The Walking Dead Theory: Is Eugene Fooling The Saviors?

 On this Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead, we saw Eugene proclaim that he was Negan, but, is he as “down” with The Saviors as he says?

Daryl has escaped and Eugene has taken his place as Negan’s captive. Unlike Daryl, Eugene hasn’t been tortured in any way, simply offered the thing Daryl refused: A place among The Saviors; To be quite honest, Eugene has been treated much more favorably than Daryl ever was.

He’s been treated so well, in fact, that, it appears he’s become a willing recruit for them, quickly pledging allegiance to Negan almost before he was asked.

But…is he?

When brought to Negan, and having his intellect questioned, Eugene did one thing he has proven very good at: Lying.

Rather than tell the truth, Eugene fell back to the lie that managed to get him from Houston all the way to Alexandria, that of “Doctor” Eugene Porter, of the Human Genome Project.

Through this and using a fact he learned at the machine shop in “Twice As Far”, Eugene was able to convince Negan and his lieutenants that he was a coward…a useful coward. As Eugene leaves, having thoroughly convinced Negan of his usefulness and cowardice, he does so…with a sly smirk on his face.

Now, some might argue that I’m wrong, I mean, look at how he said he’d sell out Daryl if he knew where he was!

…But, did he?

Sure, Eugene said he would have told Laura where Daryl was, if he knew, but that’s all he said.

The fact is, even if Eugene didn’t know Daryl wasn’t at The Kingdom, he easily could have told Laura the most logical place to look, The Hilltop, but he didn’t.

Eugene simply let Laura believe he was too scared to lie to her about having any idea where Daryl was, despite that being exactly what he was doing.

Even with all this, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Eugene had an opportunity to help kill Negan and didn’t take it. This could be seen as proof that Eugene has indeed drunk the Kool-Aid, and thrown his lot in with Negan.

However, let’s look at this from Eugene’s perspective…

First, Negan had just killed Dr. Carson on the Dwight’s word (And little else) that he helped Sherry escape; Second, Eugene knew the Negan found him indispensable, he wouldn’t be guaranteed whoever took over would feel the same; And third, Eugene also wouldn’t be able to predict how Negan’s successor would behave; For all he knew, they might attack Alexandria! For Eugene, helping kill Negan (Assuming it’d even work) was simply too big of a gamble to take.

In the end, I think we’ll see that Eugene is braver and more clever than people give him credit for. I think he’s playing the long game; Waiting either for rescue, or for the opportunity to escape, and will ensure his survival until either of those occur. As Eugene told Abraham, he’s a survivor.

Next: The Walking Dead Theory: Why Does Richard Hate The Saviors?

So, that is my latest The Walking Dead Theory. What do you think? Do you believe Eugene is just playing The Saviors, or that he has genuinely betrayed The Group?  Let me know in the comments!

And, if you like this and want to read more of my writings, specifically about how to survive a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!