We’re two episodes into the back half of season eight of The Walking Dead and we haven’t really heard much from Eugene. Recall that, in the midseason finale, Eugene helped Father Gabriel and Dr. Carson escape from the Sanctuary (before then manufacturing the bullets that allowed the Saviors to escape the zombie horde).
As with all things Negan, however, a debt will eventually need to be paid for Gabriel’s escape. In an exclusive clip provided to Uproxx by AMC, it appears that Negan wisely believes Eugene might have had a hand in Gabriel’s departure. In the clip, Negan confronts Eugene and puts the fear of God into him. Will Eugene be able to talk himself out of this one?
It’s intriguing that Negan would express anger with Eugene for showing concern for the Alexandrians, since Negan himself expressed sadness in last week’s episode over the death of Carl. It would only be human for Eugene to feel some concern for his former camp, and it might have been more convincing had Eugene at least admitted to as much.
It’s worth noting, too, that though Eugene’s alliances have shifted, he has been nearly as helpful to the Alexandrians as he has the Saviors. He gave Sasha the pill that allowed her to kill herself and zombify, thus throwing Negan’s confrontation with Alexandria into chaos. Moreover, in addition to aiding Gabriel and Carson’s escape, he didn’t turn on Dwight after discovering he had switched alliances. It may ultimately mean that Eugene can be more helpful to Rick from inside the Savior compound than he might have been in Alexandria. Indeed, he may eventually earn his way back into Rick’s good graces, as suggested in Carl’s vision of the future.
