Review of The Walking Dead: Dead City
Episode 1
The Walking Dead: Dead City is the first of three spinoffs AMC has planned and
is looking to pick up where the mother series, The Walking Dead left off. The
series are putting together two characters that have history and hate each other,
Maggie and Neegan, and hoping the sparks ignite another hit series. Judging by
the first episode, I think it has the potential for a good season.
The first episode starts off Maggie looking for someone at a bar in the middle of
nowhere and trying to get information. When she feels she got what she needs,
she sneaks out to find the person and kill them but she is stopped by the patrons
of the bar and dragged back to the bar. They are protecting the mysterious person
and ready to make her pay. The person she was going after enters the room and is none other the Neegan. She fights her way out of the bar and runs him down.
As it come to be, she doesn’t want to kill him but needs his help to get her son Hershel back from someone in Neegan’ old crew known at the Croat, who kidnapped Hershel. Still trying to earn redemption from his past, he agrees to help her but makes a deal with her to find a safe place for the young girl that is traveling with him. She agrees to it and the unlikely union is formed. Now, they are on their way to track down “the Croat to what used to be Manhattan, where over a million Groaners (the new word for walkers) roam.
Little do they know, they have the Marshalls after them, specifically Neegan, since he killed people and the penalty is death. Now the head marshall is Perlie Armstrong and he is no joke as he is ready to deal swift justice and ready to penalize anyone who stands in his way. He is hot on their trail and letting nothing stand in his way.
These are the basics of the first episode and I believe it’s off to a good start. Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprise their roles as Maggie and Neegan respectively. They both continue to play their well known roles but with a certain nuance that is gonna come from them being the main characters. Cohan plays Maggie with a certain torment with the knowledge that she wants to kill Neegan but needs him to save her son. Morgan continues to play Neegan as a man looking for forgiveness from his past but will go only so far and still has a mean still flowing in him. I hope they let that loose every once in a while.
Playing new character Perlie Armstrong, lawman of New Babylon is Galus Charles, who shows a complex character who is doing what he needs to be done in order to keep peace in these times but shows he is without mercy when dealing with law breakers. The other main character so far in the series is ‘The Croat’ played by Zeljko Ivanek. While only getting a quick glimpse, he is the main baddie who kidnap Hershel and according to Neegan is special type of insane even for him. In the short look, you already see that he is smart but has a disturbed streak of viciousness. I’m curious to see where they will go with his character and how he compares to Neegan in his hayday.
Since this is the first episode, it’s hard to judge the series yet but it’s off to a good start with some good action and cool characters and the zombies are started off taking a back seat but you get to see a few new things. They have been promoting an extreme new zombie that I wish they kept under wraps but it is what it is. I think the setting is the most interesting and look forward to see how they show a decimated New York City and what landmarks show up. I want to see them explore the relationship between Maggie and Neegan being in close quarters and have no choice to deal with each other. I believe it will be the best of the three spinoffs but that remains to be seen. I look forward to seeing what episode 2 brings.
Episode 2
Episode 2 got to explore more people in this universe, the back story
of the Croat and how he relates to Neegan and how Maggie is seeing
Neegan in an up close way that might indicate a little understanding.
Also we get to see a little of the old Neegan, which is what I wanted but
maybe a little do soon. We get to see a little backstory of Perlie
Armstrong and the episode shows how Ginny, the girl that was with
Neegan, is adapting to a safe environment.
It starts with Maggie and Neegan being surprised by a mystery woman
when hiding from walkers. This woman takes Maggie’s backpack and leads them away from the Walkers through shafts with a bottom filled walker and even having to go on a zip line between buildings. At one point Maggie stops short of the ledge and Neegan offers a hand, but she refuses it and makes it by herself.
Next you see Ginny, the girl that was with Neegan but is now at a safe community like Hilltop. You get a view of the community that looks self-sustaining. She is introduced into a school setting where they teach survival skills like foraging.
They catch up to the mystery woman where she offers them food and Neegan is more willing to communicate with them. The woman continues to lead Maggie and Neegan further into the building.
The episode flashes to the marshall Perlie Armstrong hiding from walkers after being knocked out in the previous episode. He sees one of his men turned into a walker. He looks down and it shows he is holding a paper with a New York address.
The woman leads them to where they are then surprised by two people with guns. The new people claim to have thousands of people. They ask what Maggie and Neegan are up to and Maggie lies to them. They quickly know that Maggie is lying and they are then taken to a huge room full of people when they are quickly put into a bathroom.
It quickly takes you to Ginny where she is given a room by a resident and mentioned that she should eat something. That same room is where Hershel stay and it shows that Maggie and Hershel don’t have the best relationship.
While in the room, Neegan starts telling Maggie about how he met ‘The Croat” in the beginning and welcomed him. Being grateful, ‘The Croat’ started calling Neegan ‘Buraz’ meaning Brother. At first Neegan used ‘The Croat’ skills of reading and torturing people. When ‘The Croat’ went too far, Neegan decided to kill him but failed. Now the ‘The Croat’ wants to kill him.
I won’t give away the rest of the episode because it kicks up another notch in the second half of the episode and deserves to be seen. Let’s just say there is some great action, tough loss and a return to seeing the old Neegan rear his ugly head again.
This was another good episode that expands on the characters, especially Perlie as you see, there is a history and connection he has in New York. You also get to see a little more into what is going on between Neegan and Maggie that questions how they see each other and possibly more of an understanding. The only slow part in the episode involves the story arc of Ginny. I think that there is not enough of a connection with that character yet but maybe that’ll change.
It is definitely worth continuing to watch so see what happens and so far it has been a good two episodes. Can’t wait to see what episode three brings!
Episode 3
Episode 3 is filled with learning more about the character as new insights are
revealed and most important, getting a closer look into the interaction between
Maggie and Neegan as they are forced to deal with each other for this mission.
The episode starts with showing Ginny exploring through woods looking around
when she comes across a walker almost grabbing her but impaled on a downed
tree. Neegan enter the picture to kill it. He’s mad about her walking away with not saying anything. He tries to talk to her about her need for talking and screaming when needing help. When he ask why she left, she gestures stuffed dino is missing. Neegan says that they will search for it in his way.
Flashes to present, Ginny had rode bike she took after running from safe compound and looking across the shore toward NYC. She is obviously looking for Neegan and sees a cooler on the shore and the next thing you see is her rowing across to NYC.
Next is shows Maggie and Neegan with Amaia, Tommaso and Luther hunting a deer and successfully killing it While Luther is cleaning you can tell he is not a big fan of Neegan. Amaia and Tommaso telling their story about the start of the spread when they were kids and how it spread rapidly and how the army blew up the bridges to stop the spread. They explain how they met ‘The Croat’ try to convince them to join and when they didn’t, he tried to kill them. They mentioned that only one of them ever escaped ‘The Croat’. Maggie walks away upset by the realization that her son maybe dead.
Shifting to Ginny, shows her making it to Manhattan and start walking into it further.
Maggie and Neegan look down to street to see the Thanksgiving turkey driving through the streets to Madison Square Garden, where the The Croat is, with a horde of zombies following and surrounding it. Maggie and Neegan want to find a way to get into the arena. They find out Tommaso was the only one to escape The Croat and get out alive. They want enter the arena the same way Tommaso escaped to kill the Croat. Neegan tells his story in a roundabout way to convince the Amaia, Tommaso and Luther to show Neegan and Maggie the way in. Amaia and Tommaso are convinced but not Luther. He says it won’t work and is totally against it.
A caravan of cars is shown riding into MSG let by ‘The Croat’ and Perlie is being dragged into MSG and brought into a skybox and handcuffed to railing. He looks around to see a table set for dinner and looking down, see a fight cage surrounded by vehilces
Tommaso tells of his experience being under ‘The Croat’s’ rule. At first he is feed and given medicine in return for information. But knowing he would be killed afterward, he said nothing. After that, everything stopped coming and the beatings started. Remember what his Nona said about working about rebuilding MSG and that is how he escaped. When Neegan speaks up saying it would be sealed up, it comes out that they knew each other. Luther is says they are going to get them killed. Maggie tries to convince him, he says Maggie’s son is already dead. Maggie walks off
The Croat has dinner set up and try to make Perlies comfortable. Croat tells him he is a scientist and how he is able to make fuel from dead bodies. Explains how he built the sanctuary. he questions Perlie about why he is here and who’s he is with. ‘The Croat’ sits down ready to eat but finds maggot in meat. He questions his servant why he is served rotten meat. The Croat then makes his servant swallow cuffs key and then kills him by throwing him out of the skybox.
Maggie is alone and opens a keepsake box showing mementos from her family she lost. Neegan enters and gives a hat to Maggie for Hershel. Neegan tries to console her and tells Maggie her plan will work. Maggie reflects on how ‘The Croat’ came to the compound and the last things she said to Hershel before he was kidnapped. Hearing regret in Maggie’s voice about everyone she lost, Neegan tells his story about what happened to his second wife when she was assaulted and how he sent her and his son away. He says how all they have is hope. Maggie then takes the hat from Neegan
Shows Ginny walking the streets in Manhattan escaping from multiple Walkers and hiding. She realizes that shep dropped her dino, she remembers looking through the woods with Neegan looking for the dino. Neegan tries to convince her she needs to talk when needed. He tries to be tough with her but softens. Back to the present a mystery person shows up, killed the walker and takes Ginny’s dino and walks off. Ginny follows him.
It picks up with meeting of Amaia’s people and Maggie and Neegan sitting down placing down mementos, and humming. It seems to be a reflecting moment before eating. At the same time, it show ‘The Croat’ revving his people up before forcing Perlie to inhale something. He then puts him in a ring chained to a pole in the middle of a ring with a walker, who ends up being ‘The Croat’s’ servant and is forced to fight. Perlie kills walker and gets key to the cuffs to unlock himself. Seeing this, ‘The Croat’ unleashes three more walkers for him to fight. Perlie reaches for his left boot, changes his mind and uses the other boot. ‘The Croat’ takes notices of this. Perlie succeeds in killing the walkers and look toward the Croat.
Tommaso approaches Maggie and complimenting her having the courage to carry on. A new member comes in with stuff she scavenged. After showing some stuff, Maggie notices the dino, the one Ginny dropped and asked her where she got it. The new member says she just found it and gives it to Maggie.
I won’t give the last bits of the episode away since it is the biggest part of it and needs to be watched. You learn a lot about many of the characters and explains a lot behind the motives behind them. This is a great episode that shows you why this series it picking up where The Walking Dead left off with its storytelling in a new fresh environment. It has the perfect blend of story and action. After three episodes, it is definitely a refreshing take of this universe and I hope they keep up with this good storyline and will continue to want to see more.
Make sure you keep watching after the show. Instead of an after show like the Walking Dead had, they have a five minute review of the episode by the showrunner, Eli Jorne, which in my opinion is just the right amount.
Episode 4
So far, each episode has been slowly working its way to add a little more action every
week and this week is no exception. In fact, there was more action this week than all the
previous weeks put together where it was almost nonstop.
The episode starts with a flashback of Negan at a table full of food making plans. His
right hand man Simon comes in and says they have a problem. As they are walking,
they are talking about someone who is not following rules. As they approach a door,
it opens and you see ‘The Croat’ who says they made a breakthrough with the girl and
she confessed. Simon says he should of let her walk and disobeyed a direct order but
he justifies it by saying it’s a process getting information. Negan looks disappointed and
angry when he sees a young girl tied to a chair who now appears to be dead. Simon
continues to argue with ‘The Croat’ and says that he crossed a line and they don’t kill kids.
Flashes to present with Maggie looking at Negan thinking. Tommaso and Amaia looking for Luther. Negan says that he was against the plan all along while knowing what he did. Negan is nervous about facing ‘The Croat’ and fear falling back into his old ways. Maggie tells a story about doing something wrong and having no guilt about. Negan makes a quip about it but Maggie snaps back Negan ask Maggie is she seen his matches but she says no and look away.
Shows scenes of devastated New York and a group of walkers going down a street. Amaia, Tommaso, Maggie and Neegan come out of building and starts going down through subway. Before Maggie goes down, she sees something bubbling in the grates in the sidewalk. Tommaso explains its methane coming up from the sewers.
The group going through subway comes across tracks full of inactive walkers. They slowly tiptoe through. Carefully. They enter tunnels inside a building and start looking through rooms to make sure it’s safe. The room look like someone use to torture and kill people. In one room they find someone tied to a chair looking dead and appears to looks like Hershel. This upset Maggie so Negan checks and it is a walker but not Hershel.
Amaia details the plan and gives everyone the assignment to take down ‘The Croat’ and rescue Hershel. As Negan start leaving the room, it shows that Maggie has the matches that Negan was asking about. Maggie was going to confess about having them but then she sees that he has the honey cream that Luther had and walk off angry.
‘The Croat’ shows a young girl how to use a CD player. He ask if she was afraid of him but shakes her head no is visibly scared. ‘The Croat’ reflects on how she first comes to the group and how she’s developed into an important member of the group. He tells her that she shouldn’t be afraid. Suddenly ‘The Croat’ hears a whistling that sounds like what Negan use to do back in the day. Immediately he knows that Negan is there and he going searching. The girl puts the CD in the player and a countdown starts.
Maggie is sneaking down into what looks like a garage and gets into cab. She is puts down her tool and is ready to jumpstart it when she hears someone coming and notices that it is Ginny. Ginny runs away and Maggie goes after her. She finally catches up to Ginny in the arena area and sees a gathering of people. It turns out to be Amaia, Tommaso and crew.
You see someone lit a candle and walk away
The Croat is still looking for Negan in a loading dock and shows Negan hiding from him. Now Negan hears whistling and comes across a car with an awl in it and realizes its Maggie’s. He goes in the car and shows a little panic. ‘The Croat’ is close and is joined by his followers all looking for Negan.
When the countdown finishes, music start playing and explosives suddenly go off. Maggie and crew are in the arena area where walkers start flooding in from all directions. New music goes on and flashing lights go on. Chaos break out and it’s a battle for survival.
The next half of the episode is nonstop action and really needs to be watched in order to be appreciated. It is done in true Walking Dead style where there is a lot of killing, main characters in jeopardy and many close calls. Everyone gets their chance to be the center of the action and no one comes out unscathed.
What I will say is that we do finally get the meeting between Negan and ‘The Croat’ which was good and it doesn’t quite go off the ways you would expect it. I believe this is good and gives a fresh direction and something different.
It has now been four episodes in and I can honestly it has been great to watch so far. It has the familiar feel of The Walking Dead but the new characters are refreshing. The main villain ‘The Croat’ has been different in that he has been more intelligent then past foes and always seems to be a couple of steps ahead of out protagonist.
I look forward to watch how the next couple of episodes are going to work. I hope they keep ‘The Croat’ an interesting character and keep delving into the relationship between Negan and Maggie.
Epsiode 5
Episode 5 picks up after the events of the last episode and that one was a
doozy. This episode is more reflective of what happened and how things are
continuing on. Less on action and but more on revelations, consequences
and well, a little action.
The episode picks up with Amaia, Tommaso, Maggie and Ginny in the
sewers putting on flashlights. Amaia asks Ginny what her name is but
Maggie says she doesn’t speak. Amaia is blaming herself for rushing to
attack ‘The Croat’ and what happened as a result but Tommaso calms her. As they walk by, a walker starts coming back to life.
Negan and Perlie are walking through an alley. They end up hiding in a storefront and Perlie holding a gun to him. Negan explains the men he killed were the ones who attacked his wife. Perlie seems surprised by this revelation.
Amaia and group continue walking and comes across a large mound of what Tommaso is calling fat. Ginny starts going up ladder and Maggie tells her the manhole cover is sealed. She tells Ginny doesn’t know Negan like she does and he’s a monster. She says if Ginny stays with him long enough, she’ll see it.
Negan and Perlie starts walking toward Chelsea Piers. Negan realizes that Perlie is from NY and so is he, finding something in common. Out of nowhere, walkers start coming for them but they escape through a fence. They think they’ve escaped but now they are surrounded by walkers and run toward a warehouse and make it in just in time. They start exploring when then come across bizarre collection of baby doll parts.
Going back to the sewers, Tommaso finds oxygen tanks he says were left for the Baratzi (‘The Croat’s crew). Tommaso offers Maggie one but she refuses. Amaia keeps wondering how they were found out. Maggie accuses Tommaso of working with ‘The Croat’. Knowing he is caught, Tommaso appeals to Amaia but she doesn’t believe it. Tommaso comes out and says it’s true. He said he did it just to get back to Amaia. Amaia walks away and then Ginny does also. Tommaso stares down Maggie but then walks away also.
Perlie and Negan are walking through the appliance warehouse and comes across a room with a body with an axe through the head sitting in a chair. Perlie gets flashes of memory of his dead brother. From behind Perlie you see someone walking but Negan hears it. Negan follows where it went and catches the walker and throws it at Perlie to escape. After Perlie kills the walker, he continues the chase and catches up to Negan but can’t go further. Negan says they should work together and forget the New Babylon stuff but Perlie says no. He’s frustrated with him but doesn’t want to leave him behind.
In the sewers, Maggie and the group continue along a hallway full of walkers on each side with Tommaso leading. Maggie tells Amaia about her community and that Ginny can lead her there. Maggie starts feeling the effects of the methane gas. She starts having hallucinations of the past and Tommaso offers her oxygen again but she refuses again. They all sit down to rest and Ginny offers Amaia some food. From behind Ginny, a hand rises.
Tommaso tell Maggie about why he gave them up and that ‘The Croat’ offered tells Tommaso a way out to a safe haven in Maine. He throws Maggie’s words back at her about doing what’s necessary to keep people safe. Suddenly walkers grab Ginny and Amaia and they fight against it. Tommaso is grabbed also and Amaia and Tomaso becomes victims. All there is left is Maggie and Ginny.
A car is driving and it rolls down a walker. You see its ‘The Croat’ in the car. He screams out of frustration and gets out of the car. He walks into a building, which is a theater and it is full of people. He walks into a room with a woman called The Dama who seems to know him. He reports to her and she is not happy. She breaks down what happened and looks upset. He promises he’ll get Negan and starts walking away. But the woman holds her hand out and ‘The Croat’ kisses her hand and kneels beside her. She then rubs his head.
Maggie and Ginny are traveling the sewers and Maggie is still feeling the effects of the methane. She explains why she hid the doll and why she didn’t tell Negan about her. She admits that she needs Negan to help find her son. Ginny nods as to say she understands
Negan and Perlie find an old school bus and takes refuge there. Negan helps Perlie dress his wound with a first aid kit he finds. Perlie ask why he is helping him and he says that the next guy will be a lot worse. Perlie tells the story of his brother being on drugs and Perlie has to take responsibility for him. He left his brother alone in NY and now questions everything. Negan feels his pain and seems to understand.
The last fifteen minutes of the show gives you a big surprise and shows something that has never been seen and it was great. It’s good to see that the people running the show can still bring something new. While it was light on the action compared to last week, it was worth it. You learn a lot of information that deepens the characters and keeps you wanting to know more.
Next week is the last episode of the season which surprised me and wonders how they are going to wrap up the season. Be sure to come back here to see what we think of it
Episode 6 Season Finale
Believe it or not, this is the season finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City!
I thought it would have been closer to a full season with 10 or 13 episodes.
This made me more curious on how they were going to wrap things up.
Well I wasn’t disappointed and ended up being a good episode.
Negan sees the flare that was shot off and thinks it’s Maggie and finds out
it’s Ginny. Shocked to see her, he hugs her and asks her how she got there.
Maggie finds her was to Ginny and sees Negan. Negan is angry because she didn’t listen and there was a plan to keep her safe. Perlie volunteers to take Ginny back and keep her safe. Ginny suddenly speaks but Negan shuts her down. Negan admits to killing her father and admits to killing people. He is intentionally cold to get her to leave. She walks away her and Perlie start leaving.
Perlie and Ginny find their way to the floatation that Perlie mention to Negan. Ginny looks out and it seems that she has other plans.
Maggie talks to Negan about the plan and admitting what he did with Ginny had to be hard. Negan thinks him and ‘The Croat’ might be able to work things out. Maggie tells a story about how when she was young and wanting to visit Santa at Macy’s. As she points toward out the window to Macy’s, they hear a car and knows it’s ‘The Croat’ driving away toward a building with smoke coming from it.
Maggie and Negan follow walking the streets and they are looking at each other like they’re suspicious to one another. They find their way to the building with smoke coming out of the top. Negan knows something is up. As they reach the top of a flight of stairs, they look at each other and start fighting. Negan disarms Maggie, throws her to the ground and escapes.
Maggie catches up to Negan and escapes by walking across beams with walkers underneath but comes to a dead end platform. Maggie reaches the platform and Negan appeals her to stop. She continues to attack and stabs him in the shoulder. Negan throws her off the platform and jumps down to her. He just looks at Maggie as she recovers. As soon as she gets her breath back, she attacks Negan again but he beats her to the punch and holds a knife to her neck. He disarms her and lays the whole truth to her which is exactly what she had planned
Negan tells her that they could have been good together but no matter what he does, she will never forgive him and that she shouldn’t. She finally seems beaten and then they see the Beratzi and ‘The Croat’ arrive. As they both see him, Maggie takes advantage of the distraction and holds the knife to Negan’s neck and is ready to give him up to ‘The Croat’
Perlie drives up to the community and Ginny gets out with her bag. She forgets a shirt and Perlie tries to tell her but she turns away from him and is welcome back by the community. Perlie gets into the vehicle and drives off.
‘The Croat’ has both Maggie and Negan driving somewhere with Maggie holding the knife to Negan’s neck. He tells them his side of the story and how he used Maggie’s vulnerabilities to make her do what he wanted. They arrive at a bank and ‘The Croat’ goes in back and brings out Hershel. Negan gives himself up willingly so that Maggie can get Hershel. They are finally united and Maggie hugs Hersehel.
Perlie is driving along the road back to New Babylon and is changed by what he went through. He reports to what his superior his tale and tells her that he killed Negan. The woman tells Perlie that she has his girls and she was keeping them safe. She tells him to smoke and how much it takes to make the tobacco for the cigars. She then demands him to tell his story again and all about the Methane.
Maggie is with Hershel in her truck and says that she is glad to have him back and he has an attitude. They continue to bicker. She gives him the hat from Negan. Hershel tells her that he feels overlooked and all she is concerned with is her revenge. Maggie is hurt by his words and don’t know what to say. She looks away and then drives away.
‘The Croat’ is riding away with Negan reflecting on past times. You see that it means a lot to ‘The Croat’. Negan looks embarrassed about the story. ‘The Croat’ is teary eyed about the story. He admits making a mistake by disobeying Negan and said it would never happen again.
Maggie comes to see Ginny and sees her sleeping. She puts the dino next to her. She then goes to check in on Hershel. She admits that Hershel is right about what he said and how she has changed because of what happened to her. She says that she wants to change but it will be hard. Hershel nods.
‘The Croat’ brings Negan to the theatre where The Dama is at. He tells Negan that The Dama is the one looking for him. ‘The Croat’ is excited for Negan to meet the Dama and they enter the room. ‘The Croat’ announces Negan but The Dama dismisses him and tells him to leave while her and Negan talk. They make small talk. She offers him a drink but he refuses. She praises his style. The Dama pulls out a badge and shows him. She says that the island needs a leader and offers that to Negan. But she wants him to prove it. She gives him a key and places a box in front of him. He opens it and sees a toe.
In flashbacks you see it’s Hershel’s and tells Negan that she befriended Hershel. She threatens him saying that she would take more of him unless he does what she wants. At the same time, you see Maggie make Hershel’s bed and finding his drawings of the city, a library and a drawing of the Dama.
The last scene is a shot of Negan, then a shot of Maggie and then a split screen of Negan and Maggie as one face looking up.
Not a bad way to end the show and the season. I thought this a great way to end the season. Wrapping up storylines, teasing future one and leaving with a dread to what the main characters are going through. It gives you a way to keep you wanting for more and looking forward to a new season.
What I liked about this season is the series letting Negan be Negan at times while seeing him repent for his past. On the other side, you see the depths to how much Maggie has changed and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. I liked the new characters but would have liked them to stay around longer. The action was sparing but great when it was full bloom.
What I hope for next season is the series delve into New Babylon more to see what is going on there. Also, I would like to see how they treat Negan to see if they make him go full bad again. What will Maggie do with Hershel and if she and Negan reunite?
So to wrap up, the first season of Dead City is a definite watch for all fans of The Walking Dead who are looking for a new spin on a familiar story.
