"Heads Up" is the seventh episode of the
sixth season of the
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
horror television series ''
The Walking Dead'', which aired on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
on November 22, 2015. The episode was written by Channing Powell and directed by
David Boyd.
This episode reveals the unresolved fate of
Glenn Rhee
Glenn, later revealed as Glenn Rhee in the television series, is a fictional character from the comic book series '' The Walking Dead'', in which he is known simply as Glenn. He was portrayed by Steven Yeun in the television series of the same ...
after the episode "
Thank You
"''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...
" and builds tension for the mid-season finale "
Start to Finish
"Start to Finish" is the eighth episode and mid-season finale of the sixth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'', which aired on AMC on November 29, 2015. The episode was written by Matthew Negrete and dir ...
." It adapts the rope-climbing scene from "Volume 14, "Issue #81" of the
comic book series
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...
.
Plot
After being knocked off the garbage dumpster by Nicholas' corpse, Glenn crawls under the dumpster to evade the walkers that have surrounded it. Time passes and the walkers disperse, and Glenn is found by Enid. In a nearby store, Enid explains that she had fled Alexandria when the Wolves attacked it, and before Glenn can learn more, she runs off.
In Alexandria, Morgan is forced to tell Rick, Michonne, and Carol that he had let the Wolves that they had captured escape. Morgan justifies his actions by reminding Rick that he had previously spared Morgan's life, and that while he had wanted to kill the Wolves before, he believes people can change. Rosita gives knife lessons to a group including Eugene, while elsewhere Carl provides handgun lessons to Ron, but refuses to allow Ron to use live ammunition. Ron sneaks into the armory to obtain cartridges for the gun.
Glenn discovers the body of David and his note to Betsy, and decides to chase after Enid. He catches up to her in a restaurant, and despite her holding a gun to him, Glenn manages to convince Enid to accompany him back to Alexandria. En route, they find some balloons that they use to distract the walkers to keep the way clear.
Rick assesses the damage from the Wolves' attack, and finds a section of wall where blood is dribbling from, and starts working to re-enforce it, aware his hammering is luring more walkers to the walls. Tobin joins Rick to help with the repairs, admitting to Rick that their group brought many changes to Alexandria but the remainder of them are adapting and thankful for their help.
Spencer attempts to climb over the Alexandria walls to lead some of the walkers away, but ends up falling. Tara helps to dispatch walkers while Rick, Tobin, and Morgan pull Spencer back inside Alexandria. Spencer explains his actions as trying to follow what Rick had wanted to do earlier, but had excluded any of the Alexandrians from helping.
Later, Morgan discreetly meets with Denise, acting as Alexandria's doctor, and tells her he needs her help to treat somebody injured. Morgan leads Denise to the lone Wolf he had secured in one townhouse, but his actions are witnessed by Carol, who follows them inside and demands to see who he has captured.
In the distance, the townspeople spot balloons rising above the walls, and Maggie realizes it is a sign from Glenn. Just then, the old church tower, which had been deteriorating for a long time, topples onto the wall segment that Rick and Tobin were trying to reinforce, destroying it.
Production
![StevenYeun2015ComicCon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/StevenYeun2015ComicCon.jpg)
With this episode,
Steven Yeun
Yeun Sang-yeop ( ko, 연상엽; born December 21, 1983), known professionally as Steven Yeun (), is a South Korean-born American actor.
Yeun initially rose to prominence for his roles as Glenn Rhee in the television series '' The Walking Dead ...
, who plays
Glenn, is added back into the opening credits. His name had been removed for the previous three episodes after "
Thank You
"''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...
" had left his status unknown.
Reception
Critical reception
The episode received mixed reviews from critics. As of 2015, it holds a 52% rating with an average score of 7.2 out of 10 on the review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
. The critics' consensus reads: "With "Heads Up," ''The Walking Dead'' offers the resolution to a major cliffhanger, but with frustrating results."
Matt Fowler of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave it a 7.0 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict: "The best parts of "Heads Up" were definitely the beginning - which finally cleared up the whole Glenn debate/debacle - and the very end when the building came crashing down, breaking the town's big barrier. Everything else was just there to lead us up to bigger things. Bigger developments. Better stories. This one contained a lot of recycled themes, including Rick still considering everyone outside of his group (with Deanna as the exception, and Gabriel as the reverse exception) as the equivalent of "Redshirts" on Star Trek."
Zack Handlen of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave it a B and wrote, "'Head's [sic] Up' opens and closes with a bang, the former metaphorical, the latter implied. In between those two dramatic explosions, there's a lot of talking."
Brian Moylan of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave it a less favorable review, saying: "Glenn is alive, and The Walking Dead will never be the same.... It would rather kill off a main character than pull a lame switcheroo. Until now."
Ratings
The episode averaged a 6.7 rating in adults 18–49 and 13.22 million viewers overall, a rise from the previous episode, which averaged a 6.5 rating in adults 18–49 and 12.87 million viewers overall.
References
External links
"Heads Up"at
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
*
{{The Walking Dead episodes
2015 American television episodes
The Walking Dead (season 6) episodes