The Walking Dead’s G.O.A.T. Episode? Glenn’s Brutal Goodbye, Hands Down

Original Article here:

https://www.peliplat.com/en/article/10077350/the-walking-dead-s-g-o-a-t-episode-glenn-s-brutal-goodbye-hands-down

We Need to Talk About Glenn.

The pizza delivery boy from the very first episode of The Walking Dead, and for me, a true G.O.A.T., both as a character and as the soul of the show.

From the moment Glenn crackled through that walkie-talkie to rescue Rick, to his final, horrific minutes on-screen, we, the audience, were tied to him. We witnessed his bravery, his pain, his loyalty, his humour, and his love.

And when his death finally came at the hands of Negan - brutal, merciless, unforgettable - it didn’t just kill a character. It scarred an audience. It scarred me. Over a decade later, I still can’t shake it.

But let me rewind a little bit.

When this episode aired, I was in the middle of moving countries. My life was total chaos. Nothing felt stable, nothing was in my control. Except for the show. Every week, like clockwork, I knew I could sink into an hour of The Walking Dead. Ritual. Structure. Comfort in the middle of my mess.

I was living out of a cheap motel, the kind with the swivel TV mounted high on the wall - tinny speakers, the picture barely holding on, and that sagging mattress that tilted toward the floor. AMC happened to be in the cable package. Lucky me!

My Sunday nights became sacred: shower done, bad pizza devoured too quickly to taste, TV angled just right. I was all set for an hour of escapism.

And then came that episode.

There were no spoilers back then. No tweets, no early leaks. I was watching live, in - the - moment. I saw Greg Nicotero’s name in the credits and thought: Oh, this is gonna be special!

And then: Eenie, meanie, miny, moe.

First, poor Abraham.

And then Negan turned, and my heart sank. I told myself, They can’t. NOT GLENN! Not him.

But they did.

That crack of the baseball bat, that evil Lucille against Glenn’s skull wasn’t TV violence for shock value, it was the sound of something breaking in me, too.

The makeup and effects were so raw, so disturbingly real, I thought I might actually throw up. I actually gasped out loud. You know that cliché in movies, where someone covers their mouth and audibly gasps? I always thought, No one does that in real life. But that night, I did.

And just when I thought I’d survived the worst, Nicotero twisted the knife. Glenn looked at Maggie. Bloodied, broken, dying and whispered the words: Maggie, I will find you.”

I am not ashamed to say, I screamed at the screen!

It was devastating. It was cruel. And it was unforgettable. Peak TV.

For me, that’s why it’s one of the G.O.A.T. episodes, not just for TWD but for ANY TV show.

Because Glenn wasn’t just another survivor. He was the audience’s anchor.

Rick may have been the leader, but Glenn was the everyman. The guy who took the crappy jobs (like fishing a bloated walker out of a well and watching it split in half).

The guy who called out BS when no one else dared.

The guy who kept humanity alive when the apocalypse was trying to crush it.

Killing him didn’t just raise the stakes. It ripped the heart out of the show. And honestly, I don’t think The Walking Dead ever fully recovered.

And as much as I love Maggie, the later storylines where she somehow teams up with Negan, the man who murdered her husband in front of her eyes stretched believability past breaking point.

Zombies taking over the world? Fine. Maggie working side by side with Negan? Harder to swallow.

So, rest in peace, Glenn Rhee. Pizza delivery boy turned apocalypse hero. You were, and always will be, the G.O.A.T.