The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T The Worst? Part 10

Margo, Alfred, And Gage

I’m not one for making excuses for bullies. I think that doing so only encourages and enables the behavior. That said, I am not averse to trying to find an explanation for why someone (Or, in this case, three someones) would bully another person, and, in the cases of Margo, Alfred, and Gage, I think the explanation is quite simple: They were angry at the loss of their friends.

I mean, we’ve seen so many people lose friends and loved ones in the show, we kind of become numb to it (It also doesn’t help when it seems like the show completely forgets about the character in question…), but, realistically, having your friends be murdered by a bunch of walker-skin wearing psychos is not something you just brush off in a few days. It takes time to get over that kind of loss.

Think about this: Rick chose to risk everything to destroy the Saviors. Why? Because Negan killed two of his friends.

My point? Losing friends in the apocalypse is a big deal, especially when someone else kills them. Is it any wonder Margo, Alfred, and Gage would lash out at Lydia?

To be honest, outside of Carol, Alden, Siddiq, and Earl, I don’t think the show did a good enough job conveying just how traumatizing it was for those closest to Tara, D.J., Ozzy, Alek, Addy, Rodney, and Frankie, to find their heads mounted on pikes like medieval criminals. Margo, Alfred, and Gage attacking Lydia was, I think, the first time anyone had even mentioned Ozzy, Alek, Addy, or Rodney since season nine ended. While those mentions were brief, it showed they were not forgotten by the people they left behind (Alfred, in fact, angrily makes a point of telling Lydia Ozzy was his best friend before attacking her).

Does this excuse them attacking a teenager? No, and, I made of point of saying I wasn’t going to do that, but, I think that, had Ozzy, Alek, Addy, and Rodney not been murdered by Alpha, even if other people had gotten killed in their stead, Margo, Alfred, and Gage would not have attacked Lydia.

Would they have trusted her? Probably not (And, even with Addy and Rodney there, I could still imagine Gage being a douche), but, I can’t really imagine they’d let that distrust turn into bullying and violence. I imagine Ozzy, Alek, Addy, and Rodney would have helped them focus their energies on preparing to go to war with the Whisperers, not picking on the one person who’d abandoned them.

It just goes to show you what taking away someone’s friends can do to a person (Or three).

Man, I just thought of it: With his new friends now gone, someone should go check on Gage. I think that kid’s gonna need a hug.