Walking Dead Season 9: Let Tension Spread...Please!!!

AMC’s “The Walking Dead: Season 9” is right around the post-apocalyptic bend (Oct 7, 9 pm to be exact). 

Though some dare claim that the series has outstayed its welcome, I suggest such shortsighted folks clam up. We loyalists don't need their negativity clouding what's become the top, zombie-samurai-western of all time...well, more or less, anyway.

On the other hand, I can appreciate why some feel betrayed by the series' recent path, if only in that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan has yet to perish. How that odious opponent has managed to evade an excruciating, comeuppance demise is beyond me, but as with David Morrissey’s Governor Phil, there’s nothing as satisfying as a quality villain to keep the blood pumping--and spurting. Without lingering villainy, there's no tension, and without tension, there's no "Walking Dead". 

Anyway, I'm fond of the series' jagged edge. It's for much the same cause that I favor George A. Romero's “Dead” movies. As with Romero's saga, “Walking Dead” is gruesome but character driven. Because of this, I'm invested in Rick Grime's fate, particularly now that it's confirmed Andrew Lincoln is calling it quits.Will Rick depart per bullet or bite on the trail to reunite with his courageous son and ignorant wife? Will he instead ride off into the ethereal sunset, where walkers (by hook or by crook) dare not roam? However it turns out, I gotta know. 

Besides, what else is there to get excited about over the long, ballyhooed haul?  Really, I could give two hoots for the new "Charmed" or those destined-to-be-castrated sequels to "Fantastic Beasts", "Maleficent" and "Star Wars".  Bloody ho-hum...

Come now, you know as well as I that there's nothing quite as stirring as when average, identifiable folks address insurmountable odds. And it matters not if they win or lose, only that they've stirred the action and fought the good fight. 

Sure, Khary Payton's King Ezekiel might never regain his eloquent mettle and forevermore stay just "some guy", and Lauren Cohan's Maggie could turn incorrigible (probably already has). Maybe Negan might flee to reinvent his brainwashed sect, or Xander Berkeley's Gregory could sprout (shock of shocks) some integrity. Well, no matter the outcomes, we diehards know that "Walking Dead'"s producers, directors and writers will startle, motivate and inspire like never before. 

That's the barbarous beauty of this series. The worst always turns out for the best. 

Walking Dead Season 8 Rises Up!!!

With the recent, anguished state of AMC's "Walking Dead", I can't help but think of little Anthony Fremont from Rod Serling's adaptation of Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life". That's the classic "Twilight Zone" where Billy Mumy plays a wee fiend who can turn a world upside down by simply wishing it (and wishing, of course, his "enemies" into some mysterious cornfield). For appearance sake, Anthony is an all-powerful adversary and yet there's a scene where one of the desperate oppressed pleads with the others to do the lad in. No one obliges, since Anthony might sense 'em comin', and so...

Anthony, however, is a supernatural freak; "Walking Dead'"s Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is just a guy: weirdly influential and as damn sadistic as they come (David Morrissey's Governor looks like compassion personified by comparison), but still just a guy. So, why hasn't anyone among the various factions done him in?

Perhaps it's because Negan is flanked by his massive, twisted flock. That doesn't make the bat-battering bastard an easy kill, if his mind-warped disciples are stationed in the shadows with rifles aimed. Also, would killing Negan truly stop the range of his villainy: i.e., would his minions break from their stupor upon his death, as those did at the demise of James Earl Jones' Thulsa Doom in "Conan the Barbarian"? Probably not and yet, what does one have to lose by trying? Life under Negan ain't much of a life, anymore than under rotten, little Anthony. 

No matter if shackled or strained, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has the potential to defeat Negan, if only due to his gusty constitution, but right now our hero seems to be taking a steady, strategic approach, sort of like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers rounding up the troops against Ming or Kane. Thing is, Flash and Buck could count on their recruits. Can Rick? 

I do have faith in Ezekiel (Khary Peyton). I liked him (and his tiger, Shiva) from the start. Ezekiel entered Season 7 just at the right phase, delivering much needed tenderness in the wake of two grisly deaths. I can't imagine this stately character turning fickle, but then "Walking Dead" has never been predictable. 

Indeed, Season 8 will be packed with surprises and I'm suspecting unsuspecting betrayals. That's a plus and minus all rolled up into one, but despite its ambivalence, there's no doubt the show will be as tension-fraught as ever. We'll bite our nails, squirm in our seats and with eyes tearing and/or bulging, watch as we hope and pray for Rick and the good guys to rise up and (somehow, some damn way) strike Negan down. Sure, Anthony may have lived on, but Negan...well, like I said, he's just a guy, and so...

"Walking Dead" recommences (with its historic 100th episode) this Sunday, October 23 at 9 pm.