Alas, it’s the plot
that never ends, the Saviours won’t just crawl under a rock and die (after said
rock is used to beat the Scavengers to death because ye gods, no). Carol,
invite all these people to a flower show already
So, in the Saviours
compound, we’re focusing on Eugene and his motivations which are shifting left,
right and doing the odd somersault. While his loyalties may be all over and his
language the second most ridiculous on the show until Jardis is eaten by zombies
(soon. Please let it be soon), his brains are, sadly, still top notch
Firstly he has
figured out Dwight is the spy and goes to Dwight and is quite fine with not
telling anyone this so long as Dwight stops spying and putting the lives of
everyone in the compound (including/especially his) at risk. Dwight appeals to
Eugene’s sense of how terrible this place is, showing his scars as certain
proof: but Eugene clings to one thing. The
Saviours are safe
even if they’re not “perfect”.
He also visits Gabe who, out of all the many many many many people who has smeared their bodies with rotten flesh, has finally found there’s a downside to that: infection. He’s very ill. But he wants to recruit Eugene to their side and to get the nice doctor to Maggie as well. He wants Eugene to do the right thing
While Eugene is quick to insists that Rick’s group weren’t friends, just “travel companions” and who even knows what the right thing is - what’s right for some could be devastating for others (not inaccurate given the workers whose lives are at risk against Rick’s group). Gabe appeals to faith which doesn’t move atheist Eugene so Gabe appeals to SCIENCE and hey if zombies exist then you might as well believe in god
I think the last few
episodes have already established that Gabe isn’t logical.
We’re reminded that
Eugene does have some more complexity as the woman who appealed to him for help
(and he refused) is now trading him for booze to help him sleep, and poking his
conscience by reminding him she’s already trapped.
And we get to negan
who does what he’s very good at - inspiring Eugene. With tricks (like the
handshake of respect) and a whole lot of praise for Eugene who probably doesn’t
get a lot of that, and invoking the need to save everyone’s lives (not Negan’s
because Negan is sure he’ll always survive) including Eugene’s (invoking his
cowardice) and he needs his big brain to find a solution
Negan is good at
manipulating people. But also he burns faces and rapes women and kills people
for funsies
Eugene does come up
with a plan - but Dwight holds him at gun point to stop it. And surprisingly
Eugene goes forwards - seeming to be willing to save other people but it all
feels a bit out of character for him - or rather more complicated
characterisation for him.
The plan doesn’t work
because of Dwight anyway
Outside the compound
we catch up on Michonne, Rosita, Tara and Darryl: Darryl has a plan to drive a
big truck into the wall of the compound and let the zombies flood in and eat
everyone. It’s a simple plan. Morgan also joins in because he’s team massacre
Rosita considers this
is a huge risk, they already have a plan and can just wait the Saviours out.
Darryl isn’t a fan of that because the Saviours outside have already come up
with 2 plans to save their boss and may have another. Also the plan trusting
the Scavengers is terrible. It is known. Tara also feels guilty because she
could have handed over the Oceanside weapons much earlier
Rosita opts out -
this is a terribad idea and while it feels better to actually do something;
sometimes waiting is the best and hardest thing you can do
Michonne is leery and
after going on for a little while she also opts out. She has some excellent
realisations that she’s worrying about how things are going to work out but you
never know how it’s going to work out (especially in the apocalypse). And the
plan is working - so taking a huge risk, risking them, to disrupt a plan is
just not wise. She’s out
To be fair, Darryl
respects that and clearly doesn’t hold this against her. But he still goes
through with this plan which works
Zombies flood in,
massacre lots of Saviour people and Eugene watches, his face going from horror
to flaming rage: at which point he runs to Gabriel and has a long epic rant about
how Survival is all and all he cares about is living. It’s incomprehensible yet
still epic.
In his rage he has a
huge plan to save them all, which will use most of their ammo, which he tells
Negan - Negan is super impressed. But even with this, Eugene still doesn’t
expose Dwight because his Motivation is Complicated. Negan announces Eugene is
the best thing ever and the plan goes ahead - while Eugene is tortured,
conflicted and drinking
Alas this is where I
have to go to the Scavengers who have locked Rick up in a container only
wearing his underwear. Jadis brings him out to sketch and photograph in case
she wants to sculpt him nearly naked later, as you do. They also decide to try
and execute him with a chained zombie
Which is ridiculous
in many ways. Aside from the danger of dragging a zombie around, you’re also
attacking someone with a zombie, pretty much unleashing another zombie in your
tetanus den.
Rick saves himself
with some improbably fighting and manages to hold Jardis hostage. At which point
he gives these rubbish people yet ANOTHER chance to join him adding that the
choice is get on side, get a quarter of the loot and not be annihilated by the
Kingdom/Alexandria/Hilltop alliance
Jardis starts to
bargain but Rick isn’t having it. He’s also not posing naked for her as part of
the deal (hey, Jardis apparently has lines: she’ll kill people by zombies,
imprison them and take pictures of them ALMOST naked but draws the line at
fully stripping them. Or AMC does anyway). Jardis agrees
And can we trust her? I doubt it. Especially when they go from there to the Saviour compound and find Eugene’s ill-defined plan has actually worked and the Saviours have escaped
So, I think the core
of this is episode is supposed to be Eugene, his motivations and his choice. We
can say Eugene is a coward and maybe everything he did here was for his own
survival. But he puts his life at risk. Is he a loyalist to Negan - then why
hide Dwight. But he also saves Negan. Does he even have a coherent motivation?
I mean that not as a criticism but as a realistic reflection of how humans
think, especially under high stress and with conflicting emotions. Urge for
survival can meet lingering Rick loyalty/unwillingness to see Dwight squished
in front of him and all run into outrage at the slaughter Tara and Darryl
unleashed which overwhelms any deeper thinking about the fact he’s saving
Negan. I think Eugene becoming a Negan loyalist will be the ultimate annoyance
because I’m not sure I can follow that unless we really think Eugene is
motivated by COMFORT to that degree (safety we get - but equally the Saviours
are no promise of safety here. What they are promise of is him having a
comfortable, relatively luxurious lifestyle)
Or is he really
invested in the whole “Saviour” narrative- or his version of it? That the long
term safety represented for him and the people here outweighs putting his life
at risk even to preserve it?
I’m not going to buy
into the whole idea that Darryl and Tara somehow proved there was moral equivalency
between Rick and the Saviours: the scars on Dwight’s face are a constant
counter to that
The sad thing is I
think this is the point. All the complexities and illogical simplicities that
Eugene could represent here, instead ultimately are going to be another hammer
in the “you’re just as bad as Negan” failed lesson.
Or maybe even this is
reading too much into it - maybe he’s just angry that HIS life has been put at
risk, he had an idea to escape because it would save him and being Negan’s no.2
is a pretty safe place to be and ensures him the quietest, safest, happiest
life. Maybe he’s decided that really all these moral questions are moot? Maybe
Eugene IS indeed Negan - only while Negan wants power and mastery, Eugene just
wants a quiet life
But, no I can’t run
with this - it doesn’t work. Sure he enjoys a privileged position with the
Saviours and Rick’s team may have risked his life in the crossfire; but the if
the Saviours lost he’d enjoy a safe position with Rick’s group AND wouldn’t be
with Negan who is INHERENTLY UNSAFE. In every single episode we see the threat
of violence has hung around Negan, violence if you’re disobedient, violence if
he wants something from you you don’t want to give and violence IF YOU FAIL. We
see this with Eugene himself who despite gestures like Negan’s handshake is
visibly terrible of Negan every time they’re together. So… Stockholm Syndrome?
Need for affirmation?
And it’s now 7 episodes in, I thought the Saviour war was over but apparently we’re going to drag it out yet further
Do I even need to
address to the junkyard nonsense? That rick is trusting them YET AGAIN? Exactly
how could they be trusted at this point?
