Man, Dead City Season 2 Episode 6 was such a weird mix of stuff that I'm still trying to figure out if I actually liked it or not but I guess it was expected to things turn out very GOT, every man and woman for themself trying to grab as much power they could now that Dama was ""out"" of the picture, you know what I mean, like the whole thing felt super slow and dragged out but then boom, they throw this crazy bear scene at us that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. So we start with Negan and the Croat talking about what happens now that Dama is toast and honestly the whole conversation felt forced as hell plus it felt like Negan was teasing him about the rat incident the hole time like he wanted to tell Negan or the script wanted to, although they are still trying to figure out their next move but it's all just so predictable at this point. The Croat keeps going on about how he didn't save Dama from the fire, which we know until then he didnt because he is a coward and then he's all like "oh we can go back to Croatia together with our families" which sounds nice but come on, this is The Walking Dead, nothing ever works out that smoothly. What really got me was how they handled the whole rat situation, like Negan crushed this rat earlier and when the Croat sees the blood on his boot, suddenly he figures out that Negan set him up, which leads to this big fight where they are wrestling over Lucille and honestly it was kinda cool to see some action but also felt like they were just filling time until something more interesting happened besides none of them got really hurt, at worst Croat him Negan just once with Lucille, really crappy fight scene.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18546730/
- Platform: Prime Video
The whole Maggie and Bugal storyline was even more frustrating because it makes zero sense why anyone would trust this guy, like Maggie literally saw him being buddy with the Croat before and now he is trying to make deals with New Babylon, offering methane in exchange for help against Negan's crew. Bugal keeps talking about how impressed he is with what they have done on the mainland but it's all just smooth talk bullshit that anyone with half a brain should see through, yet somehow Pearly is actually considering taking the deal which is just dumb as rocks, he has always been like that since season 1. Then we get this whole thing where one of Bugal's guards gets attacked by something mysterious, its hilrious how fast she got dragged into a bush like a human or monster pull her and she comes back all torn up before dying, which is supposed to build tension but honestly just felt like they were setting up for the bear scene that comes later, a bear would never pull her like that. The dinner scene with Bugal was so awkward too, like he was trying to be all diplomatic and charming but everyone can see right through it, especially Maggie who was clearly not buying any of his crap and then Pearly starts wavering which made me want to slap the fuck out of him for been that stupid. What really bugged me was how they kept hinting at this bigger threat lurking around but never really explained what was going on, they were like "do you think it was...." , like are we supposed to just accept that there was some monster roaming around Bugal's compound without any backstory or reason, honestly I though it was Bugal fighter from a few episodes ago but he killed that guy.
The bear scene was probably the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a Walking Dead show in years and that's saying something considering all the crazy stuff we have witnessed over the years, they had something good on episode 5 and then destroy it on this one, like seriously what the hell were they thinking when they wrote this. Then there is Hershel is trying to poison everyone water supply with walker blood, when will they kill Hershel?? pls do us that solid, then Maggie catches him and they have this big argument where he is basically telling her she's a terrible mother, which leads to him running off into the night like the city is a safe place because literally nothing happens to him. Then out of nowhere this massive grizzly bear shows up and starts chasing them around and I'm sitting there thinking "did they really just add a bear to this zombie show" like what's next, zombie sharks or something as stupid, plus I thought it would be a Zombie bear but nop just a regular one eye bear, the CGI on this bear was actually pretty decent, I'll give them that but the whole sequence felt so out of place and unnecessary, like they were trying to create this big action moment but it just came across as desperate and random. Maggie tries to use the chained up walkers as distractions, which barely works because this bear is apparently stronger than anything we have seen before, tearing through zombies like they are made of paper and then Hershel saves the day by throwing knives at its face which somehow works perfectly and the bear falls into the spike fence of the Zombies fight cage, which is such a convenient way to end the fight and then Hershel just disappears again leaving Maggie all alone, which brings us back to the same family drama we have been dealing with all season, just when we thought it was over after episode five
What really bothered me about this episode was how everything felt so irrational and forced, like the writers were trying to move pieces around the board but couldn't figure out how to make it feel natural or believable, there was the bear, the sky bridge where Maggie almost fall, Croat taking her around the city like it was Disney land. Then we got Negan's whole emotional journey with Benjamin Pierce in the tunnels was probably the best part of the episode, where he was reflecting on his past and wondering if his people needed saving from him rather than the world, which is actually pretty deep character development that I wish they had focus on before and not now. But then we get this scene where Annie and Joshua show up at the docks and instead of reuniting with his family, Negan tells his people to send them back to Tennessee, which is supposed to be this heartbreaking moment but honestly just felt manipulative, I know he did it because of what was coming up if Bugal decides to attack him, so now you telling me that Negan is the new leader of the Burazi??. The whole Jinny storyline has been building up for weeks with her waiting for that moment to pull up on Negan but she has also been hiding this infection and when she finally pulls a gun on Negan, she collapses before she can do anything, which is such a predictable twist that I saw coming from miles away you just had to look at her pale face, which leads to this scavenger hunt for medicine where the series put out a bunch f zombie kids and felt like the writers were afraid to have the kids kill / tear apart someone or Negan putting a knife through a zombie kid on TV? wtf!!
This episode really made me have second thoughts on this series, I know out of the three current spin off this is the weak one, yes it had a nice twist at the end but that can't safe the day and makes it more predictable, it's clear that Dead City is struggling with pacing issues and doesn't know how to balance character development with action sequences, which is frustrating because the show has so much potential when it focuses on the right things. The performances are still entertaining or plain good, especially Jeffrey Dean Morgan who continues to bring emotional scenes to Negan even when the script lets him down and Lauren Cohan does her best with Maggie's material even though the character keeps making some of the dumbest decisions. The hole post apocalyptic Manhattan and production quality is still there, from costumes to the entire city as an entity but none of that matters if the story doesn't make sense or feels forced. I keep waiting for this show to find its rhythm and deliver on the promise of what could be a really good spin off that might connect to the rest in the future but its so far away from Darel Dixon spin off and episodes like this one make me wonder if they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. The bear scene will probably be talked about for all the wrong reasons and I think they wanted to give the same impression of how Maggie fought that multi zombie in the tunnels on season one because it was on similar circumstances and very close to the season ending, it definitely feels like the writers were running out of ideas, which is concerning since we are only in season 2 and this might get cancel if it keeps dropping the ball like this, I got to mention this is the worst episode of the series so far.
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