The Walking Dead: Every Season 9 Episode Ranked Worst To Best

What Comes After is an all-timer, but it speaks volumes about the quality of season nine that it's not quite the best episode. No, that honour goes to the penultimate tearjerker The Calm Before, which builds up to a crushing finale that makes it abundantly clear how dangerous Alpha really is.

Taking place at the long-teased community fair at the Kingdom, the episode starts hopeful and light, as Henry and Lydia continue to bond and the various community leaders band together to form a coalition and enjoy the trade fair together.

It all goes south quickly, though, when Alpha infiltrates the fair, threatens Lydia, and later leads Daryl to her secret weapon: a massive herd, unlike anything the show's seen before.

This is all powerful enough, but the episode - and the show - outdoes itself in its final moments, when several fan favourite characters are revealed dead, their heads on pikes for their friends to find. It's one of the show's most haunting reveals, and a firm reminder of how great The Walking Dead can be at its best.