The Walking Dead: Dead City Review – New York, Same Mistakes

The Walking Dead is over, after 11 seasons and greater than 100 episodes. That’s outdated information, in fact. But as an alternative, AMC is increasing what it calls The Walking Dead Universe (TWDU), following a Marvel-like roadmap of interlinked storylines and characters in order that those that are in for a penny could also be in for a pound. But as the primary of those publish-mainline initiatives, Dead City makes among the similar errors the primary present dedicated too typically. What may’ve been an fascinating coda for Maggie and Negan is as a substitute an overt ploy to maintain TWD followers subscribed to AMC’s subscription service.

Cynically, one may argue all content material is simply that. My favourite Onion article says as a lot. But some creative enterprises disguise it higher than others. As a six-episode first season, my hope was Dead City would function a option to hone in on two characters I nonetheless discover very compelling. But the season meanders between its first and final episodes–a TWD staple–spending an excessive amount of time on characters we solely simply met and who really feel inauthentic and unnteresting. I ought not slight the endeavor for not serving as an epilogue. I ought to critique what it is, not what I need it to be. But whilst the primary chapter of what’s clearly designed to go on longer, it simply does not work, regardless of some occasional moments that pull on my deep appreciation for its predominant duo.

In Dead City, a number of years have handed for the reason that mainline finale. Maggie has tracked down Negan to the outskirts of Manhattan after a former disciple of his nicknamed The Croat–who is retconned to have left Sanctuary earlier than the occasions of The Walking Dead–has kidnapped Hershel utilizing comparable strategies that Negan used to make use of when the Saviors had been bullying everybody simply south of the Mason-Dixon Line. To Maggie, Negan’s familiarity with the villain and his plain craftiness make him a needed confederate in her trek to save lots of her son. For Negan, Maggie gives his new ward, a voluntarily mute younger lady named Ginny, a protected haven at The Bricks, which is mainly Hilltop North.

Together, the pair cross the river into Manhattan, giving the collection an apparent makeover by swapping the deserted highways of Atlanta and the threatening woods of Virginia for the decrepit skyscrapers of New York City. The present makes use of this new setting effectively, like an early setpiece by which zombies faceplant from atop the tall buildings en masse attributable to noise the characters are making at avenue stage. In one other instance, survivors herd the undead by Pied Pipering them with a Thanskgiving Day Parade float. Naturally, the collection finds its option to Madison Square Garden ultimately, too.

These scenes are the low-hanging fruit of such a change in surroundings, however they’re nonetheless enjoyable, whilst others are poorly scripted. There’s an odd variety of cases by which characters are merely strolling by way of hazard zones, by no means showing prepared for assault, even after they fairly suspect there will likely be one. These moments really feel like poor course above all else. Side characters are ushered out and in to the extent that none of them really feel very important and even effectively-reasoned for having been there within the first place.

In common, Dead City appears like late-stage Walking Dead in that it turns into extra inquisitive about setpieces and artistic zombie kills reasonably than its characters. With so few predominant forged members in comparison with the ensemble collection that precedes it, I’d hoped Maggie and Negan’s spin-off can be a possibility to let the pair work out their variations in additional intimate, dialogue-heavy scenes. Instead, the present shortly elevates glorified Redshirts into supporting roles in ways in which nearly by no means add something to the story. The one exception is Gaius Charles’ character, Armstrong, a Marshal for a group referred to as New Babylon, who’s on the hunt for Negan attributable to crimes he dedicated. I’d like to have seen extra of him, however the story does not typically demand it, so he winds up underutilized.

There’s some thrill in seeing new settlements. Learning bits and items about The Croat’s group and New Babylon really feel fascinating by default for longtime viewers. They as a rule ship on the foundational promise of TWDU–that we’ll see extra of the undead world after years of seeing it solely by way of the eyes of some communities–even if they do not precisely clarify way more concerning the wider world. There is one standout second by which characters element the early days of the plague based on New York locals, giving viewers one thing akin to the Fear The Walking Dead pilot as informed by campfire.

Still, to make (and even recognize) the present just for its motion scenes and its new setting appears like merely half of the task. Where Dead City must additionally ship is in its character work, and that is the place it often stumbles. Maggie and Negan have too few fascinating moments collectively. It’s not that they do not typically share the screen–they definitely try this. It’s simply that they are often preventing off walkers, human enemies, or each. The present’s six-episode format does not give them sufficient time to breathe and expound on why this present even exists within the first place, particularly because it definitely ends in such a means that teases extra.

After The Walking Dead had a powerful finale and now Fear The Walking Dead is mercifully being euthanized, I used to be actually excited to see what’s subsequent for the TWDU. I’m all the time in for extra zombie media, particularly after they’re using characters I’ve spent over a decade of my life with. Sadly, Dead City neither justifies further seasons–despite a cliffhanger–nor does it memorably inform us extra about Maggie and Negan than we already knew. It appears like a rehash of the problems they already mainly labored by way of in the primary collection.

I now discover myself anticipating to tune into Season 2 not as a result of I strongly loved Season 1, however as a result of I’m determined to see Maggie and (particularly) Negan get some type of correct ultimate chapter. This wasn’t that, and I’m anxious about what number of extra years I could also be waiting–and how a lot worse the storytelling might get within the meantime.