The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T The Worst, Part 7

Spencer

Truth be told, I was originally planning to just say “Screw it. He’s indefensible.” and just write a defense for Eugene. But, I realized that, if I did, I’d probably find the question of “Who’s the most redeemable” far too easy to answer.

On top of that, I nearly forgot about poor Spencer in the first place. I owe it to him to at least try to mount a defense for him.

That said, after going back over what he did, I’m not sure defense is what I can achieve. I think the best I can hope to do is mount an explanation for Spencer’s actions. That, I believe, can be achieved.

Let’s attempt to look at things from Spencer’s perspective. Within a span of a few weeks, things had gone from relatively good, to a total disaster.

Rick seemed to believe that Alexandria was well on its way to vanquishing The Saviors. They had cleared the radar station, taken its supplies, and taken out Paula’s contingent along with it, all without casualties.

But, suddenly, things began to unravel. First, Dwight kills Denise; Then, Carol goes missing; Then, Daryl, Rosita, Glenn, and Michonne go out looking for her, none of whom return; Then, Rick and Morgan go looking for her, and only Rick returns; And, finally, while trying to get Maggie to Hilltop, The Group gets ambushed The Saviors.

The next thing anyone knows, Glenn and Abraham are dead, Maggie and Sasha are at Hilltop, Morgan and Carol are still gone, and Daryl’s been kidnapped. Within a day, everything’s gone to shit.

I think, for Spencer, this was the culmination of warnings he’d been hearing since The Group first arrived in Alexandria. All the bleak premonitions he’d been hearing from others, that Rick’s group would take over the community, and that Rick would lead them to disaster, had come true.

He could look back at the people who’d made those predictions — People like Pete, and Carter — and realize that…they were right. And, I imagine Spencer must have thought: “And what happened to those guys? Oh, yeah, Rick killed them.”

To Spencer, I think he saw this as the point of no return. This was the point that, if Alexandria continued to follow Rick’s leadership, what he knew of the community his parents had built, would be destroyed. The only way to avert that destruction was through a course correction. Spencer saw himself as the means of that correction.

Spencer knew he couldn’t overthrow Rick. He also knew the community would resist any internal coupe. I think Spencer saw Negan as a convenient means to what he saw as a necessary end.

If Negan had somehow removed Rick, it’d be him that became the villain, and not Spencer. This could open the door for Spencer to usher in a new kind of leadership, wherein he might be able to broker a better peace with The Saviors than the one they had. I’m not entirely sure if Spencer really wanted Negan to kill Rick, maybe he figured Negan would kidnap him like Daryl, but, regardless, he wanted Negan to be the one to remove Rick from power.

I won’t condone or defend Spencer’s attempt to betray Rick. But, I think Spencer was acting in an attempt to preserve the community his parents built.

Spencer knew he wasn’t a warrior like Rick. He knew he couldn’t intimidate The Saviors the way Rick might have been able to, so he chose to rely on the skills he did have: Politics.

He’d likely learned a lot about negotiations and diplomacy from his mother. After everything collapsed, Spencer probably felt he’d never really have a chance to ply those skills until Negan showed up.

Feeling like Rick’s way had failed, I think Spencer thought he might be able to use his skills to negotiate a better deal for the community than what Rick’s rashness had left them with.

Ultimately, he failed. Negan proved to be more honorable than Spencer had anticipated, and didn’t take kindly to Spencer’s disloyalty to Rick. Despite the underhandedness of Spencer’s last act, I don’t think it outweighed the relatively good person he’d been.

Next: 'We're Not Monsters.'