[9.1/10] “A war of all against all.” That is how political philosopher Thomas Hobbes described the “state of nature” of man without government, without rule. He imagined a life that was “nasty, brutish, and short” and posited that people needed a Leviathan, the force of the government, to enforce laws, and have people give up certain freedoms as the price for avoiding such an unenviable way to live.
In Negan’s mind, he is that Leviathan. The last time The Walking Dead interrogated Negan’s moral philosophy, it left it somewhat ambiguous how Negan saw himself, whether he really believed that his brutal ways were for the greater good, or whether he was just spinning propaganda to justify the comparatively lavish and carefree lifestyle he gets to enjoy while others toil.
“The Big Scary U” is much less ambiguous. There is a certain sense that Negan may be deluding himself, offering rationalizations and eliding the darker or more self-serving side of the choices he’s made, but it becomes clear that he is a true believer, someone who thinks that he’s doing what needs to be done.
The episode explores that with one of the oldest tropes in the book -- two characters, trapped in a room together, deciding to find common ground and reflect on their lives, shared enmity, and personal truths. (Think “Fly” from fellow AMC stablemate Breaking Bad.) “The Big Scary U” catches up with Negan and Father Gabriel, trapped in a temporary building and surrounded by walkers after the events of the premiere.
In those close, perilous quarters, Gabriel asks for Negan’s confession. A brief flashback signifies (in TWD’s typically lofty tones) that Gabriel no longer fears death; he just fears a meaningless death. And in the present, he reasons that maybe the reason he’s survived this long, the purpose he’s been in search of, is hear Negan confess and give him absolution.
But Negan declares he has nothing to attone for. He uses the confinement to lay out his philosophy -- that however bad things may seem under his watch, that it’s better than the alternative, and that what came before, and what would come after him, would be much much worse.
“The Big Scary U” seems to suggest that Negan’s right, at least within his own fiefdom. When the episode isn’t centered on Negan and Gabriel’s heart-to-heart, it’s in the heart of The Sanctuary, where all of Negan’s lieutenants are scrambling to figure out what to do in the absence and possible demise of their leader, and backbiting, disagreement, and recriminations come to a head.
Regina wants to sacrifice the workers to make an escape. Eugene declares that it will never work. Gavin declares that somebody must be collaborating with Rick & Co. given how things went down. Dwight deflects and is ready to read the riot act to whomever needs to hear it. And Simon, who seems to be the closest thing to a second-in-command ready to take over, tries to hold court.
It’s fascinating watching the various forces that Negan has amassed slowly turn on one another, ally with one another, and generally seem lost without him there to guide them. Negan has inculcated a need for a dictator, for an unquestioned leader who can whip people into shape. As soon as the man and his baseball bat are gone, things start deteriorating, with workers staging the beginnings of a revolt, the remaining leaders not knowing what to do, and the situation getting volatile quickly.
But The Walking Dead plays at least a little coy about whether this really is the better alternative, or whether this is simply the world Negan created. It’s easy for Negan to pontificate and preen with Gabriel about how things would fall apart without him, that his presence is necessary to bring order and security, but what if that’s just true for the little ecosystem that Negan has overseen? What if he’s built things to be that way, rather than that things have to be that way.
Rick certainly seems to think there’s another way, even if Daryl remains skeptical and more Negan-like himself by the minute. “The Big Scary U” comes down to, as so many TWD episodes do, to the question of whether it’s okay to kill someone, “the right person,” in order to achieve some sort of greater good. And it positions all its major characters on different sides of the question.
Daryl has turned single-minded and unbothered by the potential loss of life in taking out The Saviors, even if it means that the innocent workers at The Sanctuary perish in the process. Rick pushes back against him, wanting to stick to the plan, even if the fighters from The Kingdom are killed, because he doesn’t want to take innocent lives. Negan believes in killing people, even innocent people, if it serves a greater cause, while Gabriel believes in saving people, even bad people like Gregory, if it serves a higher power. And Gregory himself has no scruples, no principles, one way or another, only caring to keep himself alive whatever that may require.
Negan and Gabriel also have to keep themselves alive, as the walkers slowly but surely start to break through the meager walls and barriers separating them and the two morsels inside. That’s mainly a plot device to ensure that Negan and Gabriel can’t just keep talking forever (thank heaven) but it at least creates some urgency and sense of place in the midst of what is basically a miniature stage show starring these two men.
It’s a real showcase for Jeffrey Dean Morgan in particular. Let’s face it; Negan is a pretty ridiculous character. Some of that is intentional, with the persona being meant to project a certain amount of intimidating bombast. But some of it is just an inherent part of putting such an outsized figure into a nominally down-to-earth take on the zombie genre. Nevertheless, Morgan has the chops to go big and go small as the situation requires, and make it convincing in either guise.
That’s why his pronouncements about “saving” people, his pretzel logic about the difference between “killing the right people” and “letting your people get killed” (blame-shifting logic which Daryl starts to share), don’t sound as insane as they might here. There is a conviction in Morgan’s voice when he delivers those lines, a certainty in the truth of them that informs the character’s perspective and makes it feel true to who Negan is, even if the audience isn’t supposed to take it as true generally.
But we also winces just enough when confronted about his “wives” and grimaces through his excuse that they “made a choice.” His deflection about the state of his “workers” functions as an internalized dismissal of any economy having “winners and loser.” And he even breaks down, such as a proud guy like Negan can, and admits the only time he was “weak” was when he could not put his “real wife” down after she turned. Like much of the show, it’s a little too neat as informative backstory, but the actor makes it work.
It works because Negan believes it. He believes that killing people to create order, that harshness can make people and civilizations stronger, that engendering submission, even in lethal terms, can save lives. There’s a twisted worldview at the heart of Negan’s philosophies on governance and leadership, ones with antecedents across history, but for all the metaphysical and ethical conversations at play here, it’s the truth of this view in his eyes, the palpable sense of belief from Negan as he champions the need for that Leviathan, that makes the villain more than a bunch of cruel deaths and priapic boasts. He represents the worse angels of our nature, the ones that say we need to be cowed less we tear one another apart, and the hints that he may be right, at least for the part of this world he’s overseen, makes him all the more terrifying.
"I wear a leather jacket, I have Lucille, and my nutsack is made of steel."
Walking Dead's strength is always in its focus of character, and this episode shows that well.
We finally get a closer look of Negan through the classic "two characters in one room" scene. We get to look that, beyond his violent act and ill-mannered joke, Negan truly believed he did what he has to do. Classic philosophers have pondered a lot on the question "what would the world without the law be" and in a post-apocalyptic Walking Dead zombie world, that world, Negan believed, would require one despot that can maintain order. "I like killing people," Negan said, "But it's about killing the right people. You kill one right people, and you could save hundreds more." When Simon proposed in massacring The Hilltop to scare away ones who remain, Negan rashly opposed the idea, underlining that "people are resources" and he is "the one in charge".
All the sequences in this whole episode step away from the portrayal of Negan as comical villain who simply love to murder people. It shows that Negan, like many real life despots, calculate his actions and believe in an orderly societies maintain through a balanced oppression. One can easily be reminded with Philipinne's Rodrigo Duterte, Jakarta's Basuki Purnama, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, and other oppressive despots who said things similarly to Negan.
And of course, like real life despot, an authoritarian figure won't stay that long without the support of their people. In this episode we are shown the dynamics of Negan's most trusted elites through their table discussion about the possibility of Savior withour Negan - how different kind of people eventually submit to the ideals of maintaining order through power. People react when their safety is threatened as with the labors in Savior's clutch react when the base is out of power. But as Negan returned, they all too returned to bowing down to him, as if realising that their ultimate source of safety has returned. "Everything will be okay as long as our leader is here" is a common belief in societies with long history of dictatorship like in Indonesia and Singapore - and apparently The Savior's workers also have this mindset.
I know the show doesn't get nominated for anything due to always the same old and on a road to nowhere every season. But Jeffrey Dean Morgan needs an Emmy lol.
boring boring boring... Where is Michone, Rosita, Carl? and for how many more episodes are they gonna keep Negan alive?
Last few episodes haven't been that great. This one was decent.
Did that helicopter really go by? Or is rick losing it again??
Finally, a good episode! Welcome back Negan!
I just hope Gabriel does not die..... so different from like 3 seasons ago?? well shit
Gabriel finally had a decent amount of screen time and he then he goes and gets (probably) bit.
Was that really Negan's story or was he lying to get Gabriel to help him?
Is Rick's hair ever not drenched in sweat?
I'm watching this show mostly for the characters, I'm not a big fan of zombies. The first 4 episodes of this season are really bad. Compared to those this is a masterpiece, but compared to other amazing episodes this one is good, but not perfect. I really enjoy negan and I can't wait to learn more about this guy!
man this pisses me off because gabriel could’ve killed negan but didn’t!! i suppose we get more insight to negan, but i do not care.
Negan was awesome as per usual! Really good meaty episode!
Not bad Negan was great :)
Jeez. I didn't miss Eugene's talking...
Uh; a helicopter? What the hell? 1001 questions...
Review by VeroBlockedParentSpoilers2017-11-20T10:49:43Z
Besides last week's, this is my favorite episode this season. I missed Negan so goddamn much. Listening to him talking about his wife and seeing him, damn, that's his weak spot. It was great.
I loved the Negan-Gabriel interactions so damn much. It had me engaged the entire time, glued to the screen. The more Negan, the better the episode is.
Getting to see the human side of Negan was fantastic. JDM was outstanding in the meeting. The scene when Simon was talking and he just kept on slamming Lucille on the table was so intense and menacing. It was really crazy. He really cares about people. And I've got to say it, killing people in the right time to save others, he's got a point in there, and he's fucking right about it.
I love how this episode was a turning point of who the bad guys are. We've always sided with Rick and his people but it was the same for Negan: re-made yourself to survive or die. It was the same for everyone and I loved how they depicted it this episode. I loved that even though they show Negan as a psychopath, he wants to protect the workers.
I saw the Daryl-Rick fight coming long ago, but I enjoyed it, nevertheless. In all honesty, I hope there's more moral conflict between them.
Is Gavin's "Jesus Christ" while walking out the door his new catchphrase? I loved it. It's exactly the same way I would've reacted, lol.
That ending, though. Could Gabriel have been bitten before and that's why he confessed to Negan? It would make sense considering his intro monologue. That would be an interesting twist but I guess it's simpler than that. He simply got sick because of the guts, even Negan said he knew people who got sick because of it.
In a world with Negan and I choose to hate Gregory. That asshole only got up when he heard the word sorghum.
"I wear a leather jacket, I have Lucille, and my nutsack is made steel". Gotta love Negan.
And after all the freaking garbage people have done and Rick goes straight up to them, probably to show them the photos he took of the Saviors? Screw them.
A helicopter! WTF? Own a helicopter, win the war.