Review: The Walking Dead: S6 Ep3 “Thank You”
Sometimes it’s the decisions you don’t make that end up saving you.
To say that things look bleak after tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead would be a gross understatement. “Thank You” is going to have viewers talking for some time and while it’s difficult to conceive how things could have been worse for Rick’s crew considering the events of the past two weeks this episode managed to do it. The show is heading full throttle into some of it’s darkest territory yet and it will take a minor miracle (or a change of heart from the writers) to spare the group and the viewers from collective heartache moving forward.
“Thank You” picks up shortly after the events of “First Time Again” and begins with Michonne, Rick, Glenn and the others making their way back to Alexandria to investigate the mysterious sound coming from the community. With their plan in shambles, Rick decides to get the RV that was parked a few miles away and to use it to help cut off the zombies and lure them away from Alexandria.
Meanwhile Daryl, Sasha and Abraham continue to lead the zombie herd away from the community and are instructed by Rick to stay the course while he and the others head back to Alexandria. After some deliberation, Daryl decides to break off from Sasha and Abraham to lend a hand, but not before passing an unhinged sign advertising the community of Alexandria. The sign, on the edge of falling over, is a powerful metaphor. After last week’s episode, we know that the sanctuary of Alexandria has been gutted and the community, like Rick’s plan is hanging by a thread.
Rick’s decisiveness and matter of fact way of dealing with their situation has many of the Alexandrians casting distrusting glances at him. They’ve been sheltered behind the walls protecting Alexandria and even though they think they can handle what is out there, they don’t realize how over matched they really are. Rick has been living by Enid’s code, JSS – just survive somehow, for quite some time and the Alexandrians who were part of the group and were tasked with diverting the zombies away from their community are slowly beginning to see the merits of that point of view.
Michonne was on point this week in her dressing down of Heath in the pet store. With fear and mistrust flowing through much of their group, Michone’s words were much like Carol’s actions in “JSS”. When Michonne set Heath straight it was almost like a parent instructing a child on the ways of the world. Michonne’s experiences in the apocalypse have given her first hand knowledge of how the new world she find herself in works.
Where do things go from here? It will be seven days before those words can be answered, but Enid’s mantra will surely be the key to anyone’s survival.
