It’s a damn shame that less people are watching “The Walking Dead” than ever before right now, as the current ninth season has been a welcome course-correction for the series. But the good news this week is that this past Sunday night’s episode, which took us behind enemy lines to learn more about the Whisperers, actually had a nice little spike in viewership.

Steady with the previous week, Sunday’s ‘Guardians’  posted a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49, with 4.71 million total viewers. That’s a bit up from last week’s 4.39m total viewers.

For the sake of context, here are the episode-by-episode numbers for Season 9:

• Episode 9.1 – 6.08 million
• Episode 9.2 – 4.95 million
• Episode 9.3 – 5.04 million
• Episode 9.4 – 5.10 million
• Episode 9.5 *Rick’s Final Episode* – 5.41 million
• Episode 9.6 – 5.40 million
• Episode 9.7 – 4.79 million
• Episode 9.8 *Mid-Season Finale* – 5.09 million
• Episode 9.9 *Mid-Season Premiere* – 5.16 million
• Episode 9.10 – 4.54 million
• Episode 9.11 – 4.39 million
• Episode 9.12 – 4.71 million

Only four episodes remain in Season 9, and with a compelling/horrifying villain at the center of the season in Oscar-winner Samantha Morton’s Alpha (who brutally beheaded one of her own this past Sunday night), we wouldn’t be surprised to see the season finish pretty strong in the ratings. On that note, we’re thinking you won’t want to miss these final four episodes.

If the comics are any indication, true horror awaits.