The Walking Dead, S06E03, Thank You, review: Time runs out as Rick’s plan collapses

What is the average life expectancy in Alexandria? If this season’s mortality rate so far is anything to go by, it probably doesn’t extend beyond a few episodes.

While the horde of zombies being led through the country seems to grow from one scene to the next, ‘Thank You’ continues this season’s trend of thinning the herd of returning characters. At this rate by season’s end Rick Grimes just might be the last man standing.

The episode resumes not long after the closing moments of the season opener, with Rick, Glenn, Michonne and Daryl forced to rethink their plans while the on-going horn sounds from Alexandria. As Rick, Sasha and Abraham struggle to salvage the mission, Glenn and Michonne are tasked with leading the surviving band of Alexandrians back to safety.

But it isn’t long before some of their comrades fall victim to various injuries and the group are forced to question just what they are willing to do to survive.

While the body count remains high, it’s disappointing that ‘Thank You’ doesn’t have the same resonance as last week’s instalment. Much of the blame for this lies with the Alexandrians, who make up the bulk of the casualties throughout but somehow fail to make much of an impression. ‘Not all of them are going to make it’, Rick tells Glenn and Michonne. Of course we know that he’s right, so it’s of little impact when the canon fodder are dispatched one by one. It’s telling that their death scenes are perhaps their most impressive, as each of the Alexandrians seemingly tries to outdo each other for the award of ‘most excruciating zombie-induced death’.

Where the episode is at its most playful is with the pairing of Nicholas and Glenn, the highlight of the story that gives the episode its biggest, most rewarding dramatic moment. Nicholas and Glenn were one of the more interesting dynamics to emerge from last season and ‘Thank You’ takes their relationship to its bloody and heart-rending climax.

Michael Traynor has done well to play the cowardly, spineless Nicholas as a man who might just be on the path to redemption. The Walking Dead has had no shortage of characters who clawed their way back from dark places (Merle and Tara being two good examples), so viewers are led to believe Nicholas has that same potential, right up until the moment of his suicide.

It’s a genuinely shocking development, not least because it leads to the demise of Glenn, one of the few surviving characters from the start of the series. As one of the most reliable and likeable characters on the show his gruesome final scene (complete with fountains of blood) is as heartbreaking and unjust as it is violent.

It remains frustrating to see Daryl, Abraham and Sasha stuck on zombie babysitting duty, but at least Andrew Lincoln’s Rick gets to flex his action muscles this week, using the unfolding drama as an opportunity to get some in some cardio and take out a couple of Wolves at the same time. Although viewers hardly need reminding, it’s good to see Rick back at his most desperate as he fights to live up to his position as leader.

Lincoln remains skilful throughout the action sequences (his bone-crushing camper van fight is another highlight) but manages to find moments of quiet amongst the violence. The scene where Rick discovers a jar of baby food in the pocket of one of the Wolves lays bare all of his greatest fears for Carl and Judith back home.

They might have had some success luring the zombies away from Alexandria, but with the group scattered and Glenn permanently out of action, the survivors are still very much in harm’s way.