Long live the Glenn. It seems fan theories and speculations turned out to be true in “Heads Up” as it was revealed that Glenn had indeed survived the zombie attack using Nicholas’s body as a shield until finally sliding underneath the dumpster next to him. And with that out of the way within the first several minutes, “Heads Up” devolved into yet another dull affair as it followed both Glenn’s journey back and a whole lot of carpentry in Alexandria. All momentum that the season began with has been lost due to the confusing timeline of events and a lot of unneeded melodrama back in Alexandria. “Heads Up,” and especially its ending, just further shows The Walking Dead’s great early season run was more aberration than meaningful change.
It should come as no surprise that Glenn is still alive. His “death” did breathe some new possibility into the show, regardless of whether or not he actually died. He could have stayed dead until next week or even the beginning of the next season but it makes sense why he would be brought back before the midseason finale. What doesn’t make sense is what he did in “Heads Up” after the zombies just kind of wandered away and became uninterested in him.
Glenn running into Enid in the outer world of Alexandria was kind of a clever way to bring Enid back into the show, but having Glenn chase her and then lead her back to Alexandria was disappointing. While Glenn has always been about maintaining a community he wasted a solid amount of energy trying to bring Enid back under the guise of “doing it for Maggie.” This was completely unbelievable at the time and seemed like an excuse, which made Glenn’s declaratory call back even odder. Glenn and Enid’s journey back home ultimately did little (except set up a possible Enid sacrifice for Glenn next week) and threw two characters together that had little chemistry. There was no reason to bring Enid back in the first place as more than a cameo and it would have been nice to keep it that way.
In Alexandria, Rick was still dealing with his “us vs. them” mentality. To think this is still going on this far into the season seems ridiculous as well as the surviving Alexandrians have proven themselves in combat and their desire to survive. It was good to finally get a little context into how the Alexandrians felt about Rick when he first arrived but most of Rick’s buttress building and continual prejudicial thoughts did little to further his story or anything in Alexandria.
Rick, Michonne, and Carol also bring Morgan in for a talk about his non-killing ways. Morgan, as usual, was the best part of the scene and the episode as he, unlike Rick, actually seemed to be struggling with his beliefs. Rick and Co.’s affinity for violence has been an undercurrent all season, though that doesn’t seem like it will be resolved during next week’s midseason finale. It is interesting to see how much Rick and Co. are teetering as close to the brink of “evil” as they have ever been. Another instance of violence, perhaps Alexandria going out to hunt the Wolves, would certainly throw their violent tendencies into the forefront. Carol’s “conversation” with Sam hopefully will become more of a wake up call, though Carol teaching him that killing is what keeps them alive could show some negative consequences on Sam, much like they already have on his older brother Ron.
Good ole teen angsty Ron. Apparently his hatred for Carl for “stealing” Enid is a tad more deep rooted than originally believed. It seems as though his wanting to learn how to shoot was all a ploy to get a gun so that he could shoot Carl. Or, at least, that’s what it seemed like during “Heads Up.” Though I’m sure one of them will save the other in next week’s midseason finale from the zombie onslaught.
At first, season six’s playing with time was an interesting choice for the show. It showed a possible creative change for a show that seemed very stuck in its ways. By “Heads Up,” however, the timeline has become incredibly confusing. As far as I can make out the events at the end of “Heads Up” and possibly last week’s “Always Accountable” are roughly 24 hours after the events of the season six premiere. This in itself wouldn’t be all that confusing had the character focuses not shifted as well over the past two months. The constant shifting between characters and time doesn’t allow for a much cohesion. Additionally it makes things like Rick’s continuing distrust of the Alexandrians seem completely out of place since it has been going on for two months in our time but only 24 hours in the show’s time.
Most disappointingly is what happens at the end of “Heads Up.” Again it has only been 24 hours since the Wolves attacked Alexandria -- though it was about 5 episodes ago, which means 5 weeks. So when the steeple of the church outside Alexandria falls down and collapses the wall, it does make some sense seeing as how the church was crashed into in the 2nd episode of the season. But when it falls over in “Heads Up” -- its actual falling looks incredibly unnatural -- it feels more like a clear plot device to drum up some action in next week’s midseason finale, instead of a natural reaction to the events of the previous day. Shifting from character groups also didn’t help the suspension of disbelief as any hints to its possible collapse are long forgotten, if there were any in the first place. Clearly a zombie break in will end up bringing everyone in Alexandria, including Glenn and Enid and Daryl and co. back together again and, most likely, will help Rick lose his prejudices, but an eye roll as the steeple slowly fell was certainly warranted.
“Heads Up” did little to further the Alexandria storyline. If it wasn’t clear enough, Rick’s hard work trying to shore up the wall only for another segment to be felled by the collapsing steeple should have been tipped you off. While “Heads Up” did bring Glenn back into the show, his segment felt thrown together just to reintroduce him as being alive. There will be an action packed midseason finale but the quality of the first quarter of Season 6 is fading into the background as The Walking Dead is dead set on continuing its old tricks.