‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 6.3 “Thank You” (9.5 out of 10) Created by Frank Darabont; Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan; Sundays on AMC.
On a long enough timeline, every dramatic TV show will have an “Empire Strikes Back” episode. These are episodes in which two or more seemingly unconquerable events arrive to simultaneously derail the main narrative so as to convince the audience that the good guys have actually lost. As far as “The Walking Dead” goes, I would have pegged its Empire moment during season four’s ‘Too Far Gone,’ in which the Governor chops off Hershel’s head and blows up the prison. Now, three episodes into season six, we have a new contender with ‘Thank You,’ a haunting, hope-squelching installment that pushes the limits of how bleak “The Walking Dead” is willing to get. Please don’t continue reading if you haven’t watched the episode! Large, planet-destroying spoilers are ahead.
Plan Z
The gist of tonight’s episode is that we get to see what Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his away team of zombie shepherds are up to while the Wolves are butchering Alexandrians. It’s pretty much a clusterf***. We have Daryl (Norman Reedus) zipping around on his motorcycle, deciding between helping Alexandria and staying with Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) as they continue leading the bulk of the heard on their original course; we have Michonne (Danai Gurira) leading a splinter group of Alexandrians into a pet store filled with dead kitties; Rick gets stranded in an RV; and Glenn (Steven Yeun) is tasked with keeping Nicholas (Michael Traynor) focused in the middle of a zombie crisis. It’s clear that not everyone is going to make it out safely, and a big chunk of Alexandrians get mauled in this process. But nobody from the core group is in danger, right? I mean, they didn’t announce a special guest cast member on “Talking Dead” and it’s not even a midseason finale or anything…right? Let’s take a moment to discuss the peril that our friends are in before we further delve into that subject.
Our three narrative contact points were Rick, Michonne and Glenn. I’m leaving Daryl out because he, Sasha and Abraham were pretty useless tonight. What makes this an Empire episode is that each of these characters have written checks that their asses can’t cash. They—and we along with them—are overly confident that they can make it through this sudden crisis, and pull any Alexandrian who isn’t scared to knife a zombie in the skull along with them. Throughout the episode, each character systematically fails—which usually means people die. Rick’s attitude of “leave the slow ones behind” ends up getting him stuck in a busted RV and nearly filleted by the Wolves (the same ones that Morgan (Lennie James) let go. Smooth move, Morgan). The one promise that Michonne makes is to get David safely home to his wife Betsy, but it’s his death that allows her to make an unhindered scamper up the fence.
And then there’s Glenn. Those who have been watching have seen how Glenn’s newfound bromance with Nicholas has been a pretty cool development. I mean, here are two guys that were going to murder each other last season, and now they actually trust one another. It’s a testament to Glenn’s ability to survive despite his propensity to offer second chances. But the thing is, when Nicholas and Glenn get cornered atop a dumpster, Nicholas simply mutters “thank you” and blows his brains out. His lifeless corpse knocks Glenn down into the throng of necrotic teeth and nails and gets his entrails ripped out.
Or does he?
Indeed, the Twitterverse is buzzing with pro-Glenn conspiracy theories, and showrunner Scott M. Gimple sent an announcement to “Talking Dead” which explained that some form of Glenn will still be on the show. This has led many to think that homeboy’s dead, but he’s just going to show up in a flashback or two. Others—and I count myself among these theorists—have claimed that it was actually Michael’s body getting ripped apart on top of Glenn, and that he managed to escape during the carnage. Of course, I happen to think that they’re going to have Glenn survive this horrific ordeal only to get beaten to death by Negan. How messed up would that be? Glenn’s dead! But no he’s not! He made it! Oh no! Negan just beat Glenn to death with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire! Let’s watch “Once Upon A Time” instead!
Verdict
Easily one of the most raw episodes of the series. Our confident heroes completely blow it outside of Alexandria, and it’s not much better within the city walls. As much as I love my characters, I really love it when the show doesn’t skimp on their punishment. Yes, if Glenn is dead, I will be sad. He was the lone patron of doing folks a solid in the zombie apocalypse, and I’ve always liked that perspective. If he dies, it truly means that any semblance of generosity and others-centeredness within the show will die with him.