"Season 2 Premiere of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' Episode 1 Evaluation - Could This Amount of Nonsense Fit in One Show?"
Reimagined Article:
Holy hell, it's clear as piss that The Walking Dead: Dead City is just shamelessly exploiting Negan nostalgia. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the only bloke worth watching on this mess. Here's a roundup of the most mind-boggling, brain-numbing moments from this week's episode, complete with Spoiler Alert.
I reckon the best way to discuss this episode is to tear through a list of the stupid, absurd, grating things that happen. This ain't the most ridiculous show in the Walking Dead universe, but it shares similarities with its spinoffs' habit of stuffing the plot with nonsensical junk. Let's go over some of this episode's head-scratching moments:
Early on, Maggie takes Hershel Jr. out hunting with a damn tiny throwing knife. We're not talking about a big ol' dagger here, but one of those pathetic little things you use for target practice. They're hunting deer, and Hershel Jr. gets frustrated when he misses. But if he'd hit the deer with that feeble knife, it'd probably just piss off the deer, not hurt it. Maggie, standing next to him, has a bow. You can hunt deer with a bow!
At least it wasn't a CGI deer like last time. It's probably dead anyway, that stupid CGI deer. You could've probably killed it with a bloody throwing knife.
Later, Maggie agrees to return to NYC with the New Babylon mob if they promise not to conscript anyone for the mission. I guess New Babylon conscripts people and sends them on dangerous missions the very next day. If anyone tries to back out of conscription, they're hung. But Maggie, being a good, upstanding person, doesn't want any part in that, so she volunteers. One of the New Babylon leaders ask the marshal from the last season if she's really "worth twenty people" and he nods.
To prove this, they round up about twenty zombies in a corral, and Maggie must fight them to prove her worth. Ginny, the teenager Negan was protecting last season, volunteers too, so the two of them barrel into a corral filled with nearly two dozen zombies and fight them off with knives. You'd think they'd try to kill some from across the fence, but no, they leap into a corral filled with zombies and hack away like maniacs.
This is idiotic for so many reasons. First off, why are they testing a valuable soldier who's volunteering for their mission and has intel about the target and location by putting them in a near-certain-death situation? And why is Maggie volunteering for danger instead of opting out, especially since the New Babylon leadership dangles execution if you don't join up? Absolutely ridiculous! The plot armor distracts from any tension in this scene, so everything just feels like a pointless waste of time and another opportunity for New Babylon's leadership to look like cartoonish villains.
Meanwhiles, the mustache-twirling villains have locked Negan up in a cell for the past year. I suppose he turned them down when they offered him a chance within their organization at the end of Season 1. Well, they threaten his family this time and force him to help out. Their goal is to unite all the NYC thug gangs into one unified force to fight off New Babylon's army, who wants their zombie fuel.
Negan meets with the other two factions at a zombie fight, complete with armor-clad zombies and spiked faces. How the hell do they get zombies to fight one another? Can't say I've ever seen that before. These new factions are called The Breastplate Gang and the Homeless People. Each faction needs its own look, I suppose. The New Babylonians dress like Civil War reenactment actors. They must've found a stash of uniforms somewhere.
Negan speaks to these two factions, urging them to join the Dama's group. The Croat has made him a new Lucille bat, complete with a button-activated zapper that knocks one of the faction leaders down. A non-lethal upgrade to a bat covered in barbed wire and nails? C'mon, man! That's just fucking silly!
As for Maggie, I can't stand her. Her scene with Hershel Jr. just felt so painful and melodramatic. Maggie looks cool and is a tough fighter, but every time she gets dramatic, I cringe due to her insufferable accent.
Overall, I'm left wondering, what's the goddamn point of this show? It's just another mind-numbing faction war between groups of people we don't care about. This entire franchise is stuck in a never-ending loop: factions fighting each other endlessly. It's just tedious.
"If you don't like it, don't watch it," they say. Yeah, but where's the fun in that?
Video Review Available on YouTube
- The walking dead dead city season 2 episode 1 recap indicates that Negan, still in a cell, agrees to work with the other factions after they threaten his family, a turn of events which might have been included to justify Negan's role in the series.
- The walking dead dead city season 2 review notes that Maggie, despite her intelligence and combat skills, makes a headscratcher move by volunteering to fight in a corral filled with zombies to prove her worth to the New Babylon mob, a decision that seems out of character given the risks involved.
- The walking dead dead city season 2 premiere features a surprising scene where Maggie, alongside Ginny, barrels into a corral filled with nearly two dozen zombies, showcasing a level of recklessness that may leave some viewers questioning the writers' choices.
- The walking dead dead city seems to be generating a significant amount of discussion among fans, as entertainment websites and forums are filled with reviews, recaps, and fan theories regarding the show's unique setting, characters, and storylines, especially those involving Negan and his return to action.
