'The Walking Dead' Season 7, Episode 9 Review: "Rock in the Road"

Image from Moviepilot

By Darian Scalamoni

            One of the highest rated programs in the history of television is back as AMC’s The Walking Dead has returned from its two month hiatus that surprisingly ended on a positive note after the hellacious season it’s been thus far.

            The episode opens with most of the crew reunited and asking the cowardice Gregory if the Hilltop will join forces with Alexandria to try and oppose Negan and the Saviors. Though he quickly says no, Jesus decides that it’s time to take Rick and his crew to The Kingdom to meet King Ezekial for the first time. This is an interaction that many fans have been awaiting since we were introduced to King Ezekial back in episode two of this season. Ezekial also eventually says no to Rick in joining in the fight to take out Negan and the Saviors as he has a good deal in which the barbed wire bat wielding villain can’t step foot within the walls of The Kingdom. Rick quickly reminds Ezekial that if he’s already invaded Hilltop and Alexandra, what makes him think that he’ll stay out of The Kingdom for good? It’s a great point made and makes you think that a partnership will eventually formulate between Rick and Ezekial.

            In one of the coolest and most unique sequences in The Walking Dead since its start, we saw the team have a suspenseful scene in which Rick and the others find a trap full of explosives that are strategically put there for a herd of walkers. Rick then formulates a plan to steal the weaponry for the sake of having any at all in their battle against the Saviors. The desperation gamble pays off as they take it all before slicing multiple zombies with the wire that the explosives were attached. This was definitely a cool shot in which you saw the dead being mowed down by Rick and Michonne who were driving two cars that the wire was connected to.

            We don’t find out what happens in the beginning of the episode when Father Gabriel pillages through the remainder of Alexandria’s supplies before Rick discovers a clue within the priest’s notebook that just says “BOAT” leading them to believe that he’s headed towards the same boat that Rick and Aaron had found earlier in the season leading the group into an ambush by a group that has tons of weapons. They don’t look like the friendliest bunch but at the end we see Rick grinning which only leads to a mysterious conclusion that we hope to find answers in episode 10.

            The returning episode for a so far, decent season follows the same trend. We get some cool sequences and interactions between characters but other than that, there isn’t much more in this episode. A solid entry into the season that I believe will just pick up as the weeks go along.

7/10