Twigs - The Walking Dead: Dead City Episode 3

Too many cutscenes.

[Warning: This essay contains spoilers for The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Dead City through Episode 3.]

I feel like The Walking Dead: Dead City has a persistent problem with its presentation.

Episode 3 decently set up the second half of Dead City Season 1 and introduced concepts into the world of The Walking Dead that haven’t been explored yet. It furthered Maggie and Negan’s relationship in a way that hasn’t been done since she pulled him out of his jail cell during The Walking Dead season 9. It explored how The Croat is able to hold power over Manhattan and how his character is different yet similar to Negan from when he led the Sanctuary. It also gave us a deeper look at Ginny’s friendship with Negan, who became a father figure for her after her own father became a Walker. There is plenty of good within Dead City and this episode shows how compelling the series can be when embracing what makes it stand out.

Unfortunately, the episode feels like a heap of missed opportunities. There are three points in the episode where characters monologue extremely important backstory. This includes one of the rebels (her name has not yet been mentioned, but The Walking Dead wiki informs me it’s Amaia) talking about how The Croat came to power; Negan telling Maggie what happened to his wife and son; and The Croat explaining how Negan found him and took him in as a Savior. All of this feels like backstory that should have been shown rather than told to the audience. While it would have taken time away from the main storyline, it also would have been much more entertaining than hearing characters talk about things that happened in the past. I want to see The Croat rolling into Manhattan for the first time. I want to see Negan kill the five men who did horrible things to his wife. I want to see The Croat meet Negan for the first time.

The only time Dead City Episode 3 utilized flashbacks to show us something important was with Ginny. Throughout the episode, Ginny is making her way to Manhattan (getting into a cooler and rowing herself across a river…okay…). During her trip, she loses her stuffed dinosaur, which is taken by a member of the rebel group. Said rebel reunites with everyone else, and Maggie asks to have the dino. She is almost about to burn it, as she presumes Ginny followed Negan to Manhattan and is now dead. However, this dinosaur—a stuffed animal—felt like it had more emotional weight in the story than anything anyone monologued about. This is because the dino’s backstory is fleshed out with flashbacks throughout the episode, acting as a symbol of hope for Ginny and change for Negan. Without the flashbacks, I wouldn’t care about Ginny and her dino. But I do because the series showed me how the dino symbolized her connection with Negan. If Dead City can make me care so much about a dinosaur stuffed animal, then I know the show can get me to care about everything else it’s been presenting as well.

Another standout is Perlie, who gets captured by The Croat and forced to fight in an arena with a bunch of Walkers. During the fight, The Croat realizes Perlie is hiding something in one of his boots. It ends up being a letter from his deceased brother, Joel, who was seemingly abandoned by his family due to his persistent drug addiction. Perlie, who has been stoic up until now, almost cries as The Croat reads Joel’s letter aloud. There’s a subtlety to the story of Perlie and his brother that makes me care about Perlie even more. The guilt he feels at not being able to help Joel is palpable, and clearly influences how seriously he takes his role as a New Babylon Marshal. It fleshes out his character without directly telling the audience why he feels the way he feels.

That, I’m afraid, is the biggest issue with Dead City episode 3. While Ginny and Perlie have important backstories presented with flashbacks or subtle characterization, those are more character building blocks than important parts of the overall plot. It’s strange to me that individual character stories like theirs are getting better writing than the explanation for important elements of the overarching story. Monotonous monologues do not make for a good story, which is why I didn’t feel much when Negan was describing what happened to his wife. I want to see an episode where Negan finds his wife, realizes what happens, kills five dudes, and goes on the run. I want to see how it impacts his character. Why he decides to send them to Missouri of all places instead of Alexandria or The Commonwealth. Was there a reason he couldn’t do that? Was there a reason sending them to Missouri was the best way to keep them safe?

An episode where I could see all of this play out would have made for a more emotional experience. Instead, it’s all told to us in the span of two minutes.

There is one more scene I want to talk about, which is when Negan kills Luther. While this is going to have plenty of story implications going forward, I can’t help but feel like this is the third episode in a row where a character that could be interesting gets more screen time, only for them to be killed off. Just like how Jano could have been interesting to follow regarding his reluctance to be a Marshal, and Esther’s backstory probably being interesting too, I feel like the rivalry between Negan and Luther could have been more palpable. Could have had a different ending. I get the show is only six episodes long so they have to move things along, but it still feels like wasted potential. It was cool to see Negan use a cheese grater on his forehead, but I still wish Luther had stuck around. At the very least, his death furthers Negan’s descent into his old ways, which will make his relationship with Maggie more intriguing. But, again, I do wish the show was doing more with its interesting characters instead of just killing them.

Because of the way Ginny and Perlie’s stories are being presented, I’m still optimistic that Dead City will be able to pull off a solid final three episodes. Now that all the context has been laid out—in better or worse ways—it seems all that’s left is for Maggie and Negan to launch an assault on The Croat’s arena, find out where Hershel is, and try to escape Manhattan. I think all of that can be done in three more episodes. However, there is the looming shadow of Dead City Season 2 being all but confirmed, and the even larger shadow of Maggie actress Lauren Cohan saying she could see the show running for five or more seasons. I know I’ve been making video game analogies in all my subheaders for these reviews, but knowing the arena is Mission 1 makes me hope this is a short game. Because I honestly can’t see Dead City being compelling after Season 1 unless something borderline ridiculous happens.

At least The Croat using Walkers as fuel is cool.

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