‘The Walking Dead’: Reacting to the Big Reveal, and Looking Ahead to Next Week

He crawled to safety under a dumpster? You do realize, don't you, this is a reference to a much-loved B-movie called THE KILLER SHREWS, right?

The show actually has already killed off a pregnant woman -- Rick's wife, Lori, who died and was eaten in childbirth (one of the most awesome zombie deaths of zombie lore). What I would like to see: Carol will kill that lone wolf to save Morgan, and then kill Morgan, too, like in a Quentin Tarantino movie, just because. I would also like to see Ron try and take out Carl, only for Carl to outdraw him. Scott Gimble misses the nuance of the audience feeling what Maggie is feeling because the difference is that we all saw Glenn's near-miss, and Maggie did not (and it was shown in a way to lead us to believe he was killed, so Scott, pluh-eeze). If they just left us completely in the dark, which would have been unusual yet so cool, then the experience would be comparable. Instead, it was lame and contradicted the show's primary difference to all other shows -- no fake out's, and anyone can die at any time, no matter how central they are to the cast. I would love to see Zoe from Nurse Jackie stick around and morph into that character. Awesome comic relief. My prediction: Glenn will die anyway, which was the full story behind the fake-out. He lives, only to die upon his triumphant return.

What I didnt understand is that if you have a teetering structure leaning against your wall, why you didn't push it over into the walkers instead of hoping that a charred teetering tower wont fall

1) The show killed off a new mother, so why can't it kill off a pregnant Maggie?

2) Agree with you - the hat must die. It would be great if Carl did, too, but at least kill that darned hat, which has been dogging me for years, now.

3) Eugene must either prove his mettle, or go. Love that he mentioned the shoes. This is similar to what Uhtred Son of Uhtred Son of Uhtred Son of Uhtred (etc.) did on The Last Kingdom, only to the backs of the ankles,. Ouch!

4) The writers must really hate teens. Other than pre-teen Sophia, not a one is likeable.

Glenn & Bobby’s Shower: No. Glenn’s escape was unlikely, but not entirely improbable. How visible were his legs? The walkers he skewered could have blocked detection. [No one mentions G’s & N’s heads landed 45 degrees from the dumpster.]

“Maggie didn’t know what happened to Glenn and I wanted the audience to be exactly where she was, to feel the exact same way.” “It’s a dream come true to provide a collective experience.” Again, WHEN do we EVER know a character is coming home? And we have collective experiences all over the place all the time! Again, Gimple’s dreams (AMC’s for ratings) could have been terrifically realized by showing an honest angle on what happened, then cut the scene as Glenn is about to make eyeball contact w/the camera. To me, that’s game over on this transparent ploy.

I think Maggie will miscarry. I hope Kirkman et al, see that TV Maggie &/or Glenn are the best hope for the future. Rick will get us thru, but G &/or M will make it worth the journey.

The “Help” we heard on the walkie last week is coming from Eugene!

“Ron is stalking Carl” I say Carl’s entitled to patronize Ron. Ron will aim at Carl, a walker will knock his arm, the bullet will hit Carl’s [spoiler], and Ron becomes ramen for a walker (but not until we see him reach out for Carl’s help, heh heh).

Mr. Egner—has there ever been a show that, overall, provoked as much fan & media investment? It’s a tribute to the premise whatever one may think of its TV execution.

Anyone else as annoyed as I am that they've forced "Into the Badlands" in between TWD and TTD?
I'm choosing NOT to watch this on principle!

It's no secret I've been disappointed with the current season. While it certainly started strong and maintained a forward-thrusting narrative in the first month of episodes, the last three episodes have been dismal. But one of my biggest gripes is that no strong characters have emerged since season two - the last being Michonne, who, along with Rick, Carl, Glenn, Carol, Maggie and Daryl, and now the re-introduction of Morgan, remain the heart of the show. Hence my prediction for the remainder of the season: never who dies next week, but rather, who emerges. My bet is on Father Gabriel. Seth Gilliam, the actor who portrays him, is easily one of the most talented on the Walking Dead set. One recalls his charismatic portrayal of young cop on five seasons of The Wire - and if you were featured on the The Wire for five seasons, you had to be pretty damn good. Why the WD producers have kept the lid on this character (and this terrific actor) since the start of season five of WD is a mystery to me, but I'm hoping the writers/producers start making the most of the character - and this actor. Gilliam is simply too good not to be featured more prominently on the show.

I wonder if they filmed both outcomes for Glenn. One where he lives as what we saw...and another version in which he dies - and went with the one they felt would keep the public still glued to the WD. As for anyone getting their final ride at Walker World next week... Jesse and the wolf...and maybe Deanna (but her demise will force Rick back to his senses because she holds so much hope for the future so she'd likely tell him (as she's bleeding to death)...'Carry on Rick! You are the one to make the future for the rest".

TWD jumped the shark way back in season 3 when Andrea was turned into the worlds dumbest blond by the THEN writers. This episode with Glenn was just the latest blunder.
I can't believe anyone actually thought that Glenn was dead, they practically telegraphed that he wasn't when Glenn's fate was put on hold for 2 to 3 episodes and took Steven Yeuns name off the credit for those eps.
This shows over with except for die hard fans and tweensters.

How hilarious will it be when Negan arrives on the show and kills Glenn for real, just as he did in the comic! Will that be the "psych -- gottcha!" the producers are actually after this season?

"How many surreptitious raids on the armory are going to happen before someone moves Olivia into a different job?"

Nailed it.

As fond as I am of Glen, the writers really misfired on resurrecting him. Clumsy deus ex machina if there ever was one. If they had wanted to create suspense, the writers should have had more ambiguity surrounding Glen's "death". Just plain silly.

I am quite tired of them killing off the characters who make the show interesting. I loved watching the Governor, you never knew what he was going to do next and you always wanted him to die. Glenn almost death was a huge blow for the audience. That sucked. There were a lot of people who were done watching after that. I stopped until today when I saw he was alive.

They jumped the shark tonight...playing games with the audience and then saying only kidding is laughable....Glenn should have stayed dead or never died at all....

They did kill a pregnant woman: Rick's wife.

I'm going to guess that Jessie, Rosita, the guy who helped Rick reinforce the fence, the captive wolf, and Deanna all die in the next episode.

If anybody's gonna die, let it be Morgan. He's a liability to the group and I don't like his ideology.

Bye, Carl.

I would watch every episode of Fear the Stalking Carol and laugh at the goofy antics of her Sancho Panza, Sam.

Got a feeling Aaron is departs the compound next episode.. gut feeling

My guess is Enid will somehow sacrifice herself for someone else; allowing for a cheesy melancholy moment from Glenn placating the idea that it is actually a good thing that he lived because he is going to be a good father... given the chance.

Let's getback to Daryl et al.

Speaking of Aaron, where is his husband? If he got killed they certainly didn't highlight it at all.

I completely agree with you and other critics that the whole Glenn thing was a cheap stunt and an insult to the intelligence of the show's legions of fans. When the big reveal played out I tweeted something like "Way to squander all the audience trust and goodwill you've built up over the years". This season started out with the promise it might be as great as the back half of Season 4 and all of Season 5; instead I've just been frustrated with the lack of screen time for the strongest and most interesting characters - specifically Michonne, Daryl and Carol. The mid season finale certainly looks awesome. Here's hoping for a major course correction in the back half!

Definitely Morgan: a) he's a black man so that right there is a death sentence on this show; b) he's too much of a do-gooder now - another mark of death; also, that stick ....