review of The Walking Dead 5.9 

The Walking Dead 5.9: Another Death in the Family

The Walking Dead 5.9 was back after its winter break with another death in the family.  This kind of death - at the mouths of walkers - had to happen, to keep the series true to its roots.  Beth\'s death was more traumatic, but it was a death which didn\'t touch base with the basic, omnipresent environment of the series:  walkers who can kill you just about any place and any time.

Our crew has probably escaped these kinds of deaths more than is plausible, given the scenario of the series.  So, every once in a while, someone has to die that way - someone very important.  Herschel was bitten but survived.  If I\'m not mistaken, the last truly major character of huge importance to the story to die because of a walker\'s bite directly or indirectly was Lori.

And so tonight it was Tyreese.   In many ways, he\'d become the heart and soul of the show, because of his kindness and gentle spirit.  And he was given a great send-off, replete with cameos from, of course, Beth, but also surprises like the Governor.   His death thus marked an important rite and night of passage from what has happened before on The Walking Dead to what will now come after.

I had to say I was hoping, as the story unfolded, for another resolution.  It would be nice in some episode, sooner or later, to come upon someone with a natural immunity to the walkers\' bites and the illness they spread.  That someone could well have been Tyreese.   But it was not to be.

And that\'s not really surprising, because The Walking Dead never was and never will be about nice. It\'s about the indomitable human spirit standing up to almost impossibly overwhelming odds, with almost all cards stacked against it, and if not winning, at least staying in the game.

What will happen in the end?   We\'ll just have to wait until the end of the series to know.  In the meantime, Washington DC beckons.

See also: The Walking Dead 5.1: The Redemption of Carole ... The Walking Dead 5.3: Meets Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone ... The Walking Dead 5.4: Hospital of Horror ... The Walking Dead 5.5: Anatomy of a Shattered Dream ... The Walking Dead 5.6-7: Slow ... The Walking Dead 5.8: Killing the Non-Killer

And see also The Walking Dead 4.1: The New Plague ... The Walking Dead 4.2: The Baby and the Flu ... The Walking Dead 4.3: Death in Every Corner ...The Walking Dead 4.4: Hershel, Carl, and Maggie ... The Walking Dead 4.6: The Good Governor ... The Walking Dead 4.7: The Governor\'s Other Foot ... The Walking Dead 4.8: Vintage Fall Finale ... The Walking Dead 4.9: A Nightmare on Walking Dead Street ... The Walking Dead 4:14: Too Far ... The Walking Dead Season 4 Finale: From the Gunfire into the Frying Pan

And see also The Walking Dead 3.3 meets Meadowlands ... The Walking Dead 3.4: Going to the Limit ... The Walking Dead 3.9: Making Crazy Sense ... The Walking Dead 3.10: Reinforcements ... The Walking Dead 3.11: The Patch ... The Walking Dead 3.12: The Lesson of Morgan ... The Walking Dead 3.13: The Deal ... The Walking Dead 3.14: Inescapable Parable ... The Walking Dead 3.15: Merle ... The Walking Dead 3.16: Kill or Die, or Die and Kill

And see also The Walking Dead Back on AMC ... The Walking Dead 2.2: The Nature of Vet  ... The Walking Dead 2.3: Shane and Otis ... The Walking Dead 2.4: What Happened at the Pharmacy ... The Walking Dead 2.6: Secrets Told ... The Walking Dead 2.7: Rick\'s Way vs. Shane\'s Way ...  The Walking Dead 2.8: The Farm, the Road, and the Town  ... The Walking Dead 2.9: Worse than Walkers ... The Walking Dead 2.11: Young Calling the Shots ... The Walking Dead 2.12: Walkers Without Bites ... The Walking Dead Season 2 Finale

And see also The Walking Dead 1.1-3:  Gone with the Wind, Zombie Style ... The Walking Dead Ends First Season

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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