Stradivarius

Rosita overhears the walkers talking and faints; she is rescued by Aaron and Jesus and taken to Hilltop to be under the care of Enid. They learn that Eugene is alone in a barn and organize a rescue team. Carol brings Henry to meet the lonely Daryl that now has a dog. Michonne, Siddiq and D.J. bring the five survivors to Hilltop in a horse-drawn wagon driven by D.J. but they are attacked by a horde of walkers and have to fight to survive.

"Stradivarius" is an above-average episode of "The Walking Dead" with two important revelations. The first that was seen in the ending of the previous episode is that there are talking walkers. The second is that Maggie is not part of the show. It seems that Lauren Cohan had problem to renew her contract since she required the same salary of the male protagonists. Michonne probably blames Maggie for the fate of Rick since the reason for his disappearance was her decision to go to Alexandria to kill Negan. It is sad to lose Rick and Maggie but life goes on. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Stradivarius"

This episode is a bit slow compared to the past few episodes but still really good, this is a drama show after all not every episode needs to have a lot going on but this episode did a good job making me care for the new characters more and Henry is growing on me also, it's pathetic how people are rating the episode 1/10 just because it was slow, it's still well written and interesting, much better than the last 2 seasons, episode 8 looks like it's going to be great, but whether it will be or not people will still complain.. I'm giving this episode 10/10 because of the people giving it 1/10 lol people got nothing better to do on Sunday nights, if some of you people don't like an episode it's totally fine everyone is entitled to give their opinion but please be more realistic and give constructive criticism and rate fairly because giving episodes 1/10 is ridiculous

We got to see a bit of the new Hilltop this week as Maggie has predictably moved on to be with Georgie and Jesus has taken over. Which, by the way, feels like it hasn't been all but maybe a few months since Maggie has left in show timeline right? But we got a sense of the new landscape, which also could have given us a hint as to why Maggie left, as Michonne mentioned she can't imagine what her reaction could be if she saw her. Also, it's shown that both Daryl and Michonne have that same scar on their back? It does make me wonder what could have gone down between that trio to cause this break up. We also got a glimpse into the Whisperers as Rosita heard them communicating at the beginning of the episode and the preview certainly shows that in greater detail. It was a weaker episode in that it was the first one that didn't feel like it made significant story progressions, but Michael Cudlitz still did a solid job in his first directorial efforts.

7.0/10

'The Walking Dead' "Stradivarius" (2018)

Opening thoughts: Actually was incredibly impressed by all the previous Season 9 episodes and Season 9 on the whole was a massive improvement over the previous two seasons easily. "Stradivarius" having said that was a bit disappointing. Not that it is bad, it is actually still good with many things being great and it was wonderful to see development to a character that had not been properly focused on for ages. Just that all the previous Season 9 episodes were tighter paced and had more consistent writing.

Bad things: Getting the not so good things out of the way, for my tastes it was too slow for my tastes. Due to having a little too much content that didn't add very much, some of it dragged out.

Especially in the final act, which is rather contrived.

Good things: "Stradivarius" is primarily compensated though by two things. One is the character development for Daryl, who is at his most interesting here since what feels (and has been) a long time. Character development that actually progresses him and that is insightful and not dumbed down or contradictory. The other is Norman Reedus, who is outstanding in a performance that wrenches the gut in a tense and moving way.

Furthermore, it is a very stylishly and atmospherically made episode, with no signs of self indulgent gimmicks or showing off. The music is also full of atmosphere of the haunting and ominous kind, while also having emotion that is not spelled out. There are thrills and suspense when the episode is more eventful with little coming over as ridiculous or chaotic. The massive improvement in the writing obvious in the previous Season 9 episodes carries over into this one too. The previous two seasons had a lot of (too much) extraneous talk, long winded-ness and soap-opera, next to none of that is here apart from some long winded-ness early on but even that was done far worse in Seasons 7 and 8. Instead the scripting is tight and thoughtful on the whole, treating the characters and the viewer with respect.

On the whole, the story compels and has intrigue and emotion. None of the characters frustrated me, with none of the intelligence insultingly ridiculous and vague decision makings and motivations that plagued too much of Season 7 and nearly all of Season 8. The acting is very good, outstanding in the case of Reedus.

Concluding thoughts: All in all, good but not great.

7/10.

I was skeptical of how the series would progress after the jump. So far so good and this episode has helped lay the groundwork for the new direction.