Two years ago, when we reviewed The Walking Dead: Dead City‘s initial season, our conclusion was that it primarily catered to franchise completists and devoted fans. This was because it largely echoed the original series’ formula, albeit set against a more urban backdrop. Our perspective remains unchanged. Despite some aspects of the new season potentially offering fresh insights into enduring characters like Maggie and Negan and introducing unique Dead City characters, the series often resembles a strategic board game like Risk, with pieces moving across a board rather than delivering a cohesive narrative.
Opening Shot: The scene opens on a post-apocalyptic Manhattan. While a walker shuffles down the street, “New York Groove” plays and a garbage truck speeds by.
The Gist: Two people exit the truck, eliminate the walker, and load it into the back. The truck transports the walkers to a lab, stripping them of their clothing and depositing their newly deactivated forms into a tank. The methane emitted by these corpses is used to illuminate various parts of Midtown, including Radio City Music Hall.
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is back in The Bricks, teaching her son Hershel (Logan Kim) how to hunt; along with them is Ginny (Mahina Napoleon), the teen girl traveling with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Negan is still in Manhattan as a captive of the Burazi, having traded himself for Hershel. Maggie notices a moth that has been laying waste to the corn that is being grown in various areas of New Babylon; it’s used to create ethanol to power vehicles and generators.
A group of New Babylon soldiers come around, led by Charlie Byrd (Jasmin Walker), the governor, her deputy Lucia Navarez (Dascha Polanco) and now-Colonel Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), who got the promotion by lying about the fate of Negan. New Babylon is making a push into Manhattan, and they need recruits. Maggie, knowing the truth about Manhattan, tries to make a deal with Armstrong so no one from The Bricks has to sacrifice themselves, including Hershel and Ginny.
In Manhattan, Negan is taken out of his cell — just as he was about to enjoy a plate of cockroaches — by the Croat (Željko Ivanek). He takes Negan to see The Dama (Lisa Emery); they want to recruit him to marshal the various groups that occupy Manhattan into an alliance. They have intelligence that New Babylon is coming to take over, mostly for their methane operation, and they need all the people they can to fend them off. Negan, as he has in the past, refuses, but when the Croat mentions they know about Ginny’s whereabouts, Negan changes his mind. In addition, the Croat has recreated Negan’s beloved bat Lucille, with some “improvements.”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The entire Walking Dead franchise.
Our Take: Like we said in the intro, it feels like the players in The Walking Dead: Dead City are just repositioning themselves for another battle in the second season, rather than giving fans new insight into their characters. For instance, instead of mortal enemies Maggie and Negan working together, they’re on opposite sides. And, even though Negan is reluctantly working for the merciless Burazi, he still seems to be able to work up the energy to forcefully present the Burazi’s “deal” to the other Manhattan factions.
To be honest, while we’re fans of Morgan’s, we’re certainly not fans of a regretful Negan. Even when he’s in the church pontificating like the Negan we were introduced to on the original series, we know that he’s now putting on a show. Negan is a great actor, who can summon up that fire-and-brimstone persona even when he’s not really feeling it down deep. Knowing that somehow feels wrong to us; we’d rather see him as the Big Bad that bashed Glenn’s head in than someone who has doubts and regrets.
The only part of the story that seems to intrigue us is Maggie trying to rebuild her relationship with Hershel after his time in Manhattan. He has drawings of the buildings and of The Dama, and Maggie has no idea what they did to his psyche. But given that Maggie is making her way to Manhattan in trade for keeping everyone in The Bricks safe, how much will we see of them together this season?
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Hershel looks at the pictures he drew of a perspective on Manhattan through a couple of buildings; then the shot dissolves to the real Manhattan, where we hear walkers growl, then a roar.
Sleeper Star: We’re fans of Dascha Polanco, so we’re happy to see her here as Navarez. Kim Coates has also joined the cast as Bruegel, a gang leader who will perhaps be a challenger to Negan and the Burazi.
Most Pilot-y Line: The CGI of Radio City lighting up didn’t exactly look the most realistic.
Our Call: This time we’ll say SKIP IT first, because The Walking Dead: Dead City doesn’t really give the Walking Dead franchise anything new to examine. But if you’re a die-hard, STREAM IT.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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