The Walking Dead: Dead City
1×01: “Old Acquaintances”
Directed by Loren Yaconelli
Written by Eli Jorne

* For a recap & review of 1×02, click here.
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) sits on the edge of a harbour using binoculars to look out across the water. She sees a massive horde of walkers moving through the city. She also hears walkers nearby, so she has to rush and hide away. Another zombie creeps up behind her from the shore and just manages to beat it to death before it’s able to have a chomp. Maggie keeps smashing until there’s nothing left of the zombie’s head at all but a pile of mush. Obviously she’s not doing well mentally, and why should she be? It’s a world of horror out there, plus she’s separated from her boy and everyone she knows who’s still alive. Not a good time for Maggie, understandably.
At a bar somewhere, Maggie pulls up and heads inside. She tells the bartender about her cabin getting overrun by zombies. The bartender says they’ve got a guy who handles those kinda things around there. Now when did Maggie ever need help with a bunch of walkers? She gets a little info from the bartender, then she slips out through the back and heads for the motel. She sneaks into a room and hears somebody in the shower. Before she gets to the shower, she’s caught and brought back over to the bar. The bar owner (Michelle Hurd) is about to cut off Maggie’s nose when Maggie uses a boot knife to get the upper hand again. And then guess who shows up? Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). But he’s gone again in a flash, and Maggie’s off looking for him, cutting him off in her truck.

Negan’s a wanted man by the “New Babylon Marshals.” We also see that Negan has a girl with him named Ginny (Mahina Napoleon). What about Annie? Hmm; Negan doesn’t have much to say. We find out that Maggie got separated from Hershel when he was taken hostage by a group of raiders. She’s been tracking them up the Hudson River. The raiders made it into Manhattan before Maggie lost track of them in the city. Apparently the man who has Hershel is called The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek), and the guy whistles just like Negan. Obviously Negan knows the guy from back in his Saviors day. He says The Croat was a pretty sick individual, too. And though Negan’s not thrilled to see Maggie again, nor is Maggie happy to be asking him for help, they’re going to work together to try getting Hershel back. Plus, Maggie agrees to put Ginny up at Hilltop, and perhaps if things go right then Negan can stay.
The Negan character is so fantastic because he’s one who’s grown a lot compared to some others. He was such a horrific person, and now he’s become someone far different; he’s a person who cares about others, even sometimes when he doesn’t want to care. Fun to see him and Maggie together because Maggie’s grown a whole lot, as well. She used to be someone who was too caring, in a sense, and she learned a hardness that’s served her well, in spite of learning many tough, terrifying lessons.
Along the road we see signs about the New Babylon Federation and its capital, New Babylon. We also see a marshal from New Babylon hunting Negan. The marshals turn up at the bar where Maggie was earlier. One of them, Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), explains Negan supposedly “murdered a magistrate in cold blood” and four more people. The punishment? Get hanged upside down and be sawed in half through the groin. Perlie goes on about Negan’s former crimes, as well as about creating peace and stability, albeit through very violent capital punishment. We find out drugs and alcohol are good enough for “a public execution,” too. Obviously New Babylon is a fascist society built up in the ashes of the old world. Perlie feeds the bartender to zombies because she aided and abetted Negan; no trial, no jury, just judgement in the extreme.

Maggie and Negan hand Ginny off to the former Hilltop residents, now living in a different place but amongst relatively most of the same community as before. This leaves the unlikely pair together once again with their strange, sometimes hostile dynamic to go searching for The Croat and Hershel. We see some disturbing flashbacks of the time Negan bashed Glenn’s brains in while Maggie and the others were forced to watch; these are the traumatic memories with which Maggie lives every single day.
The Walking Dead: Dead City intrigues me so much because Negan and Maggie have such a tortured story between them, it’ll be exciting to watch them have to navigate the world as a pair. Great moment when Negan talks about his father bailing on a trip to see “Lady Liberty in the flesh,” which leaves him somewhat looking forward to a trip into Manhattan. When Negan and Maggie arrive at the shore across from Manhattan they have look into the ghostly city. Manhattan is so dangerous because it was an epicentre for the zombie virus; it was quarantined by military taking out bridges, isolating the New York island, which means there’s probably swarms of the dead in between the few living bodies that remain.

Negan and Maggie are able to get themselves across the water with the help of a young marshal, Jano (Trey Santiago-Hudson). But that doesn’t mean they’re getting any friendlier. Negan sees the “vengeful thoughts” waking up in Maggie. He questions who the bad guys are nowadays. He asks Maggie “how many husbands and fathers” she’s murdered. Although she rightfully snaps back at him that what he did, to Glenn and the others, is unforgettable. Then on they go through the water some more while the boat moves over water and the many zombies floating in it.
Negan gives an appropriate “Fuck me” when Manhattan comes into full view, the dead city looming over them. There are no walkers when they get off the boat, which is slightly eerie. When they get into the city further, Jano tries to run for it but gets abruptly stopped. The trio continue their journey through the streets. They suddenly witness bodies drop from a building, smashing a car next to them, forcing them to hide in a nearby doorway. Someone’s heard them. Then there are all the zombies inside the buildings, all but bursting through the windows to get out. More walkers keep falling from the buildings like a whole lot of dead, fleshy rain.
And somebody’s watching closely from up on one of the roofs.

Maggie, Negan, and Jano hear music from a passing vehicle. Naturally there’s a load of walkers shambling behind it. So the trio hide behind a bunch of garbage trying to stay out of sight. They realise there are bugs crawling all over them from the trash and it’s hard to stay quiet or still, especially after some trash falls over, releasing a lot more bugs. Maggie, Negan, and Jano rush for cover right as bullets start flying, mowing down walkers. Either way, no time for the three of them to stick around, so they find a building and slip inside. Maggie splits off on her own looking for a way out, as Negan and Jano go together. The marshals are posted up right outside, so it’s either find a way to escape, or face down the men with more guns and ammo than them. Perlie tries appealing to Maggie, insisting he’s a good family man with kids. He urges her to give up Negan, or things might not go so smooth. Jano ends up being shot by Perlie in the midst of things, after Negan saves him from a zombie. Outside, another marshal gets swarmed by walkers and eaten alive.

While Perlie’s aiming down on Negan he’s nearly attacked from behind by Maggie. They wrestle one another, but Perlie gets the upper hand, pinning Maggie to the floor with his rifle. He doesn’t seem to care that Maggie pleads about her son. But she’s able to beat him down and get free of his grip, knocking him unconscious. She’s almost ready to kill him when Negan reappears and they share a kind of knowing, understanding glance. Maggie and Negan still have to find a safe way to get out of that building, if one even exists. They find their way into a dark storage room somewhere, only to run into an old woman.
Across the city, The Croat has Hershel tied up, talking to him about Negan. Hershel is a tough cookie like his mom and dad. He’s not willing to talk with The Croat, who’s happy to go on talking about a fascination with Manhattan. The Croat pulls out a nasty blade, silently threatening the boy with it. Then he has to go deal with a man trying to escape his clutches. He demands info, but the escapee just keeps running, looking for a way out. The running man tries to zipline his way to freedom and The Croat snips the line, letting him plunge “twenty stories” into the street below.