‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 2 Review: NY Has Never Been This Lifeless
Now that the finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 has aired, we can finally look back and see where exactly the show went right and wrong. Read our Dead City season 2 review.
It’s been over two years since the first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City season 1 aired. That season saw the return of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) five years following the end of the mainline series as they reluctantly teamed up and attempted to rescue Maggie’s son, Hershel (Logan Kim), from the depths of New York. Season 2 sees the continuation of that story, with Negan grappling between two powers in New York, The Dama (Lisa Emery) and The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek). Read our Dead City season 2 review.
Similarly to the first season, the show centres itself around warring groups close to the Dead City. Where this season differs is that most of the conflict of this season centres around these groups, who are largely uncompelling, unthreatening, and as bland as cardboard. New Babylon has got to be the worst group in The Walking Dead universe thus far, and their utter lifelessness nearly ruined this season beyond repair. Whilst the Negan and Maggie rivalry is severely overdone by now, flailing after nearly a decade of back-and-forth development, it is still not the most tired thing about this series. That belongs to Hershel’s moodiness, who apparently has Stockholm syndrome for The Dama.
The main marketing point behind this season sees a literal power struggle for New York City, with the Big Apple getting methane-based electricity in certain sequences. From the first trailer at last year’s San Diego Comic Con, it seemed very intriguing, but in execution, it doesn’t factor into the season too much. That being said, the setting of Manhattan does add quite a lot to the season, especially with large set pieces like an overgrown Central Park and a decimated Bellevue Hospital. It works, and serves as a wonderful reminder as to the world this used to be, before the apocalypse some 20 years ago in-universe.
Each episode is dragged down heavily by a boring plot, but two episodes stand out above the others. The first being episode 6, which sees Maggie and Hershel fight a bear during their stay in Central Park, which is the most daunting and downright cool this franchise has been in years (bar last year’s return of Rick Grimes). I wish I could say the same for Perlie, one of the major supporting characters of the season, who at this point just blends into the background. He is worthless in the grand scheme of things, which is a shame given the potential his character held at the beginning of the series.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 ran out of steam far before it was ready to kick it into gear, resulting in a half-baked season that is dragged down by its characters and plot elements. It hurts being a Negan and Maggie fan, as you’re forced to watch them regress their characters following over a decade of progression in the alternate direction. It’s sad, but I know the team has it in them and hope they give a potential third season their all.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan Smith, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee, Logan Kim as Hershel Rhee, Lisa Emery as The Dama, Željko Ivanek as The Croat, Gaius Charles as Perlie Armstrong, and Mahina Napoleon as Ginny.
The Walking Dead: Dead City is now streaming on AMC.
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