Margaux and I were not fans of last night’s The Walking Dead.
Trevor: “Head’s Up” was a well-made episode of The Walking Dead. It was well-acted, David Boyd did a solid job as director, and Bear McCreary’s score was reliably great. It also might be my least favorite episode of the entire series. What TWD just pulled with Glenn was unforgivable bullshit, and I can’t figure out why they did it. Are they hurting for ratings? I doubt it; if football isn’t on, TWD is consistently the highest-rated show on Sunday nights. I really hope this was a case of AMC interfering with the production, because if this was showrunner Scott Gimple’s idea, I’m going to lose a lot of respect for him. And this show has lost a lot of credibility with me. Everything good about “Head’s Up” was tainted by its first few minutes. Fuck that cliffhanger bullshit. Glenn’s “death” served no purpose other than to fuck with the fanbase.
Margaux: What’s worse is, Glenn didn’t even learn his lesson. After we’re shown that Glenn survived in the exact manner that the internet confirmed three goddamn weeks ago, Glenn crawls out from under the dumpster to DO THE EXACT SAME THING ALL OVER AGAIN. He tries to save Enid, another person who doesn’t want to be saved (or can’t be saved, pick one), from JSS’ing. This literal bullshit cloud really clung to “Head’s Up”; everything after the “reveal” of Glenn being alive SOMEHOW, three weeks too late, just had a shoulder shrug of nothing even matters anymore – all of the rules they’ve established for six seasons went out the window and were set on fire in that dumpster. It felt like an excuse to not have plot or context or emotion (and some that dialogue was TERRIBLE to boot); like, Spencer thinking he’s fuckin’ Batfleck or something, Carol trying to secure a babysitter for Judith, Carl negging Ron during their shooting lesson – I was so disappointed Carl didn’t get shot by episodes end by Future Mass School Shooter Ron because at least SOMETHING would’ve happened. “Head’s Up” was a bigger letdown than that Christmas I was convinced I was gonna get a hamster but got a socks instead.
Trevor: The only good part about Glenn being paired with Enid is that we got to see what Glenn would look like as a father. It was an interesting dynamic that I appreciated because Steven Yuen is a damn good actor.
Margaux: If those two make it back into Alexandria unscathed, I’ll bet $100 Glenn and Maggie adopt Enid to be a big sister to their unborn child. I’m warming up my eyeballs for all the eye rolling that will occur when that inevitably happens.
Trevor: So we’ve established that The Walking Dead completely shit the bed with Glenn. Now we’re stuck with the daunting task of trying to find things about “Head’s Up” we liked. As I said earlier, this wasn’t a terrible episode, it just had the misfortune of being saddled with what might be the show’s worst decision since it stranded everyone on a farm. That said, I did enjoy the scenes in Alexandria, specifically how everyone is starting to call Rick on his “us and them” bullshit. He hasn’t assimilated at all, and the show portrayed that well when he chastised Tara for helping Spencer.
Margaux: My favorite moment of last night’s episode was Tara flipping off Rick because that’s exactly how I feel about this episode. Go fuck yourself Gimple and Co. At least we got time with Carol and Michonne, who narced out Morgan for letting a handful of Wolves go. Smartly, they used that bit of info to illustrate their point of, when you think All Lives Matter, it puts nearly everyone else at risk because all lives cannot matter in this world – not everyone is worth saving, not everyone can change for the better.
Trevor: Morgan has become a supremely frustrating character. “I didn’t want to kill five people I didn’t have to kill,” he says. Um, Morgan, you kind of HAVE TO KILL WOLVES. And then enlisting Denise into his bullshit is a bridge too far. Morgan’s bullshit philosophy aside, he is actively getting people killed. He straight up told the Wolves about the town’s armory, without which the Wolves wouldn’t have armed themselves, without which the ones Morgan let escape wouldn’t have fucked up Rick’s RV, and if that hadn’t happened there wouldn’t be two trillion walkers outside Alexandria. Shit, I think Morgan might be this season’s Big Bad. Or at least its Big Dumb.
Margaux: Someone had to take up the mantel of resident dumbass after Father Gabriel’s rampant stupidity of last season petered out; I did love what a shady bitch Rick was to Father Gabriel though, and Father Gabriel just takes it. Oh, boys!
What I’m still not understanding is what the hell came over Spencer to think he could pull off his tight rope crawl over the walkers, who is he, Phillippe Petit? There was just zero set up for that and really came out of nowhere. What I find truly rich though is that NOW Rick wants to take his time coming up with a well thought out plan to draw the walkers away who are at Alexandria’s gates, threatening to break through at any moment. And by episode’s end, do.
Trevor: At least the collapse of the wall feels like something the show has been building to all season – and let’s be honest, the wall crumbling down was a great shot.
Margaux: I don’t know, that rickety ass barn looked about as able to destroy a STEEL REINFORCED WALL as me throwing an empty pizza box at it. “Head’s Up” felt like a 45 minute troll sesh, and I am none too pleased. Especially because I know someone else will have to be sacrificed in order for Glenn to live, or Glenn will just end up murdered by that Wolf Morgan has locked up, and we still don’t know where Daryl, Sasha, and Abe are now that we’ve firmly established that Glenn wasn’t the source of the “help” on the walkie-talkie from last week’s episode.
Trevor: Good point, I didn’t remember that. Glenn’s death is not only a cop out but a fake out as well, as he was arguably brought back just to meet the same fate as in the comics. Daryl’s invincible, so not only do I not care where he is, but I fully expect him to show up in a Black Hawk helicopter or some shit. At this point, all I want to see is Carol make Morgan look at the flowers.
Margaux: Well, all of that will have to wait to service the mess of walkers that Rick has brought upon this compound. Expect more cliffhangers and waiting around, and less answers to our questions in next week being the mid-season bullshit finale. See you assholes in February!
Trevor: Here’s hoping next week makes us forget about this week. I don’t want The Walking Dead to leave on a note like this.
Margaux: For such a strong opening to this season, I really hope they redeem themselves next week, but won’t be surprised if they don’t – they’ve given new meaning to jumping the shark. Stars?
Trevor: If “Head’s Up” was a strictly Glenn episode, we’d be in the 1.5 or 2 range, just based on the narrative bullshit that Glenn’s survival is a product of. But I actually liked the stuff in Alexandria, and it looks like tensions are boiling over enough to ensure a solid finale next week. So all things considered, I’d give “Head’s Up” a reluctant, conflicted 3 stars.
Margaux: Because I’m a contrarian, I must insist we give “Head’s Up” at least 2.5 stars, if not 2 stars. There wasn’t much that redeemed this episode without seeing the finale, which we haven’t yet, so we still don’t know if there will be any payoff from this uneven, at best, episode. “Head’s Up” felt a lot like the water bottle Enid tosses down to Glenn that explodes on contact, lots of promise that just blows up in your face.
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