The Walking Dead: Season 9: Ending Explained

AMC’s The Walking Dead has just dropped the it’s final episode for Season 9 and throughout this video I’ll be breaking down everything that you need to know about the episode.

This is full spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the episode and don’t want to know what happens then I highly suggest that you turn off now as this has a lot of big moments in it that definitely deserve to be seen with fresh eyes.

That’s your last warning and with that out the way let’s dive into the Season 9 Finale of The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead Season 9 Recap

Episode 16 titled ‘The Storm’ fittingly picks up after the events of episode 15 ‘The Calm Before’….do you see what they did there?

Anyway, in that episode Alpha pretty much showcased herself as well The Alpha. Not only did she decapitate Ten of the show’s c-listers, she also showed Daryl a massive horde of Walkers that she threatened to unleash on the communities if they were ever to step foot in Whisperer territory again.

At least she got to wear a nice hat though.

Episode 16 Recap

Anyway, Episode 16 thrusts the titular Storm at our characters and these guys do not deal well with it. Alpha Hinted that the future would be sweater weather but I thought she was just talking about something to go along with her nice little hat.

It’s pretty clear though that the circumstances are causing everyone to be down about the entire staying alive thing with Lydia even contemplating death by Zombie Bite but more on that later. Ezekeil and Daryl have an argument who straight up tells him that life would be better at the Hilltop without him and all and all it’s clear everything has affected the group very badly.

The Storm isn’t all bad for everyone with Negan getting moved from his cell and actually getting a chance to redeem himself when he runs into the snow after Judith to rescue her. Just like that we forgot about him smashing Glenns head to smithereens embraced him as an upstanding member of the community.

Michonne even visits the character in the same room where he recovered from Rick’s throat slice and you can begin to see them at least warming too each other. Which is what Carl would have wanted. Negan too gives her advice on pespective and being a leader and even talks about how when they’re in charge, no one thinks they’re the evil one which gives a nice POV on some of the decisions that he made.

The Storm

What works so well about the snow is that it makes all of the journeys between towns life or death situations. After a pit stop at the Sanctuary, The Hilltoppers are forced to cross through Alpha’s territory, whilst walkers appear, the true drama of this episode with Lydia attempting suicide and begging Carol to let her die. Carol doesn’t do it though as she knows that Lydia is only considering herself as weak because of the abuse dealt by her mother. Carol might have seen most of the kids she’s looked after die infront of her but she’s not giving up and she embraces Lydia which shows that she will always try to care for the young as it’s in her nature.

Eventually, this causes Carol to break the news that she’s heading for A-Town and in doing this it confirms that the Fantasy Life she has been living in the kingdom is no more. I guess some people just aren’t cut out for life in a fairytale.

The Walking Dead Season 9 Finale Ending Explained

The episode ends with two cliffhangers, whilst summer has started, it doesn’t mean that things are gonna be all sunshine. The first cliffhanger comes with us seeing Beta removing Alpha’s mask and telling him that he needs to be strong for what comes next. Beta starts whipping Alpha across the wrist and it’s becoming clear that this whole anger as a driving force thing is really driving her. Obviously, she knows that the group have entered her territory and is going to do something about it and I can see her weaponising the army of the undead that she has at her disposal to take down all the Towns in one fell swoop.

Cut to Zeke chatting to Judith through his radio and it’s quite a cute little moment that shows just how strong the bonds between the towns are. Ezekeil walks off, probably to go look after his own child….oh wait….and then a muffled voice comes through the radio asking if anybody is out there.

Obviously, the groups are going to need some new faces to kill off, I mean help with The Whisperer War which is just around the corner and whilst I haven’t seen anyone talking about who this could be, I personally think we might see a return of Rick Grimes through this. I theorise that the voice on the other end could be the camp he was rescued by and it would make sense for the three standalone films that they are planning to do with the character to firstly show what’s happened to him, then secondly show him reconnecting with the group and thirdly show him helping out in the Whisperer War.

But who is this group exactly? Well in the comic books they are known as the Commonwealth and are introduced when Eugene hears them over the radio which is pretty similar to this.

The person behind the voice is known as Stephanie who lives in the community which is bar far the most expansive and elbaorate community in the walking dead world. It’s a real civilsation with bakeries, law firms, shops and more which further hammers home just how medieval the Kingdom is.

It will add a huge Game Of Thrones style aspect to the show as this becomes the main story point once the Whisperers are done with.

Your Thoughts

Obviously, I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether you agree with me so make sure you leave them in the comments below and let me know what you’d like to see in season 10 which is due to air later this year.

If you enjoyed this video then please like it and make sure you check out my breakdown the scary stories to tell in the dark trailer which will be linked at the end.