Yes. The lady with those incredible insights from TTD.

 

Good night! @VenomGA will you be watching Fear next week?

 

sure, why not!! you??

 

Yes definitely- I got nothing to lose

 

That was a great episode. Well written, directed, and acted. I'll have more to say later, but I give it a 9.3.

 

Wow! What a great episode! I’m also glad I finally tuned in to Talking Dead cause I had a few questions from the episode that got answered.

It was an eye opening character study which in some ways still left me wondering about Negan but that’s good. My immediate reaction to him thus far has been negative, but I finally saw somethings that made me hesitate this time. Not that I excuse the man he later became however I could see that he started out just like any one. Mr. Smith had a home, a job, a wife he loved yet he beat a man to a bloody pulp over a song on the juke box, was willing to cheat on his wife and was often emotionally unsupportive, not to mention buying items they couldn’t afford, lol.

My thoughts were that it was Lucille who kept things together. Before the ZA she put up with him but she was no angel either. I noticed a definite passive aggressive streak. He turned off the generator so she made him read Pride and Prejudice. She was upset over the coat so she hid it in the crawl space and told him she returned it. She begged him not to go out that last time and when he did she kills herself.

Isolated at the beginning of the ZA, she had him all to herself and he worked over time to take care of her and be a good husband while they were in their own little cocoon but she stuck it to him there at the end anyways. What a way to guilt trip him as he refused to stay with her even if his excuse was he wanted to save her. Human emotions are complicated but they were made for each other.

I understand that he shut down after that, but his first killings were justifiable. How did he go from an avenging angel to someone who irons faces and throws people live into a furnace?
While Rick was willing to do a lot to keep his people safe, he never was deliberately cruel. Negan somewhere along the way went over the edge. He’s crawled his way back somewhat but I don’t know. That smile he gave Maggie at the end gave me the creeps. Game on, widow, do your worse.

 

I wonder if Negan's going back means he is deliberately provoking Maggie to kill him so as to erase his shame and guilt of his past sins (especially killing Glenn)?

But I think the story will develop that he sacrifices himself to save Maggie/Hershel from the Pope (who has 'marked' Maggie). So, Maggie would tell Hershel that the man who killed his father is also the man who saved us.

I notice that Lucille the bat was split in half after Negan killed the walker. This probably is a metaphor to say Negan is now completely untied with his pre-ZA life?

Rating:- 8.5/10

 

Far better episode than any of the previous five. Probably in large part because the two main characters in this episode were real life husband and wife so they didn't have to be as careful.

Unfortunately though Negan has largely been ruined as a character due to seasons 7 and 8. If he had been the way he was in this episode from the very beginning he probably wouldn't have driven away as many people from the show as he did. But it is just too late now. And honestly I do think him still being around at this point does feel a bit forced. Kirkman kept him around in the comic largely because he was one of his favorite characters to write for but even in the comic he was out of the picture by this point. I really think this episode should have been his swan song. But nope. They need that Negan and Maggie drama for the final season.

 

After what the past couple months have been like with the main show I don't think people should be saying anything bad about Fear at all anymore. TWD and Fear are pretty much neck and neck in terms of quality these days. And before long Fear is going to have the bigger audience.

 

Great episode. I was fully absorbed in this one and didn't want it to end. Lot of good foreshadowing moments like when he told his wife that killing the walkers didn't bother him but he was afraid he'd get too used to it. That's basically how he became overall as Negan with people too.

Everything fit also with the character he became, having that dark side that cost him his job. Lucille was also very similar to him.

I kind of wish they'd just have him go off and do their own spinoff with him at this stage. It'd be more interesting than the Daryl/Carol one.

 

This is why it would've been great to have a second Negan episode. I'd like to see his turn to the even darker side. They did the same thing with the Governor's backstory. We got two then. It was needed now. And in this bonus episode season they could've cut out the Commonwealth nonsense and given it to us.

My reading of the Negan smile was a bit different. I think he recognizes himself, post-Lucille, in Maggie and knows that she's now "seeing red." He's come full circle and knows there's nothing he can do. What will happen will happen.

 

Oh, I totally agree he sees himself in Maggie but even armed with the knowledge that she’s gonna kill him if he stays, he was acknowledging that he wasn’t gonna hide in that cabin in the woods either. I don’t get the feeling he’s gonna make it easy for her though.

I couldn’t help but think of Philip as well. He also had a loving, giving side too but we saw what happened there. It would have been interesting to see more of Negan’s slide down the rabbit hole of his “darker side” but I’m not sure I could have stomached it.

*ooh, ooh...I had another thought. Maybe he smiled because when he saw Maggie staring him down, it reminded him of his wife. The woman who sat waiting for her lying husband to get home with cancer phamplets in one hand and a revolver in the other. If he hadn’t “chose wisely” by showing genuine concern when he came in the house he might have been talking to the gun. I can’t wait to see their interactions next season.

 

I've always hated Negan. No redemption for him here. He killed Glenn. Then to find out the braggadocious dirt bag was a wife cheater on top of it all. . . and when she needed him the most. Did he one time show any feelings of guilt for what he put Dwight and Sherry through? Nope!

Oh, I was ready for the writers to play the sob story of the century on my heart strings. It's a flat fact that I fall for every sob story that comes down. If there's a cat dropped off it ends up in my barn somehow. I'm feeding atleast 20 plus now. I was ready. At least I thought I was. Dang, that guy's a good actor. He almost had me until. . . the scene where he was setting at the foot of her bed while his wife (now a zombie) is tied to the bed clicking her jaws along to a soundtrack of "You Are So Beautiful" playing in the background. I lost it right there. . . That struck me as the funniest scene I have ever seen on TWD! It was so over the top for me. Cracked me up!

I'm not particularly fond of Maggie either so if her and Negan took each other out that would be fine with me. I just wish someone. . .anyone. . would give Negan a dirt nap. . . So sick of that guy.

 

I watched Talking Dead yesterday and JDM said he added the smile in himself. He said it meant that Negan "is back and now comfortable with who he is."

So, that does have a slightly more ominous feel to it.

I find the Carol and Negan dynamic interesting too. She's done some very hardcore things herself, and seems to have more of an understanding of him.

 

I was thinking of his split personality when I saw the split bat.

 

Stealth said:

I watched Talking Dead yesterday and JDM said he added the smile in himself. He said it meant that Negan "is back and now comfortable with who he is."



This is more in line of what I was thinking.

 

Yeah and to be honest even though Negan is better written now than he was a couple seasons ago I think it was a big mistake to not just kill him off at end of season 8. I think a majority of people are just through with the character and I think them now trying to turn him into a regular part of the group is a big reason why people are continuing to tune out now.

 

i’d say so as we don’t exactly know which Negan is back. Jekyll or Hyde.

 

Bingo! Ain't it the truth!