Last month, The Walking Dead fan favorite Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) fell headfirst into a giant herd of hungry zombies — and let’s just be honest, it did not look good. Blood was spilled. Intestines were eaten. Screams were screamed. And most ominously of all, Yeun’s name disappeared from the show’s opening credits for four horrible weeks.
And if you’re not all caught up on Sunday’s episode, this is your last chance to look away before we reveal the long-awaited truth about Glenn’s fate.
[Pause, so the unspoiled can avert their eyes.]
He’s alive!
[Pause again, for jubilant screaming.]
But don’t get too excited, fans, because right after the good news of Glenn’s survival, the show threw us its nastiest curveball yet. Here’s what went down on “Heads Up.”
Night of the Living Glenn
So, yes: Glenn is totally fine after his tumble from the Dumpster three weeks ago. It was Nicholas’ organs the zombies were devouring in that awful scene, which gave Glenn the chance to wriggle away and hide himself under the Dumpster, where the fallen bodies of walkers formed a barrier that kept the other zombies from reaching him. Thus protected, he spent the night in safety until the herd dispersed. The only bad news? There was no food under there, and he was seriously parched and weak by the time it was safe to wriggle back out.
Enter Enid
And now we know where Enid (Katelyn Nacon) went after vanishing during the Wolves’ attack: By coincidence, she ended up on a roof that looked right down on Glenn’s Dumpster. She threw him a water bottle, but it took multiple chase scenes and an argument at gunpoint before Glenn could convince her to return to Alexandria. Incredibly, despite having just spent 24 hours under a Dumpster, Glenn still had the energy to go up against Enid’s jaded teenage-ness and teach her some important lessons about love and friendship before they spotted the walled perimeter of their home — and the giant horde of zombies standing between it and them.
Meanwhile, Back in Alexandria
Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Guirira) remained at odds over his unwillingness to trust the soft, stupid, unskilled Alexandrites, a conflict that came to a head when Spencer Monroe (Austin Nichols) had the incredibly dumb idea to monkey over the wall on a high wire and try to lead the zombies away. The wire broke, and Tara (Alanna Masterson) risked her life to save Spencer, to Rick’s disgust. But Tara thought that Rick’s disgust was disgusting in and of itself, and she was having none of it.
Meanwhile, Morgan (Lennie James) hovered around Dr. Denise (Merritt Wever) for the entirety of the episode before finally admitting to her that he was nursing a sick member of the Wolves gang. Unfortunately for Morgan, he was also found out by Carol (Melissa McBride), who has a sixth sense for sneaky shenanigans.
And Ron (Austin Abrams) finally convinced Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) to teach him how to shoot — or at least to aim, since they can’t exactly afford to be wasting bullets on practice when there’s a horde of zombies at the gates. But by the end of the episode, Ron had stolen a handful of bullets from the armory and was stalking Carl with a gun (presumably loaded) and a purpose (presumably bad).
Heads Up, Indeed
And finally, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) spent the entirety of this episode up on the wall, watching hopefully and helplessly for any sign of her approaching husband — which meant that she was the one to spot his signal, a bunch of helium balloons soaring into the sky.
But that’s not the only reason the people of Alexandria should have been looking skyward: That damaged church tower just outside the wall, the one that had been ominously creaking and cracking all throughout the episode? Somebody yell “Timber!”, ’cause it’s coming down — right on top of the wall that was keeping all those zombies at bay. And while this episode cut to black before the tower completed its trajectory, we can guess what the consequences will be.
In other words, as the wise prophet Ke$ha once said, they’d better move.
