Gone are the shadows and the unkempt beard and the headbanging, yet the constant ballbusting and mind-screwing remains, with Gabe on the receiving end: I hear your girl talkin’ and it ain’t necessarily about you. His jail cell has a window, he’s got a ball and a baseball glove, and Gabe began visiting him once a week back when that idea wasn’t so popular.
Meanwhile at A-town, Negan’s adjusting well to his life sentence. Look, we know seeing your mom cry and leaving home has you stressed out, Henry, but we also know this is all Enid’s fault for making out with Alden. To the kid’s credit, he adopts a “no snitching” policy and doesn’t rat out his friends.
The cost of their hijinks: Tara’s boots and almost Henry’s internship with Maggie’s attempted-murderer-turned-town-smithy. Henry unwisely jumps into the hole, killing the zombie and everyone’s buzz. What’s not normal is the walker they’ve turned into a carnival game it fell into a pit and now the kids take turns trying to toss ropes around its neck for kicks (nice touch with the dart sticking out of its skull). To be fair, kids will be kids, and can you imagine the smartphone withdrawal they’re suffering from? Not sure how they figured out a way to sneak off from a fortified compound or keep their clubhouse a secret, but teens drinking in the woods is a true sign of life returning to normal. (At least we know Oceanside still exists.) Then there’s Rodney, the horndog who’s ready to take up fishing just so he can live out his soft-porn dream of being the only male at Oceanside. Behind Addy’s glasses and friendly demeanor lurks a come-hither flirtatiousness and lust for booze. First there’s Gage, who remembers Henry as the “kid with the stick” from “the war,” which means Henry has a shot at appearing in the eventual Ken Burns documentary on the zombie apocalypse. But Henry is likable and only mildly annoying, which is saying something-especially after meeting the trio of teens who befriend him. Given the fact he killed a few people as a kid, you’d think his chances of being a total basket case are rather high. Let’s begin with the fact that Hilltop is lousy with youths gone wild, as Henry learns quickly upon his arrival. But did I mention the murderous wackjobs who are stealing a page from Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs? Also, Negan is loose at A-town, which is a huge whopping deal.
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His demise is so shocking that it’s almost easy to overlook that there are now homicidal people living with zombies and wearing dead skin masks. However you feel about the first half of this season, you have to credit The Walking Dead for taking some gutsy chances right out of the gate: not one, but two major time jumps Rick’s goodbye with a twist Maggie’s disappearance with absolutely zero hoopla Carol and Eugene’s bold hairstyle choices and now, the death of yet another main character as Jesus bites the dust. Photo: Gene Page/AMC/© 2018 AMC Film Holdings LLC.