‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 2 Finale Review

Season two of The Walking Dead: Dead City has finally come to an end. With some new faces, bigger stakes, and some wild walker kills, this season has been a memorable addition to the universe of The Walking Dead. Let’s talk about what happened in this surprisingly jam-packed season finale and what it means for the story going forward.

The episode begins with a quick check in on three characters in three very different situations. Maggie awakens and realizes she was knocked out and tied up by the (very much alive) Dama while talking to Hershel. Negan is at the church watching over a still unconscious Ginny and preparing to not show mercy to Bruegel and his men. Armstrong is with Bruegel who is preparing to depart to meet with Negan and hopefully make a deal for the methane, only Armstrong doesn’t trust him one bit.

Photo Credit: AMC

We then get into the main part of the season finale, which follows two simultaneous stories that collide in a brutal fashion. Negan and his men have a table with a feast prepared as Bruegel, Armstrong and his men arrive at the church. After they exchange fake pleasantries and Armstrong realizes that Negan is up to something, the room is flooded with walkers and set on fire to surround Bruegel and his men. Negan watches on as the weaponless men try and fail to take on the walkers, but only until Armstrong levels the playing field and gets their weapons. After a chase through the church, all of Bruegel’s men are killed and it comes down to just him and Armstrong. Cornered in the basement, we see the Negan that fans of the original series know all too well.

Wielding Lucielle, the leather jacket wearing Negan walks slowly down the hallway and instructs Armstrong and Bruegel to get on their knees where he begins his classic(ly traumatizing) game of “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo”. Nearby, a horrified Maggie watches on as she relives her memories of the night where Negan did this to her and her friends. Earlier in the episode, the Dama and Maggie finally meet and talk about Negan. The Dama explains that if Maggie goes right now and kills Negan, Hershel will come back to her, and they can finally be free of Negan. After Hershel comes in and reiterates what the Dama said, Maggie sets off to the church.

Back to present time, Maggie watches on in horror as Negan kills Bruegel in a brutally violent way. Armstrong runs off in horror and Negan and his men follow him. Right as Negan is about to kill Armstrong, Maggie sneaks up on Negan and stabs him in the back. As Negan crawls towards the basement, Maggie picks up Lucielle and she and Armstrong slowly follow Negan. Just as it seems like Maggie is about to take her revenge on Negan in the same way that Negan killed Glenn and Abraham, all three of them come to the same heartbreaking conclusion: Ginny died from her wounds and was now a walker in the same cell that Negan left her earlier. This makes all three of them give up their fight and a sobbing Negan puts down Ginny. After Maggie goes and tells Hershel that she didn’t kill Negan, he and the Dama leave and the episode ends with Maggie, Negan and Armstrong watching the New Babylon forces march into the city as they decide what comes next.

Photo Credit: AMC

We have both a season finale and the season as a whole to discuss, so let’s start with the episode. Overall, I thought this was a great episode and it was one of my favorites of the series. The performances from the cast in this episode were all powerful and really stood out from the rest of the season. Jeffrey Dean Morgan went back to his roots with this episode and brought back his full menacing performance that both delighted and horrified fans around the world. But, this time he did so with an underlying sense of both reluctance and duty to be the man he once was. Kim Coates brought his signature uncomfortable weirdness to this season and his death was as fittingly weird and memorable as his character was.

As far as the season goes, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Being one of the few fans of the extended The Walking Dead universe left, even I scratched my head a bit when all these spinoff shows were announced after the main show ended. The first season genuinely impressed me with its originality and refreshingly different look. This season, although there were some low points throughout, continued to impress me and grow the world just enough to make room for the conflict of the season. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of the villains, although the Croat eventually grew on me by the time he was no longer a villain. The supporting cast of character around Maggie and Negan were all unique and had some depth to them. Overall, I would call this season a success and from how they left it in the final moments of the season finale, we’re going to see a much different relationship between Maggie and Negan next season.

All episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City are available on AMC.

Images courtesy of AMC. Read more articles by Tyler Carlsen here.

Tyler Carlsen

From a young age, Tyler has been amazed by filmmaking and writing. When he’s not watching movies in theaters, he also enjoys playing video games and binging one of the numerous shows he’s watching at any given moment. Working with The Young Folks was a highlight of his writing career and he is looking forward to this new adventure with In Between Drafts!