Before Eugene (Josh McDermitt) confessed that he is not a scientist and he was just lying about knowing the cure for the zombie apocalypse so that total strangers would protect him, the con artist did form a special bond with Tara (Alanna Masterson).
In the recent episode of "The Walking Dead," titled "Self Help," Eugene saved Tara from an approaching walker after the bus crash, and inside the bookstore, Tara did not get mad at him after he revealed that he sabotaged the bus. While both these scenes further hardened their bond, McDermitt and Masterson said that the foundation of their character's friendship lies in the fact that they share something in common.
"Eugene and Tara have a special friendship because, in a sense, they both feel like outsiders," McDermitt, 36, told Yahoo TV. "Her entrance into the group was with The Governor's (David Morrissey) camp. Eugene feels like a social outsider because that's just who he is. He kind of feels like she's someone he can actually talk to... He admits it to her because she's a friend."
"I think when she learns he sabotaged the bus... she wants him to know that it's OK, you can move forward from your mistakes if you just don't do them again," Masterson, 26, explained. "Even though they're very different, I think she understands where he's coming from. She wants to give him a chance."
But Masterson said that Eugene's big revelation at the end of the episode "changes the stakes of their friendship greatly."
"The fact that he's been lying and she's been protecting and killing for him - it's not a good way to treat your friend," McDermitt told The Hollywood Reporter. "She's not a big fan of his, and that relationship definitely changes.
When asked by TV Guide if he thinks that the group would eventually forgive Eugene the way they accepted the sins committed by Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), McDermitt said: "I still think there's fear because the relationship between Abraham and Rosita and Eugene was stronger than the relationship that Father Gabriel had with anybody. It's kind of easy to forgive someone's sins and atrocities when you don't have a relationship with the guy and it doesn't affect anyone in your group."
"This is a totally different dynamic," he added. "They've been traveling for a while now and not just Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) but Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Tara. He's been lying to all of them."