The Walking Dead season 9 episode 8 recap: Evolution

The mid-season finale of The Walking Dead introduces the show’s newest threat: The Whisperers. Here’s your recap of “Evolution.”

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead begins with a scene that fans might remember from previews of the season. Daryl, Aaron and Jesus (and Dog) are on a hill overlooking a meadow. Below them is a cluster of walkers. Instead of moving in a line toward a destination, though, this herd is milling around aimlessly in a circle. It’s not typical walker behavior and it’s cause for concern. Daryl estimates there to be about 130-140 of them. They’ve never seen anything like this before, and Daryl says Rosita’s tracks go right through them. Daryl admits that this is not normal at all. But they need to get a move on. There’s a storm coming.

The camera returns to a scene of the walkers in the cluster. One of them stops and looks up into the sky, almost as if it’s sniffing the air.

Cue the credits, here we go.

Back in Alexandria, Father Gabriel is leading a meditation session while the children are outside playing. We look outside from a window to see the children gathered there, and then it becomes clear that Gabriel’s meditation is taking place inside Negan’s cell. Negan is sitting with his eyes closed but he’s not able to connect with his inner peace.

Instead, he grabs his glove and ball and starts tossing the ball against the wall. He says his mind keeps going to the place where he knocks Gabriel’s collar right off, which leads to an observation about Gabriel and Rosita being a couple. Gabriel shakes his head, wondering why Negan always ends up rejecting help even though he seems to want to change. Negan says they already went through everything, and their sessions only mark the passage of time. He knows he’s not leaving any time soon, but he does appreciate Gabriel visiting him when he needed the assistance. (Presumably after Maggie’s visit)

Negan compares his window to a television, which he loved back when TV was a “thing.” Negan can sit and listen to people outside who talk as if they forget he’s there. He teases Gabriel that he saw Rosita outside talking to someone but he won’t say who it was.

Gabriel leaves and goes outside to see the two Hilltop messengers walking through. A woman tells him that they’re from Hilltop, and that Rosita has been injured.