State of the Dead - Dead City Season 1

A new phase of The Walking Dead universe begins.

[Warning: The following essay contains spoilers for the entire Walking Dead TV franchise through The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1.]

I’m not sure if The Walking Dead Universe has entered Part 3 or Part 2.5. But you’re probably wondering what that even means.

To me, The Walking Dead franchise can be split into “Parts,” much like a novel or the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In my opinion, Part 1 of The Walking Dead consists of The Walking Dead from season 1, episode 1 to season 6, episode 9, as well as Fear the Walking Dead season 1. This is when the focus of the series was on small group survival, slowly building to the idea of larger groups being the norm later in the zombie apocalypse. It also established Rick Grimes as the franchise’s core protagonist, alongside the dangers of other people later on. Then, The Walking Dead began to open up its world with Part 1.5, consisting of The Walking Dead season 6, episode 10 through the season 8 finale, alongside Fear the Walking Dead seasons 2 through 4. This Part of the franchise acted as a transition point, introducing large-scale villains while also teasing the wider world of the franchise. It also features the most ensemble seasons of both series, focusing on groups instead of central protagonists. Finally, Part 2 of The Walking Dead consisted of The Walking Dead seasons 9 through 11, Fear the Walking Dead seasons 5 through 7, the entirety of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and Tales of the Walking Dead season 1. This established the larger threat of the CRM while bringing an end to the main series, setting up what feels like will be the closing chapter of The Walking Dead Universe (even if it’s only just begun).

However, it’s unclear based on The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1’s place in the universe if we’ve entered another transition period or if Part 3 of the show has begun. Either way, it’s a new beginning, and the freshest start The Walking Dead franchise has had since The Walking Dead season 9. Dead City sees Maggie and Negan return from the original series, as well as Hershel, who becomes the center of motivation for the series. A whopping 5 years after the end of The Walking Dead, Maggie has relocated her people at Hilltop to a new version of Hilltop near New York City (at least, it’s called Hilltop until about halfway through the series when they start calling it “the Bricks.”). However, she soon finds trouble from the Croat, a mysterious stranger that kidnaps Hershel. Maggie claims Hershel is the new antagonist’s collateral against being attacked, as he plans to return to the Bricktop once a month for grain. However, he allegedly uses a whistle similar to the one used by Negan’s Saviors over 12 years ago. Negan confirms that, yes, the Croat was a former Savior. Which is why Maggie recruits Negan to help her rescue Hershel.

In the midsts of their rescue mission, though, drama ensues between the pair. Despite how much time has passed and even though Negan redeemed himself at the end of The Walking Dead’s final season, Maggie still can’t get over the former Savior leader killing Glenn all those years ago. And yet, she also can’t help but wonder just how much he’s truly changed. Meanwhile, Negan is being hunted down by a Marshal for a location called New Babylon, also on the outskirts of New York City. The Marshal, Perlie Armstrong, is after Negan for killing five men, including one of his fellow Marshals. He ends up following Negan and Maggie to Manhattan—where the Croat has Hershel captive—but appears to have an agenda of his own. Seemingly one involving his brother, Joel. At the same time all of this is going on, Negan’s mute surrogate daughter, Ginny, has been taken in by the Hillbricks, but soon decides to follow Maggie and Negan to New York City.

I have previously done episode-by-episode reviews of Dead City season 1 on this very blog. To summarize:

While the series presents some interesting ideas and unique worldbuilding, Dead City Season 1 ultimately falls flat where it matters most. While there are plenty of cinematic cityscapes and interesting new characters introduced, they’re marred by an over-reliance on expositional conversations and a story bogged down by many unnecessary details. It’s a shame that, out of the very short six-episode season, only four of those episodes felt like they had meaning beyond filling up time. Maggie and Negan’s personal story was a rehash of everything they’d been going through during The Walking Dead season 11, but with zero resolution in sight. The new characters are interesting, but often felt out of place until the setup for season 2 in the final episode. The Croat was an entertaining villain, and I also liked the inclusion of the Dama. But it becomes clear by halfway through the season that this is very much setup for what’s to come. Which is a shame given the number of interesting ideas already present in the first season.

While this will be an expansive look at my thoughts on Dead City Season 1 with spoilers galore, I really want to focus on the show’s larger place in The Walking Dead Universe. Dead City Season 1 is the start of The Walking Dead’s new world. One where major characters from the original series are sent off on their own adventures and various side-quests. With, it seems, the promise of having everything get tied together within the next five or six years (based on AMC saying they’ve planned “10 more years” of The Walking Dead back in 2018). Dead City is the beginning of that change, setting the stage for what’s to come and giving general audiences a glimpse at what level of quality they can expect from The Walking Dead franchise moving forward.

Which is why Dead City really irks me.

Classic characters from The Walking Dead going on their own adventures is a phenomenal idea. If the story had stayed the way it was, with a supermassive group of people who barely got any screen time each season, the series would have died with a whimper. Anything beyond Season 11 of The Walking Dead was doomed to fail. But now, with ideas for sequels featuring popular characters, The Walking Dead has a chance to introduce a new “Part” of their never-ending saga that feels wildly different from what’s come before. New York City is such a different setting from the rural Virginia most of The Walking Dead was set in. There’s so much opportunity to tell fascinating stories about how survival in the city during the zombie apocalypse is different from everywhere else. And by introducing a new villain with new stakes, the series had a chance to make the show feel entirely different from the original series.

And at first, Dead City does some cool stuff with its premise. While the worldbuilding of Dead City isn’t perfect—and could have been fixed with two-way zip lines—what glimpses we get at life in post-apocalyptic Manhattan are interesting. The city feels empty because everyone is under the control of the Croat, making it unknown if most people have died because of his rule or if they’re complacent and simply stay hidden. There’s a small rebel group fighting against the Croat, but it’s clear early on just how dire and borderline impossible their mission really is. The series also establishes the Croat has multiple locations across Dead City that are hubs for his people, giving the show an initial video game type quality. Much like Ubisoft’s Far Cry series (or any Ubisoft game, really), the goal of Dead City seemed to be Maggie and Negan gearing up with a rebel group to overthrow different strongholds under the Croat’s control. I was wary at first, but maintained a cautious optimism because of how different this would feel from The Walking Dead.

And then Dead City Episode 3 happened. This episode’s focus was on Maggie, Negan, and the new rebel characters planning to attack one of the Croat’s strongholds: An arena filled with his people. However, actual details of the plan are rather sparse, aside from having a way out after they go in and do whatever it is they’ve decided to do. Instead, the episode focuses mostly on using exposition for worldbuilding purposes. Negan telling Maggie why he’s not with Annie and why Perlie is hunting him. A rebel, Amaia, tells Maggie and Negan the history of the Croat’s time in Manhattan. The Croat gets two expositional dialogue moments with Perlie, one where he explains he fuels the arena with methane from dead zombies, and another where he explains his backstory as a Savior. The only thing shown to the audience is Ginny’s backstory with Negan, specifically the story of how she loses her dino toy and Negan finds it, deepening their bond with one another.

The dino toy backstory was the only part that felt like it had any weight. Because, instead of telling the audience what’s going on as if reading the back of a book, Dead City decided to show the audience how Ginny lost her dino and how she learned to more fully trust Negan when he found it. The presentation wasn’t perfect, but at least it was something. But Episode 3 really showed how Dead City is overly reliant on expository dialogue to show what characters are thinking or what their backstories are. We don’t see the Croat come in and take over New York City. We don’t see Negan killing the five men who did horrible things to Annie. We don’t see the Croat’s backstory, save for a single scene in Episode 4 that feels more like a wink and a nod to older Walking Dead fans than something that delivers new, useful information. The exposition does the work instead. And it’s fine to have exposition when you’re not able to show every detail of what happens. But to make every dialogue between characters backstory after backstory after backstory is draining. It’s boring. And it adds very little to a visual medium that could at least show us glimpses of the past as characters speak.

But that was a tangent. What really struck me about Episode 3 of Dead City is how it felt like it had the opposite issues as The Walking Dead Season 11. I’ve made it no secret that I thought The Walking Dead’s final season was a mixed bag, with some good ideas and solid presentation sometimes, and very weak “and then this happened” storytelling other times. I even wrote an entire essay about it which you can read or bookmark for later here:

In summation, I argued the core of The Walking Dead had to be characters with agency coupled with consistent writing. And to an extent I think Dead City addressed some these issues. Characters do act of their own accord, especially Maggie who tries to use the rebels to save Hershel instead of trading Negan to the Croat (as is her secret plan). But while Dead City fixes some of these issues, it ends up with new ones that have been present in The Walking Dead, but not to this extent. Namely, the decision to have dialogue become the way to deliver backstory and, honestly, to fill up time. While dialogue has its place in visual media, it should not be relied upon to deliver important backstory. It also shouldn’t be used to fill screen time. While Dead City may have been going for a slow burn type of story, the way it’s presented made it a far cry from the action of The Walking Dead. And the repetition of backstory after backstory or the same information getting presented by different characters just made the whole thing feel like it was wasting time.

Especially when some of that time could be spent on creatively developing its new characters. Dead City introduces four new characters who are going to be essential to the story going forward: Perlie, Ginny, the Croat, and the Dama. While we can keep the Dama by the wayside since her whole purpose was to be setup for Season 2, the other three characters were important to Dead City Season 1. As such, they needed to be well-established and feel like seasoned survivors in the apocalypse (except Ginny since she’s a kid). The character who gets the best development by far is Perlie. There’s a scene in Episode 2 when he goes to his brother Joel’s apartment. But, at this point in the story, the audience doesn’t know Joel is Perlie’s brother. Without any dialogue, the show presents that information to the audience, while also revealing the tragic story of how Joel died. He boarded himself up in his apartment when the dead began attacking, and, unable to take the pressure of the dead and his struggle with drug abuse, kills himself. And it’s that scene that Perlie finds. He was too late to save Joel. Years too late. And he’s clearly having trouble processing it. Without any dialogue, Dead City said more about Perlie than any other new character in the show.

Of course Perlie gets his own chance to expound and expand on himself later on. But his initial scenes of being a rough-and-tough Marshal contrasted with the genuine, human care he had for his brother underscores his development over the course of the season. By the time he’s back in New Babylon, he’s a changed man, now having to feign being a loyal Marshal as he tells the leader of their community about the Croat’s use of methane. I think this will be an interesting part of Season 2 (though I’ll try and save my expectations for the future of Dead City for later). As for Ginny and the Croat, they had their moments to shine as well. However, I do feel like they were underutilized to some degree, especially since Ginny’s purpose ended up being revealing a twist to the audience and not to the characters in the story. She does help Negan realize what Maggie plans to do, but that was going to happen regardless, kind of making her character feel pointless in Season 1.

As for the Croat, I think what interested me the most about him wasn’t who he was, but rather who he could become. He is, without a doubt, still loyal to Negan, even after Negan’s clearly changed from when he was leader of the Saviors. While Dead City spends a lot of time building him up as a ruthless, crazy leader in Manhattan for the first half, the show does a decent job at showing how he’s really just a pawn in a larger game. He’s been taken under the wing of the Dama, the true Big Bad in Manhattan, which is shown once he starts breaking down after realizing Negan has changed. It doesn’t stop him from bringing Negan to the Dama as instructed, but I think it did a lot to help set up his character for later. As for his development in Season 1, it was fairly one-note. He was fun to watch, and out-charisma'd Negan at times too. But he did feel fairly simple and one-dimensional, with hints of better character development in future seasons. Also, I can tell Željko Ivanek is having a blast playing the Croat, which helped to make me like the character even if his development was lacking. I still wish overall there was stronger character for newcomers that will be around for multiple seasons, since it really was a mixed bag overall.

What really brought the show to its knees, though, was its story. The audience doesn’t know that Maggie is planning to trade Negan for Hershel. It seems like, throughout the season, Maggie is trying to antagonize Negan so she can will herself to give him over—even if she’s starting to realize how human he’s become. And yet, despite this being her plan throughout the course of the season, she teams up with a rebel group and gets them all killed attacking the Croat’s arena. Maggie’s actions make it seem like she wants to kill the Croat for taking her son, but in so doing would have to live knowing Negan is free. And yet, it’s implied that trading Negan was her plan all along, especially in her attempts to emotionally distance herself from him throughout the show. It just feels strange to have four episodes dedicated to Maggie trying to save Hershel by invading the arena, only to reveal in Episode 5 that she was planning to trade Negan.

However, I will defend the show on this: Despite my disagreeing with the way its story was handled, I think the themes of the story are interesting and should be explored more in Season 2. Maggie going after the Croat and enlisting the help of a rebel group in New York could be seen as her blinded by her need for revenge. She wants vengeance on the Croat for stealing Hershel from her. Even though Maggie intends to trade Negan for her son, she still wants to make the Croat hurt. But, in attacking the arena, she instead gets around a dozen innocents killed. People who were just trying to make it day-to-day, who she promised would be able to help her take down the Croat. Instead, they all died. And for what? Maggie’s need for revenge.

It’s why I liked the scene between Maggie and Hershel post-rescue in Episode 6. Hershel tells Maggie point-blank that she’s blinded by her need for revenge against Negan. That instead of seeing Hershel as her son, Maggie is instead reminded of Glenn and what Negan did. And everything she’s done—all the people she’s gotten killed—proves that her need to get revenge has blinded her to the bigger picture. It’s a potent, sobering moment for Maggie, and probably my favorite scene in the entire show. Props to Logan Kim, by the way. Despite only being in five or so scenes in the whole series, he steals the show in every single one of them. This kid has a bright future ahead of him, not only in The Walking Dead Universe, but in the creative arts overall. And he helped bring to life what has to be the best scene in this series.

Another standout scene was the confrontation between Negan and the Dama at the end of Season 1. Now under her control, the Dama tasks Negan with taking over other parts of New York City so she can rule the entire island. It’s unclear why the Dama thinks Negan—who was foiled by the communities he ruled over about two years into the apocalypse—would be the best candidate for helping to unite New York under her rule. But it clearly spells out for the audience what Season 1 of Dead City was: Setup. The entire season was a bridge between The Walking Dead and the relationship between Maggie and Negan, alongside this new world Dead City will start exploring more thoroughly in Season 2. While in hindsight this makes sense, given just how much exposition there is in Season 1 and how the major plot is resolved rather quickly by the end, this scene clearly spelled out what Dead City was supposed to be. And while I’m still not on board with the way it was handled, it does make sense for Season 1 to be a prelude of sorts if Dead City is expected to be a years-long entry in The Walking Dead Universe.

However, it also makes it unclear if Dead City is supposed to be the true beginning of “Part 3” of The Walking Dead’s TV franchise, or if it’s the start of a lengthy, transitional “Part 2.5.” Introducing new characters and locations slowly, showcasing the state of the world beyond Virginia. I’m not sure. Since the CRM, who seem like they’ll be the final villains of The Walking Dead Universe, have no connection to Dead City so far, I’m tempted to say this is the start of Part 2.5. But with Rick and Michonne’s The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live arriving soon, it’s possible this truly is the start of The Walking Dead’s next phase. It’s possible Dead City is supposed to establish what to expect for the rest of the spinoffs. But there are some elements of Dead City that, if played into correctly, could still be used to create a high-quality Walking Dead show.

While I’ve been critical of a lot about Dead City up until this point, I will say the optimist in me still wants to see the show succeed. To me, Dead City Season 1 had more negatives than it did positives. With a slow pace, over-reliance on exposition, rehashed Maggie and Negan drama, and the reveal that all this was just setup for the real show that starts in Season 2, Dead City felt disappointing. However, the show also has plenty of interesting ideas and engaging scenes that indicate it could be incredibly strong in the future. The Croat is a character that could easily have as much depth to him as Negan, while the Dama is an interesting villain whose ruthlessness could be entertaining as the series progresses. Negan being forced to help the Dama also opens the door for a wider world in Dead City Season 2, which could lead to stronger worldbuilding. It also seems the show is setting up Maggie slowly learning how to forgive Negan, which seems like it will be the series’ overall arc. But since it’s been overplayed, I hope to see them as allies before the series ends, so we can experience a new dynamic between the two.

But what does this mean for The Walking Dead Universe and what to expect of the quality of the other shows? It’s actually difficult to gauge. While Dead City wasn’t The Walking Dead’s best foot forward when it comes to introducing this new chapter of the franchise, the team behind Dead City is focused on just that series. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live have entirely different creative teams behind them, even if they all share the same 6-episode structure per season. I’m not sure it’s fair to judge the rest of The Walking Dead franchise moving forward off of one sour show. There’s still a chance Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live—as well as Dead City Season 2—won’t make the same missteps that made Dead City Season 1 feel lackluster.

However, I know AMC has their vision for what The Walking Dead should be like. It’s possible they hope for every show to share a similar tone, making it so viewers can jump from one to the other without feeling any whiplash from it. Which, in turn, could also translate to the episode structures, storytelling techniques, tone, and pacing. It’s not clear just yet if that’s going to be the case. However, if it is, then The Walking Dead Universe is going to be in a very rough spot. While I understand they needed time to get Dead City established so viewers know what to expect from this new world, it could have been done with more creativity. Season 1 felt like it was getting through a bullet-pointed list of things that needed to happen. And, yes, those things did need to happen for the vision of Dead City moving forward to be established. But the presentation of those ideas wasn’t always the best, making the show feel lackluster compared to the adventure across New York City its trailers seemed to promise.

Which is why, despite knowing different creative teams are behind the other spinoffs, I’m worried for The Walking Dead Universe moving forward. I love the characters of this franchise, and I don’t want to see their series’ end prematurely due to dwindling viewership. People like high-quality shows. It’s why The Walking Dead Season 5, the best season of the show, was also where the series peaked in viewership. If Dead City maintains the quality of Season 1, and if that quality is translated over to Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live with the same issues, then The Walking Dead Universe may not be long for this world. Maybe long enough to finish characters’ stories, since Dead City and Daryl Dixon are already getting second seasons. But will those stories prove to be of a higher quality than Dead City Season 1? They’ll have to be if this universe is to survive beyond its flagship series.

Much like I was at the start of the series, I am cautiously optimistic about Dead City Season 2. There are interesting ideas in Dead City, but the series really needs writing that can hone in on those ideas and make them feel like the most important elements of the show. As it reflects The Walking Dead Universe’s next chapter, they’re off to a rough start. However, there have been worse low points in The Walking Dead franchise before (looking at you Fear season 5). This is not a train wreck, and the show can heal from what little scrapes it has. But it truly does have to if the franchise doesn’t want to suffer as a whole.

I have hope for The Walking Dead Universe moving forward, but the other shows can’t afford to have the same quality issues Dead City Season 1 did.

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