‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Recap: Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon Calls Out Negan, Lauren Cohan Explains Maggie/Gregory
The Walking Dead Season 6 just took a breather with the latest episode. The frenetic pace settled down with the humorous way Paul “Jesus” Rovia was introduced to the Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, but now the crew had the change to progress the story toward Negan and The Saviors by meeting with Gregory of Hilltop Colony. TV viewers were probably not too impressed with the Hilltop leader, but Maggie actress Lauren Cohan believes there’s another side to the TWD character.
[Warning: The following does make reference to some Walking Dead spoilers.]
When Jesus leads Rick’s group to Hilltop Colony they find a very pompous Gregory living in a fancy house on top of the hill while everyone else lives within trailers surrounding this relative mansion. Gregory requires that everyone humble themselves before him in order to open negotiations, with Maggie speaking for the group, but the man is condescending despite the fact that Hilltop’s defenders are armed with spears since their guns have no bullets.
Gregory needs to get popped. @WalkingDead_AMC
— Dan Gheesling (@DanGheesling) February 29, 2016
Although the man is pretty annoying to audiences, Cohan believes it’s possible to see a different aspect of his character.
“There’s something endearing about that character in that he really believes he’s doing the right thing for his people. And he is — he’s created a safe, stable society [despite] what they have to provide to Negan to stay safe,” she said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “When he offers Maggie other perks, for a moment he believes she’s going to think she’s getting a good deal no matter what ever it is he’s offering. (Laughs.) You just heard me talk about my husband!”
The relative weakness of Gregory is showcased when another Hilltop group arrives. It turns out many of their number was killed by the warlord Negan, who ordered them to give Gregory a message in the form of an assassination attempt. Rick kills the attacker, although Abraham is almost choked to death.
The Walking Dead: Who Is Gregory? https://t.co/c30wPaZjqK #XanderBerkeley #Gregory pic.twitter.com/BBxONHQG9l
— Geek News 24I7 (@GeekNews247) February 28, 2016
It turns out Gregory once tried a show of strength against Negan, but they were forced to pay The Saviors tribute in exchange for not being attacked. Maggie makes a deal with Gregory to fight Negan in return for half of Hilltop Colony’s resources. The question is whether Gregory can be trusted to hold up his end of the bargain.
“But do we think we can trust Gregory? Once we see there’s a bigger beast at play and why they were posturing so much, I do think we can trust him,” Cohan explains. “There’s almost an innocence to what they were pretending to have and their posturing. He’s not a Governor-type. Some of his behavior is buffoonish to them in beginning but there is a respect that Maggie finds for him in his negotiating because they’re on par with each other and she’s serving back to him what he was trying to do with her. And they know thy need to work together.”
What has some Norman Reedus fans a little nervous is how Daryl Dixon is boasting about how easily The Saviors can be defeated. Daryl claims that Negan’s men seemed fairly easy to kill with a rocket launcher, and calls Negan a “bluffer.” It is possible showrunner Gimple is setting up Daryl to be a target for Negan during The Walking Dead Season 6 finale, since Gimple claimed the TV story will not exactly follow the comics story. There are even rumors that Negan witnessed Daryl blow up his men during the mid-season premiere.
Car in the background… Neegan? #TheWakingDead #TheWalkingDeadMidSeasonPremiere #TWD pic.twitter.com/znSIZ00qkH
— Vinnie Gorham (@VinnieGorham) February 15, 2016
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Otherwise, there were not too many Richonne opportunities this time around. In the graphic novels, Rick actually hooked up romantically with Andrea, but since she is quite dead in the TV version that left a void in Rick’s heart. This void has been filled with Michonne and actress Danai Gurira explains how the warrior’s heart melted.
“I was not surprised. It was very obvious to me that something was building up really since season three. I’ve seen the intimacy grow between them around everything. Decision making, how she can influence him, how she respects him, around how much he trusts her. She’s the person that can check him, knock him out, and still be close the next 20 minutes. There’s just a clearly built-in connection,” the actress told the Wall Street Journal. “To me, it was the inevitable surprise. I think [showrunner Scott] Gimple was playing a long-term game in allowing this intimacy between them build to this point where they ended up seeing each other in a way that, honestly, to me it seemed inevitable.”
What do you think about The Walking Dead Season 6 so far?
[Image via AMC]
