Twigs - The Walking Dead: Dead City Episode 6

Mission 1 Complete.

[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for all of The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Dead City through Season 1.]

I can’t say I’m surprised by the way The Walking Dead: Dead City ended.

Given the slow as molasses pace of the season coupled with its status as the first entry in The Walking Dead’s post-The Walking Dead world, I anticipated Dead City would end with a cliffhanger for Season 2. It didn’t disappoint me that the show ended on a cliffhanger, but it does worry me given the status of Season 1. Especially this season finale, which managed to resolve the major aspects of its story in the first 20 minutes before spending the entire back half of the episode setting up Season 2. The setup also made me wonder, given how sprawling the story is about to become and how many different locations there are about to be, if Season 2 will stick to 6 episodes or necessitate a lengthier follow-up.

But to start off with the general positives, I think it was neat to get some resolution to Maggie and Negan’s never-ending feud with one another. After Negan finds out Maggie intends to trade him to The Croat for Hershel, he runs, initiating a chase sequence that ends with the pair almost about to slit one another’s throats. After dropping their weapons, Negan comes to the realization that nothing he does is ever going to be enough for Maggie. Having killed Glenn in The Walking Dead season 7, Negan will never be able to outrun his past sins. Despite how much he’s tried to get forgiveness throughout the franchise—even earning a little nod from Daryl in The Walking Dead’s series finale—Negan now knows that Maggie will never ever forgive him for what he did. It’s a sobering moment that lets the audience understand the depth of Maggie’s anger toward Negan, and how there’s little room for forgiveness because he killed Glenn.

This weighs heavy on Maggie too, as once she’s traded Negan for Hershel, her son begins to berate her on the mainland. With probably the best performance in the entire series coming from Logan Kim (seriously, this kid has to be in more stuff, he has like 10 minutes of screen time across the whole series but easily stole every scene he was in), Hershel tells her mother his perspective on Negan as an outsider looking in. He says that Maggie’s never seen him for who he truly is, and that her obsession with revenge for Negan has blinded her to everything else in the world. It’s a wakeup call for Maggie that—while she should have gotten the idea a while ago—illustrates how she truly isn’t the best person in the world whenever she’s dealing with Negan. It brings out the worst in her, and The Croat was able to manipulate that for his own gains. It’s something she can only deal with by trying to forgive Negan in a true sense.

I don’t know how I feel about Maggie deciding to go back to New York, though, as is implied at the end of the episode. It feels like the only way she’d rescue Negan is if she had a plan for the likely fallout that would come from doing so. While Maggie’s unaware of The Dama, she believes The Croat is still a powerful force in Manhattan. One that would no doubt come back to Hilltop 2 (or the Bricks or whatever) to slaughter her people. To have her go back to save Negan feels like she’s putting her people in danger. Or perhaps because The Croat and The Dama took one of Hershel’s toes, she’s decided to take the undying revenge-fueled part of herself and use it to take them down. Thus ensuring the biggest threat to her people is taken care of.

Negan’s storyline post-resolution of the plot was more mysterious, giving insight into how The Croat’s mind operates and his intentions bringing Negan to Manhattan. As Episode 5 previously established, The Croat isn’t the one in charge of operations in New York City. That leadership title belongs to The Dama, who tells Negan about why she wants him to help her. During his time as leader of The Saviors, Negan managed to make Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom, and Oceanside subservient to his group. And, surprise, surprise, The Dama wants Negan to channel his old self to help her expand her power over New York. While The Dama has control of Manhattan, other sections of New York are controlled by other groups. The Dama wants Negan to use his prowess from being leader of the Saviors to act as her frontman. The one leading the charge against other communities so they can be folded into The Dama’s territory.

While on paper this sounds like an interesting idea, both the scope of The Dama’s plans and the time that’s passed since Negan was leader of the Saviors makes this whole thing feel a little ridiculous. Not only has it been over 10 years in the show’s canon since Negan was the leader The Dama wants him to be, but one man like him is simply not enough to control the vast swaths of New York City. If The Dama plans on taking control of every subsection of New York, Negan is not going to be enough to do it. Even if Negan ends up compliant, slipping back into his old ways for the sake of his and Hershel’s survival, he’s not used to dealing with New York-sized groups. He’s more familiar with the smaller communes of Virginia, the ones with only a few hundred people in them at most. In a city like New York, some survival groups could have thousands, which is something he won’t be able to deal with all on his own. Intimidation only goes so far when you might be outnumbered.

Negan also hasn’t been Evil Negan in a decade. It’s very jarring to see The Dama is willing rest all her plans for taking over New York on Negan’s shoulders when he hasn’t wielded that power since the early days of the apocalypse. Negan was only ever in power for two years, before the groups he was subjugating teamed up and rebelled against him, winning a war within a week or so. If anything, Negan would be someone you wouldn’t want having any real power, because it’s clear his power came from fear and hubris. Two things Negan himself has learned don’t work and cause unforgivable pain to those who don’t deserve it. While it seems obvious Negan will help The Dama to protect Maggie and Hershel, the situation overall feels highly flawed and subject to crumbling apart right away. I guess it will all depend on how the writers of the series handle Negan’s future.

There are a few other plot threads that get resolved or left for cliffhangers, but my heart was never really in them. In his own mini-twist, Negan tells Ginny he killed her dad, indicating he was one of the men who assaulted Annie. It’s unclear how Ginny and Negan stand now, other than Ginny is now at the Hilltop under Maggie’s care, though clearly feeling conflicted about her place in the world now. As for Perlie, his return to New Babylon is met with interest from their leader in using methane from zombies as fuel. Perlie also lies about killing Negan, as he’s begun to question his role as a Marshal for the community. While Ginny and Perlie will no doubt have their roles to play in Season 2—Perlie especially—I wasn’t particularly engaged with how their stories ended. Instead, it seems Ginny’s place at Hilltop and Perlie’s place in New Babylon means the story will be much more expansive once the next season rolls around.

Which has me worried.

Dead City doesn’t seem to have as high a budget as many of its impressive wide shots and detailed set design may have led viewers to believe. Much of the series happens in rooms, in the same sets, on top of the same buildings. Beyond scenes in city streets, sewers in Episode 5, or the few glimpses we get at the new Hilltop, Dead City doesn’t have many dynamic locations. For it to split its characters up into many different locations and introduce new parts of New York while also maintaining its current level of quality going forward…I’m a little worried it’s not going to be able to do that. I fear Dead City Season 2 will be the same as Season 1. An over-reliance on exposition, small sets, and occasionally expansive sequences to give the series the feel of something cinematic without committing to the bit. It has me wondering if Season 2 will be able to pick up on the momentum, or if the series was always doomed to be the black sheep of The Walking Dead’s sequels (assuming Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live are better).

The Dead City finale gave us some bookends while setting up Season 2, but there was an air of an unsatisfactory ending about it. In writing this review, I’m beginning to realize this felt more like a mid-season finale than it did a season finale. A cliffhanger to tide the audience over until the next half of the season when the show really gets going. But, since this is the end of Season 1, I’m wondering if the show will get going at some point. Because right now, I’m only seeing it rev its engines for a really, really long time. I will always love The Walking Dead despite its flaws. And I think splitting major characters off into their own shows can be a good way of bringing fresh new stories to the franchise. But Dead City was not a strong start to this new beginning for The Walking Dead universe. And now it has me worried about how the next two shows are going to be handled.

Fingers crossed things get better next season.

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