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From a story perspective, what they have done here accomplishes nothing.
It would have been nice if instead of settling on this gimmicky Glenn cliffhanger, they had some positive pay off to this Nicholas and Glenn subplot. Ok, don't kill Glenn, but let there be a "moment". After all the people Nicholas has abandoned why not have some heroic self sacrifice involving this herd? He took a step in the right direction by manning up and leading, even setting aside his cowardice to take out that fellow Alexandrian that turned into a walker. Perhaps he saves Glenn (the moral compass of the show as of now) and demonstrates that Glenn had the right idea to spare Nicholas and give him a second chance? Much more fulfilling than just being another pathetic, throwaway redshirt who pops himself (weasling his way out of brutality yet again) and only being inserted to shock audiences into thinking/questioning "OMG, Glenn is dead!?". Well for a mere half an hour until it was blown on Talking Dead and social media outlets everywhere.
If they weren't going in that direction (and obviously they didn't), showing how chaotic, random and cruel this world is by having a likeable, key player like Glenn getting cut down would also be appropriate. What I've found is that none of these character's ideals are perfect. There is always another side to the coin. Currently, Rick isn't in the right with his decision making. Carol's idea of killing is no more logical than Morgan's peaceful philosophy. This goes all the way back to season 1 with Dale and Shane and their conflicting views, or Herschel and the Governor. More recently we had Tyreese who had trouble taking a life. Look what happened to the peace keepers and voices of reason in this show like Dale, Herschel, Andrea and Tyreese, they go out in horrifying ways. Glenn is on that path. If you're not going to give Nicholas his moment of heroism and have Glenn's faith rewarded, then you should go to the opposite of that, Glenn's undoing. Glenn's sense of morality in this apocalyptic world are grounded in Dale and Herschel's way of doing things. He's extremely noble and hasn't taken a life. He spared Nicholas who was about to kill him. He was against Rick's cold decision of leaving the Alexandria volunteers that helped in the quarry. Further back, we saw his disgust in the church when Rick and Co. butchered Gareth and his crew.
This last episode is crucial for Glenn's characterization. You either prove he was right all along by having Nicholas prove his worth and get Glenn out of that nightmare OR we see the undoing of Glenn and his folly of letting this guy lead them as he literally falls . . . into a pack of walkers. You shouldn't get to have it both ways. It's undeniable in the lastest episode that the intent is the latter. The look on Glenn's face as Nicholas commits suicide, the calmness of how they both fall into the herd, Glenn's mortified and defeated face as he's swarmed like all those victims before him. Then there is the emotional music, horrifying shots of Glenn's anguish and a great performance by Steven Yeun. It will mean **** all when they jump the shark and let Glenn escape in an inescapable moment. Not just for not dying, but everything his characterization had been building to. We've had tons of foreshadowing with his death already. This one felt appropriate with the Alexandria husband/wife, the return of the RV, the walkie talkies, "dumb ass" and Rick himself. This wouldn't just have ramifications for Glenn, but consequences for Rick, which is what this show is all about. The irony of not caring and leaving behind Alexandrians only to have one of your own, the very first person you met on this journey (other than Morgan) to be slaughtered because of your decision making and leadership is too perfect and almost writes itself. Too bad they won't be paying any of this off the second we see Glenn return unscathed.
It would have been nice if instead of settling on this gimmicky Glenn cliffhanger, they had some positive pay off to this Nicholas and Glenn subplot. Ok, don't kill Glenn, but let there be a "moment". After all the people Nicholas has abandoned why not have some heroic self sacrifice involving this herd? He took a step in the right direction by manning up and leading, even setting aside his cowardice to take out that fellow Alexandrian that turned into a walker. Perhaps he saves Glenn (the moral compass of the show as of now) and demonstrates that Glenn had the right idea to spare Nicholas and give him a second chance? Much more fulfilling than just being another pathetic, throwaway redshirt who pops himself (weasling his way out of brutality yet again) and only being inserted to shock audiences into thinking/questioning "OMG, Glenn is dead!?". Well for a mere half an hour until it was blown on Talking Dead and social media outlets everywhere.
If they weren't going in that direction (and obviously they didn't), showing how chaotic, random and cruel this world is by having a likeable, key player like Glenn getting cut down would also be appropriate. What I've found is that none of these character's ideals are perfect. There is always another side to the coin. Currently, Rick isn't in the right with his decision making. Carol's idea of killing is no more logical than Morgan's peaceful philosophy. This goes all the way back to season 1 with Dale and Shane and their conflicting views, or Herschel and the Governor. More recently we had Tyreese who had trouble taking a life. Look what happened to the peace keepers and voices of reason in this show like Dale, Herschel, Andrea and Tyreese, they go out in horrifying ways. Glenn is on that path. If you're not going to give Nicholas his moment of heroism and have Glenn's faith rewarded, then you should go to the opposite of that, Glenn's undoing. Glenn's sense of morality in this apocalyptic world are grounded in Dale and Herschel's way of doing things. He's extremely noble and hasn't taken a life. He spared Nicholas who was about to kill him. He was against Rick's cold decision of leaving the Alexandria volunteers that helped in the quarry. Further back, we saw his disgust in the church when Rick and Co. butchered Gareth and his crew.
This last episode is crucial for Glenn's characterization. You either prove he was right all along by having Nicholas prove his worth and get Glenn out of that nightmare OR we see the undoing of Glenn and his folly of letting this guy lead them as he literally falls . . . into a pack of walkers. You shouldn't get to have it both ways. It's undeniable in the lastest episode that the intent is the latter. The look on Glenn's face as Nicholas commits suicide, the calmness of how they both fall into the herd, Glenn's mortified and defeated face as he's swarmed like all those victims before him. Then there is the emotional music, horrifying shots of Glenn's anguish and a great performance by Steven Yeun. It will mean **** all when they jump the shark and let Glenn escape in an inescapable moment. Not just for not dying, but everything his characterization had been building to. We've had tons of foreshadowing with his death already. This one felt appropriate with the Alexandria husband/wife, the return of the RV, the walkie talkies, "dumb ass" and Rick himself. This wouldn't just have ramifications for Glenn, but consequences for Rick, which is what this show is all about. The irony of not caring and leaving behind Alexandrians only to have one of your own, the very first person you met on this journey (other than Morgan) to be slaughtered because of your decision making and leadership is too perfect and almost writes itself. Too bad they won't be paying any of this off the second we see Glenn return unscathed.
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Extremely well said.
