The Walking Dead leaves us all mulleted as battle looms
SPOILER ALERTS The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 7 left us mulleted as Eugene grapples with whether to help his friends or stay loyal to Negan.
EUGENE might not have saved the day in the war between Rick and Negan but he certainly saved the episode this week.
The Walking Dead Season 8 is heading for a huge mid-season finale and an actual showdown between Negan and Alexandria – and episode seven got all the pieces in a row ready for that.
Get ready for a spoiler-filled review of season eight, episode seven, titled “Time For After”.
We start where we left off, with Rick stripped and stuffed into a container at the junkyard, Daryl, Tara, Morgan, Rosita and Michonne all planning to crash a truck into the Sanctuary and kill off Negan – and Negan waiting for Eugene to come up with a plan to get them out of there.
But this episode is all about Eugene. On one hand we have Father Gabriel, urging him to help free the doctor and help Maggie and Dwight, who Eugene knows is the traitor, urging him to sit tight and let the Sanctuary be defeated. On the other hand we have Negan, praising Eugene’s brain and his mullet, telling him to help out – or else.
Personally, I think this plotline would have been far more believable about three seasons ago, when Eugene was an enigmatic character that could be either good or evil.
The whole “I’ll-do-anything-because-I’m-a-coward” plotline had been resolved in season six, when he rescued Tara and then volunteered to drive the RV away as a decoy to help get Maggie to safety in the dramatic finale. Even when he got taken by the Saviours, it was because he spoke up to protect Rosita and the others from Alexandria being killed by angry Saviours.
Plus, he’s obviously terrified by Negan and his threats. Why would a true coward want to live under that constant fear when there is an opportunity to escape it?
So now have him say those people were just his “travelling companions” and that he’ll do anything just to survive is asking us to drop a giant mullet over what has been established before. And, like all giant mullets, it’s not a good look.
Having said that, Josh McDermitt puts on a fantastic performance. From his hilarious lines to his visible struggles with conscience, he brings Eugene to life. So much so that we actually begin to doubt that Eugene will eventually do the right thing and help Rick and the others.
Obviously his redemptive arc will come in the second half of the season and be a welcome relief but there is a shred of doubt now. After all, the TV show killed off Andrea when she’s a mainstay of the comics. Eugene is a hero in the comics, so could he die a baddie in the show? It’s unlikely, because his bullet-making ability is key to everyone’s survival, but thanks to Josh, we can be nervous.
The rest of the episode is not as good by comparison.
Rick is given another armoured Walker to fight and defeats it and the two Junkyard Bunchers who guard him, then holds Jadis prisoner. The metal-working nutjob then agrees to help him beat the Saviours. You would think he had worked out some sort of back-up plan in case Jadis didn’t agree to help him, one that didn’t involve hand-to-hand combat with a Walker, but there we go.
Rosita and Michonne decide not to help Daryl and Tara crash their truck into the Sanctuary. That’s all well and good but this lust for killing is not really like Daryl. He’s never been about slaughtering the innocent before.
Anyway, they do this and run off, thinking that their job is done and the war is over.
However, like the supervillain who leaves James Bond alone in the tank full of sharks with laser beams strapped to their heads and assumes all will work out well, they are going to get a shock.
Because Negan and Eugene figure out a way to kill all the undead. We’re not told what it is but, when Rick arrives with the Junkyarders, it is to find the Sanctuary free of Walkers and Negan obviously out and about causing mischief.
What are the chances Jadis will stay loyal now?
About as likely as Eugene getting a haircut.
So get set for an explosive mid-season finale, as Negan gets some revenge next week.
The Walking Dead continues Mondays at 1.30pm and again at 7.30pm exclusively on Foxtel’s FX Channel.