The Walking Dead: The Storm (9x16)

That was not at all the episode I thought I was going to get, and I am 100% not complaining about it.

Cons:

I thought the Negan stuff was maybe a little bit on the nose. They're maybe making him too redeemed? I don't know. I have a lot to praise about Jeffrey Dean Morgan's performance, but the whole scenario felt like it was designed just for him to do something obvious that would make people hate him less.

This is a small note, but I was a little unclear on how much time passed after the Whisperer's attack, before the Kingdom was forced to evacuate. I think it was a couple of months? Not a huge deal in the scheme of things, but I would have liked a bit more clarity on how long they'd all been at the Kingdom after the tragedy occurred.

Pros:

Where to start? This episode did such a smart thing. I was expecting a big confrontation between the Whisperers and our heroes, and instead what I got was an episode where they were battling the elements, and dealing with their trauma. The Whisperers have migrated away, and obviously we can't be done with them at this point, but for now, the focus is on other things. That was such an intelligent thing to do. I usually don't trust this show to make smart decisions about the pacing, so I was delighted by what happened here.

Our story is split into two groups. Let's start with Alexandria - basically, it's freezing, so the gang decides they need to huddle together in a few key locations to share heat. Negan has to be released from his cage so he doesn't freeze to death. Judith ends up going out into the blizzard to find Dog, who Daryl asked her to watch. Negan runs after Judith and finds her, saving her and Dog both. He sustains an injury to his leg, and he and Michonne end the episode with a nice chat.

I've talked about how Judith is a bit annoying, but lately she's been acting more and more like a kid, and I'm really enjoying that. Of course she would run off into the snow to look for Dog, without thinking through the ramifications. And despite the somewhat contrived scenario, I also believe that Negan would run after her. His affection for Judith is genuine, despite everything he's done over the years.

I also like that Negan is just so delighted to be around people. He's fascinated by Rosita's baby drama, he cracks a lot of jokes, and he's even able to have a civil and somewhat kind conversation with Michonne there at the end. I understand that Negan might be irredeemable in most people's eyes, and that includes my own, but I do appreciate the attention that's going in to this character. It makes sense that when you've been left locked up alone for so long, you would crave companionship enough to take a serious look at your life choices, and try to make better ones moving forward.

I also just liked the concept of this episode - there aren't any evil people at the gates shouting their threats, there isn't a hoard of Walkers about to destroy their shelter. The bad guy is just a snow storm, and yet the threat of the weather becomes very real very quickly. We see it within the protective shelter of Alexandria, and of course we see it much more with the other half of the episode, which takes place en route to Hilltop, with the evacuated community of the Kingdom.

I'm always impressed when they manage to find a new way to make the Walkers scary. This week, we have Walkers poking up out of the snowbanks and grabbing at people's ankles, and we also have just the unavoidable fact that visibility is poor during the storm, so shapes of Walkers keep looming up out of the snow with little warning. Very scary! I kept waiting for the ice to crack when they were crossing that river... that would have sucked so much.

The two main stories going on with the characters during this treacherous journey are both so incredibly amazing.

First, you've got poor Lydia who blames herself for everything that's happened. We see how far she's fallen when she nearly commits suicide via Walker, and then later when she tries to convince Carol to kill her, in order to protect everyone else. The moment that just cut me to the quick is when Lydia talks about being weak, and that's what finally breaks through to Carol and allows her to have empathy for this girl that she at least partially blames for Henry's death. Carol was abused by her first husband Ed, and Lydia was abused by her mother. The two of them have a connection in this moment as survivors, and Carol's strength in helping Lydia is something that I think we'll see build into the next season. Lydia is a really fascinating character. I'm more interested in her than I have been in a new character on The Walking Dead in a very, very long time.

And speaking of long-standing characters... Carol/Daryl! I'm aliiiive! I can't believe this. I've got to tell you, it took me a very long time to be okay with the idea of Carol/Ezekiel, but I did get there eventually. But the operative word is "okay." I liked seeing Carol embrace the whimsy of the life Ezekiel offered. He was a good tonic to her darkness and depression in a time when she needed it, and he helped to pull her out of her shell. But I never really felt a big connection to them as a couple, not the way I did with Michonne and Rick, or Glenn and Maggie. It was... fine. It was... okay. And I liked that we were still seeing the abiding love and devotion between Carol and Daryl, even if it never went anywhere more than that.

To be clear, it hasn't gone anywhere more than that, at least not yet. But we've got Ezekiel asking Daryl to back down, we've got Carol and Daryl basically deciding to co-parent Lydia, we've got Daryl asking "what do you see when you look at me?" which was just... oh man I'm living for it. I understand that Carol is deep in her grief over losing Henry, and that this is a big part of why Ezekiel and Carol have broken up. But I think the most telling part of this story thread for me was when Carol said that her time with Ezekiel had been a fairy-tale. That's not the same thing as saying that it was wrong or fake... but it wasn't Carol's ultimate reality, and I cannot wait to find out if that ultimate reality is Daryl. Please, I beg of you. I would have been cool with Daryl/Connie developing romantically, and obviously a not-so-secret part of me will always wonder what might have been with Daryl and Aaron, but if we're talking a realistic relationship that might actually come to fruition after years of loving each other and surviving impossible odds... please. Give me all the Caryl. I'm living for it.

I thought I knew what I was getting with this episode before it started, but instead we get the delightful sight of Michonne, Aaron, Daryl, and Carol playing with Lydia and the youngsters. It's precious, it's light-hearted, it's a reminder of what they're all fighting for. And we're seeing that despite the deep trauma of what the Whisperers have done, the people have taken Siddiq's speech to heart. They're coming together instead of falling apart. I'm actually pretty hopeful that I'll enjoy whatever's coming in Season Ten. Especially with the intriguing promise of that voice on the radio... Maggie? Jadis/Anne? Someone unknown? I'm excited to find out!

9/10