HOLLYWOOD—So the season 10 finale of “The Walking Dead” is upon us America and it was a dozy. After begging since season 6 for a backstory, the audience was finally treated to the tale about what made Negan, the man he is today and how Lucille, ‘the bat’ came to be. The season finale, ‘Here’s Negan’ was perhaps the best character arc of all the episodes we’ve seen this second half, let’s be honest third half of season 10. It is amazing to see how friendly Carol and Negan have become considering all the chaos he put her and her pals through.
With the tension between Negan and Maggie building, the council decided to banish Negan and Carol was the one to break that news to him. It gave Negan plenty of time to reflect on his past and the audience finally got to learn what makes Negan tick and what led him to become the man he was before nearly being killed by Rick in season 8. Let’s rewind 12 years ago, where Negan was being held captured by several bikers who wanted information on where he obtained the medical supplies needed for his wife, who was battling cancer.
He garnered those medical supplies from a guy named Franklin, and a woman who would eventually become a member of the Saviors. We finally got to see Lucille in the flesh played by Jeffery Dean Morgan’s real wife, Hilarie Burton Morgan. Negan struggled to kill a walker, who was taken out by his wife with a shot to the head. Watching Negan take care of his sick wife, with everything aroung them going to absolute hell was heartbreaking. She gave him that iconic leather jacket as an anniversary gift, one that we see Negan wear quite often to say the least.
The couple was dealt a devastating blow when the electricity outage led to her treatment being kaput because the temperature dropped below its desired recommendation. Negan was panicked; however, his wife seemed to begin to accept her fate. All was not always happy go lucky, after Negan lost his job as a gym teacher and was frolicking at home playing video games while his wife worked to keep them afloat. Negan was truly a despicable guy in the past too! I mean you cheat on your wife with her pal, just as she revealed news about having cancer, talk about a devastating gut punch America. It just proved that Lucille was the one thing that made Negan a softer, kinder man. Franklin provided Negan with the medicine needed to ensure his wife received her treatment.
He wanted to help the people who helped him, but he realized he had to get those meds back to his wife before it was too late. By the time he got back, it was too late. His wife had turned into a walker and she wrote on the door for him to NOT leave her in the current state that she was in. It was brutal and I mean brutal to watch that America.
It was in that moment we saw the creation of Lucille, the bat and watched Negan set his home on fire bidding farewell to his wife. As a viewer, it just makes you sympathize with Negan more than I ever expected America. More than ever you understand why Negan behaves and acts the way he acts.
Negan wicked presence became well-known in the final 10 minutes of the episode, as he unleashed wholly hell on that biker gang who held him hostage. Negan is a complicated guy people, one who has a heart, but refuses to show it out of fear that weakness will be to his detriment. Had he not made that one wicked mistake it wouldn’t have placed so much strain on his marriage.
To see Negan actually burn Lucille shows Negan fans that the man has indeed changed. The episode culminated with Negan returning to Alexandria, and Maggie not pleased to say the least. Carol made it clear that Negan staying in Alexandria would result in Maggie killing him and it seems the rage between these two will carry over into next season and that is worrisome because someone we care about will indeed die. The question is who?
The eleventh season of “The Walking Dead” which will be the final season of the series is fast approaching. I sense that means death will come knocking and people we care about will be lost. The good news is that August 22 will kick off season 11 so we will not have to wait so long to see where the story picks up.
