WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 22, "Here's Negan," which aired Sunday on AMC.
The last episode of The Walking Dead Season 10C put Carol and Daryl's ongoing drama aside to deliver a Negan-centric storyline. As Carol encourages Negan to leave Alexandria to prevent Maggie from killing him, the former villain grapples with his past. Through a series of flashbacks, Episode 22, "Here's Negan," gives Negan an origin story of sorts that details his relationship with his wife and the namesake of his infamous bat, Lucille. However, while delivering a lengthy monologue, Negan inadvertently clarifies his reasons for killing Glenn in Season 7.
In a flashback set during the apocalypse's early days, a hostile group apprehends Negan. They seize the chemotherapy drugs he'd gathered for his wife, wanting to know where he got such "rare" supplies. Negan ultimately rats out the doctors with the promise of getting back to his wife. Upon discovering Lucille committed suicide while he was gone, Negan returns to the group's hideout -- armed with his trademark leather jacket and modified baseball bat -- to save the doctors he threw under the bus.
Fueled by grief and rage, Negan takes out the outside guards, marking a significant transformation from the man who said he didn't want to "get comfortable with killing" earlier in the episode. After infiltrating the building, Negan sets his sights on the group's head honcho, Baxter. Negan likely blames him for his wife's death considering Baxter delayed him from returning home sooner. But before swinging the bat, Negan enlightens Baxter with a lengthy monologue.
Before the zombie apocalypse, Negan got into a brutal bar fight after an altercation involving his wife and a jukebox. Although Negan and Lucille maintain the fact "the asshole had it coming," Negan received a misdemeanor assault charge. While talking to Baxter, Negan recounts this story, pointing out there was a consequence for his bad action. However, in the new world, there are no more consequences, at least not legally anyway. As a result, people have to establish their own ground rules and make decisions carefully. Negan informs Baxter his big mistake was letting him live.
Before bringing the bat down on Baxter, Negan says, "This is for NOT killing me." While Baxter arguably showed Negan kindness -- or at least fairness by staying true to his word -- Negan maintains it was a mistake, and the series of events that occurred after ultimately led to Baxter's death. Negan's statement might be eery, but it also explains why he killed Glenn, Abraham and countless others. If he didn't enforce his ground rules, he feared people would return to kill him the way he did to Baxter.
For fans of The Walking Dead, Glenn and Abraham's death were some of the most shocking moments in the series. While their brutal murders were senseless, from Negan's twisted perspective, they were necessary. Considering Negan essentially became Baxter -- a man who uses others to get supplies -- he knew there was the potential that one day Glenn could be the one "swinging the bat," saying, "This is for not killing me."
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