Flash Review: The Walking Dead Episode “Thank You” *SPOILER WARNING*

That was bad.  That couldn’t have been worse.  THAT was “end of Bambi” sad.  That was Hamlet brutal.  That was Game of Thrones in all its unforgiving mutability.  All I can say is, “F*@% you, Walking Dead.”  And, after a fit of sobs, say, “Thank you.”  If you haven’t seen the latest episode of The Walking Dead, stop reading now, NOW, so the rest of us can talk.

Wasn’t that awesome?!  After last week’s episode, JSS, you’d think this show just couldn’t get any better.  But, it just did.  The stakes got higher, the risks greater, the moral questions more complex, and the sacrifices…ever more heartbreaking.  Us, the dedicated Walking Dead audience, have grown so invested in the lives and evolution of these characters, we feel every bit of tension and loss–and damn if we didn’t get a full measure of loss tonight.  Let’s just say it: Glenn is dead…though we’re hoping it’s just a big misunderstanding. 

This week’s episode, aptly titled “Thank You,” returned to Rick’s team as they drove the walking “herd” from the city of Alexandria.  If you tuned-in last week, you know the pied-piper style plan to drive the dead safely away went awry when The Wolves, a mystery band of violent survivors, attacked the town and set off a blaring diesel truck horn.  In this episode, Rick’s group must decide how to continue the strategy.  Inevitably, the group splits up, and splits up, and you get the picture.  And as characters start to drop, the mantra becomes, as Michonne says, “We have no choice.  We have to keep moving forward.”

The true beauty of “Thank You” is the sheer amount of sacrifice that must be made, sacrifices that let others move that proverbial “forward.”  Who should live?  Who is a liability?  Maybe, some people should die, but definitely not Glenn.  

For many of us, Glenn was the last bastion of civility, the moral center, a stable kindness.  Now, he is gone (apparently, at least), and it was his innate morality that got him killed.  It was his trust and forgiving nature that did him in.  In the wake of Glenn’s death, we hare left with so many questions.  But, the largest question is this: Should any of us keep moving forward?  If they keep making shows like this, the answer is YES…move forward to the next brilliant Walking Dead episode.  Terrible.  Terrible, but brilliant.

~Stacks