Good news. Dead City getting a third season makes me wonder how this this season will force Maggie to continue any connection to Negan once the Croat/Bruegel storyline concludes.
Spoilers The Walking Dead: Dead City - Season 2
- Thread starter TREK_GOD_1
- Start date
Most logical direction based on the plot so far would be Negan and the Croat et al come to the mainland in S3 and attack New Babylon.
That's only speculation, nobody scream at me about spoilers.
That's only speculation, nobody scream at me about spoilers.
Interesting, but I have to question Negan not trying to plot against The Croat, now that he's used the latter to kill The Dama? Negan's family is still in jeopardy (assuming they're still alive), so one would think Negan would work overtime trying to get himself into a position to force The Croat into revealing the location of his of his family, then kill his former underling, rather than join some invasion party that runs he risk of getting himself killed, especially in NBF territory, where all would be on alert about this wanted murderer.
True enough. I was just thinking in broad terms of where the storyline could go, with this season about New Babylon trying to establish a presence in New York, a logical outgrowth of that would be the people of New York taking the fight to New Babylon. I didn't really think things through regarding Negan's family and why he would be involved with a hypothetical invasion.
The Walking Dead: Dead City
Season 2 - Episode 6 "Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days"
NEGAN / THE CROAT I: The Croat and Negan stand in The Dama’s room, looking at her charred remains. Agonizing to a degree, The Croat explains the conflict leading up to he woman’s death—and how he could have saved her with no risk to himself. The Croat notices a distinctive boot pattern across the dead rat’s body; Negan, quick to draw The Croat away from looking too deeply into the owner of the boot, asks what happens to him. The Croat reveals he’s received a message that Negan’s family will arrive by boat the next day, and that he’s welcome to stay.
The Croat is lost in thought, but overwhelmed by The Dama’s death. He stumbles out of her room, eventually sliding to the floor, finally accepting his part in the woman’s death, then laments the idea of Negan leaving, while he gets to stay. Negan asks the sensible question: why does he need to stay; lighting and protecting the city was The Dama’s goal—not The Croat’s. With The Dama dead, The Croat, explains Negan, gets clean slate…a fresh start.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL I: Maggie, Perlie, Hershel and Ginny are escorted through Central Park by Bruegel and his soldiers, still acting surprised that the quartet survived. Leading them to the museum, the four are locked in a storage room, granting the freedom to talk; Hershel wonders if Bruegel is all that bad, but Maggie reminds her son how friendly Bruegel was with The Croat. Her matter-of-fact reply bothers Hershel. Perlie agrees that they should head home at the first opportunity. Bruegel leads the quartet to the arena / dining area, trying to mix humor with promises and offers:
BRUEGEL (to Perlie): ”The colonization business. That’s your niche, isn’t it? It’s got it’s cons: the exploitation of natural resources…the annihilation of indigenous peoples’ way of life…but on the pro side, it’s got the exploitation of natural resources…the annihilation of indigenous people…I’m kidding Mm…half kidding.
Honestly? I’m all for it. There’s literally nothing I would like more than to be colonized by you. But there has to be something to exploit, right? What if I could give you what I’m guessing you’re already after? That’s right—the methane. I don’t have it yet, but I can get it from The Croat and Negan and those pesky little minions. And as a bonus, I will throw in the bloody extermination of every single one of them.”
MAGGIE: ”And we’re supposed to trust you? Because the last time I checked, you were pretty chummy with the Croat and Negan.”
BRUEGEL: ”Chummieness was necessary at the time. It now affords us the element of surprise. Have you ever seen the painting ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware--”
MAGGIE: ”Attack them yourself. And why do you even need us?”
PERLIE (answering Maggie): ”’Cause sooner or later, he’ll have to tussle with New Babylon.”
BRUEGEL: ”Gold Star. See? Everybody wins! Well, not everybody. Not the ones we’re gonna rob and kill, but you understand what I’m saying.”
PERLIE (shocking Maggie): ”We’ll think it over.”
BRUEGEL: ”Take all the time you need.”
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL II: Back in the storage room, Maggie grills Perlie about his willingness to trust Bruegel (who is already double-crossing The Croat), suggesting New Babylon chews people up, spits them out and plays games with them the same as Bruegel. Frustrated, Perlie asks Maggie for an option. She offers one, where they--without Bruegel—go after The Croat. Perlie cannot believe what he’s hearing, since Maggie wanted nothing more than to head back to the Bricks with Hershel, yet she’s willing to place him in harm’s way all to help Negan, a point which sends Ginny away in a huff, and burns an already angry Hershel. Perlie suggests tabling the discussion until the morning.
NEGAN / THE CROAT II: In the church, Negan continues the conversation with The Croat about leaving New York; The Croat is at first melancholic, then perks up thinking about going back to Croatia, even inviting Negan and his family along. Negan begs off of that idea, and casually rests one of his boots against a railing, with a pattern The Croat recognizes from the remains of The Dama’s pet rat…then, the truth dawns on him, leading the man to accuse Negan (in front of many of the Burazi) of planting the idea of the rat in his head, leading to the final conflict with The Dama. Reaching Lucille 2.0 before Negan, The Croat drops his former associate with blows to the arm and leg.
THE CROAT: ”You used me! Lied to me! Betrayed me! You were my brother! You hink The Dama is toxic? You are the toxic one!!”
The Croat activates the Taser / barbed wire wrap on the bat, preparing to deliver a painful beating death to Negan, but his would-be finishing swing is caught by Negan, who snatches the bat from him, Negan’s own swing finding its mark on The Croat’s shoulder. Negan then delivers a speech eerily similar to The Dama’s final rant at The Croat…
NEGAN: ”I SAVED you from her! You should be thanking me! You should be groveling! Everything that you are, all that you have built—your moat, your sanctuary, your whole goddamn persona IS BECAUSE OF ME!! Tell me I’m wrong! Call me a liar!!”
THE CROAT (backing away in fear): ”Its true. Everything. Everything I am today is because of you. You made me what I am” (SEE NOTES).
NEGAN: ”Go. And don’t ever come back.”’
THE CROAT (panting…fearful): ”Negan…please…no, no…Buraz—“
Hurt and shamed, The Croat backs away from Negan, aware that the Burazi no longer work for or listen to him. The Croat leaves the church, with Negan watching with a pained expression.
Later, Negan rests in his cell, feeling some guilt over his banishment of The Croat. Hearing a noise from a locked cell, he discovers the former New Babylon historian Pierce, who was locked in the cell without food for some time. Once released, Negan tells the man he’s free to go, but Pierce—having no survival skills whatsoever—does not know how he will ever return to the NBF. Negan speaks of his dislike of history, looking at Lucille 2.0 as a reminder of ancient history of his own, and his murderous methods of controlling others. He once thought he was saving others, but posits that the people needed to be saved from him.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL III: At the museum, Ginny attempts to clean her increasingly painful wound, hiding it when approached by Maggie, who tells the girl that no matter what happens, she is welcome to join them at the Bricks. Noticing the gun in Ginny’s bag, Maggie explains that her own history of wanting to kill Negan, but feared what she’d find on the “other side” (of herself) if she took his life. Thinking her life would not get better. Maggie wonders if things would have been better if she killed him early on and moved beyond it all. As a result, Maggie admits her Negan obsession has cost her much, and she sees that in Ginny, wanting to help her not fall into the same trap.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL IV: While Maggie, Ginny and Perlie sleep, Hershel sneaks out of the room, making his way to the arena room to collect blood from the Walkers chained to a wall. From there, the boy locates a water collection well, preparing to pour the infected blood into the water with the intention of killing Bruegel and all of his people (possibly for his twisted loyalty to The Dama) until Maggie stops him. Instead of explaining himself, Hershel marches off, but not before railing against his mother yet again:
HERSHEL: ”I’m leaving.”
MAGGIE: ”Are you going to her? Is that what this is? You poison those people? Kill them because they’re New Babylon now? Is that what she told you to do?”
HERSHEL: ”What?”
MAGGIE: ”When we were here before…I saw her. I thought that was over. I thought you were done helping her. Can’t you see what it is she is doing?”
HERSHEL: ”What do you care? You get what you want too, right? I stop them, Negan lives. You think I don’t see it? Tying yourself in knots all the time to... so you don’t have to say what it’s really about?”
MAGGIE: ”I don’t know what you’re talking about—“
HERSHEL: ”Stop lying!”
MAGGIE: ”It’s not the same as before. You don’t know what they’re doing to Negan.”
HERSHEL: ”Of course it’s the same!”
MAGGIE: ”Okay…well, it doesn’t matter, because tomorrow we’re gonna go home like we talked about, okay?”
HERSHEL: ”Home? That’s not home. That’s just what you call it. It’s just pretending like, like nothing’s wrong! Like we can go out hunting together, like we can sit there eating dinner together, but you’re not really there. Because you’ve never really been there. Like there hasn’t been this giant hole at the center of everything.”
Hershel violently pushes Maggie away from him, opens a side door to the woods…and comes face-to-face with a scarred grizzly bear (SEE NOTES). Although Maggie shuts the metal door, the charging bear dents the door nearly from its hinges. The animal breaks into the museum, while Maggie and her son race for shelter. Sending Hershel in another direction, Maggie runs into the arena room, where she’s followed by the bear. Acting quickly, Maggie releases the chained Walkers in the hope they provide as much opposition as a distraction, but the gamble had short-erm results, as the bear ripped the Walkers apart. Left to face the bear alone, Maggie tries hurling museum spears at the beast, completely missing it. The bear chases Maggie around the dining table, moving closer, until two knives hit the animal in its eyes. Maggie turns to see her son as the person behind the knife attacks, but the bear—operating off of scent—attempts to take a swing at Maggie, but impales itself on the arena fence.
MAGGIE / NEGAN: Hershel has disappeared out into the streets (SEE NOTES), with Maggie in pursuit. Startled by the streetlights coming to life, she turns to find herself at the church—just as and his Burazi minions emerge. Locking eyes, Maggie and Negan skip the formalities and get right to business:
NEGAN: ”I’m sorry that he’s not here. I wish he was for your sake. You sure he was running off to find The Dama?”
MAGGIE (dejected): ”Yes.”
NEGAN: ”Well, if it makes you feel any better, there was no one for Hershel to find. The Dama’s dead. Burned to death. It’s not his fault. You know, The Dama has this way of…reading people, you know? Getting into their heads and making them do things they wouldn’t normally do. And it’s not your fault either, Maggie. You know, I wasn’t lying about my situation. I just figured it out, is all.”
MAGGIE: ”You always do.”
NEGAN: ”Well, I won’t be stickin’ around for long.”
MAGGIE (terse, getting ready to leave): ”Just until you get your kid back.”
NEGAN (hesitating): ”King Francis Theatre. It’s the only place I can think of that Hershel might go, if he thought she was still alive.”
MAGGIE: ”45th and 6th. Bruegel’s coming for you. Planning some kind of ambush. Means to kill every last one of you. It should give you a couple of days head start.”
NEGAN (almost struggling to get it out): ”How is Ginny? Is she okay? I mean is she, uh…she settling in at all?”
MAGGIE (nods ).
NEGAN: ”You know, uh, Annie and Joshua are gonna be here soon. I’ve done a real good job of messing up their lives. I seem to have made a habit of it. What do I do? Do I tell them to stay? Do I go away with them? I mean, how can I promise her that it won’t happen again? I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
MAGGIE (staring semi-sympathetically).
NEGAN: ”Do you think the old times, the good times…do you think they really happened that way? Or is it just easier to remember them wrong?”
Maggie does not answer. Instead, she gathers her bag and leaves the church.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL V: Perlie examines the aftermath of the bear attack in the arena, and finds one of Hershel’s knives. Returning to Ginny, Perlie assumes Maggie and Hershel left the bear as some sort of “parting gift”. With two of the team gone, Perlie is unsure about his next decision.
NEGAN I: Sitting in the river-facing office that recently belonged to The Croat, Negan sees a boat crew helping Annie and Joshua onto the docks. Deeply breathing, Negan growls at one of the Burazi to take his family back to Tennessee, knowing he cannot have a life with them now—if ever, with the violence that is coming.
PERLIE / BRUEGEL: Perlie visits Bruegel, who is aware of Maggie and Hershel’s departure, and the likelihood that Maggie warned Perlie not to trust him. Perlie turns down Bruegel’s offer for an alliance, leading the gang leader to wax pseudo-philosophical about humanity’s ascension, fall and loving the game more than winning. While he is talking, the sound of a chained Walker growling can be heard behind the same curtain where Bruegel’s fake Walker champion was housed. The gambling leader plays a hand against Perlie:
BRUEGEL: ”So, you’re not worried about Negan? With the whole second wave. The big invasion? Your fellow countrymen are gonna get here, and who are they gonna find when they get to the church? Negan. Which shouldn’t’ be possible because you shot him dead.”
Perlie is alarmed that Bruegel somehow knows about the Negan death lie, just as the chained Walker seems more agitated….
BRUEGEL: ”Oh yeah. I heard all about it. The thrilling adventures of Marshal Armstrong. See, you weren’t the first ones that I found in the park. I was just so surprised to see how far she’d gotten, because she was fuckin crawling. She was all chewed up. She was bitten, I don’t know, five, ten, twenty times. But still lucid enough to talk treaties and alliances”
Bruegel grabs a candelabra, directing Perlie’s attention to the Walker noise; from behind the curtain…
BRUEGEL: ”And she told me all about you. Oh yeah, where to find you. And not to trust you, of course. The only thing she wasn’t quite clear on was how many days—well, minutes—she had left.”
The candle’s flickering light reveals the crawling, reanimated body of Navraez--parts of a foot chewed up, a forearm missing, and that cruel face living on after death. Perlie is left speechless, frowning at the disgusting spectacle and continued manipulation from Navraez.
BRUEGEL: ”Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to tattle. I’m trying to help: no Negan, no problem. Look, I’m gonna get the methane with your help, or without it. So you can go all in, or you can fold. But the thing is, you’re playing the game either way. You always are.”
With Navraez’s “services” reaching an end, Bruegel stabs the Walker in the head.
NEGAN / GINNY: Negan and the Burazi return to the church; Negan—emotionally torn--hangs back, standing against the entrance when he hears the cocking of a gun, Turning, he sees Ginny aiming her gun at Negan, who faces her, knowing Ginny’s motivation, yet accepting it. Ginny stares at Negan, but cannot pull the trigger. Suddenly, she collapses, but is caught…and gently cradled by Negan.
Brought to the cell chamber, Negan notices Ginny’s infected wound, and its implication. Negan appears to be a moment away from breaking down.
NOTES:
Alliances seem to change in every episode, and no matter which way the players move, Negan is usually the target.
As it stands:
The Croat – Despite being a sadistic creature, he’s also a lonely, shattered man, who was clinging to The Dama and his “brother”, Negan. Banished from the organization he created by Negan, its pretty clear he will figure prominently in the attack against Negan…but the teaser shows him working with Maggie, who is still trying to exercise her own Negan demons, but is no longer wanting to kill him (implied in her talk with Ginny).
Hershel – Just when it appeared the boy was leaving the gravitational pull of The Dama, he continues to do her bidding, going as far as attempting to murder Bruegel and his people with Walker-contaminated water. Add his violent physical rejection of his mother, and Hershel seems he’s at the point of no return. His railing against Maggie as a mother was a potent scene, but he fails to understand the magnitude of what Maggie experienced in that unforgettable line-up where her husband—his father—was brutally murdered. Rarely if ever does he stop to think what kind of burden his mother carries in her heart.
Now on the run, I do not hope he’s rescued, or shows up at the last minute with a changed set of ideological stripes.
Negan – He continues to be one of the best developed characters in fantasy media; to come from his former life as a soulless, murderous sexual predator to family man caught in the grip of a past life he cannot effectively escape is a brilliant, believable evolutionary turn for the character. How he navigates his emotional state after sending his family away, and taking care of an ill Ginny may be the greater test than the coming battle with Bruegel and The Croat.
Perlie – Caught in his own lie, he either aids Bruegel in killing Negan, or risk Bruegel informing the New Babylon forces that their colonel has essentially set them up to face a most dreaded killer he claimed to have executed. Knowing the constant implied threats the late Governor Byrd made against his daughters, if they are still in some sort of custody, their lives would be at risk if the NBF leadership believed Perlie was working against their interests all along.
GRADE: A+
Season 2 - Episode 6 "Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days"
NEGAN / THE CROAT I: The Croat and Negan stand in The Dama’s room, looking at her charred remains. Agonizing to a degree, The Croat explains the conflict leading up to he woman’s death—and how he could have saved her with no risk to himself. The Croat notices a distinctive boot pattern across the dead rat’s body; Negan, quick to draw The Croat away from looking too deeply into the owner of the boot, asks what happens to him. The Croat reveals he’s received a message that Negan’s family will arrive by boat the next day, and that he’s welcome to stay.
The Croat is lost in thought, but overwhelmed by The Dama’s death. He stumbles out of her room, eventually sliding to the floor, finally accepting his part in the woman’s death, then laments the idea of Negan leaving, while he gets to stay. Negan asks the sensible question: why does he need to stay; lighting and protecting the city was The Dama’s goal—not The Croat’s. With The Dama dead, The Croat, explains Negan, gets clean slate…a fresh start.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL I: Maggie, Perlie, Hershel and Ginny are escorted through Central Park by Bruegel and his soldiers, still acting surprised that the quartet survived. Leading them to the museum, the four are locked in a storage room, granting the freedom to talk; Hershel wonders if Bruegel is all that bad, but Maggie reminds her son how friendly Bruegel was with The Croat. Her matter-of-fact reply bothers Hershel. Perlie agrees that they should head home at the first opportunity. Bruegel leads the quartet to the arena / dining area, trying to mix humor with promises and offers:
BRUEGEL (to Perlie): ”The colonization business. That’s your niche, isn’t it? It’s got it’s cons: the exploitation of natural resources…the annihilation of indigenous peoples’ way of life…but on the pro side, it’s got the exploitation of natural resources…the annihilation of indigenous people…I’m kidding Mm…half kidding.
Honestly? I’m all for it. There’s literally nothing I would like more than to be colonized by you. But there has to be something to exploit, right? What if I could give you what I’m guessing you’re already after? That’s right—the methane. I don’t have it yet, but I can get it from The Croat and Negan and those pesky little minions. And as a bonus, I will throw in the bloody extermination of every single one of them.”
MAGGIE: ”And we’re supposed to trust you? Because the last time I checked, you were pretty chummy with the Croat and Negan.”
BRUEGEL: ”Chummieness was necessary at the time. It now affords us the element of surprise. Have you ever seen the painting ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware--”
MAGGIE: ”Attack them yourself. And why do you even need us?”
PERLIE (answering Maggie): ”’Cause sooner or later, he’ll have to tussle with New Babylon.”
BRUEGEL: ”Gold Star. See? Everybody wins! Well, not everybody. Not the ones we’re gonna rob and kill, but you understand what I’m saying.”
PERLIE (shocking Maggie): ”We’ll think it over.”
BRUEGEL: ”Take all the time you need.”
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL II: Back in the storage room, Maggie grills Perlie about his willingness to trust Bruegel (who is already double-crossing The Croat), suggesting New Babylon chews people up, spits them out and plays games with them the same as Bruegel. Frustrated, Perlie asks Maggie for an option. She offers one, where they--without Bruegel—go after The Croat. Perlie cannot believe what he’s hearing, since Maggie wanted nothing more than to head back to the Bricks with Hershel, yet she’s willing to place him in harm’s way all to help Negan, a point which sends Ginny away in a huff, and burns an already angry Hershel. Perlie suggests tabling the discussion until the morning.
NEGAN / THE CROAT II: In the church, Negan continues the conversation with The Croat about leaving New York; The Croat is at first melancholic, then perks up thinking about going back to Croatia, even inviting Negan and his family along. Negan begs off of that idea, and casually rests one of his boots against a railing, with a pattern The Croat recognizes from the remains of The Dama’s pet rat…then, the truth dawns on him, leading the man to accuse Negan (in front of many of the Burazi) of planting the idea of the rat in his head, leading to the final conflict with The Dama. Reaching Lucille 2.0 before Negan, The Croat drops his former associate with blows to the arm and leg.
THE CROAT: ”You used me! Lied to me! Betrayed me! You were my brother! You hink The Dama is toxic? You are the toxic one!!”
The Croat activates the Taser / barbed wire wrap on the bat, preparing to deliver a painful beating death to Negan, but his would-be finishing swing is caught by Negan, who snatches the bat from him, Negan’s own swing finding its mark on The Croat’s shoulder. Negan then delivers a speech eerily similar to The Dama’s final rant at The Croat…
NEGAN: ”I SAVED you from her! You should be thanking me! You should be groveling! Everything that you are, all that you have built—your moat, your sanctuary, your whole goddamn persona IS BECAUSE OF ME!! Tell me I’m wrong! Call me a liar!!”
THE CROAT (backing away in fear): ”Its true. Everything. Everything I am today is because of you. You made me what I am” (SEE NOTES).
NEGAN: ”Go. And don’t ever come back.”’
THE CROAT (panting…fearful): ”Negan…please…no, no…Buraz—“
Hurt and shamed, The Croat backs away from Negan, aware that the Burazi no longer work for or listen to him. The Croat leaves the church, with Negan watching with a pained expression.
Later, Negan rests in his cell, feeling some guilt over his banishment of The Croat. Hearing a noise from a locked cell, he discovers the former New Babylon historian Pierce, who was locked in the cell without food for some time. Once released, Negan tells the man he’s free to go, but Pierce—having no survival skills whatsoever—does not know how he will ever return to the NBF. Negan speaks of his dislike of history, looking at Lucille 2.0 as a reminder of ancient history of his own, and his murderous methods of controlling others. He once thought he was saving others, but posits that the people needed to be saved from him.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL III: At the museum, Ginny attempts to clean her increasingly painful wound, hiding it when approached by Maggie, who tells the girl that no matter what happens, she is welcome to join them at the Bricks. Noticing the gun in Ginny’s bag, Maggie explains that her own history of wanting to kill Negan, but feared what she’d find on the “other side” (of herself) if she took his life. Thinking her life would not get better. Maggie wonders if things would have been better if she killed him early on and moved beyond it all. As a result, Maggie admits her Negan obsession has cost her much, and she sees that in Ginny, wanting to help her not fall into the same trap.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL IV: While Maggie, Ginny and Perlie sleep, Hershel sneaks out of the room, making his way to the arena room to collect blood from the Walkers chained to a wall. From there, the boy locates a water collection well, preparing to pour the infected blood into the water with the intention of killing Bruegel and all of his people (possibly for his twisted loyalty to The Dama) until Maggie stops him. Instead of explaining himself, Hershel marches off, but not before railing against his mother yet again:
HERSHEL: ”I’m leaving.”
MAGGIE: ”Are you going to her? Is that what this is? You poison those people? Kill them because they’re New Babylon now? Is that what she told you to do?”
HERSHEL: ”What?”
MAGGIE: ”When we were here before…I saw her. I thought that was over. I thought you were done helping her. Can’t you see what it is she is doing?”
HERSHEL: ”What do you care? You get what you want too, right? I stop them, Negan lives. You think I don’t see it? Tying yourself in knots all the time to... so you don’t have to say what it’s really about?”
MAGGIE: ”I don’t know what you’re talking about—“
HERSHEL: ”Stop lying!”
MAGGIE: ”It’s not the same as before. You don’t know what they’re doing to Negan.”
HERSHEL: ”Of course it’s the same!”
MAGGIE: ”Okay…well, it doesn’t matter, because tomorrow we’re gonna go home like we talked about, okay?”
HERSHEL: ”Home? That’s not home. That’s just what you call it. It’s just pretending like, like nothing’s wrong! Like we can go out hunting together, like we can sit there eating dinner together, but you’re not really there. Because you’ve never really been there. Like there hasn’t been this giant hole at the center of everything.”
Hershel violently pushes Maggie away from him, opens a side door to the woods…and comes face-to-face with a scarred grizzly bear (SEE NOTES). Although Maggie shuts the metal door, the charging bear dents the door nearly from its hinges. The animal breaks into the museum, while Maggie and her son race for shelter. Sending Hershel in another direction, Maggie runs into the arena room, where she’s followed by the bear. Acting quickly, Maggie releases the chained Walkers in the hope they provide as much opposition as a distraction, but the gamble had short-erm results, as the bear ripped the Walkers apart. Left to face the bear alone, Maggie tries hurling museum spears at the beast, completely missing it. The bear chases Maggie around the dining table, moving closer, until two knives hit the animal in its eyes. Maggie turns to see her son as the person behind the knife attacks, but the bear—operating off of scent—attempts to take a swing at Maggie, but impales itself on the arena fence.
MAGGIE / NEGAN: Hershel has disappeared out into the streets (SEE NOTES), with Maggie in pursuit. Startled by the streetlights coming to life, she turns to find herself at the church—just as and his Burazi minions emerge. Locking eyes, Maggie and Negan skip the formalities and get right to business:
NEGAN: ”I’m sorry that he’s not here. I wish he was for your sake. You sure he was running off to find The Dama?”
MAGGIE (dejected): ”Yes.”
NEGAN: ”Well, if it makes you feel any better, there was no one for Hershel to find. The Dama’s dead. Burned to death. It’s not his fault. You know, The Dama has this way of…reading people, you know? Getting into their heads and making them do things they wouldn’t normally do. And it’s not your fault either, Maggie. You know, I wasn’t lying about my situation. I just figured it out, is all.”
MAGGIE: ”You always do.”
NEGAN: ”Well, I won’t be stickin’ around for long.”
MAGGIE (terse, getting ready to leave): ”Just until you get your kid back.”
NEGAN (hesitating): ”King Francis Theatre. It’s the only place I can think of that Hershel might go, if he thought she was still alive.”
MAGGIE: ”45th and 6th. Bruegel’s coming for you. Planning some kind of ambush. Means to kill every last one of you. It should give you a couple of days head start.”
NEGAN (almost struggling to get it out): ”How is Ginny? Is she okay? I mean is she, uh…she settling in at all?”
MAGGIE (nods ).
NEGAN: ”You know, uh, Annie and Joshua are gonna be here soon. I’ve done a real good job of messing up their lives. I seem to have made a habit of it. What do I do? Do I tell them to stay? Do I go away with them? I mean, how can I promise her that it won’t happen again? I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
MAGGIE (staring semi-sympathetically).
NEGAN: ”Do you think the old times, the good times…do you think they really happened that way? Or is it just easier to remember them wrong?”
Maggie does not answer. Instead, she gathers her bag and leaves the church.
MAGGIE / PERLIE / BRUEGEL V: Perlie examines the aftermath of the bear attack in the arena, and finds one of Hershel’s knives. Returning to Ginny, Perlie assumes Maggie and Hershel left the bear as some sort of “parting gift”. With two of the team gone, Perlie is unsure about his next decision.
NEGAN I: Sitting in the river-facing office that recently belonged to The Croat, Negan sees a boat crew helping Annie and Joshua onto the docks. Deeply breathing, Negan growls at one of the Burazi to take his family back to Tennessee, knowing he cannot have a life with them now—if ever, with the violence that is coming.
PERLIE / BRUEGEL: Perlie visits Bruegel, who is aware of Maggie and Hershel’s departure, and the likelihood that Maggie warned Perlie not to trust him. Perlie turns down Bruegel’s offer for an alliance, leading the gang leader to wax pseudo-philosophical about humanity’s ascension, fall and loving the game more than winning. While he is talking, the sound of a chained Walker growling can be heard behind the same curtain where Bruegel’s fake Walker champion was housed. The gambling leader plays a hand against Perlie:
BRUEGEL: ”So, you’re not worried about Negan? With the whole second wave. The big invasion? Your fellow countrymen are gonna get here, and who are they gonna find when they get to the church? Negan. Which shouldn’t’ be possible because you shot him dead.”
Perlie is alarmed that Bruegel somehow knows about the Negan death lie, just as the chained Walker seems more agitated….
BRUEGEL: ”Oh yeah. I heard all about it. The thrilling adventures of Marshal Armstrong. See, you weren’t the first ones that I found in the park. I was just so surprised to see how far she’d gotten, because she was fuckin crawling. She was all chewed up. She was bitten, I don’t know, five, ten, twenty times. But still lucid enough to talk treaties and alliances”
Bruegel grabs a candelabra, directing Perlie’s attention to the Walker noise; from behind the curtain…
BRUEGEL: ”And she told me all about you. Oh yeah, where to find you. And not to trust you, of course. The only thing she wasn’t quite clear on was how many days—well, minutes—she had left.”
The candle’s flickering light reveals the crawling, reanimated body of Navraez--parts of a foot chewed up, a forearm missing, and that cruel face living on after death. Perlie is left speechless, frowning at the disgusting spectacle and continued manipulation from Navraez.
BRUEGEL: ”Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to tattle. I’m trying to help: no Negan, no problem. Look, I’m gonna get the methane with your help, or without it. So you can go all in, or you can fold. But the thing is, you’re playing the game either way. You always are.”
With Navraez’s “services” reaching an end, Bruegel stabs the Walker in the head.
NEGAN / GINNY: Negan and the Burazi return to the church; Negan—emotionally torn--hangs back, standing against the entrance when he hears the cocking of a gun, Turning, he sees Ginny aiming her gun at Negan, who faces her, knowing Ginny’s motivation, yet accepting it. Ginny stares at Negan, but cannot pull the trigger. Suddenly, she collapses, but is caught…and gently cradled by Negan.
Brought to the cell chamber, Negan notices Ginny’s infected wound, and its implication. Negan appears to be a moment away from breaking down.
NOTES:
Alliances seem to change in every episode, and no matter which way the players move, Negan is usually the target.
As it stands:
The Croat – Despite being a sadistic creature, he’s also a lonely, shattered man, who was clinging to The Dama and his “brother”, Negan. Banished from the organization he created by Negan, its pretty clear he will figure prominently in the attack against Negan…but the teaser shows him working with Maggie, who is still trying to exercise her own Negan demons, but is no longer wanting to kill him (implied in her talk with Ginny).
Hershel – Just when it appeared the boy was leaving the gravitational pull of The Dama, he continues to do her bidding, going as far as attempting to murder Bruegel and his people with Walker-contaminated water. Add his violent physical rejection of his mother, and Hershel seems he’s at the point of no return. His railing against Maggie as a mother was a potent scene, but he fails to understand the magnitude of what Maggie experienced in that unforgettable line-up where her husband—his father—was brutally murdered. Rarely if ever does he stop to think what kind of burden his mother carries in her heart.
Now on the run, I do not hope he’s rescued, or shows up at the last minute with a changed set of ideological stripes.
Negan – He continues to be one of the best developed characters in fantasy media; to come from his former life as a soulless, murderous sexual predator to family man caught in the grip of a past life he cannot effectively escape is a brilliant, believable evolutionary turn for the character. How he navigates his emotional state after sending his family away, and taking care of an ill Ginny may be the greater test than the coming battle with Bruegel and The Croat.
Perlie – Caught in his own lie, he either aids Bruegel in killing Negan, or risk Bruegel informing the New Babylon forces that their colonel has essentially set them up to face a most dreaded killer he claimed to have executed. Knowing the constant implied threats the late Governor Byrd made against his daughters, if they are still in some sort of custody, their lives would be at risk if the NBF leadership believed Perlie was working against their interests all along.
GRADE: A+
That was thrilling. I mean the bear attack. I didn't expect that.
Finally, a monster, that is not of the human kind, shows up on the show. It was awesome.
Of course, it had me wondering if it was a zombie bear. Apparently other viewers were also wondering about that. Here's the answer: Was that a zombie bear attack on The Walking Dead: Dead City? .
As for the human monsters, so it appears that Negan is back on top, a big bad again. But maybe less bad and monstrous this time around.
It did look like Negan was choosing, or at least accepting, this path for himself rather than joining his family, leaving NYC, and living a different kind of life.
Negan's rise to power again made me think back to that scene in the confessional booth with Negan and the Croat in this season's first episode.
That scene has stuck in my head because it is funny and memorable. The Croat: "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. And sinned and sinned and sinned." That made me chuckle.
Btw, getting slightly off topic, that confessional booth scene reminded me of the movie Mass Appeal, a movie that Zeljko Ivanek starred in many years ago. He played a seminarian with unorthodox views, who was training to become a Catholic priest. It is an interesting movie, if anyone is interested.
Anyway, the Croat also went on to say to Negan:
"I have a surprise for you. ... Just like the original Lucille. ... Although I have added some, shall we say, improvements. ... After a long break, when a performer takes the stage again, he wants to try out new material. But in the end, all the audience really wants are the greatest hits."
In hindsight, I think that scene may have been intended to foreshadow Negan's return to preeminence. Negan is a changed man, but will he revert to his old ways?
In any case, it was a great episode.
Finally, a monster, that is not of the human kind, shows up on the show. It was awesome.
Of course, it had me wondering if it was a zombie bear. Apparently other viewers were also wondering about that. Here's the answer: Was that a zombie bear attack on The Walking Dead: Dead City? .
As for the human monsters, so it appears that Negan is back on top, a big bad again. But maybe less bad and monstrous this time around.
It did look like Negan was choosing, or at least accepting, this path for himself rather than joining his family, leaving NYC, and living a different kind of life.
Negan's rise to power again made me think back to that scene in the confessional booth with Negan and the Croat in this season's first episode.
That scene has stuck in my head because it is funny and memorable. The Croat: "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. And sinned and sinned and sinned." That made me chuckle.
Btw, getting slightly off topic, that confessional booth scene reminded me of the movie Mass Appeal, a movie that Zeljko Ivanek starred in many years ago. He played a seminarian with unorthodox views, who was training to become a Catholic priest. It is an interesting movie, if anyone is interested.
Anyway, the Croat also went on to say to Negan:
"I have a surprise for you. ... Just like the original Lucille. ... Although I have added some, shall we say, improvements. ... After a long break, when a performer takes the stage again, he wants to try out new material. But in the end, all the audience really wants are the greatest hits."
In hindsight, I think that scene may have been intended to foreshadow Negan's return to preeminence. Negan is a changed man, but will he revert to his old ways?
In any case, it was a great episode.
Y'all might want to skip this message until @TREK_GOD_1 posts his review, and zoom back up.
My quick thoughts.... in general, this "dream fever" of seeing people is getting to be a well worn trope , and generally don't think it's as effective anymore. Also, BOTH Maggie AND Negan having physicall issues in their journey? I get it being a parallel, but again, seems like we've done this before.
That said, with Negan, it was cool to see both Lucille (his real-life wife -- which could have been perfect for him to kiss her, despite the hallucinaiton) and Annie (Y'all got me thee -- last episode, might be have be "stunt double", but the real deal this time). WIth Lucille, though, didn't he say he was cheating on her before the Fall (but she still had cancer)? That did NOT get mentioned-- and should have.
And with ANnie being seen -- hope she features in the next episode somehow. I mean, she is an ACTUAL warrior, so she COULD have a role in this show.
Blanking out on thoughts on Maggie now...other than her wearing herself out and putting herself in danger. Was the heights things previous shown on the Walking Dead?
Zeljko Ivanek IS really good as the Croat... but just wondering exactly how they are using him. He was the "fake" threat last season (i.e. the repuation vs. reality)... definitely good moments with him , and sincerely NOT wanting Maggie to die...and his actions wound up bringing her to Herschel despite the deception
And the Dama did NOT die? Oy! Shades of Glenn's fake death. Seems like it OUGHT to be Croat vs. Dama.... maybe next season for that?
And is why is Negan regressing? Is he just putting on a show, to scare away New Babylon? I am assuming THAT is why he sent Annie away -- so she doesn't see the Negan of the Sanctuary. I am sure he told her.... but for her to see it for herself. I am sure he fears it would break her.
So is next season "Save Herschel" -- but from his mental state, rather than a (fake?) physical kidnapping?
My quick thoughts.... in general, this "dream fever" of seeing people is getting to be a well worn trope , and generally don't think it's as effective anymore. Also, BOTH Maggie AND Negan having physicall issues in their journey? I get it being a parallel, but again, seems like we've done this before.
That said, with Negan, it was cool to see both Lucille (his real-life wife -- which could have been perfect for him to kiss her, despite the hallucinaiton) and Annie (Y'all got me thee -- last episode, might be have be "stunt double", but the real deal this time). WIth Lucille, though, didn't he say he was cheating on her before the Fall (but she still had cancer)? That did NOT get mentioned-- and should have.
And with ANnie being seen -- hope she features in the next episode somehow. I mean, she is an ACTUAL warrior, so she COULD have a role in this show.
Blanking out on thoughts on Maggie now...other than her wearing herself out and putting herself in danger. Was the heights things previous shown on the Walking Dead?
Zeljko Ivanek IS really good as the Croat... but just wondering exactly how they are using him. He was the "fake" threat last season (i.e. the repuation vs. reality)... definitely good moments with him , and sincerely NOT wanting Maggie to die...and his actions wound up bringing her to Herschel despite the deception
And the Dama did NOT die? Oy! Shades of Glenn's fake death. Seems like it OUGHT to be Croat vs. Dama.... maybe next season for that?
And is why is Negan regressing? Is he just putting on a show, to scare away New Babylon? I am assuming THAT is why he sent Annie away -- so she doesn't see the Negan of the Sanctuary. I am sure he told her.... but for her to see it for herself. I am sure he fears it would break her.
So is next season "Save Herschel" -- but from his mental state, rather than a (fake?) physical kidnapping?
Since the actress was listed in the credits of last episode, it really was her and not a double or stand-in.
It had no relevance to this episode or the story they were telling.
The Walking Dead: Dead City
Season 2 - Episode 7 - ”Novi Dan, Novi Početak” (or ”A New Day, A New Beginning”)
MAGGIE / THE CROAT I: Maggie locates The Dama’s room, finding the charred corpse of the woman…and The Croat sitting in a chair next the body, staring as he plays a record warped by the heat of the fire. Maggie demands to know where Hershel is, and when met with denials and lack of enthusiasm from The Croat, Maggie threatens to cut him to pieces if he does not help her find the boy.
The Croat takes Maggie to the elevator apartment he furnished for Hershel. Maggie stares in disbelief at the bizarre lengths The Dama went to in order to do…what? Maggie accuses The Croat of amputating Hershel’s toe, but the man states it was Hershel who willingly gave her toe when she explained why she needed it. Maggie is let speechless at the twisted nature of it all.
The Croat mentions a safe house Hershel was told to retreat to if “shit hit the fan”, so of course, Maggie will want to go, but she’s warned about the unstable bridge between the building, along with the place being outfitted with deadly booby traps.
NEGAN / GINNY I: Negan tends to the unconscious Ginny; as he strokes her hair, he imagines his fingers pulling locks of her hair from her scalp, causing the girl to turn over to face him, only its his long dead wife Lucille, who lost her hair to her cancer treatments. This shocks Negan out of his nightmare, but the guilt he’s feeling for Lucille and Ginny lingers. Pierce brings towels and water to help clean Ginny’s wound, and is informed that once the girl recovers, she must go home. Negan’s mind is weighed down by his guilt, leading him to share his most personal story with Pierce:
NEGAN: ”My first wife, Lucille…she uh…she had cancer. And I was basically her stay-at-home nurse, you know? I would wake her up every morning and get her cleaned up, get her dressed… Toward the end, I was having to run machines and monitors. You know what intubation is?”
PIERCE: (looks blankly, indicating he does not know).
NEGAN: ”Yeah, me neither. Until I had to figure out a ventilator.”
PIERCE: ”Sounds like she was lucky to have you.”
NEGAN: ”No, see, I was a selfish piece of shit. I failed her. But God, man, He, um…gave me a second chance, you know? With a smart, sexy, takes-no-shit, grab-you-by-the-balls kind of gal. You know what I’m talking about? ”
PIERCE: ”Yeah.”
NEGAN: ”Annie. You know, we had a little boy. Biggest, brightest, mischievous grin you’ve ever seen. And when he laughs, oh my God, he could wake the…”
Catching the grim end to that expression, Negan stops himself.
NEGAN: ”I failed her. I failed them both. But God, He uh…He keeps giving me second chances, and I got no fucking idea why.”
Wondering where Pierce found a tube of burn ointment, he eventually learns (from the Burazi members) that a nurse once collected as many medical supplies as possible on the third floor operating room of Bellvue Hospital, although one of the Burazi warns that anyone ever attempting to find the drugs never comes back. Undaunted, Negan asks Pierce to monitor Ginny’s vitals as he heads to Bellvue.
MAGGIE / THE CROAT II: The Croat leads Maggie into the building; thanks to the destruction of several floors, the only way to the safe house is across a damaged bridge. Maggie begins to tense up due to her intense acrophobia; The Croat observes that the fear is not one of falling…but of the impulse to jump, or the idea of joining those who are no longer alive. Maggie listens, but does not offer a response to his theory.
Traversing the maze-like office cubicles and traps, Maggie finds herself growing dizzier by the moment—while fighting off Walkers. She passes out for some unstated time, and by the time she awakens, she finds The Croat repairing a flashlight (instead of doing something untoward); he recalls his childhood, where no one believed in his aptitude for engineering & science, all except his mother, who supported and protected him. He observes that Maggie’s relationship with Hershel is similar, and suggests she had a good mother.
Maggie opens up, explaining that her mother died when she was a child, which led her father to drink. The Croat responds by wondering if he will reunite with his mother once he makes the long trip back to Croatia.
Later, the pair reach the glass-bottomed bridge; The Croat tries to shake Maggie out of her fears by carefully walking across the partially cracked structure. Maggie—still overcome with fear—takes baby-steps forward, until she suffers another bout of vertigo, leaving her pressed against one of the bridge girders…just as Walkers attack her. Maggie fights off the creatures, but falls to the glass—her weight causing hairline cracks. Fearing she will fall through if she stands, Maggie slowly crawls toward the destination building…with a Walker grabbing her foot, which causes more cracks in the glass. The Croat returns, laying a weight-secured ladder down for Maggie to crawl on; the woman panics again, and while climbing on the ladder, the Walker’s weight shatters the glass, sending the creatures several stories down, while Maggie dangles in the air. Struggling, she pulls herself across the ladder and into the building.
NEGAN / GINNY II: Negan dodges several Walker obstacles as he climbs to Bellvue’s third floor. Entering one room, he is approached by a Walker child, but Negan cannot bring himself to kill the creature. Backing away, he stumbles, hitting the back of his head on a tray—knocking him out. Recovering, he finds the blow caused some bleeding and ringing in his ear. He finally locates the 3rd floor operating room…filled with standing, dormant Walker children. Carefully navigating through the Walkers, Negan finds the desired room, but his attention is caught by the sight of a figure scurrying about in the ceiling vents. The figure drops down holding a duffel bag, spots Negan and tears out of the room, past the Walker children with Negan hot on the person’s tail, finally tackling the stranger. Turning the person over, he’s met with the gaze of…Lucille (wearing one of her post-chemotherapy wigs). Negan can’t believe his eyes, but she seems so real—even to the touch—that he’s overwhelmed by the thought of her actually being there…which is replaced with guilt:
NEGAN: ”I’m sorry…I am so sorry.”
LUCILLE: ”You got me up every morning. You washed me.”
NEGAN: ”It wasn’t enough.”
LUCILLE (chuckling): ”You got me dressed…you undressed me.”
NEGAN (breaking up): ”It wasn’t enough.”
As “Lucille” studies him, the pain and ear-ringing flares up, and as he turns to face his 1st wife again, Lucille has been replaced by Annie.
ANNIE (teasing): ”It’s rude to stare, you know.”
NEGAN (chuckling): ”Annie.”
Their young son—Joshua—moves from behind his mother, as if to surprise Negan.
NEGAN: ”Dude!”
Negan’s first elated to see his soon, then sad for his recent decision to send his family away.
NEGAN: ”I failed you. I don’t know what to do. W-what do I do?”
Annie caresses Negan’s face, turning his head toward the entrance to another operating room. Annie and Joshua vanish as Negan realizes what Annie meant. The second Negan enters the room, he sets his eyes on a portable respirator machine. From a walkway above, he sees the image of Ginny, whistling to him, as if to acknowledge he’s found what she needs.
MAGGIE / THE CROAT III: The Croat leads Maggie to what appears to be the safe house within the business office; he picks up an old photo of a woman holding a baby, and a beautiful, ornate wooden box bearing the inscription:
”Kata Jurkovic
1936 – 1983”
Maggie realizes she’s been conned; this was not a safe house where she might find her son, but a place of personal importance to The Croat. Angrily lifting him by his collar, Maggie holds him so his upper body is hanging outside of a broken window. For his part, The Croat extends his arms in a crucifix-like manner, as if he’s ready for Maggie to send him falling to his death, admitting he returned to the room to say goodbye. Maggie accuses the Croat of wanting her to kill him because he’s too cowardly to do it himself. Looking at the wooden box, she realizes it likely contains the ashes of someone, and though angry, she pulls The Croat back into the room,
Looking down to the street, Maggie is overcome by a sense of hopelessness, and in that moment, she seems to be considering stepping off to bring an end to it all, as she feels she’s lost everything. The Croat pulls her back and gently places a hand on her shoulder.
That evening, he recalls the fate of his mother, with whom he was separated from when he was 12 years old. He goes on to detail how he was never able to return to his mother before she died, and how he often considered suicide by jumping from a window but never brought himself to do it. After arriving on the island, he wandered the streets of New York—spotted a candle in the window of a theatre, leading him to The Dama. The Croat does not blame The Dama for anything, as she helped him when he was suffering from emotional pain. Maggie looks across the nighttime cityscape, and notices a flashing light in one of the top floors of a building. Her hopes are raised, realizing that a familiar flashlight signal is being used…
NEGAN / GINNY III: Negan returns to Ginny, feeding a makeshift oxygen tube into her mouth; he warns Pierce that enemies are coming to kill everyone at the church, but the only way the girl has a chance for survival is to remain in the cell. Negan reasons that his past mistakes as a Savior was showing “mercy”, but now, he will be merciless, lining up Bruegel’s people and killing all of them. He asks the nebbish man get the Burazi ready…
MAGGIE / HERSHEL: Arriving at the shell formerly known as the New York Times building, The Croat decides to part ways with Maggie, telling her that this is about her son. He adds, ”Novi Dan, Novi Početak”, or ”A New Day, A new beginning”—a line that will soon take on several meanings.
Maggie finds her way to the floor where Hershel was using the signal. The two are reunited, making apologies for their bad relations of late. Hershel cryptically promises everything’s going to work out, and at that moment, a pale, bloody Dama marches up to Maggie, rendering her unconscious with a blunt object…
NOTES:
The Croat – he’s received more character development in this one episode than at any previous point in the series, and its quite fascinating. He’s a broken man, always seeking the company and/or approval of others, including the man who once tried to kill him (Negan), during the Sanctuary era). As noted in the E6 review, the Croat will always be a sadistic monster, and I would not be surprised if he was in on the now apparently manufactured “dead Dama” scheme, probably saving her (as opposed to what he told Negan) to restore his position of power in their organization, and what better way to please her than luring one of the key threats to The Dama—and her bizarre relationship with Hershel.
Maggie and Hershel – the showrunners have not let up on selling Hershel as a deceptive, untrustworthy boy. Frankly, he’s a villain at this point, as there’s no way an inexperienced boy is secretly plotting to take down the Dama / Burazi and Negan. Maggie’s guilt over not fully being there for him as a mother is justified, but she—by now—should be reaching the point where she’s seeing the hopelessness in her violent, threatening son, Yeah, yeah, I realize the showrunners will not have her throw her hands up and abandon him, but he’s plotted against her, with the attack on the boat coming close to killing her; he’s slapped her hands away and essentially denied her ever being his mother, and now, he’s lured his mother into a potentially lethal trap, starting with her being physically assaulted again. Hershel might’ve reached The Lizzie Zone of being too far gone in world where there’s no existing psychiatric care to help him.
Negan – Next to no other character will see it, but Negan is a somewhat changed, tormented man; his hallucination of Lucille, Annie and Joshua—his feeling that he failed them all is his turning point—where he’s almost returning to the man he was pre-ZA. I emphasize almost because he will channel his Savior side in the season finale, and if that is the only side of himself that keeps him, his family and Ginny alive, its possible he'll conclude that his fate—no matter how much he tries to change—is the Savior personality, even as he believes God continues to give him second chances.
GRADE: A+
NEXT: Dead City’s second season finale, where the teaser shows Maggie picking up a blood covered Lucille 2.0, Perlie attacking Bruegel, Negan fighting a man who appeared to be Perlie, and The Dama talking about how long she’s wanted to see Maggie. I do hope there are no shock deaths in the finale; so many characters (those with no series/plot armor) have been well-developed to the point that the series would certainly lose something if they were killed off (similar to killing off Isabel on (Daryl Dixon).
Season 2 - Episode 7 - ”Novi Dan, Novi Početak” (or ”A New Day, A New Beginning”)
MAGGIE / THE CROAT I: Maggie locates The Dama’s room, finding the charred corpse of the woman…and The Croat sitting in a chair next the body, staring as he plays a record warped by the heat of the fire. Maggie demands to know where Hershel is, and when met with denials and lack of enthusiasm from The Croat, Maggie threatens to cut him to pieces if he does not help her find the boy.
The Croat takes Maggie to the elevator apartment he furnished for Hershel. Maggie stares in disbelief at the bizarre lengths The Dama went to in order to do…what? Maggie accuses The Croat of amputating Hershel’s toe, but the man states it was Hershel who willingly gave her toe when she explained why she needed it. Maggie is let speechless at the twisted nature of it all.
The Croat mentions a safe house Hershel was told to retreat to if “shit hit the fan”, so of course, Maggie will want to go, but she’s warned about the unstable bridge between the building, along with the place being outfitted with deadly booby traps.
NEGAN / GINNY I: Negan tends to the unconscious Ginny; as he strokes her hair, he imagines his fingers pulling locks of her hair from her scalp, causing the girl to turn over to face him, only its his long dead wife Lucille, who lost her hair to her cancer treatments. This shocks Negan out of his nightmare, but the guilt he’s feeling for Lucille and Ginny lingers. Pierce brings towels and water to help clean Ginny’s wound, and is informed that once the girl recovers, she must go home. Negan’s mind is weighed down by his guilt, leading him to share his most personal story with Pierce:
NEGAN: ”My first wife, Lucille…she uh…she had cancer. And I was basically her stay-at-home nurse, you know? I would wake her up every morning and get her cleaned up, get her dressed… Toward the end, I was having to run machines and monitors. You know what intubation is?”
PIERCE: (looks blankly, indicating he does not know).
NEGAN: ”Yeah, me neither. Until I had to figure out a ventilator.”
PIERCE: ”Sounds like she was lucky to have you.”
NEGAN: ”No, see, I was a selfish piece of shit. I failed her. But God, man, He, um…gave me a second chance, you know? With a smart, sexy, takes-no-shit, grab-you-by-the-balls kind of gal. You know what I’m talking about? ”
PIERCE: ”Yeah.”
NEGAN: ”Annie. You know, we had a little boy. Biggest, brightest, mischievous grin you’ve ever seen. And when he laughs, oh my God, he could wake the…”
Catching the grim end to that expression, Negan stops himself.
NEGAN: ”I failed her. I failed them both. But God, He uh…He keeps giving me second chances, and I got no fucking idea why.”
Wondering where Pierce found a tube of burn ointment, he eventually learns (from the Burazi members) that a nurse once collected as many medical supplies as possible on the third floor operating room of Bellvue Hospital, although one of the Burazi warns that anyone ever attempting to find the drugs never comes back. Undaunted, Negan asks Pierce to monitor Ginny’s vitals as he heads to Bellvue.
MAGGIE / THE CROAT II: The Croat leads Maggie into the building; thanks to the destruction of several floors, the only way to the safe house is across a damaged bridge. Maggie begins to tense up due to her intense acrophobia; The Croat observes that the fear is not one of falling…but of the impulse to jump, or the idea of joining those who are no longer alive. Maggie listens, but does not offer a response to his theory.
Traversing the maze-like office cubicles and traps, Maggie finds herself growing dizzier by the moment—while fighting off Walkers. She passes out for some unstated time, and by the time she awakens, she finds The Croat repairing a flashlight (instead of doing something untoward); he recalls his childhood, where no one believed in his aptitude for engineering & science, all except his mother, who supported and protected him. He observes that Maggie’s relationship with Hershel is similar, and suggests she had a good mother.
Maggie opens up, explaining that her mother died when she was a child, which led her father to drink. The Croat responds by wondering if he will reunite with his mother once he makes the long trip back to Croatia.
Later, the pair reach the glass-bottomed bridge; The Croat tries to shake Maggie out of her fears by carefully walking across the partially cracked structure. Maggie—still overcome with fear—takes baby-steps forward, until she suffers another bout of vertigo, leaving her pressed against one of the bridge girders…just as Walkers attack her. Maggie fights off the creatures, but falls to the glass—her weight causing hairline cracks. Fearing she will fall through if she stands, Maggie slowly crawls toward the destination building…with a Walker grabbing her foot, which causes more cracks in the glass. The Croat returns, laying a weight-secured ladder down for Maggie to crawl on; the woman panics again, and while climbing on the ladder, the Walker’s weight shatters the glass, sending the creatures several stories down, while Maggie dangles in the air. Struggling, she pulls herself across the ladder and into the building.
NEGAN / GINNY II: Negan dodges several Walker obstacles as he climbs to Bellvue’s third floor. Entering one room, he is approached by a Walker child, but Negan cannot bring himself to kill the creature. Backing away, he stumbles, hitting the back of his head on a tray—knocking him out. Recovering, he finds the blow caused some bleeding and ringing in his ear. He finally locates the 3rd floor operating room…filled with standing, dormant Walker children. Carefully navigating through the Walkers, Negan finds the desired room, but his attention is caught by the sight of a figure scurrying about in the ceiling vents. The figure drops down holding a duffel bag, spots Negan and tears out of the room, past the Walker children with Negan hot on the person’s tail, finally tackling the stranger. Turning the person over, he’s met with the gaze of…Lucille (wearing one of her post-chemotherapy wigs). Negan can’t believe his eyes, but she seems so real—even to the touch—that he’s overwhelmed by the thought of her actually being there…which is replaced with guilt:
NEGAN: ”I’m sorry…I am so sorry.”
LUCILLE: ”You got me up every morning. You washed me.”
NEGAN: ”It wasn’t enough.”
LUCILLE (chuckling): ”You got me dressed…you undressed me.”
NEGAN (breaking up): ”It wasn’t enough.”
As “Lucille” studies him, the pain and ear-ringing flares up, and as he turns to face his 1st wife again, Lucille has been replaced by Annie.
ANNIE (teasing): ”It’s rude to stare, you know.”
NEGAN (chuckling): ”Annie.”
Their young son—Joshua—moves from behind his mother, as if to surprise Negan.
NEGAN: ”Dude!”
Negan’s first elated to see his soon, then sad for his recent decision to send his family away.
NEGAN: ”I failed you. I don’t know what to do. W-what do I do?”
Annie caresses Negan’s face, turning his head toward the entrance to another operating room. Annie and Joshua vanish as Negan realizes what Annie meant. The second Negan enters the room, he sets his eyes on a portable respirator machine. From a walkway above, he sees the image of Ginny, whistling to him, as if to acknowledge he’s found what she needs.
MAGGIE / THE CROAT III: The Croat leads Maggie to what appears to be the safe house within the business office; he picks up an old photo of a woman holding a baby, and a beautiful, ornate wooden box bearing the inscription:
”Kata Jurkovic
1936 – 1983”
Maggie realizes she’s been conned; this was not a safe house where she might find her son, but a place of personal importance to The Croat. Angrily lifting him by his collar, Maggie holds him so his upper body is hanging outside of a broken window. For his part, The Croat extends his arms in a crucifix-like manner, as if he’s ready for Maggie to send him falling to his death, admitting he returned to the room to say goodbye. Maggie accuses the Croat of wanting her to kill him because he’s too cowardly to do it himself. Looking at the wooden box, she realizes it likely contains the ashes of someone, and though angry, she pulls The Croat back into the room,
Looking down to the street, Maggie is overcome by a sense of hopelessness, and in that moment, she seems to be considering stepping off to bring an end to it all, as she feels she’s lost everything. The Croat pulls her back and gently places a hand on her shoulder.
That evening, he recalls the fate of his mother, with whom he was separated from when he was 12 years old. He goes on to detail how he was never able to return to his mother before she died, and how he often considered suicide by jumping from a window but never brought himself to do it. After arriving on the island, he wandered the streets of New York—spotted a candle in the window of a theatre, leading him to The Dama. The Croat does not blame The Dama for anything, as she helped him when he was suffering from emotional pain. Maggie looks across the nighttime cityscape, and notices a flashing light in one of the top floors of a building. Her hopes are raised, realizing that a familiar flashlight signal is being used…
NEGAN / GINNY III: Negan returns to Ginny, feeding a makeshift oxygen tube into her mouth; he warns Pierce that enemies are coming to kill everyone at the church, but the only way the girl has a chance for survival is to remain in the cell. Negan reasons that his past mistakes as a Savior was showing “mercy”, but now, he will be merciless, lining up Bruegel’s people and killing all of them. He asks the nebbish man get the Burazi ready…
MAGGIE / HERSHEL: Arriving at the shell formerly known as the New York Times building, The Croat decides to part ways with Maggie, telling her that this is about her son. He adds, ”Novi Dan, Novi Početak”, or ”A New Day, A new beginning”—a line that will soon take on several meanings.
Maggie finds her way to the floor where Hershel was using the signal. The two are reunited, making apologies for their bad relations of late. Hershel cryptically promises everything’s going to work out, and at that moment, a pale, bloody Dama marches up to Maggie, rendering her unconscious with a blunt object…
NOTES:
The Croat – he’s received more character development in this one episode than at any previous point in the series, and its quite fascinating. He’s a broken man, always seeking the company and/or approval of others, including the man who once tried to kill him (Negan), during the Sanctuary era). As noted in the E6 review, the Croat will always be a sadistic monster, and I would not be surprised if he was in on the now apparently manufactured “dead Dama” scheme, probably saving her (as opposed to what he told Negan) to restore his position of power in their organization, and what better way to please her than luring one of the key threats to The Dama—and her bizarre relationship with Hershel.
Maggie and Hershel – the showrunners have not let up on selling Hershel as a deceptive, untrustworthy boy. Frankly, he’s a villain at this point, as there’s no way an inexperienced boy is secretly plotting to take down the Dama / Burazi and Negan. Maggie’s guilt over not fully being there for him as a mother is justified, but she—by now—should be reaching the point where she’s seeing the hopelessness in her violent, threatening son, Yeah, yeah, I realize the showrunners will not have her throw her hands up and abandon him, but he’s plotted against her, with the attack on the boat coming close to killing her; he’s slapped her hands away and essentially denied her ever being his mother, and now, he’s lured his mother into a potentially lethal trap, starting with her being physically assaulted again. Hershel might’ve reached The Lizzie Zone of being too far gone in world where there’s no existing psychiatric care to help him.
Negan – Next to no other character will see it, but Negan is a somewhat changed, tormented man; his hallucination of Lucille, Annie and Joshua—his feeling that he failed them all is his turning point—where he’s almost returning to the man he was pre-ZA. I emphasize almost because he will channel his Savior side in the season finale, and if that is the only side of himself that keeps him, his family and Ginny alive, its possible he'll conclude that his fate—no matter how much he tries to change—is the Savior personality, even as he believes God continues to give him second chances.
GRADE: A+
NEXT: Dead City’s second season finale, where the teaser shows Maggie picking up a blood covered Lucille 2.0, Perlie attacking Bruegel, Negan fighting a man who appeared to be Perlie, and The Dama talking about how long she’s wanted to see Maggie. I do hope there are no shock deaths in the finale; so many characters (those with no series/plot armor) have been well-developed to the point that the series would certainly lose something if they were killed off (similar to killing off Isabel on (Daryl Dixon).
Regarding the "dream fever", I believe Negan's guilt caused hallucinations. If you recall, he started off the episode telling Pierce he failed Lucille, so this has weighed hevily on his mind for some time, and now that guilt has intensified with his decision to send Annie and Joshua away. The episode might suggest his head injury caused his visions, but enough regarding Negan's guilt has been explored that he could simply be suffering from a hallucination, much like Rick imagined he saw an approaching Shane during the rescue mission at Woodbury (TWD / S3 / E9 - "The Suicide King"), an obvious guilt-induced experience.
If he cheated, if memory serves, it would have been before she received that diagnosis.
As much as I would like to see Annie in the series, I feel her presence on the island would place her in the plot danger zone (especially as a mother).
I cannot recall her acrophobia being mentioned before. That said, if she was never in a physical position to have that psychological issue triggered, she (and the various writers) would not mention it. She had no problem occupying the prison guard tower, so her issues must be exceptionally high locations.
Unlike Glenn, Nicholas and the dumpster suggestion of a death / cliffhanger, I'm believing The Croat helped The Dama after all, and simply lied to Negan--and everyone else--that she burned to death, all to get back into her good graces / seat of power.
Annie and Joshua would be placed in unnecessary danger being anywhere on the island (whther they witnessed Negan's theatrics or not), so it was wise to send them away.
He clearly has psychological issues, but I would not want to see some makeshift / untrained attempt to straighten him out,since no such methods exist in the ZA world (see: Lizzie), and it would be too convenient to give him a free pass thanks to "stress" or feelings of abandonment. There should not be an easy resolution to the Hershel plot.
They have started pre-production but it has not been announced that it has been approved yet.
I find that odd. They have already announced season 4 of Dixon. I am a little worried.
They're probably waiting for Comic Con.
The Walking Dead: Dead City
Season 2 - Episode 8 - ”If History Were a Conflagration” – Season 2 Finale
MAGGIE / THE DAMA / HERSHEL I: Maggie awakens to find her wrists and ankles bound by wire tethers running behind a wall. She attempts to free herself with a file cabinet’s key, but this is noticed by The Dama, who threatens to punish someone else is she does not hand over the key. The Dama pulls Maggie’s emotional triggers by reminding her of all she’s lost—her mother, father, sister…and husband, the latter at the hands of Negan. The Dama goes on and on, manipulating an already confused Maggie into believing killing Negan is something only she can do, and once accomplished, it will break her out of her stagnant, depressive state and finally begin to live a life with her son again. Later, Hershel visits his mother and parrots every string-pulling line used by The Dama, with not a care about the damage he’s inflicting on a teary-eyed Maggie. As Maggie is set free to go on her kill mission, The Dama and Hershel watch Maggie leave-- both smiling with twisted satisfaction
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL I: As Negan watches over Ginny (still supported by the respirator) Pierce alerts Negan that he’s needed upstairs, as preparations are underway for the comic fight. Though Pierce states his support of Negan, his cowardly ways will only take him as far as standing with Negan in spirit.
At the museum, Bruegel and his people prepare for the meeting with Negan and his Burazi; Perlie takes notice of what was Ginny’s bed and confronts Bruegel about her whereabouts. Bruegel is typically evasive, except to say Ginny pursued Maggie and Hershel. Perlie sees through Bruegel’s story, putting a knife to his throat, demanding to know what happened to Ginny; Bruegel claims she came to him, saying she would kill Negan, but would not get there due to her declining health, so Bruegel gave her a ride to the church. Perlie is incensed:
PERLIE: ”You don’t know what you’ve done!”
BRUEGEL: ”Well. Clearly, sh-she didn’t pull it off, right?”
PERLIE: ”’Cause she doesn’t want to kill him! She’s confused! It’s not…that’s not what its about!”
BRUEGEL: ”Well—well, what’s it about? Is she like his kid or something?”
Perlie tries not to register what he’s thinking, but…
BRUEGEL: ”See the look on your face!”
Bruegel breaks free by cutting across Perlie’s wrist with his watch blade, forcing Perlie to drop his knife—
BRUEGEL: ”I knew Negan mattered to her! And now, thanks to you, I know she matters to him! So if things go sideways for us, she’s our insurance!”
PERLIE: ”You touch her, and I swear to God that’ll be the last thing you do!“
BRUEGEL: ”I’m not saying it needs to go down that way! I hope it doesn’t, truly! See?
This is fun. It’s what I’m talking about! You know what else, on top of everything? I learned something new about you. Behind all this gruff cowboy act, you’re a softie!”
PERLIE: ”I learned something about you, too.”
BRUEGEL (smug): ”Yeah.”
Perlie watches Bruegel walk away, not knowing what he should do next, but he has no choice (just as Bruegel predicted in E6)—he has to join Bruegel’s convoy to the church if he’s to have any chance of helping Ginny.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL II: Bruegel and his war party—with an armored Perlie in tow—reach the church and are welcomed in…after they’re ordered to leave their weapons at the door. The jovial Bruegel has his people push in a heavy, 13th century statue of Mary holding the infant Jesus as a “housewarming” gift to Negan and the Burazi. Negan has his own gift for Bruegel and his crew: a massive table covered in food as a token of their coming partnership against New Babylon. Bruegel is immediately suspicious, saying he and his people already had a mean, and will allow Negan & company eat without them. Negan chuckles at the implication that he poisoned or contaminated the food, and takes a few bites to prove the food is safe.
Perlie notices several pews are covered in some sort of chemical, which sets off his internal alarms.
Seeing Negan and company eat without falling over like a pesticide-soaked cockroach, does not sway Bruegel and his people from passing on the meal. Without warning, Negan & the Burazi flip over the massive table, revealing over a dozen Walkers spilling out, hungry for anyone in sight. On command, one of Negan’s flamethrower guards shoots a burst of flame at the chemical-covered pews, which form a fiery barrier around Bruegel’s people—leaving them as trapped meals. As the
Walkers feast on Bruegel’s people, Negan grins at the horror, until Bruegel yells to Perlie, ”Statue!!”—the cue for Perlie to push the heavy sculpture over, causing it to break at its base, where a large number of weapons were stored.
His joy ripped away, Negan watches Perlie toss weapons to Bruegel and his remaining crew, who kill Walkers—and some of the Burazi. Bruegel arms himself with a flamethrower, and nearly incinerates the fleeing Negan.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL III: Bruegel—still armed with the flamethrower—enters the underground cells calling for Ginny when Perlie attacks and disarms him. Bruegel screams ”What?!?” as if there should not be any question about his trying to murder a child, but before Perlie can answer, they are surrounded by the Burazi…and Negan, carrying Lucille 2.0. Panicking, Bruegel wastes no time blaming Perlie, saying he forced his group to attack, and has 50 New Babylon soldiers hiding in the park. He goes on to offer a partnership which would defeat New Babylon, and ultimately use the methane to restore the Old World.
Unbeknownst to the players in the cell, Maggie has been waiting for her opportunity to kill Negan, but she suffers from her unhealed psychological trauma as Negan orders Bruegel and Perlie on their knees as he recites the ”Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo” nursery rhyme game in order to pick his first victim.
Negan ends the nursery rhyme on Perlie, who struggles to break free of the Burazi. Frightened to the core, Bruegel continues to mention the methane—a bad tactic, as it’s the one subject Negan is long past caring about. Asking Bruegel if he wants the methane that bad, Negan pulls a methane hose from a lamp and shoves it into Bruegel’s throat, forcing him to inhale the gas—the reaction being his eyes losing color & convulsions.
Negan grabs a torch and shoves it into Bruegel’s face, igniting the gas, which sends flames from his mouth as his entire swelling head glows from being cooked from within. Bruegel falls dead to the ground as a grinning Negan beats the man’s head to a pulp.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL IV: Assuming he’s next, Perlie’s fear gives his a burst of energy to break free of the Burazi, but Negan casually pursues him into the methane tank room, taunting him about the missed opportunities he’s had to kill him. Maggie quickly kills Negan’s guards and follows his voice…
Perlie finds a loose lead pipe and engages in a painful “duel” with Negan and Lucille 2.0; despite his training, somehow, Perlie is knocked to the ground—disarmed. He tries to reason with Negan one last time:
PERLIE: ”Whatever you think you saw, its not like that. I was protecting her.”
NEGAN: ”Maybe, but see, I am so fucking sick of maybes!”
Negan raises Lucille over his head, poised to deliver a killing blow to Perlie when Maggie sneaks up behind him and drives a knife into his right flank; Negan grunts in pain, drops Lucille 2.0 and stumbles away. Maggie grabs the bat and marches after the man. Returning to the cells, Negan collapses to the ground, slowly crawling through excruciating pain, all to get to Ginny before he dies. Maggie (with Perlie joining her) is ready to kill Negan until they hear the sound of a respirator…and catch sight of one discolored arm reaching out at nothing. Negan crawls forward, almost hoping what he’s seeing is not that which cannot be denied—
NEGAN: ”No! No! Ginny!”
MAGGIE (almost whispering): ”Ginny…”
NEGAN (crying): ”Ginny…no! Nooo! No…no…”
Ginny has died. Her reanimated form presses against the locked cell door—instinctively, one hand reaches out for her first meal. The girl’s clouded, yellow eyes stare into Maggie’s eyes, but not with the typical ferocity of other Walkers. Neither Maggie or Perlie say anything about so tragic a sight, but Maggie slowly pulls out a knife, and in that moment, one wonders if its for Ginny…or to finish off Negan. The knife is for Ginny, only Negan cannot bear to see the child put down at that moment:
NEGAN (crying & gasping): ”No…no…Ginny…”
Maggie—for the first time since meeting Negan—takes pity on him, gently handing him the knife. Negan and Walker-Ginny state at each other, with the girl seemingly trying to recognize him. As Negan briefly caresses her face, he shoves the knife into her head. Ginny drops to the floor while Maggie places a comforting hand on Negan’s arm.
MAGGIE / NEGAN / PERLIE II: Maggie leads Perlie (supporting Negan) into some 4th floor lounge; Perlie does not give Negan a choice about his need for medical care as he pulls the knife from Negan’s flank, and forced gauze in the wound. Negan’s real pain is the loss he just suffered, but the specifics of what he’s saying resonate with Maggie’s own parental situation:
NEGAN: ”I was so busy looking out for her…thinking I was looking out for her. I missed it. I just…I just missed it. And now…now she died. She died alone.”
MAGGIE / HERSHEL: Maggie returns to the NYT building to speak with her son. Maggie’s demeanor already tips Hershel off that she did not kill Negan, or more importantly, failed to do The Dama’s bidding. Typical of the boy, he growls at Maggie that she failed to keep her promise to kill Negan so they could move on. Maggie calmly replies that they were wrong: killing Negan would only make their lives worse. Hershel angrily barks at Maggie to keep her distance, adding that he—and The Dama—will get ”there” together. Maggie promises that she will always be there for him, and won’t leave the city. Hershel, snarling and pouting, does not fully process what she’s said, and marches off, leaving his sobbing mother alone.
MAGGIE / NEGAN / PERLIE II: Maggie returns to Negan and Perlie. All sit defeated in silence, until their attention is turned to the streets, where entire companies of the second wave of New Babylon soldiers march in formation, Negan’s resigned to the fact New Babylon will get the methane—and more power than ever before. Maggie wonders where do they go from there, and Perlie answers her, repeating the relevant part of the last conversation Roksana had with him:
PERLIE: ”Walking through the woods, a man comes to a fork in his path. To go left is to go home—his past. To go right is to go out into the unknown—his future. He knows his past. It’s comforting. But will it be like he remembers? And his future is full of possibilities, but what if he gets lost? Which way does he go? He goes left…”
Maggie takes over the speech, as New Babylon soldiers raid the methane plant…with Pierce comfortably moving along with them--
MAGGIE: ”…back home, to the way things were. But all that’s waiting for him is an old story that hurts too much to remember…”
Negan takes over the speech…while The Dama and Hershel watch the NBF from a rooftop--
NEGAN: ”…so he goes right, but there’s nothing there for him, either. ‘cause what’s the future without the past? What’s an ending without that old story?”
MAGGIE: ”The truth is there is only one way forward. One way to move on. (Negan looks to Maggie) ”We gotta work through what was.”
NEGAN (VO scenes of his series conflicts with Maggie): ”To get to what will be. It’s a path that’s hard and rough. All uphill. We keep thinking we’ll never make it.”
MAGGIE: ”Sometimes we see where we’re headed. We catch a glimpse of the mountaintop. Its so beautiful—it takes our breath away.”
NEGAN: ”But then, we lose our footing.”
MAGGIE: ”We tumble backwards”
NEGAN: ”…right back to the bottom.”
MAGGIE: ”So that it feels like we’ll never get up again.”
NEGAN: ”But we do. We help each other up.”
MAGGIE: ”…and the path becomes much clearer now.”
NEGAN: ”We move on.”
MAGGIE: ”Together.”
MAGGIE & NEGAN: ”And we get there.”
A skyline shot of New York brings the second season to a close, but there's no easy or clear answers for the future of the main characters, as they are all fugitives from one group or another.
NOTES:
Interesting developments: it appears The Croat did not substitute The Dama with a burned Walker (as I theorized in the E7 review) —The Dama did it herself. Some explanation is required for the way she survived being consumed by flames the last time The Croat saw her. Even if she were fortunate enough to unpin herself from the table, she suffered significant burns in a world where no professional level burn care exists, yet all anyone can see is evidence of burned hair, inflamed skin on the left side of her neck.
Regarding The Croat, E7 might have been his last episode, and perhaps that’s a fitting departure for a character now wistful about his homeland and memories of his late mother than building a methane city empire.
For The Trio (Maggie, Negan and Perlie), where do they go from here? Maggie promised Hershel she would remain in the city, but the end of this season finale has her feeling like the New Babylon takeover leaves her no options to stay.
Then, there’s Perlie, who still has daughters back at one of the NB territories—how can he reunite with them (assuming they’re alive) when its possible Perlie was always working only to prevent Governor Byrd from harming them? Despite Perlie’s official promotion to colonel, did that have any weight with the entire New Babylon administrative or law enforcement organization, enough for Perlie to retrieve his daughters? If not, and Narvaez somehow contacted the mainland, warning them to prevent Perlie from ever gaining custody of his kids, he is sort of in a boat without a paddle, as he cannot really go anywhere, unless he’s willing to give up the idea of ever seeing his kids again (that’s doubtful).
While some viewers welcomed the return of “Line-Up Negan” in this episode, they must remember he wanted a quick end to Bruegel and his people all to keep Ginny safe. As he crawled back to Ginny’s cell, each agonizing clawing forward teased a grim end to his journey—“paid off” with the discolored arm reaching through the bars.
Anyone could feel Negan’s emotional collapse as he realized this surrogate daughter had died and reanimated. Once again, he’s failed someone he loves, as if he’s destined to watch each and every one of them die or disappear.
Walker-Ginny stared at Negan (instead of exhibiting the snarling and clawing typical of most newly reanimated people in TV-TWD history), almost suggesting some recognition on her part, thus she was not trying to bite him, but find something in his eyes. Adding to the intensity of this scene was the choice to not add the sound of the knife putting Walker-Ginny down, or the weapon hitting the floor. The silence explained what a loss this was for Negan and Ginny.
Peirce - He seems to have been a mole, pretending to be the pussy the rooftop explosives woman said he was, only the 2nd wave of New Babylon soldiers knew exactly where to find the rooftop weapons (appearing right after he appears on the roof), and when we last see Pierce, he’s walking rather confidently among the NB soldiers, almost as if he has a greater connection to them. If so, its possible he purposely left Ginny to die—or killed her. Now that he knows more about Negan’s tactics and history, if he was responsible for Ginny’s death, he would be hyper-focused on finding Negan—only this time with a sizable army—to finish him off.
Maggie and Hershel – Maggie’s certainly earned the Gold Medal for motherhood in how much she’s willing to do to make amends with her evil son. Yes, Hershel is evil, and the slight smile he had on his face—shared with The Dama behind him—solidifies the theory that he is a pure manipulator in some eerie relationship with The Dama. He’s not playing the long game in trying to turn the tables on The Dama; he’s so fully taken with this woman that he willingly gave up one of his toes to her…and we still do not know why she needed that (beyond being a tool to coerce Negan in S1).
Unless The Dama has some secret alliance with another group who can fight back against New Babylon, how is she still intending to build this new world? It will not be through trying to work her way into the NB as some random survivor (by now, the NBF is fully aware of her), so all she has—as of this finale—is an insufferable brat as her aide-de-camp. Not much to build a new world with, but I am looking forward to Dead City’s third season.
GRADE: A+
NEXT for The Walking Dead spin-offs: Daryl Dixon season three is set to premiere in the fall of this year.
Season 2 - Episode 8 - ”If History Were a Conflagration” – Season 2 Finale
MAGGIE / THE DAMA / HERSHEL I: Maggie awakens to find her wrists and ankles bound by wire tethers running behind a wall. She attempts to free herself with a file cabinet’s key, but this is noticed by The Dama, who threatens to punish someone else is she does not hand over the key. The Dama pulls Maggie’s emotional triggers by reminding her of all she’s lost—her mother, father, sister…and husband, the latter at the hands of Negan. The Dama goes on and on, manipulating an already confused Maggie into believing killing Negan is something only she can do, and once accomplished, it will break her out of her stagnant, depressive state and finally begin to live a life with her son again. Later, Hershel visits his mother and parrots every string-pulling line used by The Dama, with not a care about the damage he’s inflicting on a teary-eyed Maggie. As Maggie is set free to go on her kill mission, The Dama and Hershel watch Maggie leave-- both smiling with twisted satisfaction
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL I: As Negan watches over Ginny (still supported by the respirator) Pierce alerts Negan that he’s needed upstairs, as preparations are underway for the comic fight. Though Pierce states his support of Negan, his cowardly ways will only take him as far as standing with Negan in spirit.
At the museum, Bruegel and his people prepare for the meeting with Negan and his Burazi; Perlie takes notice of what was Ginny’s bed and confronts Bruegel about her whereabouts. Bruegel is typically evasive, except to say Ginny pursued Maggie and Hershel. Perlie sees through Bruegel’s story, putting a knife to his throat, demanding to know what happened to Ginny; Bruegel claims she came to him, saying she would kill Negan, but would not get there due to her declining health, so Bruegel gave her a ride to the church. Perlie is incensed:
PERLIE: ”You don’t know what you’ve done!”
BRUEGEL: ”Well. Clearly, sh-she didn’t pull it off, right?”
PERLIE: ”’Cause she doesn’t want to kill him! She’s confused! It’s not…that’s not what its about!”
BRUEGEL: ”Well—well, what’s it about? Is she like his kid or something?”
Perlie tries not to register what he’s thinking, but…
BRUEGEL: ”See the look on your face!”
Bruegel breaks free by cutting across Perlie’s wrist with his watch blade, forcing Perlie to drop his knife—
BRUEGEL: ”I knew Negan mattered to her! And now, thanks to you, I know she matters to him! So if things go sideways for us, she’s our insurance!”
PERLIE: ”You touch her, and I swear to God that’ll be the last thing you do!“
BRUEGEL: ”I’m not saying it needs to go down that way! I hope it doesn’t, truly! See?
This is fun. It’s what I’m talking about! You know what else, on top of everything? I learned something new about you. Behind all this gruff cowboy act, you’re a softie!”
PERLIE: ”I learned something about you, too.”
BRUEGEL (smug): ”Yeah.”
Perlie watches Bruegel walk away, not knowing what he should do next, but he has no choice (just as Bruegel predicted in E6)—he has to join Bruegel’s convoy to the church if he’s to have any chance of helping Ginny.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL II: Bruegel and his war party—with an armored Perlie in tow—reach the church and are welcomed in…after they’re ordered to leave their weapons at the door. The jovial Bruegel has his people push in a heavy, 13th century statue of Mary holding the infant Jesus as a “housewarming” gift to Negan and the Burazi. Negan has his own gift for Bruegel and his crew: a massive table covered in food as a token of their coming partnership against New Babylon. Bruegel is immediately suspicious, saying he and his people already had a mean, and will allow Negan & company eat without them. Negan chuckles at the implication that he poisoned or contaminated the food, and takes a few bites to prove the food is safe.
Perlie notices several pews are covered in some sort of chemical, which sets off his internal alarms.
Seeing Negan and company eat without falling over like a pesticide-soaked cockroach, does not sway Bruegel and his people from passing on the meal. Without warning, Negan & the Burazi flip over the massive table, revealing over a dozen Walkers spilling out, hungry for anyone in sight. On command, one of Negan’s flamethrower guards shoots a burst of flame at the chemical-covered pews, which form a fiery barrier around Bruegel’s people—leaving them as trapped meals. As the
Walkers feast on Bruegel’s people, Negan grins at the horror, until Bruegel yells to Perlie, ”Statue!!”—the cue for Perlie to push the heavy sculpture over, causing it to break at its base, where a large number of weapons were stored.
His joy ripped away, Negan watches Perlie toss weapons to Bruegel and his remaining crew, who kill Walkers—and some of the Burazi. Bruegel arms himself with a flamethrower, and nearly incinerates the fleeing Negan.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL III: Bruegel—still armed with the flamethrower—enters the underground cells calling for Ginny when Perlie attacks and disarms him. Bruegel screams ”What?!?” as if there should not be any question about his trying to murder a child, but before Perlie can answer, they are surrounded by the Burazi…and Negan, carrying Lucille 2.0. Panicking, Bruegel wastes no time blaming Perlie, saying he forced his group to attack, and has 50 New Babylon soldiers hiding in the park. He goes on to offer a partnership which would defeat New Babylon, and ultimately use the methane to restore the Old World.
Unbeknownst to the players in the cell, Maggie has been waiting for her opportunity to kill Negan, but she suffers from her unhealed psychological trauma as Negan orders Bruegel and Perlie on their knees as he recites the ”Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo” nursery rhyme game in order to pick his first victim.
Negan ends the nursery rhyme on Perlie, who struggles to break free of the Burazi. Frightened to the core, Bruegel continues to mention the methane—a bad tactic, as it’s the one subject Negan is long past caring about. Asking Bruegel if he wants the methane that bad, Negan pulls a methane hose from a lamp and shoves it into Bruegel’s throat, forcing him to inhale the gas—the reaction being his eyes losing color & convulsions.
Negan grabs a torch and shoves it into Bruegel’s face, igniting the gas, which sends flames from his mouth as his entire swelling head glows from being cooked from within. Bruegel falls dead to the ground as a grinning Negan beats the man’s head to a pulp.
NEGAN / GINNY / BRUEGEL IV: Assuming he’s next, Perlie’s fear gives his a burst of energy to break free of the Burazi, but Negan casually pursues him into the methane tank room, taunting him about the missed opportunities he’s had to kill him. Maggie quickly kills Negan’s guards and follows his voice…
Perlie finds a loose lead pipe and engages in a painful “duel” with Negan and Lucille 2.0; despite his training, somehow, Perlie is knocked to the ground—disarmed. He tries to reason with Negan one last time:
PERLIE: ”Whatever you think you saw, its not like that. I was protecting her.”
NEGAN: ”Maybe, but see, I am so fucking sick of maybes!”
Negan raises Lucille over his head, poised to deliver a killing blow to Perlie when Maggie sneaks up behind him and drives a knife into his right flank; Negan grunts in pain, drops Lucille 2.0 and stumbles away. Maggie grabs the bat and marches after the man. Returning to the cells, Negan collapses to the ground, slowly crawling through excruciating pain, all to get to Ginny before he dies. Maggie (with Perlie joining her) is ready to kill Negan until they hear the sound of a respirator…and catch sight of one discolored arm reaching out at nothing. Negan crawls forward, almost hoping what he’s seeing is not that which cannot be denied—
NEGAN: ”No! No! Ginny!”
MAGGIE (almost whispering): ”Ginny…”
NEGAN (crying): ”Ginny…no! Nooo! No…no…”
Ginny has died. Her reanimated form presses against the locked cell door—instinctively, one hand reaches out for her first meal. The girl’s clouded, yellow eyes stare into Maggie’s eyes, but not with the typical ferocity of other Walkers. Neither Maggie or Perlie say anything about so tragic a sight, but Maggie slowly pulls out a knife, and in that moment, one wonders if its for Ginny…or to finish off Negan. The knife is for Ginny, only Negan cannot bear to see the child put down at that moment:
NEGAN (crying & gasping): ”No…no…Ginny…”
Maggie—for the first time since meeting Negan—takes pity on him, gently handing him the knife. Negan and Walker-Ginny state at each other, with the girl seemingly trying to recognize him. As Negan briefly caresses her face, he shoves the knife into her head. Ginny drops to the floor while Maggie places a comforting hand on Negan’s arm.
MAGGIE / NEGAN / PERLIE II: Maggie leads Perlie (supporting Negan) into some 4th floor lounge; Perlie does not give Negan a choice about his need for medical care as he pulls the knife from Negan’s flank, and forced gauze in the wound. Negan’s real pain is the loss he just suffered, but the specifics of what he’s saying resonate with Maggie’s own parental situation:
NEGAN: ”I was so busy looking out for her…thinking I was looking out for her. I missed it. I just…I just missed it. And now…now she died. She died alone.”
MAGGIE / HERSHEL: Maggie returns to the NYT building to speak with her son. Maggie’s demeanor already tips Hershel off that she did not kill Negan, or more importantly, failed to do The Dama’s bidding. Typical of the boy, he growls at Maggie that she failed to keep her promise to kill Negan so they could move on. Maggie calmly replies that they were wrong: killing Negan would only make their lives worse. Hershel angrily barks at Maggie to keep her distance, adding that he—and The Dama—will get ”there” together. Maggie promises that she will always be there for him, and won’t leave the city. Hershel, snarling and pouting, does not fully process what she’s said, and marches off, leaving his sobbing mother alone.
MAGGIE / NEGAN / PERLIE II: Maggie returns to Negan and Perlie. All sit defeated in silence, until their attention is turned to the streets, where entire companies of the second wave of New Babylon soldiers march in formation, Negan’s resigned to the fact New Babylon will get the methane—and more power than ever before. Maggie wonders where do they go from there, and Perlie answers her, repeating the relevant part of the last conversation Roksana had with him:
PERLIE: ”Walking through the woods, a man comes to a fork in his path. To go left is to go home—his past. To go right is to go out into the unknown—his future. He knows his past. It’s comforting. But will it be like he remembers? And his future is full of possibilities, but what if he gets lost? Which way does he go? He goes left…”
Maggie takes over the speech, as New Babylon soldiers raid the methane plant…with Pierce comfortably moving along with them--
MAGGIE: ”…back home, to the way things were. But all that’s waiting for him is an old story that hurts too much to remember…”
Negan takes over the speech…while The Dama and Hershel watch the NBF from a rooftop--
NEGAN: ”…so he goes right, but there’s nothing there for him, either. ‘cause what’s the future without the past? What’s an ending without that old story?”
MAGGIE: ”The truth is there is only one way forward. One way to move on. (Negan looks to Maggie) ”We gotta work through what was.”
NEGAN (VO scenes of his series conflicts with Maggie): ”To get to what will be. It’s a path that’s hard and rough. All uphill. We keep thinking we’ll never make it.”
MAGGIE: ”Sometimes we see where we’re headed. We catch a glimpse of the mountaintop. Its so beautiful—it takes our breath away.”
NEGAN: ”But then, we lose our footing.”
MAGGIE: ”We tumble backwards”
NEGAN: ”…right back to the bottom.”
MAGGIE: ”So that it feels like we’ll never get up again.”
NEGAN: ”But we do. We help each other up.”
MAGGIE: ”…and the path becomes much clearer now.”
NEGAN: ”We move on.”
MAGGIE: ”Together.”
MAGGIE & NEGAN: ”And we get there.”
A skyline shot of New York brings the second season to a close, but there's no easy or clear answers for the future of the main characters, as they are all fugitives from one group or another.
NOTES:
Interesting developments: it appears The Croat did not substitute The Dama with a burned Walker (as I theorized in the E7 review) —The Dama did it herself. Some explanation is required for the way she survived being consumed by flames the last time The Croat saw her. Even if she were fortunate enough to unpin herself from the table, she suffered significant burns in a world where no professional level burn care exists, yet all anyone can see is evidence of burned hair, inflamed skin on the left side of her neck.
Regarding The Croat, E7 might have been his last episode, and perhaps that’s a fitting departure for a character now wistful about his homeland and memories of his late mother than building a methane city empire.
For The Trio (Maggie, Negan and Perlie), where do they go from here? Maggie promised Hershel she would remain in the city, but the end of this season finale has her feeling like the New Babylon takeover leaves her no options to stay.
Then, there’s Perlie, who still has daughters back at one of the NB territories—how can he reunite with them (assuming they’re alive) when its possible Perlie was always working only to prevent Governor Byrd from harming them? Despite Perlie’s official promotion to colonel, did that have any weight with the entire New Babylon administrative or law enforcement organization, enough for Perlie to retrieve his daughters? If not, and Narvaez somehow contacted the mainland, warning them to prevent Perlie from ever gaining custody of his kids, he is sort of in a boat without a paddle, as he cannot really go anywhere, unless he’s willing to give up the idea of ever seeing his kids again (that’s doubtful).
While some viewers welcomed the return of “Line-Up Negan” in this episode, they must remember he wanted a quick end to Bruegel and his people all to keep Ginny safe. As he crawled back to Ginny’s cell, each agonizing clawing forward teased a grim end to his journey—“paid off” with the discolored arm reaching through the bars.
Anyone could feel Negan’s emotional collapse as he realized this surrogate daughter had died and reanimated. Once again, he’s failed someone he loves, as if he’s destined to watch each and every one of them die or disappear.
Walker-Ginny stared at Negan (instead of exhibiting the snarling and clawing typical of most newly reanimated people in TV-TWD history), almost suggesting some recognition on her part, thus she was not trying to bite him, but find something in his eyes. Adding to the intensity of this scene was the choice to not add the sound of the knife putting Walker-Ginny down, or the weapon hitting the floor. The silence explained what a loss this was for Negan and Ginny.
Peirce - He seems to have been a mole, pretending to be the pussy the rooftop explosives woman said he was, only the 2nd wave of New Babylon soldiers knew exactly where to find the rooftop weapons (appearing right after he appears on the roof), and when we last see Pierce, he’s walking rather confidently among the NB soldiers, almost as if he has a greater connection to them. If so, its possible he purposely left Ginny to die—or killed her. Now that he knows more about Negan’s tactics and history, if he was responsible for Ginny’s death, he would be hyper-focused on finding Negan—only this time with a sizable army—to finish him off.
Maggie and Hershel – Maggie’s certainly earned the Gold Medal for motherhood in how much she’s willing to do to make amends with her evil son. Yes, Hershel is evil, and the slight smile he had on his face—shared with The Dama behind him—solidifies the theory that he is a pure manipulator in some eerie relationship with The Dama. He’s not playing the long game in trying to turn the tables on The Dama; he’s so fully taken with this woman that he willingly gave up one of his toes to her…and we still do not know why she needed that (beyond being a tool to coerce Negan in S1).
Unless The Dama has some secret alliance with another group who can fight back against New Babylon, how is she still intending to build this new world? It will not be through trying to work her way into the NB as some random survivor (by now, the NBF is fully aware of her), so all she has—as of this finale—is an insufferable brat as her aide-de-camp. Not much to build a new world with, but I am looking forward to Dead City’s third season.
GRADE: A+
NEXT for The Walking Dead spin-offs: Daryl Dixon season three is set to premiere in the fall of this year.
‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ EP Thinks About Bringing Back Glenn “All The Time”
This week's episode of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' called back to one of the franchise's most heartbreaking deaths.
deadline.com
Gimple should leave the "vision" or flashback tool alone where Glenn is concerned; part of Maggie's issues are tied to the fact she cannot see--or apparently imagine his image, thus intensifying her pain. Besides, the recent second season finale of Daryl Dixion had Carol experience a gas-induced vision / conversation with Sophia, so the "vision" tool has been used enough lately, IMO.
Reading this made me realize that one possible way to bring a hallucinatory Glenn back and have it work is if Maggie ever were to get killed in the show, have Glenn's "ghost" visit her for her final moments. That's probably the only circumstance I could see it working.
Of course, it's all a moot point anyway, like Gimple notes in that article, Steven Yeun's schedule makes it damn near impossible to get even a cameo appearance from him. IIRC, Glenn was supposed to be one of the "ghosts" Rick met with in his last episode (along with Shane and Herschel Sr) but because of Yeun's schedule it became Sasha instead. And I don't think Yeun made it back for the big Talking Dead extravaganza when TWD ended which did bring back nearly everyone from the show's past.
Similar threads
