The Walking Dead’s fresh start looks like a big step back

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead season 9, episode 6 below.
Last week, The Walking Dead was too clever for its own good. After head-faking for months that Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes would be killed off the show, the series aired a finale that seemed to do exactly that — before revealing in the final moments that Rick was actually just whisked away via helicopter, injured but alive. Adding insult to injury, AMC then pulled another rabbit out of its crumpled hat: not only was