Season 6, Episode 3:
Thank You
- The group suffers heavy casualties as their mission begins to fall apart.
Glenn and Rick run towards the sound of the signal and radio Abraham. They tell him that half the horde is advancing towards the sound of the noise, and order him and Daryl to continue drawing the rest away. Despite their uncertainty, they agree to continue along as planned.
When one of the Alexandrians, Barnes, complains about Rick's leadership, Michonne tells him to shut up and move. Her, Glenn and Nicholas meet up with Rick and they quickly hash out a plan to get in front of the horde to draw them away again. Rick orders Glenn and Michonne to take the others back to the city while he goes on his own to draw the horde. Even though one of the other Alexandrians offers to help, Rick tells him it's too dangerous and to get everyone back safe. They witness Barnes get eaten by a walker and dispatch it before moving off.
As they continue through the forest, everyone steps out to take out a group of walkers. Several Alexandrians learn to stab the walkers in the head without fear, save for one resident, Sturgess, who flees in terror. David is bit in the confusion, but agrees to continue on and help the others before being put down.
Sasha and Abraham are still leading the pack away when Daryl decides to head off and help Rick. Despite their calls to stay with them, he drives off and leaves them alone to funnel the pack.
Michonne, Glenn and the others eventually come upon an abandoned town and start searching for supplies to treat the injured members of the group. While scavenging, Michonne reassures Glenn that Nick's plan will turn out alright and Nicholas tells Heath about of his past scouting missions with Aiden. They also discover the remains of Sturgess being feasted on by walkers. After realizing that walkers are starting to converge on the town, they take refuge in an abandoned pet store.
Inside, Glenn suggests burning one of the buildings to draw the walkers away. Nicholas accompanies him and they head off to a nearby feed store to burn it down while the others bandage themselves up. Glenn radios Rick, who is running down the road to get in front of the herd, and tells him about the plan before hanging up.
Scott and Annie offer to stay behind and draw off the horde while Michonne and Heath run, but she tells them in no uncertain terms that no one is being left behind. Afterwards, Michonne has an argument with Heath over Rick's comments that the other Alexandrians, and tells him that he has no idea what Rick's group had to do to survive in the real world. He concedes the point and they get ready to move. They watch as walkers pass and Michonne tells them to wait until the pack has passed. However, two walkers which were trapped in a backroom make noise and they are forced to dispatch them. Michonne looks outside and stares in shock when she sees that the herd has reached them earlier than they expected.
On the way to the feed store, Nicholas sees one of the dead members of his past scouting party, who turned into a walker. With some coaching from Glenn, he mournfully dispatches his former friend and they continue on their way. At the same time, Rick reaches the barricade the walkers passed earlier and starts up the RV before racing off towards the herd.
Michonne busts open the front door and begins slashing walkers, then tells the others to run. Annie falls to the ground and tells them to keep running before she's messily consumed by walkers. They eventually reach a dead end and Michonne, Heath and Scott barely make it over a fence before the pack catches up with them and David is Eaten Alive.
At the same time, Glenn and Nicholas reach the feed store, but realize that it's burned down. They go to look for another building, but see walkers advancing towards them and run through the streets. They also come upon a dead end and fire their weapons as the herd closes in. They climb on top of a garbage bin and attempt to fight off the horde, but the walkers keep coming. Reeling back in shock, Nicholas stares at the horde before turning to Glenn and thanking him before shooting himself in the head. Nicholas' body collapses on top of Glenn and they fall into the horde. Glenn screams as he is seemingly torn apart.
Michonne and Heath make it out of the town and carry Scott out of the forest. When Heath tells her that he's not sure that Glenn and Nicholas made it out, she assures them that they'll make it. On their way through a river, Heath glimpses his own visage in the water's reflection and stares before continuing on.
Rick drives up at the rallying point and attempts to reach Glenn, but gets no response. He tries calling other members of the group and eventually reaches Daryl to tell him the plan is still a go-ahead. Afterwards, he reports that he heard gunfire coming from Alexandria and tells the others that they'll have to hope that the residents in town will be able to handle it. Daryl reports that he will be meeting back up with Sasha and Abraham and heading towards his location.
Suddenly, he's surprised when one of the Wolves (who had assaulted Alexandria) opens the door to the RV and and begins firing at him. Rick dodges the shots and beats the man and another Wolf before shooting them down. He then checks the RV, only to discover that the engine is shot. When he notices other Wolves coming, he fires a full clip of an assault rifle through the side of the vehicle, killing them before they can attack.
As Daryl meets back up with Sasha and Abraham, Rick tries the RV again, but it won't start. He notices the herd starting to approach and continues to try to start the RV...
Tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: Subverted with David. At first it seems he will get back to Alexandria to say goodbye to his wife (despite being bit), but then he gets killed by walkers.
- Anyone Can Die: Annie, Nicholas, the blond Wolf, and other Mauve Shirt Alexandrians (Barnes, Sturgess, and David).
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Nicholas decides to shoot himself instead of risking getting Eaten Alive by walkers.
- Camera Abuse: Blood is splattered on the camera as Heath shoots a walker.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Wolf who stole the pistol from the dead resident in Alexandria uses it to attack Rick in the RV.
- Chekhov's Gun: Literally, the gun looted from Alexandria by that Wolf in the last episode.
- Continuity Nod:
- Nicholas tells Heath about one of his scouting missions with Aiden, and talks about how it was the spot where they lost several members of their group before meeting Glenn and the others. Later on, they discover one of the dead members of the group, who turned into a walker, and Nicholas dispatches it.
- When Glenn offloads his spare gear before leaving to burn one of the buildings and cause a distraction, he pulls out the pocketwatch Hershel gave to him and stares at it meaningfully before setting it down.
- Glenn jokingly calls Rick a dumbass, as he did when he first addressed him way back at the end of the pilot. Also doubles as a Meaningful Echo and as Book Ends.
- Cliffhanger: Rick is unable to start the RV just as the mass of the walker horde is passing through.
- Dead Man Writing: David (who has been bit and is trying to get back to Alexandria to say goodbye to his wife) writes out a short message for his wife on a piece of paper, but it's lost when he is Devoured by the Horde.
- Devoured by the Horde: Sturgess, Annie, David, Nicholas, and sadly and possibly, Glenn dies through this. He is revealed to have survived in "Heads Up."
- When dealing with the Walkers in the forest, Sturgess abandons the group after accidentally shooting Scott in the leg. His body is later found being devoured by Walkers in a small town.
- Annie sprained her ankle after tripping in the forest and this gets her in trouble when she falls in front of an oncoming herd of Walkers in a small town. The others try to save her, but Annie tells them to go on without her right before the Walkers surround and devour her.
- While trying to climb over a gate, Michonne and David start to get pulled down by the horde. While Michonne is able to make it over, David is dragged down and devoured while the others watch in horror.
- After being cornered in an empty alleyway, Glenn and Nicholas are on top of a dumpster surrounded by a herd of Walkers. Unable to deal with the vast amount of Walkers, Nicholas shoots himself in the head and his body collapses on Glenn. They both fall into the horde, which seemingly starts picking their bodies apart. However, it's unknown whose body is being torn apart. Revealed four episodes later to have been Nicholas.
- Dirty Coward: Sturgess, which predictably gets him killed.
- Determinator: Rick, as he runs to get in front of the horde.
- Driven to Suicide: Thinking it's the end of the line, Nicholas has a mental breakdown and commits suicide by shooting himself in the head (inadvertently taking Glenn down with him as he falls).
- Dwindling Party: Rick leaves, Barnes is killed, Sturgess flees and is eaten, Annie and David go down fighting, Nicholas shoots himself, and Glenn is seemingly eaten as well. Rick is stuck in the RV in the middle of nowhere and only Michonne, Heath, and Scott make it back to Alexandria.
- Eaten Alive: Sturgess, Annie, David, and seemingly Glenn. In "Heads Up" he turns out to have survived.
- Face Death with Dignity: David, the Alexandrian who's bit on the shoulder, calmly tells the group that he "knows what it means", but decides to help the group until he gets too sick to fight.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Invoked by Annie and Scott. Scott survives, though.
- Karmic Death: Sturgess flees when a pack of walkers come upon Michonne, Glenn, and the others, but is seen a few minutes later already killed and being feasted upon by walkers.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Barnes, the Alexandrian who complains about Rick's plan and blames him for what's going on, gets killed seconds later when he's pounced on by a walker in the forest. First rule of surviving a Zombie Apocalypse: always listen to Rick.
- Likewise, Sturgess, the one who bolts after freaking out and accidentally shooting Scott in the leg, gets eaten.
- Last Stand: Performed twice.
- The first time by Annie, who has an injured leg and falls on the ground. She briefly manages to kill some walkers before dying.
- The second time by Glenn and Nicholas, standing upon a dumpster and surrounded by walkers, they kill as many walkers as they can before Nicholas commits suicide.
- Mauve Shirt: The Alexandrians who are given dialogue and action scenes get infected immediately (with the exception of Annie, who suffers from a broken leg) when faced with a pack of walkers.
- Never Found the Body: A theory
states Glenn is alive because Nicholas fell on top of him after shooting himself, causing him to get covered in blood when the walkers start to devour Nicholas's body, and thus getting mistaken for a walker. The camera angle shows a body part getting ripped and blood coming out violently, but it's impossible to tell if it's Glenn's or Nicholas'. Revealed in "Heads Up" to have been Nicholas'. - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Apparently, Glenn's heroic nature ends up causing his death... or does it? It didn't, as revealed in "Heads Up", but damn if it didn't come close.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Invoked by Michonne and Heath. However, it's subverted both times when Annie and David are left dying. Averted with Rick, who tells Michonne and Glenn straight out that some people aren't going to survive.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Michonne's reaction when she sees the herd advancing towards the store.
- Glenn's and Nicholas' reaction when they are trapped in the alley.
- The Promise: Averted. When Heath tells Annie no one is left behind and when Michonne tells David he's getting home alive.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Michonne gives an epic one to Heath when he attempts to argue that the Alexandrians know how to survive, and calls him out for not having seen what she, Rick, and the rest of their group have encountered.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Nicholas.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sturgess freaks out when a group of walkers show up, blindly shooting at them. He shoots Scott in the leg and decides to flee.
- Title Drop: Nicholas says "thank you" to Glenn before shooting himself.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If Sturgess didn't panic and shoot aimlessly at the walkers, it would have possibly let the group get back to Alexandria quickly and alive.
- Zombie Infectee: David is bitten on the shoulder while en route to Alexandria.
