TWD: “Heads Up” thoughts

The anguish is over; Glenn’s fate is revealed. As time went on without any answers and drama ran high especially with Maggie’s pregnancy, I believe it was increasingly obvious that Glenn made it out of that zombie pit alive. And he did in the most obvious fan predicted way: he crawled under the nearby dumpster.

I’m glad they put this in the penultimate episode, rather than saving it as a last minute midseason finale reveal. Now we can head into the second half of season 6 finally advancing the plot with all characters together – Sasha, Abraham and Daryl headed back to Alexandria as we speak.

To me, this season is stuck in the mud, spinning its wheels in place trying to gain traction to move the story forward. We’ve barely seen our heroes in action, some like Michonne and Morgan demoted to background characters as the Alexandrians take center stage. But I guess that’s what this half season is for, to build up our feelings towards the Alexandrians. We’ve seen them change from a bumbling group of pansies who were unwilling to face the outside world, to a group who’s experienced heavy loss and come face to face with the realities of the zombie apocalypse that they live in. In that way, I can honestly say I do care more about new characters than I did at the end of season 5. People like Deanna, Spencer, Denise, Enid, Jessie, and Tobin look like they’re going to play into Alexandria’s story and become regulars on the show moving into the second half of season 6.

Anyways, getting back to “Heads Up,” when Glenn emerges from his savior dumpster, he partners up with Enid who is somehow on the roof of the building exactly next to the dumpster Glenn is under. In his undying heroism, even after Nicholas’ actions almost got him killed, Glenn feels he needs to get an unwilling Enid back to Alexandria safe and sound. If we’re keeping count, Enid is the second person since Glenn arrived at Alexandria who’s pointed a gun at him and became friends with afterward. Hopefully this friendship will yield better results.

The mystery behind Enid continues. She explains to Glenn, whom she is very short with, that “people” got into Alexandria. The nonchalant way with which she explains Alexandria’s siege makes me think she’s experienced something like that before, or that she’s come across bad people on more than a few occasions. Her survival skills are keene – she was able to avoid the giant group of walkers when Glenn, Michonne and Heath were not. She’s the only Alexandrian who I feel the most confident can survive in this apocalypse. But how did she get like that?

Assuming the role of leader, Rick’s goal is now not just to keep his people safe, but to keep all the Alexandrians safe, whether he wants to admit that or not. So it’s unfortunate that his two biggest endeavors this season – the “zombie operation” and fortifying the busted wall – have been a waste of time.

Another of his kindnesses – teaching Ron how to shoot – is most likely going to backfire on Rick as well (no pun intended). Ron’s animosity towards the entire Grimes family is palpable, even through the “Kristen Stewart” expression he’s always sporting. Rick killed his father and Carl stole his girlfriend. I can definitely see where Ron’s coming from when he steals bullets from the armory and follows Carl in the street, gun in hand. This course of events could be leading the way to another significant comic book event, when Carl gets half of his face blown off from a stray bullet. Since Rick never lost his hand, chances are Carl won’t lose and major body part either, but here’s hoping.

Rick’s relationship with Morgan seems to be waning just as fast as it was rekindled at the start of season 6. From Carol, his spy, Rick knows the Wolves who attacked him in the RV were the same ones Morgan let go in Alexandria. Rick is understandable upset. Those Wolves killed several Alexandrians and Morgan couldn’t take them out. Morgan explains his reluctancy to kill people knowing how people can drastically change nowadays. He cites himself and Rick as two people who have changed greatly since  the world ended. Though Morgan desires to hold all life precious, Rick asks him if he thinks he can survive without getting blood on his hands. Instead of affirming Rick’s question, Morgan isn’t sure if he can.

There’s still a battle inside Morgan’s head. Living in the apocalypse, he isn’t sure what’s right and wrong anymore. He thinks by not killing he’s doing the right thing. This mentality, as we saw in “Here’s Not Here” brought him back from the brink of sheer barbarism. Because of that, I think Morgan fears himself the most, what he can turn back into and what he could do to his community if he turns into that man again.Morgan sympathizes with his captive Wolf because he was once like him – acting on his own moral code, killing because he thought he had to. Morgan is a great man and a great character. But to be any use to Rick and the community at all, he has to be willing to kill especially with Negan on the horizon.