The Walking Dead/Here's Negan

Here's Negan
Season 10, Episode 22
Airdate	April 4, 2021
Written by	David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Directed by	Laura Belsey
Stream
← 10x21 Diverged	11x01 → Acheron (1)
The Walking Dead — Season Ten

Here's Negan is the twenty-second episode of the tenth season of The Walking Dead, and the one hundred fifty-third episode overall.

Starring: Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Rhee), Christian Serratos (Rosita Espinosa) (credit only), Josh McDermitt (Eugene Porter) (credit only), Seth Gilliam (Gabriel Stokes) (credit only), Ross Marquand (Aaron) (credit only), Khary Payton (Ezekiel) (credit only)

and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan)

Also Starring: Callan McAuliffe (Alden) (credit only), Eleanor Matsuura (Yumiko) (credit only), Cooper Andrews (Jerry) (credit only), Nadia Hilker (Magna) (credit only), Cailey Fleming (Judith Grimes) (credit only), Cassady McClincy (Lydia) (credit only), Lauren Ridloff (Connie) (credit only), Hilarie Burton Morgan (Lucille), Miles Mussenden (Franklin), Rod Rowland (Craven), Lindsley Register (Laura)

Co-Starring: Mandi Christine Kerr (Barbara), Kien Michael Spiller (Hershel Rhee)

Uncredited: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Radio Announcer), Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes (archive footage)), Danai Gurira (Michonne (archive footage))

Plot Overview

As the tension between he and Maggie becomes palpable, Negan reflects on the journey that led him to become the leader of the Saviors.

Notes

Music

• AC/DC - "Back in Black"

• 45 Grave - "Partytime"

• Joe Cocker - "You Are So Beautiful"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Based on the times given in the flashbacks, it's been just under 13 years since the start of the apocalypse.

Characters

• While it's been established Negan worked with kids, it's confirmed that he was a gym teacher until he was fired for beating a man up. It's further established that Negan was cheating on Lucille until learning she had cancer. He tried to continue her treatment into the apocalypse until he ran out of medicine. She confessed that she knew and assures him that made up for it and wants him to stay. He nevertheless leaves to get more of the medicine, only to return to find she killed herself. He then puts on the expensive leather jacket she returned to him after he charged her card and then wraps barbed wire on the baseball bat given to him earlier as a weapon.

• Negan digs for and finds Lucille, but it breaks when he uses it against a walker. He burns it, using it to eulogise the real Lucille, admitting that he made himself not feel anything so as not to feel shame for not being there for her.

• Carol takes Negan to a cabin and claims that the Council banished him, but Negan almost immediately sees through this. He returns to Alexandria where Carol confesses that Maggie is going to kill him if he stays and she just wanted her conscious clear of that, which it is now that he's returned.

Referbacks

• The cabin Carol takes Negan to is the same one where Daryl found Leah in "Find Me".

• The "classic" Negan he sees of himself is introduced with "Little pig, little pig, let me in." Negan says the same thing when knocking on Alexandria's gate in "Service".

• Negan digs for Lucille by the tree where Rick sliced his throat. (Wrath)

• We also see a flashback to Negan asking Michonne the whereabouts of Lucille. (The Obliged)

• The POV shot that shows Negan with Lucille is clearly meant to invoke the ending of "Last Day on Earth".

Trivia

The Show

• The title of the episode is taken from the stand-alone volume of the graphic novels and adapts several aspects of it.

• As seen on the mailbox, it's revealed that Negan's last name is Smith.

• This episode contains flashbacks within flashbacks, as they go back in the following order:

• Twelve Years Earlier

• Two or Three Days Earlier

• Six Weeks Earlier

• Seven Months Earlier

Behind the Scenes

• Hilarie Burton Morgan is the real life wife of Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

• The inclusion of Laura in the flashback was a replacement for Dwight, as the pandemic made production on this show and Fear the Walking Dead difficult to schedule Austin Amelio.

Allusions and References

• The book Negan is reading to Lucille is Pride and Prejudice.

• When Lucille turns on the radio, the announcer states that "...the killers are eating the flesh of the people they kill." This is a verbatim quote from Night of the Living Dead.

Quotes

• Negan: (to Craven) Well. Look at us. Here we are again. You know, last time we did this, you said that I talk too much. Bad news is, I got some stuff to get off my chest this time, as well. But, see, this time... This time, you'd best hope I never stop talking... because when I do - when I do, something very terrible is gonna happen to you. You know, I never killed a man before tonight? It's the truth. Came close once. See, there was this - this bar my wife and I used to go to. It was our favourite bar. It was our favourite bar 'cause it had our favourite jukebox. Favourite jukebox because, well, it had our favourite song. "You Are So Beautiful" by the one and only Joe Cocker. Probably the greatest love ballad ever written. I'm sure you agree. But, see, there was... there was this guy. This guy, he had, uh - he had one of those voices you can't unhear. Yeah, it was like, um, my brain had been hijacked and I can't - I can't think anymore. Anyway, he is talking and laughing while the song is playing, being completely obnoxious. So my beautiful wife, Lucille, she gets up, goes over to where he is and politely asks him if he could keep it down so she could hear her song. Well, let's just say he chose poorly. So now I gotta get up. And I go over and I tell him that he owes me 50 cents, so I can play the song again and he can shut the hell up and my wife can enjoy her song. Now here's the important part - I really want you to pay attention to this. You know when people get so angry they say they see red? That shit is actually true. When this asshole comes at me, all I see is red. It's like I am looking at the world through blood. So I wail on him. I wail on this son of a bitch until he's not movin'. And I reach down, I grab his wallet and I take out one dollar, and I play our song again... twice. Turns out that this prick has kids that go to the school that I teach gym at. Needless to say, the school was... unthrilled. I get fired. This guy sues me. I don't have a job, so now my wife has to pay his medical bills. So, the point of this is there were consequences to me seeing red. Seeing red was a bad thing then. I was a bad man... then. But, see, now, nobody's suing anybody. Nobody's gettin' fired. Hell, nobody's keeping score. Now when I see red, it's just a question of what I am capable of. And, well, man, I hate to break it to ya. See, I am startin' to think that I am capable of damn near anything. So this... this is for not killing me. (strikes Craven)

• Negan: I am sorry that I left you. I was a coward. I couldn't face the pain of losing you, so I ran away. And then I made myself not feel anything because I didn't want to feel the shame. The problem is that... shame is the one thing that I still feel. Uh, I'm sorry that you went out like that. I should have been there. I am sorry that I named a stupid baseball bat after you. I am sorry for all the pain that I put you through. I hope that you found someone in the afterlife and you are screwing your brains out. Well... not really, but... fair is fair. I miss you. I love the shit out of you. And I am gonna do your fighting for you.