The Walking Dead’s Negan: The Worst (and Best?) TV Character of 2016
The introduction of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan is both a highlight and a lowlight.
Pop Matters’ annual list of “Worst TV in 2016” folded. This was to be my short contribution. NOTE: You can still access the magazine’s “Best of TV.”
The introduction of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan on AMC’s The Walking Dead is both a highlight and a lowlight of 2016.
The Good
Ahem, it’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
In a fitted black leather jacket.
With salt-and-pepper stubble.
Wielding a wire-wrapped baseball bat.
For many of the show’s fans, his Negan functions not only as a post-apocalyptic sadomasochistic fantasy, but also as an extension of his character in CBS’s The Good Wife, as Dr. Kristen Warner and I explain in our appreciation essay.
The Bad
Morgan’s Negan is horribly one-dimensional, at least thus far.
First, his dialogue borders on the ridiculous. Phrases like “pee-pee pants city” and “a little freaky-deaky” alongside the repetition of “awesome,” “cool,” and “shit” do not a twenty-first century TV villain make. Would Tony Soprano or Gus Fring say about his weapon of choice, “Lucille is thirsty. She is a vampire bat!”
Second, as the show has moved into Season 7, Negan’s constant threats (e.g., “I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep”) and excessively violent actions are, well, boring. As Scott Meslow writes for GQ, so far, it’s like watching “a magician who only knows one trick.”
This, combined with the shallow dialogue and the way Morgan always chooses to lean backwards when delivering his lines make Negan more of a cartoon than a believable character. And while, yes, the series derives from graphic novels, I don’t think a cartoonish villain is the creators’ intent.
Love his heart, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is doing the best he can with the role of Negan. But so far, there’s not much for him to work with. Hopefully, 2017 will bring more dimension to this arguably iconic villain.
