Anyone who hasn't watched the latest episode of The Walking Dead should be aware that spoilers are coming, along with certain moments from the comics.
Because of how glaringly non-sexual The Walking Dead is, at least when Rick and Michonne aren't off galavanting and whatnot, fans inevitably get around to discussing the sexualities of characters who have never been played for relationship fodder, romantic or otherwise, because we're human. Daryl got a ton of the "is he gay or not?" speculation in past seasons, and the show has been introducing more gay characters ever since. Tonight's reveal was an extremely subtle one, with Jesus coming out to Maggie during one of the episode's first bits of dialogue.
For the first time, I feel like I belong. Trying to make sure you and Sasha became a part of this made me a part of this. When I was first here, I was never here. I always found it hard getting close to anyone. Neighbors, friends...boyfriends.
As lovely a character moment as The Walking Dead is capable of, Maggie gets her first of two touching conversations within "The Other Side," as Jesus shares that he grew up in a group home, and that he didn't exactly feel like he was in the most comfortable place for a long while. (Who could imagine that, what with the super hospitable Gregory currently being in charge of things?) But now he fits in more like a part of the community, rather than just someone who goes off on scouting missions, which means he can be more open about the real Paul Monroe, and not just the badass Jesus. And we're definitely interested in seeing more from the fan favorite.
It's even better that Jesus isn't just telling viewers that he's gay, but he's also further displaying his trust in Maggie, which will help once Maggie starts to really take over the Hilltop. The way he kind of squints at her to gauge her reaction to "boyfriends," which she is obviously perfectly fine with. She even tells him to make more friends, so we might get to see a bit more from Jesus' romantic side in the near future.
Jesus' homosexuality isn't something that's coming out of left field for comic fans, as this aspect remains true to Robert Kirkman's source material, although the situation behind the reveal is completely different. Everything involving the All Out War had already begun, and during a similarly quiet moment when no one is fighting, we see a character named Alex entering Jesus' bedroom and the two embrace. Nothing flashy about that reveal either.
Thomas Payne had recently talked about the possibility of Jesus being gay, but he of course couldn't make any big revelations about the matter. And considering we've seen others like Denise and Tara and Aaron and Eric all getting small moments of same-sex romance, it wouldn't have been out of the question for The Walking Dead to hold off on Jesus' sexuality talks until next season. But no such waiting happened, and there's nothing wrong with that.
With hopefully more to come from Jesus in the future, The Walking Dead will air its final two episodes of the season Sunday nights on AMC at 9:00 p.m. ET. Head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer premiere guide to see what you can catch up with in the meantime.
