1. Plot

2. Production

3. Reception
    Critical reception  Ratings 

4. References

5. External links

• Ryan Hurst as Beta
• Cooper Andrews as Jerry
• Nadia Hilker as Magna
• Kerry Cahill as Dianne
• Cassady McClincy as Lydia
• Cailey Fleming as Judith Grimes
• Nadine Marissa as Nabila

"The Storm" is the sixteenth and final episode of the ninth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, which aired on AMC on March 31, 2019, in the United States.

Plot

A few months after the deaths of several members of the communities at the hands of Alpha, winter sets in. The Kingdom is unable to keep up its infrastructure, and Ezekiel makes the decision to abandon the community, assembling a large caravan of the remaining survivors to seek out better shelter at the Hilltop, though not before broadcasting their situation via radio to anyone that may be listening. Daryl, Michonne and Yumiko help to escort them. They discuss issues of leadership at Hilltop following Tara's death, noting that Maggie has opted to stay with Georgie and her group after sending her several requests to return. While dealing with rogue walkers, Ezekiel privately asks Daryl to take Lydia away after they reach Hilltop, as he believes Carol blames her for Henry's death. Later, Lydia sees a walker half-buried in the snow. She considers letting the walker bite her, but Carol sees her and brings her back to group. With the storm building up and nowhere close to a waypoint, Daryl suggests they return to the Sanctuary for shelter. The abandoned warehouse provides shelter from the storm, but it becomes clear that they do not have the supplies to wait it out. Reviewing maps, they recognize that if they cross the boundary to the Whisperers' land and traverse a frozen river, they can quickly reach a safe waypoint within a day.

Using the cover of the storm, the Kingdom's group crosses over the line that Alpha had set, finding only frozen walkers along the way. They get to a river that has been frozen over. Carol goes looking for Lydia who has disappeared, while the rest deal with rising walkers buried in the snow. Carol catches up to Lydia, who realizes she's to blame for their situation and feels she can't stay with them, and since she can't go back to Alpha, she asks Carol to kill her. Carol refuses to kill her, saying that she is not weak. The group make it to the waypoint, and eventually reaches the Hilltop the next day. Daryl, Michonne, Lydia, and a few others prepare to continue on to Alexandria. Carol tells Ezekiel that she plans to go with Daryl and subsequently breaks up with him. She attempts to give his ring back, but he insists she keeps it, telling her he will always love her.

At Alexandria, the approaching storm takes out their solar power, and the council decides to bring all the residents into a few buildings to keep warmth. Gabriel, Rosita, and Eugene agree they need to bring Negan out of his cell to one of these buildings too. There, Negan antagonizes Gabriel and Eugene over Rosita's child. Eugene discovers the fireplace in the building is blocked off and cannot be used, and so they decide they need to relocate to a different building. As they cross through the windy snowfall at sub-freezing temperatures, Judith hears Dog bark, and she runs off into the snowfall to look for him; Negan quickly follows, but gets injured from flying debris. He hears Dog barking, and finds Judith, who is beginning to suffer from hypothermia. He carries her and leads Dog back to shelter, despite the injury.

Daryl's group reaches Alexandria later as the storm subsides, and Michonne is elated to see Judith and RJ still alive. A small snowball fight ensues between some of the Alexandrians. Michonne goes to talk to Negan, who is being tended to his wound. Michonne thanks him for saving Judith. Negan is impressed to learn they crossed through the Whisperers' territory, but warns her that the Whisperers might retaliate.

As winter subsides, the Whisperers regroup, knowing that they have more bodies for the herd. Beta tells Alpha that she is a strong woman despite having lost her daughter, and per her request, leaves several lashes on her arm. Ezekiel contacts Judith via radio to catch up, both glad to have made it through the winter. As they leave, the radio picks up a faint transmission, with an unknown woman asking if anyone is out there.

Production

Despite the demise of the characters of Tara Chambler (Alanna Masterson) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon), their names appear on the opening credits.

While showrunner Angela Kang stated that the faint radio message heard at the end of the episode was meant to be a mystery to be explored in Season 10, many journalists believe it is helping to set up the show to follow into the comic's Commonwealth arc, which occurs after the war with the Whisperers. In the comic, Eugene uses the radio to contact a member of the Commonwealth and learns it is a thriving thousands-strong survivor community in Ohio, and eventually a small scouting party from the allied communities travel there. At the time that "The Storm" aired, the comic series was still in the middle of the Commonwealth arc.^[1]

Reception

Critical reception

"The Storm" received critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has an approval rating of 89% with an average score of 7.25 out of 10, based on 18 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Hell freezes over in a wintry The Walking Dead finale that takes full advantage of 'The Storm' with some chilly scares and a meditative, mournful tone – although this elegiac installment arguably would have best worked as a preamble instead of a denouement."^[2]

Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment gave a positive review of the episode, writing: "While filming in Georgia certainly doesn’t lend itself to frequent episodes like this, it’s an impressive look for the show to embrace massive blizzards, mounds of snow, and even an icy lake. As a cold way to bring an end to a pretty consistently strong set of episodes (a nice change of pace for this series), The Walking Dead did a lot with this contemplative episode."^[3]

Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'B' rating, stating: "The show has always tended to follow up installments in which noteworthy characters die with brooding and meditative stories, moments in which both audience and characters can stop and take stock of where they are, reevaluating themselves and asking if it’s all still worth it. And for all the live-or-die snowbound action of the episode, “The Storm” is very much in line with this tradition, a reflection on grief in the wake of trauma, and how it can quietly have significant unforeseen consequences, even weeks or months later."^[4]

Ratings

"The Storm" received a total viewership of 5.02 million with a 1.9 rating in adults aged 18-49. It was the highest-rated cable program of the night, and increased in viewership from the previous week as well being the highest-rated episode since the midseason premiere. However, it was the lowest-rated season finale of the series.^[5]

References

External links

• [https://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/season-9/episode-16-the-storm "The Storm"] at AMC
• {{IMDb episode|7958876}}
• {{TV.com episode|the-walking-dead/the-storm-3568104/}}

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