Some Thoughts on Death in “The Walking Dead”

(This was going to be the intro to the January edition of “Image Previews Picks,” but it ran a bit long and things got a bit late.  Sooooooooo…)

A little over 13 million people tuned in live to see Glenn get ripped apart by zombies in the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” last Sunday.  At least that’s what the people who make the show really want you to think.  I think it’s likely that about a hundred thousand of those viewers went, “Hey, that’s not how it happened in the comics!” and noticed that Nick fell on top of Glenn.  Thus providing an insular buffet of blood and guts for the zombies that will likely save Glenn’s life.  While also showing that Nick turned out to be far more useful in death than he ever was in life on this show.

Then again, character deaths on the show have very rarely lined up with how they happened in the comics.  Dale made his exit early on, which led to Bob becoming “tainted meat” on TV.  Andrea died, unrecognizable from her comic counterpart, while Carol has lived on in much the same manner.  Tyrese arrived late and checked out later, leaving Herschel to take his place in the battle at the prison.  Only the Governor has met his end in a way that resembles how he went out in the comics.

Glenn’s “demise” most closely resembles Lori’s on the show.  In that she was someone we knew was going to die, but wound up checking out sooner and in a much different manner than expected.  Her death lacked the unmitigated “I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY DID THAT!”-level shock of the comics, but was still heartbreaking to see unfold.  It also led to a more interesting story thread in seeing how you raise a baby amidst a post-cataclysm zombie world.  Granted, Judith’s upbringing hasn’t played a key role in the TV show’s narrative so far.  Right now she’s doing a capable job as being an adorable MacGuffin as the plot demands.

Given what we know about how and when Glenn checks out in the comics, this move comes across as a particularly nasty act of trolling on the part of showrunner Scott Gimple and the rest of the staff.  Now that the audience has seen the character survive (And let’s not kid ourselves here:  Photos of Steven Yeun filming on the set of the show have already surfaced.) the expectation would be that he’s “safe” for at least the rest of the season.  After all, putting him in mortal danger like that again will only produce diminishing dramatic returns.

Except when they actually go through with it.  Because, make no mistake, Negan is coming and a sacrificial lamb is going to be needed to show how big of a threat and a bastard he is.  Everyone who could fill the same role is either too plot-critical (Rick, Carl, Michonne, Maggie), too beloved by the fanbase (Darryl), or too interesting/beloved by the showrunner (Carol).  The writing appears to be on the wall for Glenn, and it’ll likely hurt just as much in the show as it did in the comics when it happened.

That being said, I could be way off base here and the staff of the TV show have something completely different in mind for the character.  I did outline all of the ways that they’ve deviated from the appointed deaths in the comics after all.  With the way things have been going so far this season, I think Gimple and co. have something shocking lined up for when Negan makes his debut.  Whether or not it’s the same thing we saw in the comics, well, we’ll just have to wait and be surprised by that.  I have faith they can manage that much.

Now if only they can do something about the spinoff…