The Walking Dead Villain Watch season 8, episode 2: The Damned
The Walking Dead is back, and for us here at The Verge it’s an opportunity to examine just how effective the show is at creating a complex villain. As played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, big bad Negan has always been violent, but thanks to his man-baby antics, he’s stubbornly remained a comic book thug, never truly becoming the nuanced character the show so sorely needs.
Each week, I’ll be analyzing the show through its presentation of Negan: how he acts, how he delivers his jokes and threats, and most importantly, how his character develops in contrast to our supposedly virtuous heroes. We’ll look at all the traits a villain is supposed to excel at, including those we detest, and boil it down into one single score on what we are calling the...