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.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2017-11-29T11:20:37Z
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.