User Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode, the characters and drama reflect all that came before. People lose track that TWD universe isn't just the zombie apocalypse thing but a character study of human nature when things seem bleek and social institutions are a disarray, if not forgotten in the zombie apocalypse thing.

It's basically zombie opera.

'Dead City' takes two of the most fleshed out and unique characters in universe and puts them together to raise the dramatic stakes and leave the puff behind the old TWD. We see Negan post-redemption arc still haunted by Maggie (Glen) and Maggie acting on (motherly) instinct and survival, a reflection of what Negan started with. Juxtaposition. Dichotomy. So on.

This season finale definitely raises the stakes for a potential second season, I look forward to it. One of the major problems with the later seasons of TWD and FTWD was the amount of main characters we had to follow. If you have shows that span decades and character studies for all of them, you can't explore anything without new situations or players. How could we keep up? Especially if they start a storyline with one character but don't go back to that particular viewpoint and story until a month later. You want to invest in that? I prefer the course correction in this show.

The writing hit its stride now that we've been given a new palette and a convincing plot. These characters all have their best moments in this episode. Their arcs are written very delicately. The show honestly has a lot more depth than I expected and this episode in particular is where it's shown most convincingly. Really great scenes from Maggie, Hershel, and Negan made this the best the walking dead content we've had in a while. I'm very impressed by Lauren Cohan, she's really slipped seamlessly into being the lead, Maggie is the role she was born to play. The supporting characters take this show over the top in quality, great casting, great writing, great episode.

Ginny shoots her flare gun and Negan, Armstrong and Maggie find her. Negan asks her to leave the island with Armstrong and when she refuses, he tells her that he had killed her father. Now Maggie and Negan will search Hershel in Manhattan. However, Maggie betrays Negan and exchanges him per her son. Armstrong is questioned by her chief about the methane in Manhattan. Negan is introduced to The Dame that makes an offer to him.

"Doma Smo" is an awful episode of "The Walking Dead: Dead City", fortunately the last one. First, why the title in French? I hate plots with betrayal in general, but Maggie is a nasty and hypocrite character, and her action is not a surprise. Armstrong is a mediocre character that the viewers do not know why he exists. His participation is so far null in the series. In general, "The Walking Dead: Dead City" is a complete waste of time. Hope this series is interrupted without sponsors to proceed. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Doma Smo"

The Walking Dead finale delivered a worthy and well-crafted "solution" to the Negan and Maggie conflict, which had been building since Rick spared Negan at the end of the eighth season. Because of this, many fans were skeptical about the resources that would be used to bring these two together again. Six episodes put the two on a new mission, but was this enough to innovate the dynamic between them? Fortunately, yes. The last episode of the first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City resolved issues that had been raised in previous episodes and opened up new paths for a possible second season.

Right at the beginning of the episode, we have Ginny and Negan's encounter, where he questions her about what she was doing there, since she had already been left at New Hilltop. At the same time, he questions Maggie if she knew the girl was in Manhattan, and she lies, saying she didn't. It's interesting how the series tries to constantly switch the characters' positions, putting Maggie to do some things that the old Negan did, being hypocritical to a certain extent.

Speaking of Negan, he immediately shows his outrage when Ginny tries to retort, and he takes the opportunity to tell the truth that he was responsible for her father's death. All the protective feeling the girl had for Negan seems to have ended, and she agrees to return to New Hilltop under Armstrong's protection. This scene was certainly a big surprise; I don't think anyone was expecting that. Continuing with the mission, Negan and Maggie confront The Croat to try to rescue Hershel. Along the way, the two dialogue until the truth comes to light. The way Negan discovers Maggie's lie through her glances, silence, and movements is brilliant, and since The Walking Dead, it has been established how well these characters know each other. From this, the perfect scenario is created for the great conflict between them.

The fight between the two is very well choreographed and visceral. The direction used the camera angles very well to show Negan trying to escape and Maggie going after him, while also having to deal with the walkers. The way the setting was used here as an important element in the fight is very creative, with both of them cornered while a small horde is right below them. The only flaw here is that when Maggie stabs Negan in the shoulder, he easily removes it and there's not even any blood, it continues as if nothing happened. I don't know if it was an editing mistake, but I felt uncomfortable watching it. However, this small caveat doesn't spoil the grandeur of the scene, which represents not only a physical fight but also a psychological one.

After the fight ends, Maggie finally fulfills her agreement by handing Negan over to The Croat while he returns Hershel. The reunion scene between the two is somewhat lukewarm not because of the performances, but because of the way their relationship was before Hershel was kidnapped. The boy still seems unmotivated and tired, treating his own mother as disposable even after everything she went through to get there. The approach to motherhood and the responsibility of having a child is more deeply explored in this episode than in previous ones. We also discover here that New Babylon is interested in New York because of the number of walkers present, which are essential for producing energy through methane, as shown in the fourth episode of the series. If there is a renewal of the series, I don't see how this nucleus will fit back into the story of the second season, as the approach seems to be different.

Just when everything seemed to be over, the series surprises us again. Now in the hands of The Lady, Negan discovers that The Croat was just a means used for her to get what she wanted. The character wants a leader to unify the communities in Manhattan and from what she heard about the Sanctuary, it made her want to put Negan in this position. She gives him the "keys to the Kingdom" along with a box with Hershel's finger. The Lady implies that if Negan doesn't do what she wants, she can always come back for more, showing how cruel she can be. When you remove all the preparations, The Lady Smo is shown to be a collection of nothing under many conveniences. We start with the lack of zombies throughout the season conclusion, with no use of terror throughout the story, to the absurd ease with which Armstrong and Maggie return to their respective cities in a cut. The much-promised exchange between Hershel and Negan as bait has no suspense whatsoever; the fun Croat is subjugated to a lackey; New York becomes just another setting.

Dead City started with a promise of something with personality and identity in a worn-out franchise, but since then, we've only seen more of the same. Between zombies being discarded, underused scenarios, and a lack of creativity with suspense and horror, The Lady Smo tries to sell that Negan and Maggie fight as the culmination of something, but, in fact, the season's conclusion, which actually concludes nothing, ends Hershel's rescue with a completely anticlimactic and lazy plot that only wants to sell the next season instead of telling a good story.