'The Walking Dead' Recap: 'The Big Scary U'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

It’s never ceased to amaze me; just how much villains manage to captivate an audience. These are the men and women of a particular story that we are supposed to revile and reject, yet when they are written well enough, they suddenly fascinate us in ways we never thought possible and while I find their appeal amazing, I also understand why we smile with twisted joy when they return to the forefront of the story.
 
Because the fact of the matter is, evil fascinates us. We are raised to understand good, to be better people, so when we discover that one of our own, by way of fiction or reality, has chosen to reject their own humanity and harm others, we simply have to know more about them. What is it that brought them to this level of darkness? What made them okay with inflicting pain and suffering on others? The list of questions running through our minds goes on and on and it is the answers to those questions that make fictional villains shine and on last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, ‘The Big Scary U’, we finally got to learn more about the enigmatic monster that is Negan, and what we uncovered was downright fascinating.
 
To begin with, we came to learn that Negan’s true power over the Saviors, is his charisma. His constant confidence, his swagger and his temper all serve to maintain control over a group of men and women that quite frankly would tear one another to pieces without his leadership. But by being this cool and collected boss man, one that will throw down and put people in their place without question, everyone looks to him as a man with a perfect plan and as their true Savior since he appears to fear nothing in this world.
 
However, there is much more to Negan than meets the eye since Father Gabriel was able to uncover the fact that Negan used to work with children before the world came to an end, and he also had a wife, one that he loved dearly but treated like garbage and when her time came to pass into the great beyond thanks to an illness in the midst of the collapse of mankind, he was unable to put her down when she turned and well, it’s that sliver of weakness that made Negan so fascinating to me. Because it’s clear now that in that moment, the ruler and monster that we know today was formed in that critical moment.

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Because when you combine the fall of mankind, with Negan’s inability to put down the creature his wife had become, you suddenly understand his logic and what he is trying to accomplish. The man is simply projecting his pain onto the rest of the world, and by becoming the protector of the Sanctuary, and by trying to put the world back together with a ‘get shit done, no matter what’ edict, he truly believes he is finally doing something worthwhile in his life. But his one mistake is that he has allowed for anger to be his fuel and by letting it supersede his more benevolent ideals, the more savage side of Negan has taken control and led us to this bloody conflict.
 
Yet perhaps the most fascinating thing we learned about Negan last night, is the fact that he and Rick are in essence on the same page. They both want to avoid a great loss of life because they understand that lives are important and let’s be honest, it was quite shocking to hear Negan, a man who crushes skulls with impunity and has learned how fear can control human beings, say out loud that people are a resource and nearly slap Simon around for even posing the idea of killing just for the hell of it and the fact that he even had to step in and do that, brings about the only real disturbing element of this entire episode, the fact that the men in charge might be losing their lieutenants to the power of blood lust.
 
Because even Rick is staring to see cracks in the foundation of the Alliance since he and Daryl came to blows last night over Daryl’s desire to wipe out every last human being at the Sanctuary, including the innocent, and that’s something that’s a huge deal, since clearly Rick will at some point, side with Jesus on the matter, which will no doubt allow for this conflict to grow when others severely disagree with the notion of mercy for the Saviors. But in the meantime, it’s supremely unsettling to know that both leaders have people ready to do horrible things to the other side, because that could lead to serious trouble if they are left to their own devices.
 
In the end however, this was quite the fascinating little episode. It was nice to go inside the inner workings of the Sanctuary and see how this place actually runs and what their top people are all about and really, it was magical to get to know Negan at last and while he’s still an ass biscuit for what he’s done, at least we know there’s still some good hidden underneath that leather jacket. Either way, the war rages on and hopefully Daryl and Rick can find common ground when it comes to how the innocent are treated in this war and also, I hope they can fix up Gabriel now that he’s sick from covering himself in rotten guts. Until next time.  

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