Jean Veras
Jeffrey Dean Morgan como Negan e Seth Gilliam como Padre Gabriel Stokes - The Walking Dead 8° Temporada, Episódio 1 - Foto: Gene Page/AMC
NEGAN SHOWS HIS SOFT SIDE
Up until now, Negan has been portrayed as a stubbornly opaque and shallow villain, characterized by his violence, the baseball bat he commits it with, and the fact that he runs a racketeering operation like a pre-apocalypse mob boss. Little time has been spent on why he acts the way he does and what drives him. We’ve seen a few flashes of his humanity, like the moment last season when he tried to impart some wisdom upon a murderous Carl. But viewers shouldn’t be blamed for assuming that Negan would immediately bash Father Gabriel’s head in when he finds himself trapped in a trailer with the priest.
What we get instead is a far more fascinating scene, one that digs into Negan’s character and humanizes him in a way no previous scene has accomplished. Though Negan immediately relieves Gabriel of his weapon, the two nevertheless have an instructive back and forth, with Gabriel convinced he has to take Negan’s confession. Perhaps seeing some strategic utility in having Gabriel as a hostage, Negan earns the man’s trust by opening up. We learn that Negan used to work with children, and that Lucille may actually be the name of his wife, that he lost to cancer. He let her turn into a walker in the earliest days of the outbreak, Negan says, because he couldn’t bring himself to lay her to rest himself.
Even after Gabriel tries to pull a firearm on Negan, the leader of Saviors still refuses to get violent, illustrating that he’s willing to go to great lengths to prove that he’s capable of pragmatism and mercy. Negan’s worldview and leadership style may be atrocious, but his ability to manipulate people is incredibly effective, and the scene culminates with the two drenching themselves in zombie guts and battling their way together to the Sanctuary.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan como Negan e Seth Gilliam como Padre Gabriel Stokes - The Walking Dead 8° Temporada, Episódio 1 - Foto: Gene Page/AMC
NEGAN SHOWS HIS SOFT SIDE
Up until now, Negan has been portrayed as a stubbornly opaque and shallow villain, characterized by his violence, the baseball bat he commits it with, and the fact that he runs a racketeering operation like a pre-apocalypse mob boss. Little time has been spent on why he acts the way he does and what drives him. We’ve seen a few flashes of his humanity, like the moment last season when he tried to impart some wisdom upon a murderous Carl. But viewers shouldn’t be blamed for assuming that Negan would immediately bash Father Gabriel’s head in when he finds himself trapped in a trailer with the priest.
What we get instead is a far more fascinating scene, one that digs into Negan’s character and humanizes him in a way no previous scene has accomplished. Though Negan immediately relieves Gabriel of his weapon, the two nevertheless have an instructive back and forth, with Gabriel convinced he has to take Negan’s confession. Perhaps seeing some strategic utility in having Gabriel as a hostage, Negan earns the man’s trust by opening up. We learn that Negan used to work with children, and that Lucille may actually be the name of his wife, that he lost to cancer. He let her turn into a walker in the earliest days of the outbreak, Negan says, because he couldn’t bring himself to lay her to rest himself.
Even after Gabriel tries to pull a firearm on Negan, the leader of Saviors still refuses to get violent, illustrating that he’s willing to go to great lengths to prove that he’s capable of pragmatism and mercy. Negan’s worldview and leadership style may be atrocious, but his ability to manipulate people is incredibly effective, and the scene culminates with the two drenching themselves in zombie guts and battling their way together to the Sanctuary.