Random thoughts on TWD

Almost 48 hours have passed, so anyone who doesn't know that Glen may have died in last Sunday night's episode of AMC's "The Walking Dead," I'm sorry to play the spoiler.  I don't know how you could have missed it as the internet is full of stories speculating whether Glen actually died or not.

For those of you not familiar with the setup (or as a simple refresher), Glen and another survivor, Nicholas, were trapped in an alley while a herd (500+) of zombies came at them.  They struggled to the top of a dumpster for safety.  Nicholas, who had been suffering from PTSD (or some other condition) concluded their situation was hopeless and used his last bullet in his gun on himself.  The result of the shot was that Nicholas fell into Glen, and the two of them fell off the dumpster into the hoarde.  Glen is seen lying on his back while the zombies rip into a body.  But was that body Glen's?

This is where most of the stories center themselves.  They go frame by frame to look at how the bodies fell, the positioning of the body the zombies are tearing up, etc.

While this is fascinating, it misses a very important point.  Glen has been around since episode number one.  He was the second post-apocalyptic human that Rick met, and Glen has been with us ever since.  If he is going to die on the show, the show is going to give him a proper sending off.  The scene described above occurs 3/4 of the way through the show and we never return to the alley.

Instead, this scene was more about Nicholas' redemption.  He was a punk who didn't know what he was doing - but thought he did - when we met him.  He even tried to kill Glen.  But Glen showed him compassion and helped turn Nicholas around into a valuable, contributing member of the group.  His journey was complete just before he and Glen were stuck in the alley.  Having been "saved" by Glen, Nicholas could take himself out knowing that at least he had done some good in the last weeks.

Glen is too important a figure to simply be a side note in Nicholas' death scene.  So, Glenn is likely alive.  However, I think TWD's ploy may backfire because the situation looks very grim as Glen is on his back, pinned down by his dead friend, while 500 zombies surround them.  TWD better serve up a believable story of how Glen could possibly survive this situation or it risks alienating viewers with what could turn out to be a cheap gimmick.