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The fair was supposed to spark not only trade, but hope. The Kingdom's been on the precipice of ruin and it's not like anyone's murder directly caused pipes to burst and mold to spread, but the overall cloud of defeat, and low morale, was enough to thread us into the Kingdom's last gasp. And we're all surely smart enough to see the symbolic ties connecting the fall of The Kingdom to the lives that were lost last week. We didn't have to wallow around inside mope-iness and morbidity if the saga worked better with some distance between events. They allowed the story to leave things in the dust when it needed to. In fact, I think Season 9 has clicked so well for me, overall (sure, there were snags), because of the time hops, both big and small.
![the walking dead season 9 episode 1 recap the walking dead season 9 episode 1 recap](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/twd_901_jld_0503_2398_rt-e1538781657380.jpg)
And I really liked the staging of these final three Season 9 chapters: The flashback-heavy ep followed by the shocking body count (which would usually be a finale) followed by a totally different adventure/crucible altogether.
![the walking dead season 9 episode 1 recap the walking dead season 9 episode 1 recap](https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/walking-dead-world-beyond-season-2-episode-1-iris-felix-will-2.jpg)
Sure, the end of "The Calm Before" established that a few days had gone by before the credits rolled, but getting an actual mini-jump this week helped the story immensely. We're not dealing with instant ramifications of Alpha's brutal beheadings. "The Storm" may not have given me exactly what I needed/wanted, regarding my asinine wish list for a Season 9 finale, but it did lift us up and out of the death toll-heaviness from last week's "The Calm Before." It's still technically aftermath, but we've skipped ahead a few months later.