The title of the episode said it all. What happened, what’s going on? That’s how most viewers probably felt throughout tonight’s premier episode.
The episode started off with random flashbacks of old settings, and pictures of two African American kids, while someone’s funeral was happening. Then we were put in the present where Rick, Michonne, Tyreese, Glenn, and Noah were on their way to Richmond, Virginia to find the walled neighborhood where Noah used to live, while the rest of the group remained behind.
When Rick and the others got there, it was raided. The walls were down, and there were quite a few walkers wandering around. When Rick, Glenn, and Michonne split to scour the place for any leftover supplies, an emotional Noah led Tyreese to his old house where Tyreese found photos of Noah’s family.
While looking at the pictures, a walker snuck up on Tyreese and bit the ‘Gentle Giant’ on his forearm. Noah killed the walker and ran to get Rick’s helps.
From there on, the episode was focused on a wounded Tyreese. Throughout the episode, Tyreese was imagining all the people he encountered but the ones who were dead now, such as Martin of Terminus, Lizzie, Mika, Bob, Beth, and even The Governor. Basically, each of those dead characters were trying to tell Tyreese that the end was near.
Meanwhile, Rick and the others were informed about Tyreese’s bite, so they came to the rescue and chopped off his arm to stop the infection from spreading. Noah, Rick, Michonne, and Glenn dragged Tyreese to their car to try and take him back to the rest of the group to save him, but during their trip back, Rick stopped the car to pull an already dead Tyreese out.
This episode was obviously fixated on Tyreese. The flashbacks from the beginning of the episode were Tyreese’s imaginations. He was thinking about all the places he went and all the people he met. Essentially, after he was bit, he was fighting within himself to either stay alive or give up and die. In the end, he was indeed fighting for his life, but it was too late. The infection had already spread, and we lost yet another beloved character.
The episode was very strange, but it was Tyreese’s story. It was trying to show us the type of character he was, and the different type of things he had to go through during the apocalypse.
The Walking Dead is never afraid to kill off popular characters, and tonight was no exception. The episode was a tad slow, but the story was very dark and mysterious.
Episode 9 – Overall Grade: 7.5/10