“Here’s Negan” is the long coming backstory episode that The Walking Dead fans wanted since his debut on “Last Day on Earth” back in 2016. It is also the same name of the comic book backstory for the popular character. But the television episode outdoes the comic version by giving more time to showcase the birth of the Negan that we all know over how The Saviors formed.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a great actor. I believe that “Here’s Negan” is his best performance on The Walking Dead. Not only did we get the charm of the Negan character, we also got different layers that are relatable to real world situations. It was also a right choice to have Hilarie Burton Morgan as Negan’s wife Lucille for this episode. I saw their chemistry on screen and also thought of the real life married couple through the costumes and characters.
The story itself expanded from the source material while also remixing a few scenes from the comic to match the flow of narrative that was presented to us. I did not mind the changes as I thought this was a great adaptation. I love that Lucille had a bigger story than she did in the comic. It was also heartbreaking to see how the cancer affected her and him.
Negan was gone for six weeks to get the right medication for Lucille. When he came back after being captive, Lucille already turned. This changed the outlook of Negan as an everyday person before the apocalypse into who he became during the apocalypse.
The story of how he got the jacket and bat worked better this time around too and bonus points for Laura’s return on The Walking Dead for this backstory episode. It also made me think that there was a missed opportunity for Lindsley Register and Jeffrey Dean Morgan to have a scene with the two characters while Negan was in jail from season 9 to 10.
The breaking of the Lucille bat after he found it worked very well here for this story opposed to when it happened during The Whisperer War in the comic. The eulogy was also beautiful and I felt the pain that Negan felt when he was at the fireplace. Lucille, his wife brought out the best in him. Side note, seeing Negan playing Gears of War 2 makes me want to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan play The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners!
With this story and the bloody deaths of the bikers that held him captive along with the next mission at Alexandria, “Here’s Negan” served as the season finale of season 10 of The Walking Dead and it is one of the best episodes ever written, acted, and produced. This is what is called a masterpiece of Storytelling!
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