Who Did Negan Kill? The Case for Eugene

Call this a shameless attempt to amass views on my blog and I will not blame you. The internet buzz has dulled to a low hum but people still wonder; who did Negan kill? I've not been shy about how displeased I was with the finale of The Walking Dead. Put simply I did not like it, but you know who I do like? Eugene.

That lying faux scientist is one the best parts of the show. Watching his transition from helpless dead weight to somewhat serviceable member of the group has been one of the brightest spots for me as a viewer and fan. I think one of the reasons Eugene remains one of my favorite characters is that he reminds me of myself. Granted I'm not quite as intelligent or well spoken as that mullet having god but I'm certainly out of shape and prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. What I'm saying is that if I were a member of Rick's group I'd be less useful than the person every viewer hates for being useless.

It is a shame then that Eugene has to die. Or does he? Well he probably does. Looking at it strictly from a narrative point of view Eugene's story arch is just about complete. The only thing it is missing is a barbwire baseball bat to the dome. Eugene has been on a roller coaster of character development ever since it was revealed that he in fact has no idea how to cure the zombie apocalypse. Of course at first no one really liked or respected him, he has slowly been building his way back up and working to get into the good graces of characters and audience members alike.

As he has said himself, he wants to move on to level two. In the finale he had officially graduated to the next level of badassery. He has proven himself useful to the group, providing perhaps the most valuable asset Rick could have on the brink of war... bullets. He has studied how to forge bullets and is ready to help the group out by supplying them with a possible advantage over the Savoirs. However he was willing to pass that knowledge onto the group and sacrifice himself so that they could get Maggie to safety. Make no mistake that move was a suicide play, Eugene had no intention of surviving. He did however survive. For the time being anyways if he is to die at the hands of Negan it would be tragic and provide the show with enough of a gut punch to get viewers upset but not enough to alienate people. That is why I think we could be saying good bye to the mullet come season seven.

Who did Negan Kill? The Case for Rick or Carl

Negan Killed Rick… or maybe Carl? Okay I know no one believes that. Which is why I’m including them together and making this article first in my “Who did Negan Kill?” Project. Let’s look at the evidence supporting either of their deaths. Late in that scene Negan seems to realize that Carl is the son of the leader Rick. He is very intrigued by this relationship.

As Rick was the one who lead the assaults against the savoirs and Negan has vowed to kill only one member of the group Carl is the easiest choice. The future serial killer's death makes a statement and shows everyone that Negan is not messing around. It would be a brutal and heartbreaking moment for Rick. The group is a family but Carl is actually his blood. Everything he has done in the series has been to protect Carl.

Storywise Carl’s story doesn’t seem be at an end. He still has his relationship with Enid to work out. Also he needs to let her out of that closet so that’s a loose end that should really be taken care of. He also was horrifically injured in the middle of the season. However he did survive so it would make little sense for him to survive that only to be killed by Negan. So Carl is officially off the board in my opinion.

When talking about Rick I will be referencing some comic spoilers but nothing too important. So you have been warned but your viewing experience won’t be affected in anyway because of them. In the comic Negan makes it clear that he isn’t going to kill Rick because one it would be too easy and two it would turn Rick into a martyr. He has no interest in that, infact Negan would prefer not to kill anyone. His whole operation is to offer protection for settlements in exchange for goods. A possibly once noble cause that has clearly gone off the rails.

Rick is the main character of both the show and comic. It is his story. We are viewing the world according to Rick even though he has done some pretty terrible things from an outside perspective we understand him and his motivations. If you watch the episode we get a supremely confident Rick in the beginning. Why wouldn’t he be? Everything and everyone who has come in conflict with Rick have been dispatched. Shane, Thomas, the Governor, the people of Terminus and Pete all were killed by Rick for opposing him and threatening his people. Not to mention the countless zombies who have meet the end of Rick’s Colt Python. He seems unstoppable. Contrast that with Rick’s face at the end of the episode, this is a broken man, pale and horrified. He is well on his way to pee-pants city.

Negan needs to keep Rick alive to show the people of Alexandria that there is a new sheriff in town… pun intended. The point needs to be crystal clear that Rick couldn’t do anything to stop Negan and as such there is nothing they can do to stand up to him. They have to play by his rules. The new World order as he calls it.

So that’s why I don’t think Rick or Carl are dead. It wouldn’t make story sense for them to be the one’s whose eye’s we see through at the end of “Last Day On Earth”. Let me know your thoughts. I’m not holding myself to a timetable for these articles. We still have seven more months to wait until the show comes back so there will be time. Also remember to watch”Fear The Walking Dead” this sunday, you can catch up on that show on Netflix. Next up I will present the case for everybody’s favorite mullet enthusiast Eugene.

PS check out my friend Will’s kickstarter and donate some money or share the link!
The Rare Project

The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 16 review: Last Day on Earth Review

Well put Negan. 

I think most people can agree that last night’s episode was one of the worst of the series run. This is the season of blue balls. Whether it was Glenn’s death that was undone by plot armor. The midseason finale ending before anything really exciting happening. (Prompting me to write a very similar article) Or finally ending with a POV of Negan’s victim instead of actually showing it. While I was watching this scene my family was kind of upset with the POV but I kept saying hold on, just wait until they pull back. Alas they didn’t pull back, it just ended. At the halfway point of the season I complained that I was just about done with The Walking Dead but the second half won me back with better pacing and a more of a commitment to telling the story of the comic. Then at the last second they took all of the goodwill of the second half and smashed it in the face with a barbedwired baseball bat. I spend a lot of my time trying to defend The Walking Dead to my friends who prefer shows with "better storytelling" and "compelling characters" I honestly feel like I have no leg to stand on. Negan may not have killed any characters in this season finale, but they did kill my enthusiasm for the future of the show. I feel as if I’m not alone here. If twitter is any indication I am not. I’m interested to see who they killed off, though I’m not excited. Negan’s entrance in the comic book is one of the defining moments of the comic. This villain a man that we have never seen before takes away all the confidence we have in Rick and the group. To that point this group has been on top of any conflict they encountered. They are our unstoppable protagonists and in one moments Negans takes the life away of one of our main characters, while forcing Rick to face his own hubris and mortality. The season finale robbed us of that moment, Negan killed someone but instead of using this as a powerful moment they opted to go with the cliffhanger that was ultimately unnecessary to build hype for the next season.That was their decision and it was the wrong one. The interesting thing will be whether it hurts Fear the Walking Dead  people are not happy right now. Will they be that interested in watching more Walking Dead especially when they don’t have too much love for the new show?

Don’t be surprised to see lots of articles wondering if the finale of The Walking Dead contributed to lackluster ratings for Fear. Something to look forward to, although I will say that Fear the Walking Dead season one was awesome and it deserves better than 6 million viewers an episode especially when the main series gets 12. Let me know your thoughts on the season finale and season six as a whole. As for this episode I give it 3 annoying cliff hangers out of 10.

Hi I'm wasted potential.. I mean Negan

PS,

I will be writing a case for each character to die based on their character arcs. Putting my English degree to work and shamelessly trying to get clicks.  

In Defense of Jason Rothenberg and The 100

So by now most people have watched and reacted in their various ways to the shocking but not that shocking death at the end of the episode. When watching this episode I found it quite entertaining the two stories intercut throughout the episode separated by nearly 100 years, it really was a unique direction for the show to go in. In the past timeline we are shown the beginning of the war that wiped out civilized society as well as what happened to to the thirteenth station Polaris. It was shot out of the sky for not joining the other twelves space stations. This parallels the current story in a way that is almost heavy handed but stops short of force feeding you. In fact a character in the show even says it's a novel concept to just destroy the thirteenth station. In the end we are shown that the first commander came from Polaris and that each commander carries with them an implant perhaps containing the memories and experiences of all the other commanders. 

The most important thing that happened in this episode is the death of Lexa at the hands of her teacher Titus though it wasn't purposeful, she still ended up dead. People online really didn't like this ending to the Clarke and Lexa storyline to say the least. As an openly gay character being killed off was considered to be playing into tropes. In fact it has gotten so bad that the creator of the show is being harassed on Twitter. 

I have two problems with people being incredibly upset about Lexa’s death the first is practical. The actress who portrayed Lexa, Alycia Debnam Carey has been cast on amc’s Fear the Walking Dead so she was only allowed to appear in seven episodes of The 100. Fear the Walking Dead isn't going anywhere so she will most likely be locked into that show for a long time. It sucks but that's showbiz as they say. The second issue I have has more to do with the show as its own entity. Jason Rothenberg created this show, it's his intellectual property, he didn't make you become a fan of the show. You became a fan because something about the show spoke to you. You don't have any ownership over the show. 
In the end Rothenberg does and it’s his story to tell. If he thinks killing Lexa is the best way to progress his story that's his decision. It sucks when you favorite character dies on a show, believe me I grew up watching Lost I get it. But you can't go attacking someone for writing that character off. They are trying to tell the best story possible, and they are trying to tell their story. So don't send hate to Jason Rothenberg on Twitter. He seems like a nice guy and if you listen to the Dropship podcast he seems to be really sorry that people took this death so hard. If you really loved Lexa and Alycia Debnam Carey then you're in luck as I said above she's in another show Fear the Walking Dead and she's really good on it. At the end of the day it's just a tv show and maybe shouldn't be taken so seriously. Those are just my thoughts let me know what your thoughts are.

I feel trapped by The Walking Dead's mediocrity

I feel trapped the mediocrity of The Walking Dead and the show’s popularity

I want to love The Walking Dead, I really really do. I absolutely love the comic which the show is based on and I will admit that the show has had some great moments. None of those have occurred in the first half of season six. It is easy to point to the Glenn storyline as the reason that I’m almost willing to bail on the show but the problem goes deeper than illogical survival and the protection of dumpsters.

Don't forget to check out Into the badlands

The recent midseason finale encapsulated most of the problems I have with the series. There is a huge threat that the group faces, a herd of walkers has entered Alexandria and it will take prompt planning and action to clear the herd, surely this will lead to a lot of action and excitement… or the characters could fight amongst themselves and nearly get everyone killed. Whether it was the horrible Ron, or the beloved Carol these characters chose to settle internal struggles rather than dealing with external threats. Ron’s actions are more excusable than Carol’s (I can’t believe I typed that) Ron is a teenager whose father was killed recently, and is losing his girlfriend to some random outsider whose father also happened to kill his dad… and is probably going to pork his mother. 

Oh yeah that's happening

Ron hasn’t been living outside with the zombies, Carol has. Whatever problems she has with Morgan keeping the wolf in his basement could have been settled later. As Morgan says “it should have”. Ron is also an idiot and Carol is an extremely capable survivor who has shown the ability to make intelligent rational decisions even under dire circumstances.

Rational

But not as rational as watching Into the Badlands am I right? 

We did lose a character in this hour long snoozefest. Deanna the leader of Alexandria, the woman who is responsible for establishing this sanctuary. She dies because she trips and falls onto a buzzsaw and then gets bitten by a walker. The last time we see her she is shooting walkers before running out of bullets and inviting them to attack her. I mean she could still be alive maybe she hid underneath the bed?

#DeannaIsAlive 

That is the problem though her death was supposed to be the highlight of the episode but really she was just another Alexandria red shirt. The show has been unwilling to kill off any more of the original cast since Andrea way back in season three. In fact at times it feels like the Greene family was added so that we could have terrible things happen to them.

Not as terrible as this show... I mean great... yeah great

At the end of the episode we are setting up for an exciting scene where Rick and Co. are walking out of the house covered in walker guts. Then… the episode… ends. That’s it see you in February where the show will continue to not live up to expectations… also don’t forget to watch Into the Badlands… seriously please watch this show… if you don't we’re going to start airing important parts of The Walking Dead during it… we swear we’ll do it!

Do you want to know who Negan is? Well he's on this show 

So why do I keep watching the show? Well because it has become an easy way to socialize with people. So many people watch it that it has become a simple conversation piece much like sports. Also the comic is so incredibly good and I want to believe that the show can live up to its source material. I truly feel that the show has hit a low point rivaled only by the infamous second season. These six episodes have felt like a waste and I can only hope that the introduction of Negan. Mentioned in the two minute prologue aired during Into the Badlands… 

I told you we would do it

Will help solve some of the problems that the show is currently suffering from.

For more on Brian’s thoughts on The Walking Dead be sure to tune into The Badlands airing Sundays on AMC.

NFL Week One Picks

Week One Picks

I for one should probably not be making picks, but it’s week one, I’m excited and it’s my blog so here’s what I think is going to happen.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ New England Patriots

Everyone outside of New England hates that Tom Brady got off without a suspension and are ready for him to get his just deserts. So naturally the Patriots are going blow out the Steelers and we’re all going to be mad.

Miami Dolphins @ Washington Redskins

The Redskins have been the model of consistency over the last few years. Unfortunately they are consistently terrible and plagued by off the field issues. I expect them to keep with the trend and I’m going to have to go with Miami on this one.

Cleveland Browns@ New York Jets

In a real clash of the titans I have Cleveland edging out New York.

Indianapolis Colts @ Buffalo Bills

Andrew Luck has a great supporting cast this season, to go along with his awful facial hair. I think the Bills are going to pull this one out though.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Houston Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs are lead by Alex “take no chances” Smith and Texans are lead by JJ “Holy Crap that’s a large man” Watt. Unfortunately I don’t think Watt can play quarterback and that leaves Brian “Hasn’t done anything to deserve a nickname” Hoyer to make plays and he won’t. Chalk one up for the Chiefs

Detroit Lions @ San Diego Chargers

Wow… what a boring match up. I’ll take the Lions I guess.

Baltimore Ravens @ Denver Broncos  

We all know that Peyton Manning is done after his disappointing 4,727 yards and 39 TDs to 15 INTs last year. But never underestimate Joe Flacco’s ability to be incredibly mediocre in the regular season. Broncos and it’s not close.  

Cincinnati Bengals @ Oakland Raiders

Andy Dalton is awful on the road, and it would be funny if the Raiders won. So you know what Raiders over Cincy!

Carolina Panthers @ Jacksonville Jaguars

There are playmakers all over the bench on this one, at least the Panthers have Cam Newton. Panthers obviously.

Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams

I’m really expecting big things out of the Rams this year… wait their QB is Nick Foles? What do you mean Gurley is still healing from a torn ACL? Okay Seahawks.

New Orleans Saints @ Arizona Cardinals

Neither team got better this off season, but the Saints got a lot worse. Cardinals.

Tennessee Titans @Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A possible Super Bowl preview? No. But I think despite problems up front the Buccaneers win this one.

New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

The Giants have been pretty bad the last few years yet people expect them to be good this year. I don’t see it. Cowboys all day.

Philadelphia Eagles @ Atlanta Falcons

People who hate defense and good football rejoice. Eagles over the Falcons.

Minnesota Vikings @ San Francisco 49ers

Nobody had a worse off season that the 49ers, and I like the Vikings to be much improved. Vikings.

Survivor Second Chance Potential Winners

Ciera Eastin

Original Season: Blood vs Water

Original Finish: 5th place

Ciera Easton was a lock to return after voting off her mother on her original season. She’s smart, savvy, and above all nonthreatening. She should survive the bloodbath of alpha players picking one another off at the beginning of the game, and if she makes the merge I find it difficult to see a scenario where she doesn’t go deep. Had she flipped over to the Hayden, Katie, and Caleb alliance at final 7 she would have had a great case for why she should have won. I think she’ll have the opportunity to redeem herself in season 31.

Pegh-Geig Law

Original Season: China

Original Finish: 5th place

Pegh-Gee was really the only member of Zhan Hu that could have possibly beaten Todd. She showed great strategic acumen and adaptability when she came up with the idea to throw challenges to get rid of Aaron after the swap. I feel as if this season will have twists on twists and her ability to adapt will be her greatest asset.

Kelly Wentworth

Original Season: San Juan Del Sur

Original Finish: 14th place

Kelly is an almost unknown commodity in terms of how effective of a player she can be. She was greatly hampered by playing with her father, in fact he was the reason she got voted out. She won’t have her father weighing her down this season and she’s a popular winner pick.

Andrew Savage

Original Season: Pearl Islands

Original Finish: 10th place

Savage is maybe the single most screwed over player in the history of Survivor. The outcast twist was never used before and hasn’t been used since. Eliminated players were not a part of the game and there was no way he could have predicted it. He was the leader of the Survivor equivalent of a sinking ship, willing the Morgans to challenge wins in order to tie the game up at 5 heading into the merge. The twist brought Lil back into the game and she was not happy with Savage. This time I don’t see them doing a twist like that again, and I do think he has what it takes to win.

Stephen Fisbach

Original Season: Tocantins

Original Finish: 2nd

I think time has been kind to Fishbach. He lost the jury vote 7-0 in season 18 but people have come around to realize that he was the brains of that operation. (Especially with JT’s showing in Heroes vs Villains) He will be in trouble right off the bat due to his perceived weakness in challenges, but if he can make the merge he will be one to watch.

Tasha Fox

Original Season: Cagayan

Original Finish: 6th place

Tasha is one of my all time favorite Survivors. She was amazing in season 29, winning three individual immunity challenges after the merge, and proving she was a strategic force premerge. If she can get on the right side of the numbers post merge I can see her taking over and winning the game.

Thanks for reading everyone. Also check out this flier and apply to Survivor Rutland!

PPS: While that season of Survivor Rutland has come and gone we are always looking for people who are interested in playing.