What’s Worth Watching: ‘The Walking Dead’ on AMC for Sunday, November 1

Don’t Be a Braindead Walker

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The Walking Dead, “Here’s Not Here,” (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC)

Not since Game of Thrones‘ Jon Snow have we seen a TV death scene—or was it?—inspire as much debate as [SPOILER ALERT] the fall of Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun), the Walking Dead fan favorite last shown writhing in a pool of blood and entrails—his, or weak Nicholas’s?—as a massive herd of zombies swarmed for the feast. A wrenching scene to be sure, and a true hero’s demise, if that’s what actually occurred. Much as I’d miss Glenn and would grieve for Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and the rest of the gang, I hope the producers don’t cheapen this moment by reducing it to a tease, explaining this latest near-miss by his having conveniently fallen beneath Nicholas’s corpse-by-coward’s-suicide. Putting memories aside of Rick wearing a suit of zombie guts to escape attention way back when, this felt and looked real. And real bad. (Full disclosure: I’m in the minority in my office when it comes to this hot topic. I also don’t care what happened to anyone in the comics. This isn’t that.)

I hear an answer to this nagging question will not be forthcoming in this week’s extended 90-minute episode, so it may be a while before we get the promised closure on Glenn’s fate and the inevitable emotional fallout. If the season proceeds as it has so far, the focus will shift again from those in the field to those who stayed behind in besieged Alexandria. The clips so far only reveal Morgan (Lennie James), continuing on his existential journey to “accept what we were with a call never to do it again.” AMC’s website also indicates that “a new face and setting are introduced” in the episode, a problematic proposition given that I can’t put a name to almost any of the new faces from their most recent setting.

“Can people be trusted?” asks AMC’s storyline description. Can The Walking Dead‘s writers? That question may haunt us for some time as we continue this grueling and so-far-impressive sixth season. (Another reason to tune in: a first-look preview of AMC’s next supernatural series, Preacher, like Walking Dead based on a comic-book franchise. If it’s even remotely as successful, AMC will be walking tall.)