Some Walking Dead viewers were left frustrated Sunday when the broadcast was interrupted by misplaced commercials that cut off portions of the episode mid-scene. The apparent error happened twice during pivotal Season Nine episode 914, 'Scars,' which uncovered the mystery behind Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Daryl's (Norman Reedus) identical 'X' scars.
A commercial first cut into the episode when Jocelyn (Rutina Wesley), an old friend of Michonne's who miraculously turns up at Alexandria's front gate, integrates into the community. Another commercial was spliced into the episode during a key scene shared between Michonne and Daryl while the pair were on the hunt for missing Alexandrian children, including Michonne's daughter Judith, who was abducted by Jocelyn and her nomadic pack of feral kids.
That disruption cut off Daryl mid-sentence and resulted in some viewers missing a small portion of the episode. These commercial splices continued on through live aftershow Talking Dead, which featured Walking Dead co-executive producer Denise Huth and super-fan Yvette Nicole Brown as guests.
The issue, which appears to have only affected DirecTV customers, prompted swift backlash online.
"Hey AMC your broadcast of The Walking Dead tonight has been atrocious. Commercials keep cutting into the show," complained one viewer on Twitter. Others called the episode "almost unwatchable," pointing to the "crazy interruptions" coming at the most inopportune times.
The episode climaxed with a scene some viewers called "disturbing" and "traumatizing," which saw a heavily pregnant Michonne forced to slaughter Jocelyn's corrupted children in self-defense when they refused to halt their vicious attack.