7x11: "Hostiles and Calamities"
In the first of three full-length episode reviews coming this week, we begin with The Walking Dead's episode "Hostiles and Calamities". The promo took us back to the Saviour compound, where Eugene has been taken following his removal from Alexandria after creating a bullet with which Rosita tried to kill Negan, but where did the story start and where did it end up?
It was actually very shocking.
Back to the Saviour compound
It wouldn't be controversial to suggest that The Walking Dead often wastes a few episodes per season not really advancing plotlines and focusing on developing character; while I agree that this episode takes a step back, it doesn't do so in quite the same way. Simply, the previous 2 episodes have shown us one side of the story: Alexandria's enthusiasm to find weapons and allies after Negan departed Alexandria with Eugene in tow. "Hostiles and Calamities" goes back in time slightly to show us the other side of that story: what happened when Negan and the Saviours left Alexandria and returned to their compound.
Eugene is delivered to his room - unlike Daryl, he actually gets one - by the Saviour with the barcode-like tattoo on her neck, Laura, where he is immediately puzzled by her offer of food. Of any food he wants.
Laura: "Dude! Yes. You can have anything. What do you want?"
Eugene: "Can I have lobster?"
Laura: "No you can't have lobster, what the hell do you think this is?'
As long as it's plausible, of course.
Anyway, order taken, Laura leaves Eugene to acclimate to his new surroundings. He goes straight for the music player, but what song should come on than "Easy Street" by the Collapsible Hearts Club, the track used to torture Daryl when he was confined to his cell? It's a harrowing marker of Eugene's position: the fruits of the Saviours' "labour" may be readily available to him, and he may be free to move about the Saviour compound as he desires, but it's a falsehood.
Eugene is as trapped as Daryl was.
Before the opening credits roll, there's one final bit of business to take care of: the fact that Negan has now become aware of Daryl's escape. He quickly realises Sherry has fled, which leads him to Dwight's bedroom door, where a group of the Saviours burst through and begin to beat him up while Negan watches on.
A Bad Start Leads to a Bad Middle
Two plot strands prevail in "Hostiles and Calamities": Eugene's warm introduction to Saviour life and Negan's search for the party responsible for Daryl's escape. Beginning, as the episode does post-opening credits, with this second plot, Negan has Dwight thrown into Daryl's cell again as punishment for his belief that Sherry released Daryl. Dwight convinces Negan (or Negan pretends to be convinced more likely) that Dwight remains loyal, and Dwight is released on the condition he identifies the culprit for Negan.
Eugene is then brought to Negan who at first taunts him; latterly, Negan requests that, if Eugene really is the "smarty-pants" he claims to be, he can devise a way to fix the decaying walkers that protect the compound perimeter. Eugene, sensing his scientific expertise may keep him alive in this lion's den, explains to Negan that the facilities the Saviours possess could be used to make liquid metal, which would harden around the walkers to protect their "bodily integrity", and also as forms of armour.
I have to worry whether Eugene's desperation to stay alive by doing anything Negan asks of him will prove a major obstacle to the Alexandria lot in the upcoming war: fixing the "bodily integrity" of the shackled walker perimeter watch seems harmless enough, but this can only be the beginning; what if the Saviours want Eugene to create bullets like he did for Alexandria? Or something worse, whatever that may be?
It's a very real concern, especially since Negan's nicey-nice tactics appeal to Eugene's admitted cowardice. And Negan was certainly threatening enough that the penalty for disobeying was clear: he too would meet with Lucille.
I must admit I'm not a fan of Eugene. Most characters post-the middle of season 4 have suffered from the staggered and erratic writing style, finding their screen time and character development severely reduced. But the problem with Eugene was that he never fit in with the band of characters he settled with anyway: he's no good in a walker battle and his scientific knowledge was, until season 7 when Rosita demanded he make bullets secretly, unimportant to any societal progression.
It's that flight instinct within him to side with the strongest protector in this dark world that is his most interesting quality, and one that until now hasn't really been explored. But as I've said, cowardice is easily exploited, and Negan knows how to break men a hundred times mentally stronger than Eugene.
But he doesn't need to "break" Eugene the brutal way he broke Rick. As a thank you for his advice with the perimeter walkers, Negan sends 3 of his "wives" (see "concubines") to keep Eugene company for an evening, though he strictly forbids sex. Eugene plays video games, shunning their advances and Tanya's offer of a massage.
Eugene: "While I appreciate the gesture
and your commitment to your assigned objective
I am fully aware that none of you ladies
are here this evening of your own volition.
Video games are all about me showing all of you a good time."
His head was turned by Tanya (see his low, lustful growl when she offered him a massage), but fear of Negan prevents him from accepting her offer of a massage. Instead, the ladies instigate "intelligent conversation", in which, the next night, they try to manipulate Eugene into making suicide pills for one of the "wives", Amber.
Perhaps it was their aesthetic beauty, but Eugene agreed. He even went as far as to visit the medicine supplier and demand cold capsules. This is where Eugene begins an interesting shift: he grows some balls and demands the cold capsules, citing his importance and proximity to Negan as reasons the medicine should be relinquished to him without question. And also a basin. And a toy teddy bear which Eugene calls a "grembly gunk". This is why he's not a toy manufacturer.
Meanwhile Dwight, after some contemplation, visits a secret meeting place he and Sherry used to maintain, where he finds she has left him a note explaining her actions: she let Daryl go to help Dwight move on from who he used to be because Daryl reminded him of that. Chillingly, she has also written that "being there isn't better than being dead."
And A Worse End ...
Dwight's love for Sherry leads him to only one conclusion: frame someone else so Negan won't hunt her. The victim of Dwight's plot is Dr. Carson, whose infatuation with Sherry meant that if Dwight could forge Sherry's handwriting and plant a similar note among the good doctor's things, well ... his fate would be sealed.
I'm not sure if I think Negan should recognise Sherry's handwriting or not - he's probably too much of a narcissist to care - but he doesn't. He forces a (false) confession from Dr. Carson while all the Saviours are looking on (including Eugene, who is forced to watch by Laura), under threat of being burned with an iron, but just when Dr. Carson feels safe he is ruthlessly thrown into the furnace.
Perhaps for the sake of the audience's sanity there are few really believably pained screams from the doctor, and they die down relatively quickly, and again I'm a little sceptical: given where The Walking Dead went previously it would make more sense to include the doctor's trauma at being burned alive, but I suppose the adverse reaction to those graphic murder scenes at the beginning of the season inspired the producers to be a little more tasteful. Unfortunately, that tastefulness felt out of place here.
Without Dr. Carson, Negan has potentially created a monster. It's unlikely, but by placing Eugene in the position of the compound's doctor he has given him incredible power. Eugene showed signs of balls earlier in the episode to get the cold capsules for Amber's suicide pills, but here's where things get very scary.
Tanya: "You're a coward"
Eugene: "That is a correct assessment"
Eugene is, after all, a "smarty-pants". When Tanya and Frankie return later for the suicide pills Eugene refuses to give them up because he has deduced they are actually intended for Negan. It's then that his power begins to show: his refusal to give up the suicide pills leads Tanya and Frankie to blackmail, but Eugene points out that Negan won't believe them because they're replaceable whereas Eugene isn't.
So has he been changed by his first few days with the Saviours? Has he fallen completely under the thumb of Negan? To find out, Negan visits Eugene's room with a very important question. It's a question that Negan has been preparing to ask, and is a question that only has one answer. And Eugene already knew it was coming.
Negan: "Who. Are -'
Eugene: "I'm Negan. I'm utterly, completely, stone-cold Negan."
Conclusion
Is Eugene "utterly, completely, stone-cold Negan"? Or is he saying whatever is necessary to survive but secretly plotting against the Saviours? The latter is highly unlikely given how, even after his standing up to the medical supplier and Negan's "wives, Eugene remains petrified of Negan.
But one thing is for sure: Eugene is in a unique position within the lion's den to benefit Alexandria when they come a-knocking in search of all-out war. The question that remains, the one this episode leaves deliberately and horrifically unresolved, is will he have the nerve to fight?
Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you next time!
Sam
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