We are now firmly back in present day with this week’s new episode of The Walking Dead, and from the previews, it seems as if it will focus mainly on Rick’s will-they-won’t-they counterpart, Jessie, and how she’s adapting after murdering a Wolf in cold blood during the brutal attack which ravaged Alexandria.
But another plot point in this episode appears to be Maggie setting out in search of Glenn, who hasn’t made it back since Rick’s zombie herding experiment went wrong. Naturally, to discuss this any further, we’re going to move into spoilers, so beware.
As any fan knows, two weeks ago we were treated to one of the most shocking moments in The Walking Dead history when Glenn was (apparently) eaten alive by a horde of zombies after his good-for-nothing partner Nicholas shot himself in the head.
But there are a million different clues that Glenn probably survived the incident and is still out there. AMC is being as conspicuous as possible about Glenn’s death, dancing around the issue on The Talking Dead, and doing cute little things like taking Steven Yeun’s name out of the opening credits. The theory of how he actually survived involves Nicholas’s body landing on top of Glenn once they fall, and we’re seeing him being eaten as Glenn remains somewhat shielded. We assume that Glenn manages to scramble away and hide under the nearby dumpster.
What I’m wondering now is if AMC will turn Glenn into the new Sophia.
Sophia, for those who have forgotten, was the focal point of season two. She was Carol’s daughter who wandered away from the group during an attack, and the entire season was spent looking for her. She’s found, eventually, but in a horrifying, zombified form, having been kept right under their noses in Herschel’s barn the entire time. Carol seeing what her daughter has become and Rick executing her made for arguably one of the most powerful moments in the entire series, and shocked both show watchers and comic readers, because Sophia is actually still alive in the comics to this day.
It seems to me like AMC is going to make the hunt for Glenn one of the focal points for the rest of the season, similar to the way the show revolved around finding Sophia in season two. I suppose it’s possible that Maggie could find Glenn by the end of the episode tonight, but I really do think that the showrunners were trying to set this up to be a long-running question, and then when Glenn is found, we’ll have one of those “what the hell happened” flashback episodes that shows his miraculous escape and what he’s been up to since. My theory? After escaping and hiding, Glenn will end up being saved by Jesus. No, not the Son of God, the character from the comics who is supposed to be introduced this season.
What I do not think will happen is that we will literally repeat the Sophia plotline and have Glenn shambling into town as a walker in a shocking reveal. Given the situation he was in, if he did die, that wouldn’t even be possible.
This is the other thing that has bothered me from the start about Glenn’s supposed death. When other characters on the show die, we know they die and the cast knows they die. Someone is there to see it and tell everyone else what happened. But in this situation? There was no one around to see Glenn meet his end, and not only that, but he would have been completely consumed by walkers to the point where there wouldn’t even be a body to find. It’s not like two hundred zombies just take a bite out of you and then mosey on. They will devour you.
The Walking Dead was never going to kill Glenn in a situation where literally no characters on the show could ever verify their death. From their perspective, he would always be missing, as there would just be no way to ever get confirmation of his fate. That’s kind of a crappy situation to put them in, and would be confusing if the audience had the kind of information that the cast could never get themselves.
This, above all else, is why I believe Glenn is alive. My question is not if he’ll be found, but when and how. Though the payoff the of the Sophia season was great, I think most will remember that season two as a whole was one of the worst eras of the show, as it was painfully dull in part because of the relentless focus on the missing girl. I would advise against The Walking Dead stretching out the search for Glenn too much for that reason.
My prediction is that we will not see Glenn this week, and probably not the next either. Rather, I think Glenn will resurface before the winter break of TWD, show up with Jesus in tow, and say something to the effect of “boy, have I got a story for you!” Then when the show comes back in 2016, we’ll have the requisite flashback of what happened in the interim, and the show will move on. Others may die before then, but Glenn will be safe. For now, at least.
Dragging out the search for Glenn to an entire season, or bringing him a full year or so later would be the showrunners overplaying their hand. They tricked everyone into thinking he was dead for a little while, but I think more and more people are realizing that it was indeed an illusion, and waiting too long to find Glenn will kill the pacing of the show. We want him back, and we want to move forward. That shouldn’t take any longer than a few more episodes, but I’m also sure we won’t see him as soon as tonight either.
Happy hunting, Maggie.
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