to help a horse. Oh Fook off.

Same sh!te.

DoozerT6

Glad to see the group out of the woods for some of the episode anyway. It was a nice difference to see an urban setting again, as opposed to the two stretches of road they seem to use for every outside scene, with the occasional gas station or one-horse town thrown in for good measure. It showed the time lapse too thankfully, with the obvious dirt and deterioration of the cars and general surroundings outside the museum.

Ken dying was a bit forced but I guess it was the catalyst for the rest of the storyline. Could have been done in more dramatic fashion though.

I like how they'll occasionally throw in a scene where the group see how others have (unsuccessfully) tried to shelter or escape from the walkers. There had clearly been people living/sheltering in the museum when society had broken down, all now walkers unless some escaped during an attack and closed the doors behind them. I always remember the scene in I think, S5 where Maggie hears noises from an abandoned car boot, and opens it to find a woman (now a walker obvs), bound and gagged in the boot. I mean, wtf happened there? We never found out. We were left to just imagine. There were others throughout the seasons that they came upon while on runs. There was an entire family in either S1 or S2 that they came upon in a house that had died by murder/suicide. It's just a little reminder that there are other ordinary people out there trying to survive, outside of our main groups. Anyway, I digress....

Not a bad start. There was unmistakably a different tone to this episode, and hopefully the season to come.

topmanamillion

Abysmal season opener.
The writing is so lazy. When Ezeikel went through the glass there was zero danger he was going to be killed. You knew they just weren`t going to kill off a main character like that. They stopped doing that kind of entertaining stuff about 6 or 7 years ago.

The whole walking across the glass floor with carts, boats and ploughs was just comical and had zero sense of risk. By the end of the scene every character must have walked back and forth across the creaking glass at least 3 times, sweaty brows, aerial shots of walkers and tense music ad nauseum.

Similar to the series as a whole, the biggest problem with this scene was you are left with so many questions and obvious plotholes.
Why did they need to bring the plough et al with them? Could their blacksmith not have come too and made some sketches and notes?
Those seeds they took from the museum would be around 5-6 years old, its highly unlikely they`d still be viable.

I gave up watching it properly about 2 seasons back. I`m still well able to keep up with the storylines which says a lot.
Killing off peripheral characters in cliched and lazy ways while main characters dodge death in elaborate scenarios got boring a long time ago.

Also, Gabriel looks like a caricature of his original character. One of the many "main" characters who`s purpose ended seasons ago but are still around as completely failed metaphors for morality in the post apocalyptic world.

charlietheminxx

2

I didn't enjoy last season much and didn't get around to watching this until Wednesday. My other half, who used to be a massive fan, was less than enthusiastic to give it another shot. After the episode, he declared I'm on my own from this point out, which is fair enough really. I'll stick out the season as I've watched it from the beginning and I want to see how they get rid of Rick. It's a shame to see how poor it's gotten in the last couple of years though, the tension has been sucked out of it and once interesting group dynamics have become overplayed and bland. Hopefully it will pick up a bit from the opener.

Dial Hard

fritzelly wrote:

Because farm machinery needs diesel and they don't have..oh wait...nope no reason but adds some suspense to the first episode Thought the exact same thing about the wagon - why??? Unless I missed something about petrol/diesel degradation being mentioned which would be very real by now. Actually the more I think about it that is the way they are going, by now petrol would be pretty much useless ergo the horses which have never really been used before now.

They addressed this in the show - they've scavenged all the accessible fuel they can reach and can't produce enough biofuel for their needs.

It was still ****e, though.

storker

5

paw patrol wrote: »

i was upset Ezekiel didn't get eaten alive

I thought his number was surely up because it was very like a scene from The Day After Tomorrow.

The situation with Sanctuary is crazy. Instead of being leeched at gunpoint for supplies, Rick & co are volunteering. Sanctuary should have been emptied out and the surviving saviours executed or split up between the three productive settlements.

I was getting Fallout 3 flashback backs from the museum in Washington...but even so, I can't figure out why they didn't bring the plough down one side of the steps and either pass it over the bannister, avoiding the glass completely, or onto the glass at the bottom and then a sharp right off it again.

I know, I know...anyway, this episode was an improvement, I think. Can't expect too much too soon, but it was OK enough to stick with for a while longer.

TinCool

6

I'm only still watching it as I've watched it from the beginning. I liken it to brushing my teeth. Something that needs to be done which you are indifferent in doing.

quickbeam

Just watching this now. Remind me please: why can't Maggie go back to Alexandria?

The Talking Bread

quickbeam wrote: »

Just watching this now. Remind me please: why can't Maggie go back to Alexandria?

Well being within and having her child within spitting distance of her husband's killer may be reason!