TV Guide

Sunday

Nov 11, 2018 at 10:20 PM


It's rare to have an episode of The Walking Dead as packed with story as this week's, but "Who Are You Now?" was something like a pilot episode for The Walking Dead: Six Years Gone, a new sequel series where Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Judith (Cailey Fleming) have replaced Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) and guns are a thing of the past, so it had a lot of plot to set up. And I mean a lot.

Here's a run-down of a few things that happened: A new group of survivors led by Magna (Nadia Hilker) -- who's sort of like Rick Grimes if he were a heavily-tattooed woman with a history of being on the other side of the law -- arrived in Alexandria and made their case for why they should be allowed to stay; however, hinted-but-unspoken trauma from allowing someone in who ended up harming the community has made Michonne hesitant to let them join. Meanwhile, Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) are in a relationship and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is jealous; Carol (Melissa McBride) is back on her burning people alive B.S.; Michonne and Rick's 5-ish-year-old son was revealed without fanfare; and the new foes, the Whisperers, made their first appearance, though Eugene and Rosita, who encountered them, but don't even know what they are yet.

It was a compelling hour that balanced its multiple storylines well by having a mixture of exciting action moments (Carol executing the ex-Savior bandits with extreme prejudice, Eugene and Rosita narrowly eluding the Whisperer herd) and heartfelt character moments (Michonne talking to Rick as if he were still there, the new group telling their hard-earned survival story to the Alexandrians, Judith getting homework help from Negan [Jeffrey Dean Morgan] and then dunking on him for acting like his way of doing things didn't get him locked up in a jail cell). And that "Where are they?" Whisperer reveal is genuinely hair-raising. The episode set up everything that's going to play out over the rest of the season better than the show's season premieres usually do. Kudos to showrunner Angela Kang, writer Eddie Guzelian and director Larry Teng.

Everything We Know About Judith Grimes on The Walking Dead

There are also two big questions coming out of the episode: What is this mysterious fox-in-the-henhouse situation that hardened Michonne's heart, and how are the survivors going to cope with this new threat that they're at first going to think is walkers that have learned to speak?

Sometime in the years between Rick blowing up the bridge and now, Michonne -- who was Rick's partner in implementing Carl's vision of a society built on teamwork and trust -- has changed her mind. The once-connected communities of Alexandria, Hilltop, the Kingdom and the Sanctuary are now almost entirely separate. It sounds like Alexandria used to welcome people in with open arms until they let someone in who betrayed them and left Michonne with a nasty X-shaped scar on her back. We don't know who, what, when, why or how yet. That information will come in due time, but the talking walkers are about to become a more pressing issue than anything else going on.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

PHOTOS: 10 Moments from The Walking Dead Premiere That Give Us Hope for Season 9

Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead

" data-image-credit="Gene Page/AMC" data-image-alt-text="‹Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead" data-image-credit-url="" data-image-target-url="https://www.tvguide.com/galleries/the-walking-dead-season-9-premiere/" data-image-title="‹Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead" data-image-filename="181111-the-walking-dead.jpg" data-image-date-created="2018/11/10" data-image-crop="" data-image-crop-gravity="" data-image-aspect-ratio="" data-image-height="1380" data-image-width="2070" data-image-do-not-crop="" data-image-do-not-resize="" data-image-watermark="" data-lightbox="">



Other Links From TVGuide.com The Walking DeadDanai GuriraMelissa McBrideJosh McDermittJeffrey Dean MorganNadia HilkerChristian Serratos