The Walking Dead: Season 9 Blu-Ray Review
By Paul Rudoff on Aug. 27, 2019 at 11:35 PM in Home Video, Horror
The Walking Dead: Season 9 is the latest installment in the successful The Walking Dead franchise. How does it compare to previous seasons? Read on to find out...
Last season of The Walking Dead brought the culmination of "All Out War", which pitted Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of survivors against the Saviors and their leader, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). 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.
I've watched The Walking Dead since the very beginning, all the way back to October 31, 2010. I've stuck with it through the highs and the lows. I was brought to tears at the death of my beloved Beth (Emily Kinney), and the "Look at the Flowers" moment that came shortly after the passing of my dear friend, and fellow TWD fan, Doreen Mulman. I felt betrayed by the build up to Terminus, which turned out to be "much ado about nothing". I trudged through the seemingly never-ending "All Out War" with Negan and his Saviors. What turned out to be a highlight, just dragged on and on so much - and let's not look past that unnecessary cliffhanger - that I was ready to "check out" and stick with the new-and-improved Fear The Walking Dead. I stuck with the original series because I knew that Season 9 would bring some changes, but are they for the better or the worst?
It's no secret that the biggest change of the season was the exit of lead character Rick Grimes, who is literally taken out of the show in episode #5. That episode also features the infamous six-year time jump, which acts as a soft reboot for the series. Little Judith is now a gun-toting tween, the communities are even more separated, Maggie Greene-Rhee has gone for a walkabout so actress Lauren Cohan could make the failed ABC series Whiskey Cavalier, and our band of do-gooders have a new enemy in the form of the Walker-skin-wearing Whisperers.
I'm not entirely fazed by the removal of Rick. Sure, I liked the character, but the series has such an overabundance of characters that losing some here and there (even one of the leads) doesn't diminish the series. The same for Maggie, though I'm sure she'll be back since Lauren Cohan needs a job again. The standout changes of the time jump is the husband/wife relationship between Ezekiel and Carol, and the cute badassness of Judith. These changes were the ones that kept me watching through the season. It sure wasn't the Whisperers, whom I found incredibly boring. Had our heroes not been such "goodie goodies" and just given back the Whisperers member they're trying to "save", they wouldn't even be in the situation they are in now and the Whisperers would have gone away to continue doing their own thing.
The Walking Dead is set to come back for a tenth season this October. While I will definitely watch it, I kinda hope they wrap it up after this season. The series has kinda grown rather tiring to sit through. Let Fear carry the mantle from here on.
The five-disc set includes all 16 episodes of the season that aired on the AMC channel from October 7, 2018 through March 31, 2019.
DISC 1:
01. A New Beginning (58:35)
02. The Bridge (45:02)
03. Warning Signs (45:45)
04. The Obliged (44:30)
DISC 2:
05. What Comes After (45:19)
06. Who Are You Now? (54:25)
07. Stradivarius (43:54)
08. Evolution (44:09)
DISC 3:
09. Adaptation (51:06)
10. Omega (45:52)
11. Bounty (41:54)
12. Guardians (44:20)
DISC 4:
13. Chokepoint (40:49)
14. Scars (45:24)
15. The Calm Before (57:43)
DISC 5:
16. The Storm (46:23)
The Walking Dead: Season 9 is presented in its original 1.78:1 (16:9) aspect ratio. On the audio side, there's English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Stereo, and French 2.0 Dolby Stereo tracks. Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, and French. The first print run includes a slipsleeve.
All of the bonus features can be found on Disc 5, except for the audio commentaries, which are on the discs with the related episodes, of course.
- Audio Commentary on "What Comes After" (Disc 2) - Features showrunner/executive producer Angela King, executive producer/writer Scott Gimple, and co-executive producer/writer Matt Negrete.
- Audio Commentary on "Stradivarius" (Disc 2) - Features director Michael Cudlitz and executive story editor/writer Vivian Tse.
- Audio Commentary on "The Calm Before" (Disc 4) - Features co-executive producer/writer Corey Reed, staff writer Geraldine Inoa, actor Khary Payton (Ezekiel), and actor Avi Nash (Siddiq).
- Audio Commentary on "The Storm" (Disc 5) - Features executive producer Denise Huth, co-executive producer/writer Matt Negrete, actor Melissa McBride (Carol), and actor Seth Gilliam (Father Gabriel).
- Seasons of Change (8:03) - How the seasons and the weather are explored in season nine.
- In Memoriam (10:36) - A remembrance of the characters who died in season nine, and the actors who portrayed them.
- The Whisperers: Behind the Mask (10:38) - The new bad guys are discussed.
- Rick Farewell (4:14) - An exploration of Andrew Lincoln's work on the series.
- Time Jump (3:00) - The season's six year leap forward is discussed.
- Deleted Scenes (10:15) - Includes these seven generically-named scenes: "Ep 903 Scene #10", "Ep 903 Scene #11", "Ep 903 Scene #17", "Ep 903 Scene #22", "Ep 903 Scene #23", "Ep 908 Bonus Scene", and "Ep 914 Deleted Scene".
- Inside Episode... (3 to 5 minutes each) - Recaps and story insights for each episode.
- Making Of... (2 to 5 minutes each) - Filmmaking insights for each episode.
The Walking Dead: Season 9 is available on Blu-ray and DVD. If you don't own any of the previous seasons, you can buy them all at Amazon.
Images used come from AMC.com's Season 9 Gallery (covers episodes 1-8 only), which has been re-uploaded to The Corner Penthouse Facebook page. This item has been provided by Lionsgate for review on this site.
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