The first of the Walking Dead season offered a long-awaited glimmer of hope

Any television show that will still be aired after eight years of the year will have ups and downs. But it's hard to deny that in recent seasons, The dead who walk fell from a creative cliff. Under the direction of former showrunner Scott Gimple, the series took each skirmish into a multi-season arc, relied on emotional stunts to keep the crowd engaged, and bent over backwards to focus on Negan, a villain who was not never really become interesting enough to justify more than 30 hours of programming devoted to its introduction, its reign and its eventual fall.

But with the ninth season of the series, the series is ready for a rebirth. Gimple moved away to focus on expanding the franchise, allowing new star Angela Kang to offer her own perspective. The show has 18 months of future, propelling itself away from the terrible misery that characterized the last seasons. And the star of the series, Andrew Lincoln, is preparing its release, while AMC qualifies the last half-season of "last episode of Rick Grimes".

After too many years stuck in repetition, The dead who walk change, and the difference could not have been more palpable at the premiere of Season 9, "A New Beginning". A program on survival in a brutal, lawless world is now about rebuilding society, and for once, The dead who walk feels filled with hope.

Rick, with finer hair and a grayer beard, raises a talkative Judith alongside Michonne, who has embraced her maternal role and fears that their fragile peace may be broken by violence or sudden rebellion. She tells Rick that the next big step is to formulate a set of rules to govern conduct and impose a sanction, before – not after – an incident that overthrows their communities. The couple, alongside their companions, established food, agriculture, commerce and transportation; it is the foundation of a sustainable society, not just a handful of friends in desperation.

Better still, this hope is based on real and significant progress that recognizes the work needed to build a peaceful civilization. And for the first time in a while, The dead who walk is concerned with struggles rooted in reality, and time and effort has been devoted to the realization of these struggles, even if they are not as dynamic as Mad Max Deathmatch with a zombie in a junkyard.

For example, everyone rides mainly on horseback because it is difficult to find fuel. A bridge between Alexandria and Hilltop fell into ruin, preventing both communities from exchanging vital supplies. These developments, although conventional post-apocalyptic tariffs, contrast with the more ridiculous challenges that the series has designed for its characters in the past. In the new Walking Dead, the obstacles are such that those who have returned to an agrarian society may find themselves confronted.

Photo of Jackson Lee Davis / AMC

This kind of rooted world construction is present throughout "A New Beginning". After years of watching characters struggling and bickering and bickering, the show moved on to the real deal of the civilization of humanity, something she gave up. far from everything while the subject has apparently been a priority for years. After Negan has finally left – a character who has dominated both the story and the center of the series – Rick, Maggie, Michonne and the others can begin to expand. It's really as if progress has been made.

Of course, time jumps are a convenient way to advance scenarios without having to perform painstaking narrative synthesis work. By jumping 18 months, Kang is able to make big changes. But the progress made, which the show attributes to Maggie following the guide that gave him the last season of Georgie helicopter, are hard won and credible. The closest moment to what we have experienced in previous seasons is the introduction of Alexandria when Rick and the others stumbled upon a closed community that was almost untouched, with running water and electricity. But this has always seemed too practical, and here the characters in the series are able to make this progress without requiring a suspension of disbelief.

Even in the most subtle moments, the episode provided viewers with anecdotes focusing on hope and new starts. Ezekiel proposed to Carol – the two now form a couple – after nearly dying at the hands of a horde of zombies. Rick and Maggie discussed their new responsibilities for overseeing trade and transportation between Alexandria and Hilltop, while Rick holds Glenn and Maggie's child in his lap. Daryl and Carol remember the ancient times of the shrine, which Daryl now reluctantly runs alongside Eugene. The characters are at a point where they see their previous trials with a combination of lassitude, tenderness and relief, knowing that the work that really matters is yet to come and that they are reluctant to take advantage of it, even for a moment .

Script writers, however, make sure to inject enough skepticism and embarrassing tensions into each scene. As a result of Ezekiel's proposal, a young man who tries to free a horse from the mud gets bitten by a zombie and Maggie is forced to announce the news to her parents in distress. Later, Rick acknowledges to Maggie that his philosophy of leadership may be at odds with his. This is nowhere more evident than in the way the specter of Negan, who lives in a prison cell in Alexandria, hovers over the conversation between the two. And Daryl, worried and impatient to live for days where all he had to worry about was keeping everyone alive, learns that a clandestine movement is growing in the Sanctuary to restore the Saviors.

Photo of Jackson Lee Davis / AMC

Of course, new beginnings do not prevent reliance on old habits, and many Walking Dead-mes still prevailed throughout the episode. Ezekiel exposes himself to taking a wagon in a museum filled with zombies, but would not it be safe to build a new one? Gregory, upset to have lost an election on Maggie for Hilltop's presidential post, orchestrates a moronic assassination attempt that seems uniquely intended to give the episode's end a thorny punch . And almost a decade after the beginning of this series, why are there no better protections against zombie bites?

Despite the obvious flaws, for the first time in several years, we have the impression TWD has moved to a completely different point of view. It's not that the series is shot differently; it always looks and looks the same, and the lost viewers could end up at home and sink now. Instead, it's the soul of TWD – what it is and where it is going – that have been rearranged in such a bold way that they often feel provocative. The show spent eight seasons working in a world that was constantly trying to sink into chaos. Focusing on hope and opportunity is not just a new beginning; it makes a dramatically improved piece of television that leaves one wondering why The dead who walk spent so much time wandering obstinately in the darkness.

It is worth recognizing that TWD has always been good at setting the stage and closing things. This is the hardest part of the show, whether it's killing episodes of bottles or constantly teasing the arrival of characters who never respond to anticipation. It is still too early to determine if this is the kind of tactics that Kang will use this season, and it is clear from many marketing materials that the series still follows the narrative footsteps of designer Robert Kirkman's comic strip. But if the premiere of the season is an indication of what kind of show TWD now trying to be, there is not just a reason for the characters to feel a sense of hope – the public can too.