My newest video is now live, and builds off last week's essay on Forgiveness and how it's best warped by modern feel-good Christianity. It uses the character of Negan of The Walking Dead as an exemplar of what an actually repentent man looks like and why it's important to see.
And for paid subscribers, keep scrolling to read the notes I took as I watched the episodes that went into this video. You'll notice my videos are more about movies than tv shows, and the time investment is why. But for this show, I loved every minute of it.
The Negan Watch Party
My real-time episode notes
Season 6 and 7 The Tyrant Introduced
6.16 "Last Day on Earth" — Negan's debut. Lineup. Lucille. The choice of victim left as a cliffhanger.
Until now it’s been “The Saviors” as the threat, and a formidable one. But Rick and Maggie are very confident they can (will) defeat them. No, we will not make deals with these people. Overconfident. Unimaginative. Cocky. Not sloppy exactly, but didn’t take the threat as seriously as they should have. Both Carol and Carl already reckoning with the burden of losing someone they love and trying desperately to avoid it. While the others genuinely think it won’t happen. The saviors use walkers as roadblocks. “You’d need a lot of people to chain up a red rover like that.” They dressed the walkers in Michonne’s and Daryl’s clothes. They’re in too deep now, even as they’re starting to realize that victory isn’t so sure.
Negan enters at the end. Their leader. And it’s only now, captured, bound, and at Negan’s feet, that they understand the depth of their own arrogance. It’s not even the bat that’s immediately terrifying. It’s his jocular, thoroughly unbothered joy at the people kneeling before him, knowing what’s coming next. The new world order: “give me your shit, or I will kill you.” Actually, that’s the oldest world order there is. Enjoying their agony as they wait for who he’ll pick. Everyone’s on the table. Even the kid and the sick pregnant girl.
Eenie meenie miney mo. “Taking it like a champ!” Fade to blood-stained black.
7.01 "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" — Abraham. Glenn. Daryl taken. The episode that defines him.
Negan is amused at Rick’s threats. Leaves the ax in the RV where Rick can reach it. “Grab the ax and see how you do.” But he’s fast, unhurt, and has no trouble dropping Rick. The Saviors aren’t just strength in numbers. There’s a reason he built this “new world order.” Keeps showing flashes of the people on their knees, keeping us in suspense over who was killed.
Special effects on Abraham are hard to watch. He was defiant to the end. The sound as Negan keeps hitting him until there’s nothing left… disgusting. Daryl gets a punch in on Negan for trying to force Rosita to look at Abraham’s body. For whatever reason, he kills Glen as revenge rather than Daryl. And that’s even more horrible. And Maggie has to watch. And Negan not only has no trouble looking at Glenn up close as he struggles to breath, his skull crush into his brain, he’s enjoying it. “I’m sorry, I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions.” Does he believe this is a matter of honor or is it part of the theatrics? And he just keeps hitting him, even after there’s nothing left of his head. Even for a fit man, that must be tiring. The kind of rage that drives him is only barely covered by the jokey veneer.
Cut Carl’s arm off. Or I’ll kill everyone, including Carl. And leave you alive to live with it. “Kid’ll be fine. We have a great doctor.” Now Rick breaks, begging. Negan is unmoved and now Rick understands. Carl tells him to do it. Because he understands too. Negan stops him. “You belong to me, right?” Rick says yes.
He keeps Daryl as insurance.
7.04 "Service" — Negan's first visit to Alexandria. The taking of beds, weapons, and dignity.
You can see the trauma flash in both Rosita and Eugene when Negan rolls up to the gate. Even at the sound of the trucks.
The saviors enjoy their status as schoolyard bullies. Taking needed supplies. Dumping out Rosita’s water and taking her guns. “Don’t take too long.” All they have to do is submit to Negan and they get to bully everyone else. Sweet deal to a certain kind of person. Tough to admit but Negan is funny. Charming. Somehow I believe him when he says that widows of his victims go with him afterward. He likes Carl’s bravery. “I can’t help but notice you got a fat lady in charge of the rations…” I feel guilty for chuckling. They took all the mattresses. Michonne finds them burned and left. It’s just about making them suffer.
7.07 "Sing Me a Song" — Carl at the Sanctuary. The "wives" dynamic. Carl shaves him. Maybe the most revealing single hour for the Negan-as-domestic-tyrant texture.
Carl stows away on a supply truck, seemingly looking for revenge. Negan is not impressed. He’s quickly felled, though he takes two of Negan’s men down. Negan likes him, and jovially shows him around. The sanctuary has a whole pit of zombies just ready to be deployed as needed. As much as he revels in being feared, Negan finds it a relief that Carl isn’t scared of him. The people at the sanctuary kneel for Negan. They work for points, which gets them food and other perks. He has 4 or 5 wives that he keeps dressed well, something not often seen in the apocalypse. He doesn’t hit them. But there’s “worse.” They don’t like him. Maybe that’s part of the appeal for him. His young wife cheated on him. She’s allowed to leave, but not cheat. She doesn’t want to leave. She wants to stay. “You know what that means, right?”
He burns the man who his wife cheated with. “Rules keep us alive. It’s gonna be hard to watch. I don’t wanna do it.” Everyone has to watch. Including the wives. Funny thing, in later seasons, Maggie says the exact same thing as she hangs a man for trying to have her killed.
As punishment for killing his men, he has Carl take the bandage off his missing eye, something Carl is deeply uncomfortable with. Appropriate punishment for a teenager. “Its easy to forget you’re just a kid”
He prefers to break his enemies and bring them to heel instead of kill them. Deep control issues.
7.08 "Hearts Still Beating" — Spencer. Olivia. Eugene taken. The mid-season punctuation.
He’s enjoying playing house with Carl. And not just because the accommodations are nice in Alexandria. Negan does not like weasels. “If you want to take over? Why not kill Rick yourself and just take over?” Negan kills Spencer. Perfectly predictable if Spencer would have paid just a little attention. It wasn’t even a surprise. But spoiled little rich boy doesn’t see other people. Just his own wants. And that’s why he’s dead.
7.11 "Hostiles and Calamities" — Sanctuary-side episode focusing on Eugene and Dwight. Negan present throughout, and you see how the regime functions when Rick isn't on screen.
Negan’s youngest wife wants to kill herself. She didn’t sign up willingly but to save her sick mother’s life. The other wives ask Eugene for help in letting her die. Negan sees people very clearly. He has to know. And he took her anyway. Actually, she doesn’t want to die. The wives were hoping to poison Negan, but Eugene figures it out and keeps the poison pills from them.
7.16 "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" — Season finale. The Scavenger betrayal. War declared.
“Punishment is how we built everything we have.” A lot of projecting going on in Negan’s chastising for Rick. “You push me and you push me… you people are animals!” Hard to tell if he believes it. He doesn’t seem to be having as a good a time. The Saviors get the upper hand again, and now Negan intends to kill Carl, as it would be the most effective punishment for Rick. Even though he genuinely likes the kid. Maintaining control is most important. More important than any personal affection.
Lucky that Ezekial and his tiger come to the rescue. “You taste that, Simon? That is the taste of shit!” Even in defeat he’s funny. Can’t blame him for not expecting a tiger.
7.15 "Something They Need"
Negan stops Sasha from being raped. It’s against the rules. “You really crossed a line here.” He kills him. He really means it. Murderer, but not a rapist. Most if not all people can find a reason to murder. Rapists are a breed of their own, and reviled by all but their own. Which Negan is not.
Season 8 All-Out War
8.01 "Mercy" — Premiere. Rick declares war. Negan trapped at the Sanctuary.
“I’m not gonna let my people die over that shit. Like you’re about to.” He doesn’t act rashly. Though I don’t think he actually cares about his people. He only cares that they are representatives–extensions–of him. Negan’s leg is compromised in one of the explosions. The zombie hoarde arrives, trapping him inside the sanctuary. And Father Gabriel with him.
8.05 "The Big Scary U" — The Negan-Father Gabriel two-hander. He talks more about himself in this episode than anywhere else in the antagonist run.
Father Gabriel believes God trapped him in the trailer to take Negan’s confession. He fears a fruitless death, which Negan finds funny. Does he think all death is fruitless? “If my people think I’m dead, a lot of people are gonna die… because I’m not there to stop it.” He views himself as the savior, the only bulwark against humans ripping each other apart. He’s not entirely wrong. Most people look for a singular strong leader. They feel better with a strong man rather than some kind of bureaucracy. Cut to the advisor table talking… and Negan’s right. Eugene is the voice of reason. All people are weak, the only question is how. He views himself as bringing out the strength in people which makes the world strong. Control. Self-protection. “Don’t you want absolution? Forgiveness?” Father Gabriel asks. “All it costs is saying it out loud.” Well that’s not exactly true, Father. Asking about his first wife, before the dead rose, is a trigger. Gabriel will only help Negan fight their way to the sanctuary if he makes his confession. And he does. He tells Gabriel about Lucille. His only real wife. He couldn’t put her down after she turned. That is his weakness. And he is ashamed. Negan arrives just in time to stop a full scale riot. And Gabriel sees the power he has over the people.
8.08 How it’s Gotta Be.
Carl volunteers for Negan to kill him for punishment to spare the families under threat in Alexandria. Negan is rather affected by the serious offer. Carl: “Was this the plan? Is this who you wanted to be?” Negan later tells Rick “This shit isn’t funny anymore.” So no, this wasn’t the plan and it isn’t who he wanted to be.
8.09 "Honor" — Carl's death. Negan's reaction, in his absence, structures the second half of the season.
Sweet Carl reminds his father that he united with his enemies before. Stopped fighting, and made everything better. Including Carl. “It can be like that again. You can still be like that again.” Carl shoots himself. Not wanting Michonne or Rick to bear the burden. He was our son. All of ours.
8.12 "The Key" — Rick chases Negan. Negan captured by Jadis. Lucille burned and recovered.
Negan soaking the weapons with zombie guts. Damn that’s evil. Still insisting to Rick he saves people.
8.15 "Worth" — Negan returns to the Sanctuary, kills Simon, plans the final assault.
Funny how Simon doesn’t realize that quiet Negan is dangerous Negan. I’m surprised he was willing to fight it out with Simon before killing him. Respect for his years of service? To quell further uprisings? I’m not sure. Nah, choking him to death. This is as personal as it gets. Aaanndd… there goes Dwight too. He’s keeping him alive.
Michonne radios Negan. She reads the letter to him. He was deeply affected. “Is this what you wanted?” Negan realized Carl had already written the letter when he asked him that at Alexandria. Negan can’t just beat them. He can’t move on until he kills all of them. He never wanted this, but he feels like he has no choice.
8.16 "Wrath" — Finale.
“Want’s got nothing to do with it.” Negan is tired and he wants it all to be over. The only way to make that happen is to kill them all. “Because that’s how things are.” As if he’s not the one making them that way. Hand is shattered by Eugene’s sabotaged bullets. He can’t swing the bat. Rick wants to extend mercy. “Give me 10 seconds for Carl” Negan hesitates, and Rick cuts his throat. “Look what you did. Carl didn’t know a damn thing” And then says to save him, much to Maggie’s fury. And all the saviors are there to see her grief, her anguish, and Rick standing firm in reconciliation.
The time skips here. He doesn't appear in every episode.
Season 9 Imprisonment
9.01 "A New Beginning" — First glimpse of imprisoned Negan, time-jumped forward.
Gregory hanged. And Maggie gives a very Negan-like speech. Though she isn’t enjoying herself at all.
9.04 "The Obliged" — Maggie comes for him. He breaks down about Lucille and asks her to kill him. The first crack.
Michonne having trouble living in peace. Looks like Maggie is too. Jesus isn’t happy she’s going to kill Negan. But he’s already stopped eating. A few days in a row now. Michonne takes it for a hunger strike, but it isn’t. He mourns Carl. And his wife. They would have loved to have a kid like him. Being locked up is killing him. Being still makes him think. All that action, all that conquest and cruelty, just so as not to sit in silence and think. He’s desperate for his bat. Hearing that it’s still out there makes him cry. It was no surprise to learn that his wife was Lucille. Grief and trauma comes out in weird ways.
9.05 "What Comes After" — Rick's exit episode. Negan is part of the emotional architecture.
He taunts Maggie, but it’s not gleeful. He’s not amused. But he admits he was lying when he said he didn’t enjoy killing. And all this is to provoke Maggie. He wants her to kill him. He wants to be with his wife. He can’t kill himself and he can’t stay imprisoned. He can’t be alone with his thoughts. And Maggie doesn’t kill him, not out of cruelty. She sees he’s been truly punished. It’s settled.
9.09 “Adaptation”
He looks around Alexandria in wonder at how it looks now. All the growth and building. Judith catches him trying to hop the fence. She lets him go. Shovel tells me he's looking for Lucille. After his long imprisonment, and now being on his own, he’s not having such an easy time. He’s not strong anymore. He goes back to the sanctuary, now abandoned. Time and rats have worked through his emergency stash. Judith was right “There's nothing out there for you.” He goes outside to knock around some walkers. Knock the rust off. He goes back willingly.
9.12 "Guardians" — Judith's visits, the relationship that rebuilds him.
He smiles as Michonne comes in to see him. He feels better. More like himself. He tries the ally angle with Michonne, but she ain’t having it. But she’s embarrassed that she’s losing control, even as she pretends she’s not the leader. Judith insists he’s not like that anymore, and that Michonne changed, so why can’t Negan? something Michonne does not take well.
9.14 "Scars"
Michonne really doesn’t like that Judith tells Negan tells things that she doesn’t share with her. He reminds her that Judith is a person, with her own wants and thoughts. Negan really does like kids, sees them as full people which a lot of adults don’t. He mentioned he used to work with kids, but said he never had any of his own. Wonder why.
9.16 "The Storm"
He rescues Judith in the blizzard. The first publicly heroic act.
All hunkered together for the storm and Negan is happy, back to slinging crude jokes. Judith goes to get the dog. Negan goes after her. He takes his own coat off and gives it to her, as she’s fading from the cold. His leg is hurt from flying debris. But he gets her (and the dog) back. “No one ever thinks they’re the evil one.” Michonne looks relieved to be talking to Negan, weirdly. Maybe the only one who understands.
Season 10 The Whisperers
10.04 "Silence the Whisperers" — Negan free, complicated.
Negan is bonding with Lydia. He knows how it feels to be free… but disliked in the community. Daryl doesn’t like that at all. A bunch of people attack her trying to make her leave. Negan steps in to protect her. One of the attackers falls back and hits her head. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They throw him back in a cell, and he knows they’re out for his blood. Daryl knows it too, and isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that Negan is in the right. Negan escapes his cell. Lydia says she let him out, even though she didn’t. She’s in despair that she doesn’t belong there. She feels safer in the cage.
10.05 - What it always is
Brandon followed Negan. He seems to have some kind of crush on him. Apparently the son of one of the saviors? He was obviously too young to really remember the Sanctuary and is blase. “I didn’t do that to Carl. I would never kill a kid.” Brandon seems surprised. He brought a bunch of Negans old stuff. Including the jacket and Lucille. Negan isn’t sure how to feel about it. He doesn’t like this little fanboy and it seems pretty clear he doesn’t like being idolized for who he used to be. He loses his patience when Brandon thinks about robbing about a lady and her kid. He tells him to get lost. Negan sits with the kid and tells him what it’s like to be on a plane, really paints a picture for him and makes him smile. He laments how much that kid will never experience because he was born after the dead rose. He really is a natural with kids. He hears his old whistle and all of our stomachs drop. He understands the fear he used to invoke in others when they heard that whistle. He runs back to see that Brandon came back and killed the mom and his kid. The little bastard thought Negan was testing him, standing over the bodies pleased as punch. Negan beats him to death. Good. righteous killing. He has the skills. It’s just a matter of using them correctly. He puts the jacket on, wields the bat, and makes noise so the walkers come. And the whisperers.
10.06 "Bonds" — Carol and Negan together in Whisperer territory. The pivot begins.
Negan’s popping off, back on his game. Saying he wants to join. Beta doesn’t like the constant noise. But he says he knows all the secrets of Alexandria. When he kneeled, its obvious he's playing her. We know him too well.
10.09 Squeeze – Negan whispers in Alpha's ear
Silently watching and listening to everything Alpha says and does. Advises Alpha that she has a rat in her own camp, just like he had at the sanctuary. She threatens his balls if he repeats his accusation in the camp. “I will not have you spreading paranoia.” A wise move, but she heard him and tells Beta to watch the girl Negan insinuated was the leak (Thora Birch. Nice to see her again). She pulls Negan away from the group. He’s freaking out, Has a hard time shutting up. Is she going to kill him? Makes him disrobe. “I made myself into a monster because that was what the world needed.. I saved people. My name meant something.” She tells him to turn around… and she’s naked too. She’s giving herself to him as a reward for outing the spy. “You’re a crass man. I want to express my gratitude in a way you will understand.” He tells her to keep the mask on because he knows she’ll like that. They smash. Yuck.
10.10 "Stalker" — Negan with Alpha after killing.
Gamma is taken captive. With Rick gone, their soft edge is gone and they aren’t about to give mercy. No Negan in this one.
10.11 "Morning Star" — Pre-attack on Hilltop.
He dissuades Alpha from attacking. Instead says she should get them to bend the knee, to join the whisperers. All the roads have trees blocking the way and the guards are hanged. Daryl recognizes it: “It’s Negan. He’s with her now.” As it turns out, Alpha intends Hilltop to join her… as part of the Hoarde, which is not what Negan expected. But he covers it well.
10.12 "Walk With Us" — He kills Alpha. Reveal scene.
The whisperers have won. But Alpha wants Lydia. Negan sees her and goes after her. He tells Alpha he has Lydia and leads her to a cabin. But not the one Lydia is actually in. Negan tells Alpha about his wife. He didn’t feel much of anything after she was gone. I think he’s testing Alpha, to see if he can talk her out of killing Lydia. But no. He sees that there is no getting through to her. She can’t be redeemed like he was. He slits her throat as she opens the door, finding nothing. Lydia escapes her bonds where Negan stashed her and is able to leave freely.
10.14 "Look at the Flowers" — Confrontation with Beta and the aftermath of Alpha.
Reveals it was Carol who let him out of his cell. “They’ll never forget what you did. Unless you give them something else to remember you by. So you bring me Alpha’s head.” Only Carol isn’t going back. But Negan can’t go back without her. She says for him to wait for her then. “You’re free now. Do whatever the hell you want. I need to be alone.” He goes back looking for Lydia. He finds Daryl instead. He tells him about his deal with Carol and Alpha being dead. Turns out, the whisperers view Negan as the new Alpha. He uses that to mess with Daryl for a little while. But he shoots the whisperers instead. And Daryl now believes him.
10.15 "The Tower" — Whisperer war climax, Negan involved.
Lydia is avoiding him. He tells her that he liked Alpha. She did awful stuff but he liked her and he wished he didn’t have to do what he did. Lydia says she wished he had died too, which clearly wounds him. He’s lamented multiple times that he never had children. He keeps picking up substitutes. He tells Lydia to hit him because it will make her feel better. She needs to mourn or itll eat her up “just trust me on this.” She’s holding in her grief because she thinks she shouldn’t feel bad. She does hit him and he holds her while she cries, and he’s the only one she would do that in front of, which of course he knows.
10.16 "A Certain Doom" — Original season 10 finale.
Negan tries to beg off the big assault, saying Beta and the rest are gunning for him but Daryl ain’t having it. If you wanna be on the team, then be on the team. I notice he’s still wearing the jacket. And he stays and tells Lydia to go, that they’ll never trusts her, even though he’ll stay. He gives her Alphas mask so she can walk among the hoards if she wants. Negan kills bet and lets the sicko get eaten by the zombies. Beta was famous? A singer or something? Lydia is happy to see Negans still there at the end.
10.17 Home Sweet Home
Maggie isn’t happy at all to see Negan. Doesn’t spare him a word and he knows there will be trouble. Carol: “We were gonna lose everything. Negans the reason we didn’t” he watches silently as she comes into Alexandria with her son.
10.22 "Here's Negan"
His origin. Pre-apocalypse, Lucille's cancer, the men who detained him, the bat. Non-negotiable for a character study. Hilarie Burton (Jeffrey Dean Morgan's actual wife) plays Lucille.
Carol takes Negan to the cabin so he doesn’t have to be in Maggie’s face. Can cut the tension with a knife. Asks Carol to smooth things over a little, which she doesn’t answer. Council voted to banish him there. Or at least that’s what Carol says. I remember he said he could kill a man just as easy as look at him, but he didn’t like to kill women. So it might not be Glenn’s death that’s eating at him, but rather Maggie’s rage and grief. Alone and speaking with a younger version of himself, it’s clear this was a mask, an act he adopted that melted into his real self. He digs up Lucille at the spot where Rick cut his throat. We go back to 12 years ago, the dead have already risen. He’s stealing treatment for his wife. He’s desperate, not violent. Oh that’s how he met neck tattoo girl. He was a high school gym teacher. Weirdly makes sense. He didn’t even want to kill the zombies. He would rather wait for them to leave. He’s clumsy, not good at violence. Just a regular guy. He’s keeping her isolated until the last three treatments are done. But they needs gas. All the sources near by are picked over. She wants to be with other people and get out of there, but not him. They did good making him look younger, thickened him up. Probably with CGI. Truly in love. She got him the jacket. Or rather she retrieved it. She’d initially been angry he bought it for himself. He was unfaithful to her before the outbreak, and that guilt eats at him. She stayed with him because “I could always see the man you are, even when you weren’t.” Oh, he was fired from being a teacher for misdemeanor assault. The guy he beat up “had it coming.” So the violence was always there; he just suppressed it most of the time, until it exploded out of him. She was alone when she found out about the cancer because he was out fucking around. Poor girl. She assures him he made up for it. And she wants him to stay, not run out there looking for medicine from doctors who might not be there. He won’t stay. He won’t give up and “let” her die. He’s in denial that she is terminal. Laura gave him the bat to protect himself from the gang as he made his way back to his wife. He betrayed the doctor who was kind to him and gave the gang their location to try and save Lucille, to get the drugs back to her. She killed herself in his absence, and now she’s a zombie with a bag over her head, tied to the bed. “Please don’t leave me like this” written on the door. Gut wrenching. He can’t kill her, can’t bash her head in. “You are so beautiful” plays in the background as he pulls the bag from her head and sees her face as she howls at him. He just sits at the end of the bed. Medicine next to him in the cooler. Cuts barbed wire from his fence, wraps it around the bat Laura gave him. And burns his house down with his wife inside. The gang has the doctor and Laura, beating the doctor and threatening to hurt Laura if he doesn’t reveal where the “good stuff is.” The Negan we know is who emerged from that burning house. He goes back to the gang’s clubhouse and lays waste to those assholes. He calls Laura the doctor’s daughter, but she obviously isn’t. He assigns the paternal role. And it’s happened before in another season. Someone came in and just called Michonne “Your mom” when speaking to Carl. And later Negan himself called Michonne Judith’s mother. There’s no “step mom” or “your dad’s girlfriend” in this world. There is the family you cleave to, and blood don’t matter terribly much.
Negan tells the story of the guy he got arrested for beating. He explains that “seeing red” is literal. The guy was the parent of some of his students. He was sued and got fired. There were consequences then. But there aren’t anymore, and boy is he glad. His victims, less so. Now in the present, Lucille is rotted from being buried for so many years. It breaks with a few whacks at a zombie. He burns the rest of the bat, apologizing to Lucille for letting his shame drive his actions. “I should have been there.” I love you and I miss you. And I’m gonna do your fighting for you. He goes back to Alexandria. “If you stay here, she will kill you.” He says Fair Enough.
Season 11 Reapers, Commonwealth, Reconciliation
11.01 and 02 "Acheron"
Reapers introduced. He leaves Maggie to die in the subway.
Such is their desperation for food for the group that Maggie and Daryl push on despite very clear signs to stop, specifically the mass grave that Negan points out might still be in use. He’s not the first to note she’s bringing them on a death march. Specifically, she wants to use this as an excuse to kill Negan, and she’s endangering all of them to do it. Negan looks down at her as she begs him for help… and walks away. “No, she was in trouble and I didn’t help. She was just talking about murdering me and I’m the asshole?” She decides to let the kid die, trapped on the other side of the door because they don’t have the ammo to clear the hoarde coming after him. Her reasoning is sound but it doesn’t endear the group to her. They made it gory too so we all have to sit with that decision. Maggie tells the story of what’s out there, what the living are like. “I don’t feel anything when I tell you that… I lost something at seeing it.” She’ll kill and die to protect Alexandria because everything else out there is horror.
11.03 Hunted: “I know theatrics and these people just told us exactly how crazy they are.” Maggie wasn’t there to see his change, and accuses him of lying to himself just as much as everyone else. “Stop pretending you’re one of us.” The Reapers appear to be a religious cult. Negan drags Maggie away as Agatha is ripped apart. Camera lingers on Negan’s bloody crowbar after braining a zombie, Maggie looking at the dripping blood.
11.05 "Out of the Ashes" (skim only)
Negan light, Maggie/Negan tension still building.
They work well together. It makes sense they had the spinoff show together. “Why would I ever trust you?” Because you want to stay alive. If you don’t need me, why haven’t you put me down? “I ask myself that every day.” Gabriel makes it to the safe house just as Maggie and Negan are coming to blows.
11.07 "Promises Broken"
Negan plays double agent against the Reapers using the Whisperer mask.
Negan demands of Maggie that if he continues helping, he won’t have to look over his shoulder anymore. She takes the deal, with the caveat they’ll never be square. She asks Negan to help them herd the dead as cover. With her assurance in hand, he starts having a bit of fun again. He says if he could do it all over again… “I’d have killed every single one of you.” He doesn’t say it to be mean, but because it’s true. You have to do whatever you can to protect your own people. It makes her angry, and he knows that. But he is assuring her of his honesty. He will never tell her pretty lies.
11.08 "For Blood" — Reaper assault.
Satisfying that it’s Negan’s skill at herding walkers from his time in the Whisperers is what gets them to defeat the Reapers. Everything they have ever gone through led to that success.
11.09 "No Other Way" — Reapers defeated. Negan walks away from the group on his own terms. Self-imposed exile begins.
Damn maybe Gabriel deserves his own video too. Maggie asks Negan if she should let the Reapers walk. Obviously he doesn’t think she should. But she does. Sans weapons. And then she shoots all three of them. Leah was only winged, but she took out all the men. And Negan watches her. She can’t forgive him, but he was right. He always was. And she knows it, through she can never bring herself to say it. They got the food. Dog is okay. Maggie goes back for Alden. He’s dead. Of course he is. But she takes care of him, sobbing at the weight of it. Then she buries him. And Negan is there. He says that regardless of her promise, she’ll do the same to him eventually. And he leaves, rather than trying to take her out first. Yeah, in hindsight he wishes he had killed all of them. But he didn’t and now things are different. So he doesn’t go after her. He just leaves. Lydia is the one to ask where Negan is, and is sad when Daryl says he left. Crestfallen. She looks at the horizon, hoping he’s wrong.
11.13 "Warlords"
Returns with Annie, his pregnant new wife. The reformed-man positioning lands or doesn't, depending on how you read it.
He and Annie go to help Gabriel. He didn’t have to. But they have to leave Aaron.
11.14 "The Rotten Core" — Negan and Daryl rescue mission.
When Maggie and Co arrive, Negan’s first smile is for Lydia. “Hey kiddo.” She asks why he left without saying a word. “It’s what everyone needed.” Negan saves Hershel, assuring Maggie that if anything happens to the boy, it’ll only be because he’s already dead. Annie has a moment with Maggie. Negan talks to Hershel, but doesn’t talk overly blunt to the boy. But he knows and points a gun at Negan. He doesn’t say that he deserves to live, only that the gunshot will reveal their location, and Hershel puts it down. Lydia doesn’t say anything as she takes the gun from Hershel, but maybe she realizes that yes, Negan had good reasons for leaving Alexandria. Tells Hershel when he’s grown up a bit, he can come settle the debt if he has a mind. Which Hershel does not tell his mother. It was Leah what stole the guns. Once again cementing that Daryl should have killed her. Negan. Was. Right.
11.16 "Acts of God" — Negan and Maggie confrontation, this time unarmed.
Maggie says she is starting to trust Negan. At least with Hershel. He and Annie will watch him while Maggie fights at Hilltop. Daryl shoots Leah as she is trying to kill Maggie. Better late than never I suppose.
11.17 Lockdown.
Negan goes to Carol to help hide the kids to avoid them being used as leverage. Real recognize real and Negan knows Carol is the one to get shit done. He tells her about Annie and the baby. He’s letting her know he has skin in the game now, not out for himself. But I think maybe he wanted her to be proud of him, to see he was committed to someone, not just collecting human assets.
11.18. A New Deal
Carol to Lydia (because she has a new boyfriend). “You take happiness wherever you can find it. And never be sorry.” She’s growing up, out of the shadow of her mother, and through her grief over Henry. There was a Reddit thread on the internet, wondering what happened to the father/daughter dynamic between her and Negan. Like it was an abandoned plot line. But it doesn’t seem to me that it was. She grew up. She moved on, though the affection remains, I’m sure. Annie’s baby is getting a checkup at the Commonwealth. He wants to stay there so she can have access to medical care. He’s yearned for his own child for so long. It was never said why he and Lucille didn’t. Or how long they were married before he got fired. But it seems like quite a while. Why did she never go off the pill? And did that hurt him? Make him feel betrayed and that’s why he cheated? He’s putting his aside his natural rebellion to make sure Annie and the baby are safe.
11.21 "Outpost 22" — Forced labor camp. Negan and Ezekiel.
Annie and Negan are separated. Ezekiel ain’t happy to have Negan approach him. “Just so you know, I haven’t forgotten either. And for the shit I’ve done, I probably belong in here.” But Ezekial and the others don’t and neither do his wife and baby. He has to start over with everyone who he’s wronged and who has heard of his past wrongs. Negan knows how to lead people, and so does Ezekiel.
11.22 "Faith" — Labor revolt. The Negan-Ezekiel dynamic crystallizes.
Negan is not impressed with or afraid of the labor camp leader. And Ezekiel is not impressed with him. “You don’t deserve a new life. You damn sure don’t deserve to be a father.” Negan was willing to take the bullet for the rebellion, but the warden adds Annie, which doesn’t sit right with Ezekiel. Or one of the guards. They all move to stand in front of Negan and Annie. The gerd defects, giving Daryl an opportunity to spike the Warden. They still don’t know where the kids are.
11.23 "Family" — Reconciliation with Maggie and Ezekiel. The forgiveness scene, such as it is.
Judith talks about Lori and Michonne. They’re both “my mom.” Negan proposes he and Maggie go take out Pamela. Negan thanks Ezekiel for what he did. Asks why. As it turns out, he does want Negan to live a better life rather than die a martyr. That will help him live with his own grief and anger. Negan gave himself up because he wanted to leave behind a better legacy for his own kid than the one he has now. “You all are better than me. And if you think I don’t know that, then you haven’t been paying attention.” Oh damn poor lydia gotta have her arm chopped off.
11.24 "Rest in Peace" — Series finale. Lucille thrown away. Where he ends up.
Negan goes to take out Pamela, so Maggie won’t die in the attempt. “When I was down on my knees last night, I finally understood what you must have felt. I am so sorry…” And she believes him. They go together. But Pam gets arrested. “Person like that, it’s worse than death.” Maggie shoots Pamela’s zombie son instead. At the end, she sits across from him. Thanks him for his words. But there will never be forgiveness. “Glenn was beautiful. I’ll never love anyone like that again.” She can never not see that bat coming down on his head when she looks at Negan. She knows he’s trying. And she’s trying too. Because she knows the hate will eat her up. And he is in pain. For her. Not disappointment or annoyance that she didn’t give him the absolution he wanted. Negan doesn’t join them for the dinner. But Daryl looks out, and nods. Lydia delivers a surprise to Judith. It’s the compass from Negan.