The Walking Dead Season 9 Premiere: 6 Ups & 3 Downs From 'A New Beginning'

Downs...

3. Gregory Becomes Nothing More Than A Plot Device

One of the best things about A New Beginning is the significant character development seen in Rick, Maggie and Carol. While we might've missed out on seeing these characters evolve over the last 18 months, it doesn't change the fact that they're completely different people now than they were when we saw them last. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Gregory.

The former leader of the Hilltop is still his same old self, which - after all he's been through - comes off as a little unbelievable. Gregory is almost a caricature in that he doesn't see the bigger picture, and can't see past the end of his ego, but unfortunately this isn't due to characterisation on the writers' part, but rather he's like this for the convenience of said writers. He repeats the same mistakes from previous seasons only so Maggie is justified in her decision to kill him and, even then, it's a bit of a stretch.