On the Feb. 26 episode of Walking Dead, we finally get the backstories of both Dwight and Eugene. In great detail, we see just what kind of lives they may have led pre-apocalypse.
The episode picks up immediately after Daryl's escape from the Saviors' compound. Dwight and a few of the other Saviors gather at the scene of the crime and find the guard lying dead on the pavement with the tomato sandwich he had been eating before Daryl took him out, lying only a few feet away from him. Dwight looks from the dead body and over to the motorcycles parked nearby and notices one of them is missing. He knows Daryl has made his escape.
As Negan and a few of the other Saviors arrive back from Alexandria with Eugene held captive, Dwight runs to Daryl's cell just to confirm his suspicions and finds it empty.
Laura, one of the female Saviors, leads a weeping Eugene to what is going to be his room at the compound. Once Laura opens the door and Eugene finds the room heavily furnished with books and video games, he begins to calm down and feel a little at home. In a funny back and forth, Laura asks him if he wants anything to eat. Eugene asks her if he can have anything and Laura impatiently says he can. When Eugene asks for lobster, she says he can't have lobster; they don't have it. After Eugene tells her he'll just settle for canned tuna, she leaves the room and he locks the door.
As Eugene is wandering around, checking out his new room (the infuriating "Easy Street" song makes a comeback), Dwight is sitting in the room Daryl temporarily took refuge in after his escape from the cell; the same room where he ate from a jar of peanut butter. Dwight is looking at the "go now" note left by his wife, Sherry, to Daryl. All of a sudden, he hears a rap at the door and when he answers it, a few very strong Saviors begin beating Dwight senselessly as Negan watches from the doorway, Lucille slung over his shoulder.
After the beating, Dwight finds himself locked up in a cell. Negan talks to him through the door and tells him that after he arrived back, he noticed he was short a wife (Sherry) and that Daryl had escaped. Doubting his loyalty, Negan asks Dwight exactly who he is and after Dwight recites the famous "I'm Negan" line to prove his devotion. Negan lets him out of time-out and has their on-site doctor (Dr. Carson) patch him up.
Inside the exam room, where Dr. Carson is cleaning up Dwight after his beat-down, he tells Dwight about the first time he ever met Sherry. He tells him about how he knew she had a soft spot for Daryl and that that's why she helped him escape. After getting patched up, Dwight thanks him and leaves. He then prepares to leave the compound to hopefully track down Sherry.
Meanwhile, as Dwight is getting ready to leave for a little while, Laura is seen showing Eugene around the compound. She shows them how their point system works there and tells him if he wants something, then he should take it. She then leads him outside to where Negan is talking with some Saviors. It is here he and Eugene have their first real face-to-face talk. After Negan asks him what he used to do before the apocalypse and Eugene mumbles (almost incoherently) that he used to be a scientist. Negan picks Eugene's brain about the issue he's having with the "living dead guards" stationed at the gates.
Apparently, their bodies are growing old and falling apart with age. Eugene blubbers that if they had scrap metal, they could melt it and pour it over their bodies. In doing so, the substance will eventually harden and keep them intact. Negan is absolutely impressed with Eugene's response. He is rewarded with a visit from Negan's remaining wives that night. ("Not to have sex though," Negan warns. "That's a big no-no.").
Later that night, we see Eugene lost in an old Atari video game while two of Negan's beautiful wives, Frankie and Tanya, sit around him and admire his playing skills. The other wife, Amber, is getting loaded and not even paying attention to them. Frankie offers to give him a massage, but Eugene declines-knowing well what a massage would lead to and not wanting to get in trouble with Negan. Tanya, evidently bored out of her skull, tells him that she would be just fine with having intelligent conversation. Eugene doubts their intellectual capacity and arrives at a perfect compromise: he's going to show them a neat science experiment involving hydrogen peroxide. Don't try this at home, kids!
Dwight arrives back at the house he used to share with his wife. Inside, he finds the place completely ransacked and a letter left by Sherry. In the letter, she begins by reminding him of their agreement that if they were to get separated, she would wait for him at their home and he would show up with beer and pretzels. She also writes about Dwight's faulty memory and tells him that that actually could be a blessing, instead of a curse. She even confesses her reasons for letting Daryl go. Her explanation includes how he reminded her of how Dwight used to be when Negan captured him and she just couldn't bear to see him like that anymore. After Dwight finishes the letter, he symbolically leaves out a six pack of beer and a bag of pretzels.
That evening, Frankie and Tanya show up at Eugene's door as he plays his video games. They inform him that Amber wishes to take her own life and they ask for Eugene's help. She wants to take something and die peacefully in her sleep. Eugene initially refuses the offer, but after more prompting from the girls, he reluctantly agrees to help. He tells them he'll mix up a lethal concoction for Amber. Then, in an act of aggressiveness that we haven't seen of him before, Eugene cuts ahead in front of the supply line and forcibly takes everything he needs for his mixture. He mixes it together in his room.
In the next scene, Laura leads Eugene to a special gathering with the other Saviors. However, this means only one thing: someone among them is going to get murdered. That someone? Dr. Carson. Dwight framed him for Sherry and Daryl's escape and Negan is about to burn him with the hot iron for it. The doctor sobs uncontrollably and begs Negan not to burn him. After he apologizes, Negan drops the iron and tells him that's all he needed to say. Then, in a move no one was probably ready for, he swiftly pushes Dr. Carson over to the furnace and tosses him in. Eugene is appalled.
Frankie and Tanya show up at Eugene's room again after that horrific scene and ask him about the pills. He tells him he did, but that they can't have them. After witnessing the terrifying fate of Dr. Carson, Eugene doesn't want to risk the same thing happening to him. They call him a coward and they leave the room.
Later that night, Eugene reaches into his jar of pickles and pulls one out. He eats it with a face completely absent of emotion when he receives another knock at the door. Only this time it's not the girls, it's Negan. He's come to ask Eugene again who he is. Before he can even get the words out of his mouth, Eugene desperately replies that he is "Negan. Utterly, completely, stone cold Negan."
The episode ends with Eugene eating a pickle and watching the Saviors applying the molten scrap metal on their walker guards. Dwight joins him and Eugene introduces himself to him for the first time. He tells him his name and proclaims his devotion to Negan.
This episode was a great one because not only did we get a little snapshot of how Dwight and Eugene were before the apocalypse, but we were able to see Eugene for what he truly is: a coward. He's someone that is willing to say and do just about anything to stay alive...even if that means joining forces with the enemy.