![]() The episode ends in a cliffhanger, but next week will see Maggie and Aaron come to Gabe and Negan’s aid (reuniting Maggie and Negan, again, ahead of their spin-off series set in New York next year (JUST F**K ALREADY)). Negan and The Riverbenders are going to have to defeat Toby and the Commonwealth soldiers without weapons in order to escape. ![]() Negan is trapped inside the building with Gabe and the Riverbenders, and Toby and The Commonwealth soldiers have the building surrounded. It also appears that Ian’s wackjob persona was just an act to scare away The Commonwealth. They’re good peeps, but like Maggie, they’re skeptical of The Commonwealth. It turns out, he is part of the community in the apartment complex. Gabe is as good as dead until Negan - gone for six months - returns to offer help. He puts down Ian and repeatedly kicks his corpse and then takes control of the building, turning against everyone including Aaron and Gabe, who are now on the side of “the cult.” Because Toby is also in charge of a unit of Commonwealth soldiers, it also pits the Commonwealth against Aaron and Gabe, with Maggie, Elijah, and Lydia en route to offer assistance. That’s when dopey, smiley Toby reveals himself to be former CIA (of course), a sadistic killer type asked by Hornsby to take over the community at whatever costs. Ian, like Maggie, basically says, “No thanks,” only he’s more yell-y about it and threatens to kill Toby, Aaron, and Gabe if they ever return. Hornsby recruits Toby Carlson (Jason Butler Harner), who puts on a dopey smile and convinces Aaron and Gabriel to confront Ian, the warlord, and talk him into joining The Commonwealth. The plan hasn’t completely come together for me, but it involves taking over another nearby small community that he claims is a wackjob religious cult operated by a creepy Michael Biehn. He does not take it well when Maggie rejects him, and he devises a plan. Hornsby is invested in expanding The Commonwealth because he envisions himself as the new leader of the prospective satellite communities. Maggie, however, refuses to join, and without The Hilltop, the Commonwealth is not interested in partnering with the other two communities.Įnter Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton), the right-hand to The Commonwealth’s Governor Milton. Several episodes ago, after helping to save Maggie, Daryl, Father Gabriel, and the entire Alexandrian community of ruin, Negan split from the group, concerned both that Maggie would kill him and that Maggie had turned into the old version of himself.Ĭut to six months later, and a number of folks from both Alexandria and The Hilltop have joined The Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth is eager to expand its presence into Alexandria, Oceanside, and The Hilltop. Ironically, given her own recent history, it’s Maggie whose trust Negan hasn’t been able to gain, which is understandable given Negan’s direct role in the murder of Maggie’s husband. It helps, too, that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a great actor capable of eliciting sympathy from the audience even after having committed the heinous acts he has. It’s working for a few reasons: Negan was a changed man who repeatedly came to the aid of Alexandrians after serving seven years in a jail cell in fact, under the guidance of Carol, he infiltrated the Whisperers and killed their leader at great personal risk an origins episode provided some context and explained how a warped sense of grief transformed him into the supervillain he was and maybe most important, a number of “heroic” characters on The Walking Dead, in particular Maggie, have done things that might be considered as bad or nearly as bad as the violent acts carried out by Negan when he led the Saviors. ![]() One has to wonder if he has more records to earn with his arc still unfinished.The Walking Dead’s multi-season-long redemption arc for Negan continues, and while no one who bailed on the series after the death of Glenn would believe it, it’s working. Included in those deaths are six main cast members - the aforementioned Abraham, Glenn, and Alpha, alongside Spencer (Austin Nichols), Simon (Steven Ogg), and Beta (Ryan Hurst) - which is the most any one character has killed. Perhaps most importantly, Negan is the sole antagonist to turn a new leaf and become something of a good guy.Īlso worth mentioning is that Negan boasts the highest kill count so far, with roughly 230 deaths on his hands. Not to mention, his interactions with Alpha make him the first bad guy to meet their successor, and him subsequently killing her makes him the first and only principal villain to defeat another principal villain. In addition, he has the longest lifespan of the bunch, sticking around the land of the living for roughly 60 installments. Of the series' main antagonists, Negan has secured the most appearances - popping up in over 40 episodes across three and a half seasons.
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