What the…! There are no words to describe what happened on the latest episode of The Walking Dead. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have adequately prepared any of us for what unfolded; not even Internet rumors that we hoped were just that…rumors. Rick’s group splits up in an effort to stay on track with keeping the walkers from heading back to Alexandria, we see Michonne isn’t the greatest leader, and we lose arguably the best person we’ve ever known on The Walking Dead: “Thank You.” Spoiler alert.
Get Back Safe/They’re Coming
Last week on The Walking Dead, we got to see what was happening simultaneously as Rick’s group went off to enact his plan to take care of a hoard of walkers that were “hanging out” in a nearby quarry. This week, we picked up right where we left off two weeks ago with Rick and the gang, which included Michonne and Glenn, among some others from Alexandria. After a group split, with Michonne taking the lead with the group, Rick decidedly went solo. Besides his usual look-out-for-our-people advice to Michonne, the only other thing Rick offered was an obviously foreboding and foreshadowing “get back safe”to the rest of the group. Little did we know how important those words would actually become.
After some back and forth with Sasha and Abraham, and Daryl—who were still on task leading their own group of docile walkers—Daryl decided to go rogue and ditch Sasha and Abraham to go help out Rick and Michonne’s group (who were slowly but surely failing off), despite Rick telling him to stay on task. Aside from Michonne’s group, things seemed to go well for everyone else. That is until Rick pulled off the road to take a break in the RV he stole and several Wolves ambushed him, only to meet their early demise. They obviously didn’t know who they were messing with. Too bad for Rick, after managing to fend off the Wolves, more trouble was upon him when a hoard of walkers were drawn to his RV that now unfortunately wouldn’t start up again. How will Rick get out of this one? Will Daryl reach him in time? We shall see.
Michonne’s Leadership Skills
So far, we know that Michonne is this sensitive Katana blade carrying badass that like all of the members of our group has been through way too much to even talk about. And while she’s always been a decent second-in-command to Rick, we’ve never really seen her in a leadership position where she had to make strategic decisions on the fly (with conviction) 3-5 people. Well, that happened this week, and surprisingly it turns out she’s not necessarily the most equipped for such a role, and Heath wasn’t the only one to notice it, either. Sidebar, I’m not really sure if I like his character just yet, but dude had a point to challenge Michonne; gotta give credit where it’s due.
Michonne’s decision making skills were arguably rusty, with her biggest issues, it seemed, being that she lacked the commitment that often accompanies a strong leader, like say Rick. There’s a reason they all live in a Ricktatorship in Alexandria, and heck even before then when our group was traveling from one place to another for four and a half seasons. Michonne, like most middle managers, are really good with helping to execute leadership’s vision, often serving as an enforcer of sorts. That’s what Michonne is, an enforcer; at least based on what we’ve seen of her thus far. The only problem is when an enforcer is forced to step outside of their comfort zone and they aren’t exactly up for the challenge calamity ensues, and in this instance, people died.
RIP Glenn?
Speaking of people who died, there are no words to express the shocker that was the untimely death of our beloved Glenn. And while many fans of The Walking Dead had already heard rumors prior to the season six opener that Glenn was on the chopping block, who would have thought that rumor would actually be true. More importantly, why would it be? Seriously, all the good people can’t keep dying off of the show, because if they do all we’ll have left is Wolves and the likes of Father Gabriel running around; frightening as that may sound.
Shock of his untimely death aside, the writers couldn’t have given Glenn a better send off than the one he got. Think about it for a second. He died exactly like how he lived: being the consistent good person/right fighter that we all knew him to be over the past five seasons. In fact, it was his extreme generosity towards/faith in Nicholas, who didn’t even deserve his kindness let alone his forgiveness, that ultimately did him in. Whether Glenn actually saw his demise coming or not, the fact remains that Nicholas, the one person that Glenn would have been well within in his rights of offing a long time ago, but instead kept giving chances to become a better person (that he was not), was the cause of his Glenn’s death. Nicholas said it right when he told Glenn “thank you.” He truly was one of the best, if not the best, characters we’ve ever known on The Walking Dead, and for that he deserves a thank you.
I’m sure many of us won’t be able to shake the image out of our mind of Glenn’s bloody face as he fell to the ground with Nicholas in his hands, then the walkers just ripping into his skin. Seriously, Glenn dies but Father Gabriel is still walking about being a two-faced so-and-so, ugh! I will say this, The Walking Dead writers must be doing something right because they’ve officially got me (and a lot of other people) all riled up and we’re only three episodes into the new season. This one is going to be a doozy, I can already tell.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9:00pm EST on AMC.