Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 19, 2019

Do divisions ever truly heal? Can societies ever come together in total peace and harmony, making a literal port in a figurative storm? In a world overrun by the walking dead and poisoned by so many souls blackened by the madness, it would seam unlikely, but after many years fighting off the worst of the living and the dead, the communities have coalesced in relative harmony with an eye to the future. But, as is always the case in a rotten world, obstacles new and old stand in the way. The Walking Dead’s ninth season is more hopeful in its depiction of the new world, but it wouldn’t be The Walking Dead without terrible horror and dire consequences emerging from the shadows that even the brightest light cannot destroy.

In this new season, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and company raid a museum to secure some basics that might set mankind back a couple of centuries but that are vital in moving him into the future. The season’s first several episodes are concerned with the rebuilding of a society in tatters, both at the hands of the villainous, and now imprisoned, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the ever-present shambling walking dead. But the societies of Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside, and The Kingdom are banding together to form a new governance in an effort to return some semblance of order and normalcy to their corner of the world.

The season, and the series, takes a major turn in episodes four and five, with six serving as something resembling a soft reboot that advances the timeline several years to a time in which much has changed yet so much has remained the same. Rick’s adopted daughter Judith (Chloe Garcia-Frizzi and Cailey Fleming), now a young lady wise beyond her years, proudly wears her father's hat and also carries the same mantle of hope and trustworthiness for the future. A new enemy emerges partway through the season, however, a group of “intelligent walkers” known as “Whisperers,” humans who don dead masks and amble about in a similar fashion. The group is led by Alpha (Samantha Morton), a powerful individual with eyes on destroying everything the communities have worked so diligently to build should they not grant her a single wish.

At least for parts, season nine is an up-and-down affair that, early on, shies away from the horribly grim and bleak storylines that defined so many of the previous outings, most recently the Negan arc that saw the leader of the Sanctuary devastate Rick and the survivors in total, bloody warfare. As the season begins, pockets of trouble remain with some of Sanctuary’s remnants, while Negan is locked away in a prison cell, his life spared by Rick in a move that divided loyalties. But as challenges are overcome the season suddenly shifts forward and introduces a new enemy, The Whisperers, a psychotic herd of the living masquerading as the dead. They clash with the survivors, of course, and as with any confrontation, this one is not devoid of casualties. A devastating turn of events in the penultimate episode increases the stakes, and the heartbreaks and the reality, of the story’s bleakness and reinforces the show’s grim intensity, helping to rescue an otherwise somewhat flat season that is not a letdown but that feels a little overlong for what it has to offer.

Part of the problem, as it has been lately, is character sprawl, a mass of faces, some recognizable, some unrecognizable, that don’t interfere with the core story but do seem to dilute and confuse it a bit. Perhaps it's just the realities of time removed from the show from one year to the next and so many other film and television consumables diluting the memory, but more than any other season nine seems more like a tangle of flesh and less a program able to properly focus on key characters. But in a story like this, by a ninth season, it does make sense to find and depict a world coming together rather than falling apart, for togetherness and healing even in the face of danger. But it could certainly use a little tightening around the edges for narrative’s and cohesion’s sakes.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season arrives on Blu-ray with another high quality 1080p presentation. Season nine continues with the series' long-established physical construction, maintaining a grainy and grim appearance, slightly softer textures, and often a somewhat moribund worldview that accentuates grays and conveys a sense of bleakness even amongst nature. To be sure, the Blu-ray looks very good within the show's physical construction, as it always has through the previous eight seasons and hopefully as it always will. Core textures are reliably accurate within the constraints. Intimate close-ups reveal intricate textures, whether talking human skin, rotted zombie flesh and all of the squishy gore in accompaniment, or the myriad of world textures such as tree trunks, leaves and grasses, paved roads, and structures in various states of disrepair or, in some cases, freshly built by hand. The image enjoys as much crispness and clarity as the source allows. Colors are a little dull by intent. While natural greenery and fresh blood are highlights and just about the most intense hues seen throughout the season, additional colors are fine within the show's parameters, desaturated through they may be. Flesh tones appear accurate within the show's visual structure and back levels, while slightly raised at times, are nicely complementary to any nighttime exterior or low light interior. An errant blink-and-miss pop here and there (look at the 16:45 mark in episode eight for an example) is really the only source flaw of note. There are no immediately obvious encode problems. Even a challenging nighttime heavy fog graveyard scene at the end of episode eight is no challenge for the encode.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season's Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack could be described just like the accompanying video presentation: it's excellent and not in any way noticeably different from last season's offering. The track offers good low end extension as needed in support of various effects and music alike. Music is large and stage-filling during the most intensive scenes; listen to chapter six of episode five for the best example of its impressively immersive posture at its peak. An explosion in that same chapter offers stage-filling intensity and a rock-solid low end, not to mention full surround support. Various environmental effects, critical to the show in defining outdoor locales or bringing shuffling dead into the listening area, are handled precisely and accurately. The track has a propensity to push a little low in volume at reference level, particularly in some dialogue exchanges, but the spoken word is otherwise effortlessly detailed, well prioritized, and positioned in the front-center locale.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season contains a few sporadically located commentary tracks across the five disc set while disc five houses several additional extras. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentary: For "What Comes After:" Showrunner/Executive Producer Angela King and Executive Producer/Writer Scott Gimple and Co-Executive Producer/Writer Matt Negrete. For "Stradivarius:" Director Michael Cudlitz and Executive Story Editor/Writer Vivian Tse.

Disc Four:

• Audio Commentary: For "The Calm Before:" Co-Executive Producer/Writer Corey Reed, Staff Writer Geraldine Inoa, "Ezekiel" Khary Payton and "Siddiq" Avi Nash.

Disc Five:

• Audio Commentary: For "The Storm:" Executive Producer Denise Huth, Co-Executive Producer/Writer Matt Negrete, "Carol" Melissa McBride and "Father Gabriel" Seth Gilliam.
• Seasons of Change (1080p, 8:03): A look at the role of nature in season nine: its thematic resonance and shooting on and around artificial snow. It also looks at icy zombies and frigid kills. A few additional nuggets are covered beyond snow.
• In Memoriam (1080p, 10:36): A closer examination of characters who died in season nine and the roles they played in the series. It also explores the actors who portrayed them.
• The Whisperers: Behind the Mask (1080p, 10:38): This piece explores the season's antagonists in detail, including origins in the comics and depiction in the show.
• Rick Farewell (1080p, 4:14): A look at Andrew Lincoln's work on the series and the character's story throughout the past nine seasons.
• Time Jump (1080p, 3:00): A quick look at the season's leap forward in time six years and how it impacted the characters and the story. "Medieval Amish," the period is called.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 10:15 total runtime): A collection of scenes given numerical markers only.
• Inside Episode... (1080p, various runtimes): Episode recaps and brief character and thematic insights for each episode.
• Making Of... (1080p, various runtimes): Unlike the extra above, which explored plot details and mechanics, these pieces look at some of the more interesting details that went into each episode's technical construction.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Ninth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Walking Dead's ninth season does not leave the world without wounds, some of the deepest and most despicable wounds yet, a grim reminder of the pains that exist even in a corner of the world bent on healing. It's a bit too much in terms of length and character; it needs tightening for effectiveness. The final tease is too vague to pique interest, too, leaving the prospects for season ten a bit dampened. Season nine's five-disc Blu-ray release does deliver quality video and audio presentations and a fair assortment of extra content. Recommended.