• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • Elvis: Austin Butler

      REVIEW: ELVIS beautifully mythologizes the King of Rock and Roll

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2022
    • The Black Phone: Ethan Hawke as The Grabber

      REVIEW: THE BLACK PHONE is a flat, dull, rushed non-horror movie

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2022
    • Jurassic World Dominion Logo

      REVIEW: Jurassic World Dominion – Here we go again…again

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 12, 2022
    • Three Men and a Baby: Tom Selleck and Ted Danson

      Three Men and a Baby is still awesome thirty five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 31, 2022
    • The Bob's Burgers Movie Poster

      REVIEW: Bob’s Burgers The Movie is Bob’s Burgers The Show, which means it’s great

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 28, 2022
    • Top Gun Maverick: Tom Cruise

      REVIEW: Top Gun Maverick is a sequel that soars!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 27, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga's discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
    • Beatles Usa 1964

      50 years ago the Beatles said “The End”

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 31, 2019
  • TV
    Featured
    • Nancy Drew S03e01: Kennedy McMann as Nancy

      Nancy Drew S03E01 Review: The Warning of the Frozen Heart - Uh-oh!

      By Salome G
      | October 10, 2021
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Riverdale S06e18: Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge

      Riverdale S06E18 Review: Biblical – Spooky chaos!

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04e04: Heather Hemmens and Sherri Saum as Maria and Mimi DeLuca

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E04 Review: Dear Mama – Emotional?

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Evil S03e03: Katja Herbers and Aasif Mandvi as Kristen Bouchard and Ben Shakir

      Evil S03E03 Review: The Demon of Sex – Contrived?

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Dark Winds S01e03: kinaaldá Ceremony

      Dark Winds S01E03 Review: K’e – Swoon!

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04e03: Sibongile Mlambo, Lily Cowles and Michael Trevino as Anatsa, Isobel and Kyle

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E03 Review: Subterranean Homesick Alien – Treading water?

      By Salome G
      | June 23, 2022
    • Obi-Wan Kenobi Series: Ewan McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair as Obi-Wan and Leia

      REVIEW: Obi-Wan Kenobi had a good season and little else

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 22, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
    • Mario Headphones

      The SNES Turns 30: A look at some of the system’s best soundtracks

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 22, 2021
    • Metroid Dread Poster

      REVIEW: Metroid Dread reawakens the old gamer in me

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 11, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • Wwe Payback 2017 Poster 2

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Payback 2017

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 30, 2017
      WWE Blogs
    Recent
    • AEW Double or Nothing 2022: CM Punk vs Adam Page

      REVIEW: AEW Double or Nothing 2022 delivered an up-and-down show

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • MJF on AEW Dynamite 17th November 2021

      Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Raw 210501: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

      May 21, 2001 – A (forgotten) date that will live in WWE infamy

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 39 Logo

      Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 38 Poster

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38!

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 30, 2022
    • Wrestlemania 31 Paige Aj Lee 2

      BOOK REVIEW: The Women of WrestleMania is a balanced take on an under-valued slice of history

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 16, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Riverdale S06E18 Review: Biblical - Spooky chaos!
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E04 Review: Dear Mama - Emotional?
    • Evil S03E03 Review: The Demon of Sex - Contrived?
    • Dark Winds S01E03 Review: K'e - Swoon!
    • REVIEW: ELVIS beautifully mythologizes the King of Rock and Roll
    • REVIEW: THE BLACK PHONE is a flat, dull, rushed non-horror movie
    • Latest Comments

    The Walking Dead S09E09: Adaptation- A promising return? Well, sort of…

    By Kevin Boyle
    | February 11, 2019
    TV Blogs

    Adaptation may be the lowest stakes mid-season return The Walking Dead has produced in years, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The first half of season nine, a bunch of episodes in which I ran the gauntlet of emotions for this bloody inconsistent mess of a show, ended in a strong fashion by killing the already dead weight of Jesus, while also giving us a proper reveal of the Whisperers, a bunch of human wackos who wear zombie faces to blend in and direct hordes of Walkers. After years of villains with pretty much the same personality: hey, here’s another white, male, character actor who would just as soon kill you as, say, keep fish tanks full of severed heads, or have a very complex relationship with a baseball bat named after his dead ex-wife. If season nine has a unifying strength, and believe me, I didn’t think it could, it’s that through the seeding and introduction of The Whisperers, the Walkers themselves have rediscovered their fear factor.

    Much like the mid-season finale, Adaptation has a problem of bloat. Of the many plots that are taking place in this episode, about half of them are actually interesting. So, let’s talk about the good stuff first. Let me state here and now that The Whisperers are awesome. While the last of my good faith went with Rick and that damn bridge, the show needed some fresh blood, and crazy isolated people who relate more to the dead than the living is a brilliant (if a little limited) place to start. For a start, the constant question of who is a plain old Walker and who is a Whisperer created a lot of tension in the beginning of the episode. The old rules, that we have seen over and over in the space of nine years, don’t work now. Adaptation went in both directions as Michonne, Daryl, Eugene, Aaron, Magda, and poor dead Jesus (hip hip, hooray!) as it showed the new possibilities presented by these foes with something as simple and creepily as slowly turning a lock. On the other hand, the question of who is a Whisperer shows the titular adaptation of Daryl and Michonne in the moment, especially Darryl’s arrow to the leg as the Walkers then chowed down. This show is still capable of smart action scenes. The tension of this pursuit is undermined somewhat as the group make it back to the Hilltop with ease.

    Walking Dead S09e09 Walkers Whisperers

    Walking Dead S09e09 Daryl Dixon Norman Reedus Michonne Danai Gurira Cassady Mcclincy Lydia 2

    Walking Dead S09e09 Cassady Mcclincy Lydia

    Now to the iffy part of the episode. You guessed it, it’s time to talk about Negan. In all fairness, this plot turned out to be a lot better than I first predicted. Like many of you I groaned as Negan was mysteriously set free in December’s finale, mainly because I was just done with him as a character. Even so, Adaptation managed to cobble together a semi-coherent story of the man who was once king. There are shades of Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias, remade famous by the Breaking Bad episode of the same name:

    “I met a traveller from an antique land,
    Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
    And on the pedestal, these words appear:

    My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
    Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

    Negan had himself an Ozymandias tour of better days gone to pot. He visited the patch of land where he made his first appearance, the place, in which he killed Glenn and Abraham, where his reign could arguably begin to be brought to an end. He returned to the ruined and abandoned Sanctuary where he proceeded to kill his zombified followers before deciding to return to Alexandria and back to his cell. This is solid stuff, and when Jeffrey Dean Morgan underplays Negan he approaches a place that could be mistaken for interesting. It’s just a shame that the two scenes with Judith that bookmark this journey are awful. It’s not the actor’s fault, it’s the fact that this relationship is not defined enough to have the desired impact. The show is still recovering from the decision to have two time jumps in the space of five episodes.

    Walking Dead S09e09 Jeffrey Dean Morgan Negan

    Walking Dead S09e09 Cailey Fleming Judith Grimes

    The rest of the episode was frankly a little dull. Daryl had an ok moment threatening the Whisperer girl, who is named Lydia, but Adaptation is proof that the show is not only recovering from another time jump, it’s recovering from a quite substantial change to the status quo. Case in point is Luke and Alden, both of whom are in the early days of being regular characters. The problem, and this is just my problem, is that I don’t care enough about them for their possible death at the hands of the Whisperers to make much of an impact. I actually want them to die in an entertaining fashion. The same goes for Henry as The Walking Dead is coming perilously close to suggesting that Daryl and Henry will fill the hole left by Rick and Carl. When we all know that Dog is the new Carl.

    Walking Dead S09e09 Callan Mcauliffe Alden Dan Fogler Luke

    6/10 – Entertaining enough, but the show still has a lot of work to do to get back on track.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    The Walking Dead

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest
    3 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    3 years ago

    It feels like Neegan has become a good character that he might lead the group one day. It feels not right because he killed one of my favorite characters, Glen.

    0
    Reply
    Gavin the Binge-Watcher
    Gavin the Binge-Watcher
    3 years ago
    Reply to  Stargazer

    While Glen was an amazing character on this show, I’d still like to see Neegan get a run at a redemption of some sort. Even if he’s immediately killed thereafter.

    0
    Reply
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    3 years ago
    Reply to  Gavin the Binge-Watcher

    The part when he would be immediately killed after he had redeemed himself is somewhat funny. It is kind of what Rick did when he blew up the bridge.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • The Walking Dead S09E08: Evolution – The Whisperers are revealed

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 26, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E07: Stradivarius- Another episode that sees the show continue to decline

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 19, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E06: Where Are You Now – An unwelcome look into a post-Rick world

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 12, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E05: What Comes After- A helpful reminder that this show can be really awful

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 5, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E04: The Obliged – Strong performances save this episode from being season 9’s first misstep

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 29, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E03: Warning Signs – This is what happens when Rick wants a day off

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 22, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E02: The Bridge – Cracks are getting bigger in Rick’s new world but the show is getting stronger

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 15, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S09E01: A New Beginning – A new era with a new focus

      By Kevin Boyle
      | October 8, 2018
    • The Walking Dead S08E16: Wrath – A special kind of stupid.

      By Kevin Boyle
      | April 16, 2018

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Riverdale S06E18 Review: Biblical – Spooky chaos!

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E04 Review: Dear Mama – Emotional?

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Dark Winds S01E03 Review: K’e – Swoon!

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • Evil S03E03 Review: The Demon of Sex – Contrived?

      By Salome G
      | June 29, 2022
    • REVIEW: Obi-Wan Kenobi had a good season and little else

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 22, 2022
    • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Episodes 6-7 review (the best and the not-so best)

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 18, 2022
    • The Orville season three review part 1 (episodes 1-2 bring ups and downs)

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 12, 2022
    • Stranger Things S04 Part 1 Review: Almost perfect!

      By Salome G
      | June 5, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • The Flight Attendant S02E08 Review: Backwards and Forwards – A satisfying conclusion

      By Salome G
      | May 27, 2022
    • Star Trek Picard Season 2 (not a review but a rant)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 10, 2022
    • On a scale of 1 to really messed up, how well does The Boys translate to the small screen?

      By Jason Collins
      | March 15, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz