The Walking Dead: Negan, Lydia and an uneasy alliance

The season 10 premiere of The Walking Dead featured an important interaction between Negan and Lydia. Is this the start of an uneasy alliance?

Negan has a soft spot for children. He might not admit it, but his actions over the years on The Walking Dead suggest that he does not harm kids. He wanted to build a relationship with Carl, and he has certainly been an important figure in Judith’s life. In “Lines We Cross” Negan gave Lydia a very important piece of advice in his quest for information, and it makes sense that he’s watching out for her while watching out for himself.

Things changed for Negan when Lydia arrived in Alexandria. Until that point he had been the Big Bad, but Lydia’s mom came along and turned the world upside down. By then, Negan had been locked up for over seven years and hadn’t been a threat to anyone in a long time.

Lydia’s presence took a lot of the attention away from Negan because no one knows whether she’s still loyal to her mother. Sure, she can say she’s done with her, but you know what happens when it comes to family ties. Not only that, but Lydia hasn’t been around long enough to prove that she’s trustworthy.

As a master of observation, Negan could see something was happening when the Council called their meeting and he could tell Lydia had something to do with it. After receiving the information he wanted, he gave her some friendly advice: “Watch your back.” We can only imagine that this is Negan’s mantra while picking tomatoes under the watchful eye of an armed guard.

No matter what he does to show that he has changed, however, we can’t deny that Negan is still Negan at the end of the day. His interaction with Lydia was transactional as much as it stemmed from his concern for her. Negan wanted to know what was going on, so he gave Lydia advice. While he might have genuine concern for her, he wanted the information more. That’s the Negan thing to do.

But there’s also a connection between Negan and Lydia. Given their backgrounds and their position as outsiders in Alexandria, it makes sense that they would strike up some kind of friendship, albeit an uneasy one. Negan doesn’t want to be linked to her, but that doesn’t mean he’s not watching out for her. And she’s smart enough to know that someone like Negan can give her perspective that no one else can give her while also giving her the straight-up truth that most adults in the community would avoid at all costs.

Lydia’s also in a tough spot because Daryl is the one who was watching out for her, with help from Carol based on what we saw in season 9. Daryl and Carol are not Negan fans, of course, so anything Lydia learns from Negan will have to be kept on the down low.

As season 10 of The Walking Dead continues it will be interesting to see if anything comes from the interaction between Negan and Lydia. Given what we saw with Carl, it would be fun to see Negan take an avuncular position in Lydia’s life, offering her his brand of wisdom while she figures out how to cope with being the daughter of a monster.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.