The Walking Dead: looking back at “Adaptation”

On February 10, 2019, The Walking Dead episode “Adaptation” aired on AMC, the midseason premiere of season nine. This episode premiered one week earlier on AMC+ and was the lowest-rated midseason premiere in the show’s history. This episode was written by Corey Reed and directed by Greg Nicotero.

This episode picks up where the previous one ended, in the cemetery right after a Whisperer killed Jesus (Tom Payne). It was a terrible sight to see his dead body, a reminder of what happened in the previous episode.

In this episode, viewers were introduced to Lydia, and Alpha was revealed for the first time. The title comes from Lydia’s comment about her mother believing they need to adapt to this new world and Negan trying to adapt to life outside of his cell.

The Walking Dead season 9

This episode follows the group as they bring Jesus’ body back to Hilltop for a proper burial. The residents there are devastated at the loss of their leader. They turn to Tara for leadership now. They have a moving funeral for him.

On the road back to Hilltop, Michonne and Daryl have a heart-to-heart conversation about Rick.

Daryl took one of the Whisperers captive, who turns out to be Lydia, Alpha’s daughter. He tries to get more information from her, but she is unwilling to tell all.

At Alexandria, Negan has left his cell after the door had been left open. He ventures out only to find things aren’t the same way he left them over six years ago. He returns after realizing what Judith told him was true, that there is nothing outside the walls of Alexandria for him.

Eugene tries to profess his love to Rosita, who runs out of the room, saying, “I can’t.” She is seen vomiting outside and confesses to Siddiq that she is pregnant with his child; this is said within hearing distance of a heartbroken Eugene.

At the end of the episode, Luke and Alden come upon some walkers who turn out to be Alpha and a group of her skin mask wearing Whisperers. It is an awesome site to see what is thought to be walkers, take out weapons and then speak.

It is an emotional episode that marked the 100th for Norman Reedus. At this time, it made him only the second character to hit this milestone, with Andrew Lincoln being the first.

Another bit of trivia about this episode was shared by showrunner Angela Kang. She told Insider that Tom Payne did return to play the body of Jesus.

"Tom was great. We could have just done a dummy or something,” showrunner Angela Kang told INSIDER. “He was like, ‘I’ll do it if you want me to. If you want me to be the body in the episode I will be there."

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on February 20 and AMC+ on February 13.

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