The Walking Dead, “Heads Up,” was written by Channing Powell and was directed by David Boyd. It confirmed what many people had already surmised – Glenn (Steven Yeun) survived! This was another terrific episode – this time on two fronts, ending with that terrific shot of the tower coming down, leading us into the fall finale. What fresh hell awaits us at the end of that episode?!
The episode begins with Nicholas falling off the dumpster and landing on Glenn, and we finally see that as improbable as it is, the walkers feast only on Nicholas – not Glenn’s head, shoulders, or legs that are still sticking out – and even the movement of him wiggling under the dumpster doesn’t actually attract their attention. It’s okay, show, I’m happy to wave my hands at that and accept it because it means we get Glenn for a while longer.
Glenn manages to fend the walkers off with his knife, creating a dead walker barrier, but it still means he’s trapped under there with only a tiny bit of water and is staring directly into Nicholas’s dead eyes. At least he was smart enough to shoot himself in the head, so he didn’t re-animate and come after Glenn. Once the walkers finally wander off, Glenn emerges, and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) throws him a bottle of water. Both Nacon and Yeun deliver terrific performances in this episode.
Glenn’s side of the ordeal feels very much like a re-birth of sorts to me. He crawls out from under that dumpster, and he can’t be the same man who fell off of it. This entire sequence also felt a lot like Glenn rescuing Rick from the tank in Atlanta at the very beginning of the series. It’s a nice parallel as Glenn is helped out of the town by Enid, the same way Glenn helped Rick escape. Does this cement Glenn as a leader and Enid as an heir apparent?
Glenn is stunned to see Enid there and goes after her, trying to find out what happened in Alexandria. Enid tells him that what happened is what always happens. People died. It’s clear that Enid is avoiding getting close to anyone because she fears and expects to lose them. There’s a terrific close up shot of Yuen and his voice trembles as he begs her for information on Maggie (Lauren Cohen). Maggie’s grief over being pregnant and not knowing Glenn’s fate certainly was much more poignant and effective when we as viewers didn’t know Glenn’s fate too. This scene in the store is a beautifully shot scene as Enid and Glenn are separated physically and emotionally – we only hear Enid’s voice.
Glenn doesn’t go after Enid initially, but when he finds David and the note he left for Betsy, Glenn picks it up and does the right thing. He knows he could never face Maggie if he left Enid behind. It was nice that Glenn actually killed David after the others simply left him to turn. Glenn catches up with Enid in the diner and pulls her back in when she almost inadvertently walks out into part of the herd. Is this a good indication that Enid has lost some of her edge by having been able to let down her guard a bit in Alexandria?
Glenn tells her that he’s taking her home and that he’s doing it for Maggie. She pulls a gun on him, but he knows she’s not going to pull the trigger. Personally, I wasn’t so sure! She calls him an asshole and he says, “You pull a gun on me, and I’m the asshole!” Loved that line! Glenn fills her in on the herd and tells her to lead them back.
Along the way, they find some balloons and a tank of helium. Enid stops to pick them up, and it’s one of those brilliant moments that the show subtly reminds us that she is essentially still a kid, and what kid doesn’t like balloons? She excuses it by saying that they can use the balloons to distract the walkers. I have to wonder if that helium tank might be a better way to do that…
Glenn asks her where she lives at home, and Enid says she lived in Olivia’s place but was on her own. She refuses to think of it as home, as somewhere permanent. Glenn tells her that he gets that she’s scared and doesn’t want to lose anything else. She tells him she doesn’t need a lecture, but he – rightly – tells her she does. Glenn tells her, “You honor the dead by going on. You live because they don’t get to.” This is a theme that’s also picked up by Rosita (Christian Serratos) in the episode.
When they finally get back, they find the herd surrounding Alexandria, and Enid is just going to leave when Glenn stops her. She tells him that the world is just trying to die and they should let it. Glenn tells her that he’s not going to let her die and that he’s doing it for himself now. The walls and houses are still standing, so there’s still hope. Of course, the walls aren’t standing by the end. Glenn sends up the green balloons as a signal. And of course, Maggie GREENE is the first to see them. It’s perfect as a sign of hope and we see everyone look up and see them…. Right before the show pulls the rug out from under us again and the tower, which has been crumbling all episode, finally falls and takes down a huge part of the wall.
While Glenn and Enid make their way back to Alexandria, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is trying to save those still behind the walls. He’s trying to shore up the walls in pretty much every way. He visits Maggie who is patiently waiting on the wall for a sign from Glenn. He tries to reassure her that Glenn will be back, that they’ve made it back from much harder things. He also tells her that maybe this time, they can and need to take their time to really plan how to get rid of the walkers.
There’s also a lot of talk in the episode – as there has been all season – about the pace at which things happen and whether or not they’ve actually had a moment to catch their breath. Regardless of what the characters have said – Rick here, Sasha last week, Glenn to Enid – as a reviewer, it feels like every time they seem to have a moment it is broken by some new major crisis! Maggie ends the conversation by saying she visited Judith and is beginning to see Lori in her. She’s clearly thinking that if Glenn doesn’t return, she will still be able to see his face in their unborn child. It’s another way for him to go on living.
We see Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) putting up posters for a prayer circle. It’s another way to shore up the walls of the soul perhaps. Rick is having none of it though and rips the poster down. I loved that Carl (Chandler Riggs) admonishes him for it with a typical long-suffering teenaged, “Daaad!” Is it possible that Carl, like Enid, has been affected by the seeming safety of Alexandria? Has he let his guard down too?
Was anybody not screaming at their television as Rick and Carl show Ron (Austin Abrams) how to use a gun??? Rick and Carl give him the basics but also try to prepare him for the first time that he’ll actually have to shoot someone coming at him, telling him that he will be afraid and that he’ll likely miss. Ron pushes hard to get bullets and to actually shoot the gun. It’s Carl – and Chandler Riggs is just so good in this scene as his voice is just so deadpan and matter-of-fact – who tells Ron that he’ll have to be patient and strong enough to wait for his moment. Arrgghhh! Irony!!!
Again, was anybody surprised when Ron broke into the pantry and stole the bullets? Rick, you idiot! He’s so blinded by his guilt about Ron’s father that he doesn’t see Ron’s father’s qualities in the son. Of course, Ron would take the coward’s way out, and we see him walking behind Carl, ready to shoot him in the back so he doesn’t have to look him in the eye. It’s at that point that the wall falls, but Ron still has a loaded gun…
Rick calls Morgan (Lennie James) to talk and includes Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Carol (Melissa McBride) in the conversation. Carol has told Rick that she thinks the wolves who attacked him in the RV are ones that Morgan let go. Morgan tells Rick that he didn’t want to kill people that he didn’t have to, and he asks Rick why Rick didn’t kill him back in King’s County. Rick tells him it was because he knew him. Morgan disputes this and tells Rick that back then he would have killed him as soon as look at him. But Morgan also points out that if Rick had killed him then, Morgan would never have been able to save Aaron and Daryl, but maybe those men then wouldn’t have come to Alexandria.
There’s really know way to know what might have happened. Morgan tells Rick that he does know that people can change because he did. The realization that all life is precious is what brought Morgan back. Michonne chimes in to say life is not that simple – though she is clearly leaning towards wanting to believe that. Carol is still firmly in the shoot first camp. Rick asks Morgan if he really thinks that he can make it now without getting blood on his hands, and Morgan admits he doesn’t know.
Morgan hovers near Denise’s (Merritt Wever). The first time she asks him if he needs something he puts her off and they’re interrupted by Rick. The second time he goes in. He’s cautious about getting her involved, and it seems clear that he doesn’t want to take antibiotics if they are in short supply. I liked him helping to bolster Denise’s confidence, however, by proving she didn’t really need the cheat sheets. In the end, she really takes a risk and agrees to help him. If he gets her killed, I’m going to be pissed!
Carol is watching, however, as she always is. And she realizes something is up. She follows them with Judith and it’s a one of those wonderful juxtapositions that the show is so good at. Here she is carrying a baby and just below the baby on her belt are her knife and gun. Rick is busy shoring the walls, and Carol is busy guarding them.
Carol takes Judith to Jesse (Alexandra Breckenridge), telling her she’s taking an extra shift on the wall. Ironically, this actually causes Jesse to question her because she can’t understand why Carol would want to do that. Carol tells her that she likes being up there because she can see everything – and Carol is all about watching.
Sam (Major Dodson) calls out to Carol when he hears her voice. Sam is hiding where he can’t see anything. Carol simply tells him to come down, but he refuses. He wants to know what happens if he can’t live with it. Carol tells him it eats you up. She knows that from right after losing Sophia. But Sam also wants to know about monsters. He wants to know if the people who came were monsters. If his dad was a monster. Does killing make you a monster? Carol tells him that the only thing that keeps you from becoming a monster is killing.
It’s clear that she means if you don’t kill, you’ll be killed and turn into a walker, but it’s also more complicated than that. It’s diametrically opposed to what we’ve heard from Morgan. And it’s really an oversimplification of how Carol really feels, but she’s trying to harden Sam to make him strong the same way she tried to do it with the children at the prison. The problem is that these kids are smarter than she’s giving them credit for. But is Carol a monster because she is so willing to kill? We know that she did come to rethink killing Karen. And while she never hesitated during the wolves invasion, we see her struggle afterwards. For his part, Sam looks troubled by her answer. His questions demonstrate that he’s not just thinking about turning into a walker as a monster, but something more profound.
Carol goes immediately back to the house she saw Morgan and Denise go into after leaving Judith with Jesse. She takes the direct approach and simply goes up to the front door. When Morgan answers, she demands to know who he has in the cell. Will he tell her? Will he even have a chance to before the tower falls?
Rick discusses strategy with Michonne as well as Maggie. He and Michonne talk about finding a way to distract the herd to allow them to get out to cars to lead them away. Rick insists they need to keep it to their own. He still doesn’t think the Alexandrians are ready to help. He insists – much like Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) last episode – that they’ve had no time to catch their breath. And like Sasha, Michonne insists that they are catching their breath right now. Deanna (Tovah Felshuh) interrupts them with her new plans for expanding the community. She sees hope while Rick sees potential loss.
Rick sees the blood coming through the wall and sets about shoring the wall up. It’s a nice metaphor for what’s happening to the community – and even to some of “our” people – their walls are being challenged. As Rick works, he’s joined by Tobin (Jason Douglas). Rick tells him about the blood but reassures him that it doesn’t mean anything as long as they keep the wall up. Tobin suggests building up the brace and helps Rick do it. He tells Rick that when Rick first arrived he scared the hell out of people. He suggests it was the beard! And the fact that Rick seemed to see things they weren’t. Things had moved very slowly there, but when Rick showed up, they started moving really fast. Too fast. Tobin asks Rick not to give up on them.
We see that Rosita is also helping to shore up the walls and like Michonne, is embracing the wider community. She’s teaching machete class to a bunch of the Alexandrians and Eugene (Josh McDermitt). Eugene seems even more cowardly this season. This scene really resonates with the scene with Glenn and Enid as he gives her a “lecture.” Eugene is afraid in the lesson, and Rosita angrily asks him what he’s so afraid of. He tell her dying. Rosita, much like Glenn, tells him that dying is easy. It’s over for you then. Living is hard because you have to see those around you die. She’s clearly worried about Abraham and takes it out on Eugene – who continues to be an easy target.
In fact, the cowards in the group cause multiple problems for the others in the group. Spencer (Austin Nichols) decides he’s going to go over the wall and try to get a vehicle to lead the herd away. It’s Rick’s own plan, but Spencer demonstrates how unready the Alexandrians are by how clumsily he executes the plan. By rushing in and being inexperienced, he endangers everyone else. It was great to see Tara (Alanna Masterson), who used to be a coward, step up and really put her life on the line to help save him. She says afterwards that she never even thought about it. Someone needed saving and she just did what needed to be done. I loved how upset Rick was at her because he was worried for her, and I loved her flipping him the bird!
Rick does apologize to Tara. Tara tells him that that’s how it works. They’re stuck with each other. Like Michonne, she doesn’t differentiate between them and the Alexandrians anymore. Of course, it may be easier for her to embrace others because the core group took her in. Deanna later tries to thank Rick – she’s already thanked Tara for saving Spencer. Rick is having none of it, however, and insists that saving Spencer was stupid. He could have used the opportunity to go and get a car, using Spencer’s death as a distraction. Deanna insists, “but you didn’t.” Rick tells her it was only because he is her son. Deanna tells him wrong answer. Rick is not so hardened even yet, and he is thinking about the community at large – not just his core group.
As they are talking, we see the balloons go up and see the various groups see the balloons. At that very moment, the tower – the watch tower – which has been slowly crumbling comes down and breaches the wall. They are all going to have to fight for their lives – and each other’s lives. Are they ready? Is Rick ready to let down his own walls enough to let the others in?
One thing is for sure. This fall finale is going to be off the charts. I hope we get to see the entire group reunited. I suspect we are going to end on an infuriating cliff hanger. This has been a terrific season so far. The writing is simply superlative, weaving in action and threading themes of what it takes to survive throughout. Yuen delivers a wonderful performance, which only underscores how glad I am that they didn’t kill him – I just hope we haven’t only gained him for a handful more episodes. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts – and speculations for the fall finale – in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
