TV Review – The Walking Dead – Head’s Up

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Spoiler alerts. Season 6 episode 7 The big and over-hyped hysteria inducing ‘is he or isn’t he?’ mystery is finally resolved. Glenn survived but it is such a contrived ‘with one bound our hero was free’ escape clause that I felt cheated. It wasn’t just a changed camera angle to show the zombies were eating the body lying over his instead of Glenn’s guts that counts. First, the high long fall from the container roof to the concrete would have broken Glenn’s back. Then we saw the sheer number of zombies round him pressed right up to both dumpster and container, so he would have been crushed. That not one scrabbling feeding frenzy zombie ripped into him seems unlikely. As this episode opens, Glenn slips casually under the dumpster and kills the few zombies trying to reach in after him. He then stays there all night waiting for them to wander off. At dawn, he sees Enid who just happens to be standing there watching, as if she saw the whole thing. I can imagine her scavenging in the town, but being in just that specific place seems contrived. Glen, with barely any water, no food, and traumatized by his proximity to death, suicide and cannibalism, still manages to find enough energy and stamina to kill several walkers. Enid and Glenn find the helium balloons and helium gas canister left as a signal to Alexandria by Rick, and somehow avoid the temptation to play at making Donald Duck voices. Fun isn’t an option after the zombies rise apparently. Back in Alexandria, still not reached by Daryl and friends in their truck, Rick effects fence repairs and gives gun lessons to a child, even giving him a gun but no bullets, even though the kid bears a grudge over Rick killing his dad. The kid gets his own bullets and seems to be targeting Rick’s own miserable son, but the spectacular tower fall and fence breach changes everything. There are asides, such as an attempt to escape Alexandria on a grappling hook that endangers many but Rick doesn’t take action against the culprit. He is more concerned about Morgan’s Gandhi stance pacifism, which is about to be exposed when his hidden Wolf - cult turning zombie is discovered. The scene is set for a big mid-season finale next episode. Overall though, this was unconvincing and forced and a badly kept secret survival meant we can’t be sure any dead characters won’t come back now. Arthur Chappell