Father Gabriel's Tentative Friendship With Negan May Have Come At A Price On 'The Walking Dead'

The latest dynamic duo on The Walking Dead is a bit unexpected, but hey, someone has to pick up the slack if Rick and Daryl are fighting. We finally found out what happened to Negan and Gabriel in that trailer. Though they're still on opposing sides, they kind of bonded. Unfortunately, Father Gabriel is sick on The Walking Dead — or worse, bitten by a walker.

At the end of the episode, Eugene welcomes Gabriel to the Sanctuary as Negan's latest capture, and Gabriel is not looking so well. He's shaking, and starts talking about how they need to get Dr. Carson back to Maggie, and still very concerned about his own reason and purpose being there. The first time he says this is to Negan at the beginning of the episode. He believes that he is there to take Negan's confession. Is Father Gabriel just trying to make sense of all this, or is something really wrong?

Could this have something to do with the "guts trick" that Negan mansplains to Gabriel before they escape. Who among them hasn't used this method to escape a herd of walkers by now? Come on, Negan. Still, he asks Gabriel if they've every gotten sick doing it, and Gabriel responds by saying that their group is from Georgia, not Virginia. What does the state have to do with anything? It's probably meant to be a joke, but still kind of a weird joke to make. Then again, we never found out why the Kingdom was feeding walkers to the livestock they handed over to the Saviors. Maybe there is some kind of contamination happening in this neck of te wods.

Disguising yourself with Walker blood and guts has never been a problem for anyone before. The Alexandrians did it just last season. If it all of a sudden started a plague, that would be a strange development. It would also mean that Negan is sick too, probably.

Maybe he's just dehydrated. That's awfully fast to develop symptoms from exposure to something. Maybe he's losing his grip on reality, like Morgan. If that's the case, he's definitely in the wrong place right now. Who knows when the next "Easy Street" jam session is going to start in the Sanctuary cells.

Could Gabriel be faking this illness? That's a viable possibility as well. Gabriel is a lot more in control of the situation with Negan than you might have expected. He manages to steal the Fearless Leader's gun and some of his secrets. Maybe he is faking in order to get Eugene to take him to Carson and fulfill this purpose.

The upside to this news, presuming that Gabriel is or will be alright, is that Eugene and Dwight have someone else on their team now. Even though the Savior working class seems much more loyal to Negan than his cabinet, the insurgency is building, brick by brick.

On the other hand, Negan wants to make Gabriel his new "project" now. Who does he think he is, Galinda from the musical Wicked? That does not bode well. Gabriel shows a lot of strength in this episode, but as Negan points out, we all have both strengths and weaknesses that often fuel each other. Whatever Negan has planned for the preacher man is sure to be persuasive as all get out and exploit all the strength and weakness that Gabriel has in him.

That said, if Gabriel is sick, that's a problem for everybody. Not only could he die, but it could start a minor epidemic. Disease would be a quick way to put the war on hold, but at what cost? Gabriel has come a long way, and is finally getting cool. Please don't let him die like this. Don't let him become a Savior and betray Rick either, but most of all don't let him shiver himself to death in the Sanctuary. Even if you don't like the character, nobody deserves that.