The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 9 “Rock in the Road” OMG Moments

The Walking Dead returned last Sunday with the premier of the second half of season 7 and it already looks nothing like the first half.

AMC’s hit apocalyptic zombie thriller returned this past week after a long hiatus and an even longer first half of the season. If you’ve been following my recaps for The Walking Dead season 7 then it’s no surprise how much I disliked it, and how much I desperately needed Rick Grimes to get his act together.

Well, “Rock in the Road” gave us the first taste of what’s in store and so far, I like what I’m seeing. Rick Grimes is back in action and I am back as the fan of the show that I once was.

Here are a few moments that definitely left me shocked after watching this first episode.

Image via Gene Page/AMC

The Walking Dead is back and better than ever.

The beginning of the seventh season of The Walking Dead was shaky. I can’t remember a time in the history of this show where a solid chunk of it was spent under the ruling of an enemy (aka. when Rick wasn’t in charge), and I hated it. I’m not saying that the only reason the show began to tank was because of Negan, a character that a lot of fans just despised. That definitely played a huge role in it, but it was also because the entire plot was at a stand still for the majority of the eight episodes- something else we’ve never seen in The Walking Dead history.

Let’s be honest, it just got boring, and the show’s ratings proved that. They needed to do something to get the show back in gear and they needed to do it now.

The second half of season 7 is it. Like I said in my recap for this episode, I finally found myself watching this show as I did the first 6 seasons — happily sitting in anticipation instead of clenching my fists at Rick’s wasted character development. I am excited for Sunday nights again and I am excited to overanalyze these episodes in my recaps again.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

So King Ezekiel hasn’t exactly promised that he’s going to join in the fight against Negan but do we really believe that? Between Carol and Daryl, one of them is going to work their magic to win him over and convince him that The Kingdom should be involved as well. The thing I did enjoy about the first part of this season is that we’re finally meeting all these groups that work the same way Alexandria does. Like Jesus explains in the episode to Richard about how Rick Grimes community is “like-minded” to Hilltop and The Kingdom: “We live. We trade. We fight the dead. Sometimes others.”

Through 6 seasons of this AMC classic, we always seem to run into the nastiest communities. So it’s definitely a breath of fresh air when we meet other people who just want to live in peace.

Image via AMC

Something’s about to go boom.

So many explosives that our squad just stole from the Saviors. If Alexandria and Hilltop can’t round up enough man power to fight against Negan, at least they have a shit ton of explosives now to blow something up.

I loved this scene because it proved that each character on this show has skill set that’ll come in handy sooner or later. Rosita was so sassy to Sasha earlier in this episode, giving me a bad image of her. But then she goes and casually disables a bomb like she’s changing a lightbulb. Is Rosita going to be the saving grace of season 7?

Why is Rick Grimes so happy?

Has Rick Grimes gone crazy? Is he losing his mind? Has all this zombie killing gone to his head? No, no, no. He is happy because when he is surrounded by tons of people with weapons at the end of this episode, he sees his army. He sees soldiers.

Honorable Mentions:

• Whenever I watch Enid and Carl on screen together, I feel like I’m watching an apocalyptic teen rom-com and I’m kind of living for it.
• Rick Grimes face when he sees Shiva.
• Morgan finding out that Abraham, Glenn, Spencer, and Olivia were all killed by Negan but STILL not siding with them to take down Negan. WHAT.
• I totally forgot the Saviors took Eugene and now I need to see him and make sure he’s okay.
• Rosita is fierce and feisty and kind of a bitch but I LOVE HER.
• Watching Rick and Michonne slice about 300 walkers in half made me the happiest I’ve ever been.
• I desperately need a Carol/Daryl reunion.

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The Walking Dead airs on Sunday at 9/8c on AMC.