Last week’s episode focused on Abe, Sasha, and Daryl. Let’s jump right into the recap of Walking Dead Episode 607: Heads Up.
[divider] The Walking Dead Episode 607 Recap: Heads Up [/divider]Glenn’s alive. I mean, there is no sense in burying the lead.
Right from the get go, we see another angle and it is largely what everyone thought it would be. The other guy was laying on Glenn, and after a momentary freak out he slides under the dumpster and waits. Eventually, he is able to get out a day or two later.
And this is when the teenage angst show up: Enid throws Glenn some water and then runs away. Glenn spends much of the episode tracking Enid down, having her pull a gun on him, giving her a pep talk, and telling her that they need to go on living to honor the ones who have died.
In Alexandria, everyone seems to be settling down to some degree. Rick is making improvements to the wall and – after a pep talk from Michonne – seems to be coming around to the idea that all the people of Alexandria need to be one group now.
But because we need even more teenage angst, Rick and Carl are teaching Ron how to shoot and Carl gets all smart mouth sassy. They give Ron an empty gun to carry around and he tricks the woman who is supposed to be guarding the food and guns. He gets bullets and seems intent in teaching Carl a lesson about stealing his girl who ran off.
Meanwhile, Morgan goes to Doctor Denise and eventually asks for her help with a wound that isn’t his. She agrees to help but Carol is onto them and follows. This is especially intriguing because Morgan, Rick, Carol and Michonne had a pretty civilized conversation where Morgan admitted that he didn’t kill the Wolves and they are all trying to figure out what to do with Morgan’s pacifist ways. She is none too happy when she realizes Morgan has a prisoner.
Rosita has become a drill sargeant and is teaching the Alexandria people (and Eugene) the ways of killing with a machete. Eugene struggles thinking about this and walks away. But Spencer has decided that the major need is for a car to lead the zombies away and tries to use a grappling hook and another building to get away. Of course, it doesn’t work out and he would have died but for teamwork and Tara straight up scoring head shot after headshot. During that moment, Rick shows his true colors again and yells at Tara for risking her life for one of them. It does lead to another conversation with Deanna.
The culmination of the episode is that Glenn and Enid get back to Alexandria but see the massive hordes. Eventually, they release a bunch of balloons as a signal, which Maggie sees. And while she is running to tell everyone what is happening, in classic The Walking Dead fashion, the walkers push over the burned church building, breaching the wall of Alexandria.
[divider] The Walking Dead Episode 607 Review: Heads Up [/divider]So, a 7 out of 10.
The good:
- The show needed to go wider, not focusing on 1 or 2 characters and it did it on this episode. It made the episode feel more like the best episodes of the show. And from a pure storytelling standpoint, it was needed headed into next week’s mid-season finale.
- It is like Rick is on meds. Seriously, I haven’t liked crazy Rick and this episode showed the Rick that I can pull for. The intelligent conversation with Morgan, the apology to Tara for yelling at her, the conversation with Michonne all pointed to the Rick that you can pull for. Since last season, Rick had been on a downward spiral that made the character increasingly difficult to root for.
- Glenn’s alive. (There is bad in this as well.)
The bad:
- In letting Glenn survive, they broke the one rule that ramps up the tension that makes this show excellent: anyone can die. Had someone come in to save him, it might have a different angle but the ridiculous idea that the zombies are just going to eat the top layer is so absurd. I’d rather they just showed him alive than to tell a ridiculous story like this. And if people are now untouchable, who is on that list?
- I want to find the studio executive that told the writing staffs of Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead that they needed teenage angst. And punish them severely. This episode is setting up two teenage angst moments that are going to play out: Enid and Glenn got a lot of screen time and I still could care less what happens to her. And the Carl and Ron shoot-out is going to be stupid and angsty and, since we know some characters are untouchable, Carl won’t die. Probably injured badly in some way but won’t die. And just don’t know what the show gains from this adolescent malaise.
- Tactics. For awhile now, it seems like the survivors have forgotten everything they have learned in previous seasons. It is like they were never at the prison before. Sure, it looks like there are more walkers but there are also sturdier walls. (Or there were.) Why not just build some 10 foot poles with sharp spear points and slowly thin them out? Or, since the outside of the walls are metal anyways, just set them on fire? They just seem to have lost all sense of strategy and planning.
The speculation:
- We know there is a gas truck and rocket propelled grenades are coming. My guess? They draw them away with the truck, once it gets surrounded, Abraham lights it up. Does someone have to be the sacrificial driver? It is a chance to bring redemption to a couple characters: Gabriel or Spencer would be interesting choices. Or maybe Morgan if they can’t figure out what the long play is for his character.
- Carl is getting shot. In the comics, he has a particular wound and this seems to be setting that up.
What do you all think? What is the mid-season finale going to center around?
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