I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to think about this, but the whole storyline involving the Saviors and collecting tributes from lesser groups, it’s very much like the plot of Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Negan is Hopper and his Saviors(the grasshoppers) are taking offerings from The Kingdom and Alexendria(the ant colonies). Sort of puts a whole different dynamic to it.
BTW Yar’s Revenge was my second favorite Atari 2600 game (Adventure, of course, was the best) so that was an inspired choice by the Powers that Be.
ETA: The Saviors is a typical Empire like Empires all through history. You conquer other states and take a percentage of what they produce which allows you to not have to produce it yourself and live a higher quality of life at their expense.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Eugene is playing the long gamer here. Don’t forget that Negan killed Abraham right in front of him, soon after he and Abraham had a bonding moment.
We’ll probably continue to be led to believe that Eugene has gone Negan until the last moment when the good guys are on the verge of defeat, and suddenly Eugene’s plan will be revealed and everything Negan will go suddenly awry. Plucky heroes then regain their composure and go on the attack.
Not get into a debate, but… yes and no. Eugene’s first instinct is survival, so I think he fell in line quite easily just in order to survive. If he can come up with a revenge plan that will work, I’m sure he will. But if he can’t he’ll be in survival mode indefinitely. That’s why I said above that I don’t think he knows quite yet whether he’s a convert or an infiltrator.
He’s the ultimate bandwagon jumper. He’s fully a convert now, but at the drop of the hat he could be re-converted back to Rick’s group.
Given a choice, like say Rick’s group heads out to Illinois and Eugene could either go with them or stay with the Saviors, either way with no repercussions, I think he’d choose to stay with the Saviors. He has both a place and respect with the Saviors, and he had neither with Rick’s group.
There will be the usual fire.
Perhaps Eugene will start it.
I don’t know. I think he was genuinely appalled at how ‘justice’ works with the Saviors; and the doc getting burned should have shown him that not even being a highly valuable individual protects one from that (although somewhat strangely, he seemed to get the opposite lesson from that).
But neither do I believe we’re going to see some hero moment from Eugene—that would be totally contrary to both the character and the show. This isn’t a show where the underdog comes around at the last minute to save the day; it’s better than that (at least occasionally).
What about biting Dwight?
Despite figuring out the wives true motive, Eugene made the poison pills anyway. It’s only a matter of time before he puts that to use.
Negan must be curious why Eugene made them.
Did Negan find out? At first I thought it might be a ruse, or a test to see how trustworthy Eugene is. But Negan never really said as much when he showed up at his door.
I went to find this diagram of a primer (actually, both Boxer and Berdan primers) before I saw MacTech’s post.
ISTM that you don’t even need to re-use spent primers. It should be simple for someone like Eugene to make a die (or several dies), and punch primers out of copper sheet. He could do the same for the anvil and the ‘protective paper’. Fulminate of mercury seems to be pretty simple to make, and there are other shock-sensitive explosives that could be used.
The problem as I see it is, as MacTech points out, that shock-sentitive explosives can be difficult to work with. How do you secure the anvil without setting it off? I think that making the components would be fairly simple. Assembling them might be problematic.
I wonder if you can reload rimfire ammunition? You’d need a tool thin enough to get into the rim, and strong enough to bend out where the firing pin struck. Thinking as I type (always dangerous), I imagine a die to re-size the case, that is the length of the case and leaves the rim exposed. Have an L-shaped tool to repair the pin-strike. Insert the tool into the case, with the bottom of the ‘L’ pointed at the damaged section. Use another tool that fits between the first tool and the cartridge case (which is still supported by the die) and give it a tap to push the bottom of the ‘L’ into the rim to open up the crushed part. Put the primer compound into the case, spin it with a drill motor, put in a paper disc, add powder, and top with lead.
I thought that “My wives have only good things to say about you” or whatever, meant that the pills were a test by Negan.
In that case, shouldn’t ‘actually making the poison and not telling Negan about his wives murderous intentions’ be an automatic fail, though?
Hmmm. Good point.
What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
British ammo manufacturer Eley has a patented process for their rim fire priming system, the loose primer powder is dropped into the empty formed case, in its powdered state it is inert, the case is then spun to fling the powder into the rim, then a drop of water is placed into the case, the water activates the primer, the primed cases are then dried, once dry, they move to powder loading and bullet seating
I think much of that could be done in a machine shop, with the machine shop being used to make the tools.
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Eugene and Dwight have both figured out how to deal with Negan and live. Dwight did it the hard way. Lost wife, did time on Easy Street, burned face. Eugene was born to it. Give up - give in - lie your ass off. Eugene simply can not be trusted to look out for anyone other than himself. The writers have once again created a clever “drama” - Will Eugene help, or hurt, Rick’s group in a future episode?
However, Eugene’s has had some moments in the past where he’s showed some courage under fire. Mounting the firetruck in order to spray walkers with the water cannon, for one. Coming back for the wounded Tara (was it Tara?) and Glenn (remember him?) when Everyone Hates Noah became pulled pork at the revolving door, for another.
It appears that Dwight would have, once again, left the Saviors with his ex-wife Sherri, if he had been given the chance. It’s my guess that since Sherri had helped Daryl’s escapes twice, she assumed Daryl had the skills and could actually escape from Neganland. She could then escape while the Saviors were looking for Daryl. She didn’t trust Dwight enough to take him with her, but she did wait at the house (for a New York minute).
I’m thinking that the doctor made the mistake of talking to Dwight about his suspicions concerning Sherri and her actions. Dwight wants Sherri to remain dead, as far as Negan is concerned. He knows Negan would never let a wife escape him, and the search would never stop. Negan was already punishing Dwight because he thought Dwight might be involved. And because Negan likes to punish Dwight.
Dwight had to sell Negan the idea that Sherri was truely dead having been killed by walkers and Dwight. The doctor’s babbling could create doubt about that story. Buh bye Doc, it’s nothing personal.
I watched part of the episode again. The Asian woman says, “We need two, because we do not know when we will get the chance.”
It’s not, though - it’s one of the top-rated shows on television, and as such, the writers need to step up their game.