The Walking Dead: Season 9 Episode 8 Reviews
| Brandon Davis ComicBook.com | November 18, 2019 The Walking Dead has put together its best half-season in years, quite possibly since Rick and Shane's relationship spiraled out of control leading to walkers overrunning Hershel's barn. | ||
![]() | Brian Richards Pajiba | March 27, 2019 Definitely one of the best mid-season finales in the show's history, and the fact that it leaned so strongly into its horror elements more than it usually does only added to that, even if it did involve losing another one of the show's best actors. | ||
![]() | Dustin Rowles Uproxx | November 27, 2018 It's completely shocking... and exactly the sort of change-up that Angela Kang continues to inject into season 9 of the series, revitalizing it creatively and turning in the best season of The Walking Dead at least since season 6. | ||
![]() | Alex Avard SFX Magazine | November 27, 2018 The Walking Dead has always been its own worst enemy when it comes to the immediate horror of its setting, desensitising its audience to the fear factor of the zombies with inevitable oversaturation. | ||
| Luke Y. Thompson Nerdist | November 26, 2018 This week, [Nicotero] delivered, not just by infusing more blood, guts, and jeopardy than normal, but also by embracing horror movie tropes... | ||
![]() | Nick Statt The Verge | November 26, 2018 I think refocusing on characters - how they deal with tragedy and new experiences, and what binds them together - has made it feel revitalized and less like the struggling comic book adaptation it had become. | ||
| Bryan Bishop The Verge | November 26, 2018 Now, I could not be more pleased with how excited I am about the show again. | ||
![]() | Brian Lowry CNN.com | Top Critic | November 26, 2018 The longer "The Walking Dead" keeps operating on what amounts to life support, the higher the chance that the series, like its latest death, will go out less with a shout than a whisper. | |
![]() | Laura Bradley Vanity Fair | November 26, 2018 As The Walking Dead continues to rebuild, this death is a timely reminder of the rotten soil upon which its new foundation still lies. | ||
![]() | Steve Ford TV Fanatic | November 26, 2018 "Evolution" was exactly the episode that The Walking Dead needed going into its hiatus, as it pushed the series into uncharted territory with a hefty -- and shocking -- reveal of the series' newest threat. Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | ||
![]() | Jim Vorel Paste Magazine | November 26, 2018 What I do have a problem with is that even after revealing its next big villains, TWD STILL doesn't bother to key us in on all of the most basic information the audience is still missing after the six-year time skip. Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | ||
![]() | Alex McLevy AV Club | Top Critic | November 26, 2018 It's a clever enough wrinkle, and even if it again creates the standard Walking Dead scenario of us-vs.-them struggles, it's at least closer to garbage-people weirdness than a new crew of Saviors. Full Review | Original Score: B- | |
![]() | Jeff Stone indieWire | Top Critic | November 26, 2018 The mid-season cliffhanger isn't much of one, and the new conflict on the horizon seems like yet another "our side versus a pack of psychopaths" story that the show has so thoroughly covered before. Full Review | Original Score: C+ | |
![]() | Nick Romano Entertainment Weekly | Top Critic | November 26, 2018 The midseason finale felt like one of the stronger episodes of this new show that miraculously sprang up in the middle of season 9. | |
![]() | Richard Rys New York Magazine/Vulture | Top Critic | November 26, 2018 Between this new threat and an old one, it's a solid cliffhanger that raises the stakes for the final eight episodes. Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | |
![]() | Rob Bricken io9.com | November 26, 2018 Happily, the mid-season finale kept up the streak by including a few shockers, an excellent cliffhanger, and only a few instances where you want to punch someone through your screen. | ||
| Noetta Harjo Geek Girl Authority | November 26, 2018 Jesus' death fits in the storyline... Thanks Tom Payne! Jesus was fun to watch. RIP Paul Rovia. | ||
![]() | Alexandra August CBR | November 26, 2018 Season 9 has not only accomplished an incredibly ambitious reset of the show without its anchor character, it's also shifted back to its roots in horror and fear. And the midseason finale, "Evolution," is a shining example of that achievement. | ||
![]() | Matt Fowler IGN Movies | November 26, 2018 Unruly teens aside, The Walking Dead's midseason finale, "Evolution," was a solid, streamlined chapter that took us into a shadowy graveyard for a creepy moonlit introduction to the Whisperers. Full Review | Original Score: 8.2/10 | ||
| Erik Kain Forbes | November 26, 2018 In any case, the Season 9 midseason finale was an excellent episode from start to finish, wrapping up the best half-season this show has had in ages -- maybe ever. |