The Walking Dead Season 9: 3 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Who Are You Now?'

Ups...

3. The Time-Jump

Daryl The Walking Dead
AMC

Taking a time-jump can often be a pretty big convenience for writers of television drama. Sure, there's plenty of hard work involved in setting up the status quo and making sure there are no inconsistencies between the two periods of time, but more often than not they're executed so that the writers can avoid depicting a piece of the narrative that they'd rather skip.

While the convenience of such a device is very much present throughout Who Are You Now? in that we didn't have the opportunity to see the group mourn (and move on from) Rick's loss, it doesn't hinder the narrative in the least, as the show is very focused on setting up its new norm. In reality, the writers risked a lot when they wrote Rick Grimes out, and spending a large portion of time on his death-that-wasn't-a-death would've been an immediate turn-off for viewers - especially those willing to give the post-Rick era of the show a shot.

What's more, the time-jump hasn't pretended that the series' protagonist didn't exist, as the central characters are still very much trying to adjust to life without Rick. Characters such as Michonne and Carol lead their respective settlements, and both are different to how we saw them last (more on that later). These changes are presented in the characters' physical appearances too, which is appreciated, as it helps us come to terms with the amount of time that has passed.

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Contributor
Contributor

Stephen Patterson is an experienced writer and reviewer. He's also a TV addict.