Wait, is there something in the water over in the apocalyptic ruins of New York City? I only ask because not only has Dead City suddenly seemingly gotten its act together with the start of its third season, but it’s second episode is even better than the first, giving the show back aspects of itself that haven’t been able to shine for years. After two seasons of a vengence-drenched Maggie, an emotionally lost Negan, and various other plot points that stubbornly refused to go anywhere, once again we find a Walking Dead show frantically cleaning house and engaging in sizable shifts in the status quo. But rather it reeking of desperate retconning in order to lazily course correct, virtually all of the new directions taken has given this spin-off more life than it’s ever had.
Think it’s weird that Maggie’s now regularly smiling? Get ready to join her as we’re delivered a time-jump that actually offers up something rather rare in the world of Dead City – hope. But is it hope for the characters, or the viewers – well good goddammit, can’t it be both?
After leaping a little ahead in the timeline, we find that Maggie has not only relocated her people full time, but has teamed up with Renata’s group to spend the last few weeks setting up a thriving community filled with promise. Using the methane tanks to provide energy and getting the hospital up and running, a sense of hope is high even though Maggie insists that what they’ve done needs to be concealed from the rest of a volatile world. Meanwhile, a burnt-out Negan is content to just crash out at Dillard’s zombie bar, getting drunk and playing Gears Of War 2 on possibly the world’s last surviving XBox – but while a semblance of peace has been achieved, there’s still the matter of the Dama, who is still at large within the city.
Trying to get Negan sobered up, Maggie and Perlie (yes, Perlie’s back) head out to finally bring her to justice before she can amass more acolytes, but after finally catching her, a new conundrum raises its head. Keeping the extraordinarily persuasive villain alive is not only dangerous, but is a drain on resources – however, to simply kill her would violate the nature of the new community that’s springing up.
Somewhat familiar with this scenario thanks to having done some time for a few post-apocalypse crimes himself, Negan unsurprisingly lobbies to execute the Dama, while Renata pushes for imprisonment – but it seems that their prisoner may make their decision for them due to a hunger strike she’s embarked on. However, while Perlie leaves to be reunited with his family and Hershal knows that one day he’ll have to kill a living person to protect the city, Maggie makes a fateful choice. If the community she’s created is to last, it needs to grow exponentially by adding much more of the right kind of people – but after lighting up the Statue Of Liberty like a beacon, will the people it will summon be good or bad?
Once again, you can’t help but marvel at how light on it’s feet The Walking Dead can be once you offer up some hope and even some very welcome brevity. After finding Maggie an unbearable bore for large swathes of the previous season, the fact that she’s now obtained a sense of purpose simply beyond trying to snuff Negan means that her character now seems to finally be getting her back her mojo. Putting her back on the leadership journey she was enjoying before her multiple, failed attempts at vengeance means that she’s ostensibly the new Rick of the show (annoying kid and all), which is far more interesting than just poorly focused hate. Also proving to be a wise decision is the tactic to not have the characters trawl about in the early stages of building a working community, as the franchise has already detailed this many times before. Instead, while it may seem like lazy writing to suddenly skip to a place where everyone is far more settled, it’s actually a savvy act of narrative surgery to get things moving again.
However, still enjoying the most fun of this season three turnaround is Jeffery Dean Morgan’s Negan, who is the funniest he’s been in years. OK, so maybe the fact that the character was first introduced as the big bad to end all big bads might make it sound that he’s been neutered (and a running joke involving a painting that looks distractingly like boobs certainly pushes the humour hard), but not only is watching him blitz himself on booze while playing video games incredibly funny, but the double-act he’s formed with Jimmi Simpson’s glitching weirdo could be one of the best things the show has ever come up with. Watching them berate each other while going head to head on the XBox while unleashing devestating “your mama” jokes is a genuine joy and we even get an idea of Dillard’s past as an undercover cop who learned how to disassociate in the face of trauma while on the job. However, most intriguingly, Negan finds himself on the other side of a moral debate that once was leveled at him.
Yes, it all seems to be a ploy to gather up an excuse to kill off the Dama (and with it, the last of the lingering old threads from previous seasons), but it’s interesting to see Negan’s imput as a man who himself “enjoyed” being treated with humanity rather than having his skull bashed in. It seems that more and more, Negan is recasting himself as the man who does things the other can’t or won’t do, and while Maggie and Renata debate about the pros and cons, the former gym teacher takes in upon himself to head down to her cell and simply murder the dangerously influential villain.
With her death, virtually all the old plot threads have now been swept away. New Babylon is now no longer a threat, Perlie is benevolently written out as he gratefully leaves to be with his family (it’s nice the show remembered he existed), the methane tanks are now no longer a plot driving macguffin and Hershal seems fully purged of the Dama’s influence, and as a result, the show almost feels it has a new lease on life, free from the weight of all those plots. But now that it finally has room to breathe and even has the chance to be legitimately funny, one wonders what will happen once it’s new story lines and threats swing into action. The decision to turn on the lights of Lady Liberty may give the show back it’s most inspiring image (the fact that the noseless monument looks like a Walker herself has always been an amazing detail), but it also means that there’s already a malevolent group planning to advance on Manhattan Island. From here, I guess we’ll truly discover what season 3 is made of as it embarks on brand new plotlines. But will it continue to innovate, or just make the same old mistakes? Well, that’s for the remaining episodes to decide, but for now, consider Dead City successfully renovated.
More hope, more humour and more depth means that Dead City can cast out the last of its lingering plots and finally make a new start. But after kicking things off with two of the best episodes the spin-off has ever produced, the real test will be what comes next.
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Where to watch The Walking Dead: Dead City – Season 3, Episode 2: Haven: