User Reviews

What a horror! The show is back like it was Talking zombies? and kill one of the best characters? Perfect

Seeing this episode early with a live Talking Dead audience was a real treat that I won't soon forget. Just like a film premiere, the energy and atmosphere really enhances something like that over simply being on my basement couch. This proved hugely beneficial as it was the mid-season finale and gave us a major death with the passing of Jesus at the hands of the Whisperers. Anyone who wanted this show to get back to its horror roots and re-establish the eerie tone of the first couple seasons, you got your wish. Not only was this episode scary but it set a new precedent with the Whisperers and how the rest of the season may transpire. Oh and you know, Negan also escaped this week, so that was cool!

9.0/10

BOOM. The Whisperers have arrived and they aren't messing around. The Walking Dead did a phenomenal job of slowly building up to these new villains over the course of the season & introducing them in unforgettable fashion. Jesus biting the dust is something I absolutely hate, as I feel his character was so underutilized on the tv show versus the comics, but his death is something that propelled this episode over the top & helps show just how ruthless the Whisperers are. The rest of the episode was great too, with great character interactions & dialogue. I think 9x08 was the best mid-season finale in years & can't wait for the rest of Season 9!

Evolution is good, all the stuffs in the episode are interesting, but the horror and suspense from 40min of episode are amazing. With begin slowly, Evolution try finish everything that started in the season, at least until now, with Negan scaping of his cell, and the and the teen party of henry causing him to be arrested, for you know...Lydia and your relationship, but the greatest thing in the episode is Daryl, Jesus, Eugene, Aaron and DOGGO against de whisperers and the 5min final fight in the cemitery is huge btw Michonne, Magna and Yumiko come to help, unfortunately Jesus dies in the scene and all are surrounded by a gigantic cliffhenger(end of episode) Evolution is a huge Mid-season finale and this episode only heats up for coming next in the second half of the season.

Now thats how you get viewers back, this was dark and creepy.

When we finally learn the event which separated the three communities, I will be very disappointed if it was something fairly trivial. Rick's death was not anyones fault, maybe they will work Mag's departure into the story line.

Like anything good would ever come from Father Gabe visiting Negan. Why not use a 5 gallon bucket with a removable seat and a airtight lid?

Poor Huckleberry Henry, looks like he gets the nerd chick instead of Enid. Yes there really are kids stupid enough to think that you play with Walkers.

Yumiko reminds me of the Ninja gal from Suicide Squad.

Anyone else wonder how Eugene got all that straw on top of the trap door, he had to open it up all the way to get in, especially being injured?

Why did they wait so long to give Daryl, or anyone for that matter, a dog which can hunt for Walkers and survivors? Slightly more practical than a tiger.

I was very glad to see Negan make his own parole plan. The death penalty is the only practical punishment for murder in the ZA, locking someone up forever is a waste of limited resources.

If you were a Whisperer, wouldn't you rather wipe mud or dirt on yourself than sew on a nasty dead face? Kinda weird, but so was Jada and the Junkies.

Every character being written off a show wants an exciting and memorable death scene and Jesus had the best one yet. The Whispers aren't no joke and that bodes very well for the second half of season 9.



9.5

Even though I watched this episode over the course of three days, I can safely say that I really do believe that Henry should not have gotten as much screen time as he did. Like words cannot explain how little I wanted to see him throughout that episode. But I guess that's what happens when you have to do 16 episodes of 44 minute episodes a season.

Anyways, I loved the Negan side story that was an actual good side story it didn't take up too much time and it was about someone I actually cared about what happens to them good or bad.

Now for the main story, I can't wait to see what happens with the whispers, at first I thought it was actually evolved walkers which would've been an interesting concept, but them being actual humans (i think) is neat too.

Who cares about Henry and his friends? They spent half of the episode on him rather than focusing on the main thing THE WHISPERERS. I did not like the way Michonne and the others are treating each other, they acted like strangers and have never been a family before. I was excpecting to see more action outside with the whisperers.

Gabriel visits with NEGAN. NEGAN admits that he knows he's never going to get out of that cell. Altho how he's been kept in there and is still alive after years I do not get that at all. +1 Star for NEGAN owning Gabriel hard in that exchange.

RIDERS ARE COMING! To Hilltop. Oh it is Michonne's group. Odd they have to give up their weapons to enter.

LOL, love NEGAN's speech about Gabriel emptying his bedpan. +1 Star.

Rosita is hurt. And everyone is fawning over her.

Daryl and Jesus find Eugene. Eugene tells them about the 'whispering' herd.

NEGAN loses his ball outside his cell door and decides to try the cell door and oh wow ITS OPEN!!! IS NEGAN FREE?

I love the fact that Kurtzwild from X-files is now in the show.

Oh wow, Jesus has turned into a real swordmaster but he is backstabbed by a walker who was not a walker. Then the rest of them are surrounded by the whispering herd. +1 Star for the very interesting end of this one 8/10.

So i stopped watching walking dead after season 7 and i didn't plan to return to this show but i heard so much good about season 9 so i gave it one last shot, and i'm glad i did. In my opinion season 1-4 are pretty good (s3 is the best one), season 5 was meh and seasons 6-8 are just out right bad (season 8 is awful) but season 9 was amazing. This was the best mid season finale we have had in a long time. From the opening scene where you see a walker in the herd stand up straight and turn his head towards our main characters with creepy music playing in the background i knew that this season was something special. The whisperers are one of the coolest stories in the comics and this season did them justice. They are creepy, badass and mysterious. Killing Jesus was smart cause it showed that the whisperers are a force to be reckoned with and to be feared. Their theme song is bloody awesome. Jesus's death scene was so well made and totally unexpected. In conclusion season 9 is the best season we have had in years and probably my second favourite season ever (s3 is my favourite).

It has been a tough slog for us THE WALKING DEAD fans of late; like many, I was really not happy with the way Seasons 7 and 8 played out, so much so that some weeks I was yelling at my TV - hell of a lot of good that did. Many long time fans didn't even stick around for that much bailing out long before the All Out War arc was done, turned off by a slow pace and too many big character deaths. After putting in all that time and emotional investment, it felt like Scott Gimple and company were just spitting in fan's faces. And I don't blame them, especially when, seemingly to rub salt on open wounds, the announcement was made that Andrew Lincoln, Rick Grimes himself, would be leaving the series very early in Season 9.

But I am among the some who decided to stick it out to see how AMC would handle a development that under other circumstances would have ended the show's run. Plus, I am a huge horror fan, and nobody does the Zombie Apocalypse better than TWD. The mid season finale, titled "Evolution," introduced the next Big Bads of the show, The Whisperers, a group of characters from Robert Kirkman's comic book, and they were worth the wait, for good villains go a long way toward healing old wounds. And good villains are exactly what The Whisperers are - survivors who were the skins of the dead and walk among them, communicating in voices barely above a whisper. They are something worthy of Wes Craven in his prime, and they arrived on the show in some of the best and most horrific scenes in its history, often evoking classic horror of the silver screen. Darryl, Aaron and Jesus are out searching for the missing Eugene, who, along with Rosita, first encountered these new villains earlier and were forced to split up after the sometimes hapless Eugene hurt his ankle. The rescued and his rescuers flee in the night with a Whisperer directed herd of Walkers hot on their heels, finally getting cornered in a walled graveyard, where in a fight in the fog, the true nature of this new threat reveals itself, killing off yet another regular in the process. There was the millionth last minute cavalry to the rescue finale, which is a trope of this show, but it helped alert Michone and the newcomers, Magna and Yumiko to what they are up against. Written and directed well, the pursuit by The Whisperers also had a couple of terrific fight scenes as Jesus uses his best ninja moves to take them out. All in all, this part of the show completely made me forget all the recent problems and truly drew me in.

Not so some of the rest of this episode, which amounted to filler and lots of pushing the plot further down the road, mainly in the Henry story line, which did nothing to endear him to fans now that it appears he will inherit a big story arc that belonged to Carl (who is still alive and doing very well in the comics); those new bored teens he meets at the Hilltop should all be wearing "Too stupid to survive the Zombie Apocalypse" tee shirts. Lots more hints were dropped that there is some epic bad blood between the different communities, so much so that I just wish they just tell us already. The only part of the show that came close to comparing to The Whispers scenes were between Father Gabriel and Negan, a character loathed by many, who manages to find a way out of his cell before the episode was finished. Though I have problems with the way Negan was written and used, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has never been less than mesmerizing in the role, and I really want to see how the writers and directors use him going forward, where he plays a big part the upcoming Whisperer war. And is Negan's escape just one more thing Father Gabriel couldn't do right?

There is no filling the hole the departure of Rick Grimes has left in this show, but going back to its horror film roots does go a long way toward righting a badly listing ship. And though many are sure to hate the departure of Tom Payne's Jesus, it should be noted that the show's creators did little to develop the character. They don't need any more Big Deaths, but I am wary of that fair the communities are talking about, that's in the comic, and it does not end well for some people. Something for which to look forward, along with the arrival of Samantha Morton and Ryan Hurst, who play Alpha and Beta, great actors both of them, who will play Alpha and Beta, the two top Whisperers. So far, so good, and it should be fun.

I agree with those of you who saw this episode as creepy. The scene at the farmhouse was every bit as creepy for me as George Romero's Walking Dead movie. The scene was rather dark and moody which added to the intense ambiance of the scene.

At the farmhouse, several members of a rescue team including Jesus and Daryl found Eugene hiding in a secret spot away from the walkers. Eugene hurriedly tells them of his ordeal of the walkers coming back again and again, and he also tells them of hearing the walkers whispering among themselves. Eugene believes the walkers are evolving as he has never heard anything like that before.

About that time, the action picks up and the rescue crew and a very injured Eugene are swarmed by walkers. They tried to escape out another exit, but were cornered by the walkers by a gate that was stuck. The crew had no choice but to fight the walkers.

There are no guarantees in any battle, and Jesus died bravely fighting off a herd of walkers. Fortunately, a backup crew arrived with Michone and others to rescue the others who were still alive. It was noticed that one of the walkers skin, or hair, didn't look right. At that moment, the group found that the ones who they thought were evolving walkers were really people camouflaged as walkers using walker's skin.

I thought the fight scene alone was some of the best action I've seen in years!

Next up...pan to Negan in his cell throwing a ball against the wall, and it falls out of the cell where he can't reach it. As Negan was pondering the ball, he noticed that the lock was different. He walked up to the lock and saw the door was unlocked. At that point, he steps outside of his cell. At first he contemplated the ball for a second, but the look in his face was "nah...I think I'll leave now." I recorded the episode, so I will see it again to see what kind of look was on Negan's face.

Negan is now free! There are many things he can do; the world is his oyster.

I look forward to the 2nd part of this season to see what happens to Negan; and to see if there is anymore news from the people in the helicopter with Jadis and Rick, and to see what the whisperers will do.

How about the last 10 mins of the episode!!! PURE INSANITY!!! Jesus went out in a epic and scary way!!! I believe even a trol would like this episode! That's how insanely scary this episode was. Super excited for the second half of season 9. BEST EPISODE THIS YEAR NOT EVEN JOKING😰😰😰RIP JESUS 😥

Another episode filled with pointless dialogue and nothing happening. Henry is just about becoming more annoying than Carl at this point. It's feels like they are forcing him into the story to make him seem important. I take it, he will eventually get killed and this will send Carol back over the edge.

Negan and Gabriel was a pointless conversation with a one eyed preacher talking about going out and saving someone when he has no fight in his body.

Do you really believe that in the middle of the night, after being chased by the Whisperers from pillar to post, that Michonne and the new comers found Daryl and his team in the grave yard?

Why is that every time one character stands off with a group of walkers, the team stands back and watch. Then when said character is injured or killed, the whole team jumps into action and wipes all the walkers. Shouldn't they have done that from the beginning?

But it's a T.V. show!