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5 of the most memorable moments in The Walking Dead

Featuring undead gore, shocking deaths, and many nice beards.

5 of the most memorable moments in The Walking Dead

By Amy Davidson

24 October 2018

Warning: spoilers ahead.

As it swings into its ninth season, The Walking Dead shows no signs of slowing.

Post all-out-war, things may have quietened down, but with the loss of two main characters on the horizon and a creepy new bunch of adversaries, it’s guaranteed the peace between the groups won’t stay intact for long.

While you wait for next week’s episode, relive some of The Walking Dead’s best (read: bloody/sad/ace) moments below.

And if that’s inspired you, we’re giving you the chance to flex your creative muscles and get your artwork on the cover of ShortList.

As the laws of the internet dictate, we must warn you that there are spoilers ahead…

1. Negan unleashes the fury of Lucille (Season 7, Episode 1)

Two birds with one bat. It was never meant to be this way.

In the comics, it’s only Glenn who bites the dust. On TV, Abraham’s ginger whiskers had to feel the wrath of Negan, too.

Potentially the show’s bloodiest and coldest scene, Negan even succeeds in breaking Rick’s morale, leading to a whole seventh season of bending the knee.

Shame about Abraham. Even bigger shame about Glenn Rhee, one of the remaining season one OGs.

He saved Rick in the pilot, fell in love, and died for no real reason. And he was only meant to be delivering pizzas, man.

2. Look at the flowers (Season 4, Episode 14)

The one where Carol offs the creepy girl from The Shining in a long-overdue episode.

Ever since Lizzie and her sister Mika showed up at the prison, it was obvious something was off.

And, despite her maternal instincts kicking in, Carol knew it. Watching one sister kill the other was the final straw.

It’s a beautiful capsule episode that allowed for a breather in the aftermath of The Governor’s raid on the prison.

So long Lizzie and Mika, you won’t be missed. And Carol, welcome to the next level of ruthlessness…

3. Rick kills his first walker (Season 1, Episode 1)

Nine seasons in, the pilot is still one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead.

Not to say the subsequent 116 episodes have been less than epic. It’s simply that with an extended running time and a blank canvas, director Frank Darabont had a whole new world to play with.

Whether it’s Rick waking up in hospital, riding his steed into Atlanta, or meeting Morgan for the first time, this episode has everything.

Rick’s first walker kill is a foreshadowing of the carnage to come, and in this new world order, the fact that Rick Grimes won’t ever be the same again.

4. Escape from Terminus (Season 5, Episode 1)

Carol is back on her badass swag in the season five opener.

Exploding walkers? Check. Machine-gunned cannibals? You betcha. Daryl and Carol enjoying a tearful reunion? Of course.

The escape from Terminus remains one of the show’s best episodes, and possibly the best season opener in nine years of The Walking Dead.

There’s action and gore aplenty, sure. But it’s the fact that the tension never lets up from the cold opening to the end credits that makes this a stand-out, fist-in-the-air epic.

5. Rick vs. The Governor (Season 4, Episode 8)

By today’s standards, David Morrissey’s Governor seems like a pretty tame leader.

OK, so he did machine gun all of his followers and keep severed zombie heads in glass tanks. And kill Hershel. And destroy the prison.

But was he really that different from what Rick would later become, biting out Claimers’ necks, or waving a revolver at the residents of Alexandria?

Either way, after a season-and-a-half of antagonism, Rick’s brutal fight with The Governor was the closure every viewer had been waiting for.

If only they’d spared Hershel…

The Walking Dead continues Mondays, 9pm on FOX.