The Walking Dead: Dead City – Episode 1 “Old Acquaintances” Recap & Review

Old Acquaintances

Episode 1 of Walking Dead: Dead City opens with a shot of Maggie, watching a post-apocalyptic Manhattan from afar with binoculars. It’s cut off from the mainland but there’s still enough zombies (not walkers or scratchers, this time it’s “groaners”!) to make for a difficult time. And of course, Maggie immediately lets her guard down and is blindsided by one crawling up to her. So she goes full-on Negan and smashes its skull to bits.

Maggie wants to get some steady work so she heads to the local motel, asking for details. Apparently they have the perfect “groaner” exterminator in the area. When Maggie goes hunting, she lets her guard down… again and she’s captured, this time by the bar owner. She wants to send a message and looks set to hurt her. Only, Maggie blindsides them all, taking out the guards and rushing out the back door. There, she notices Negan who was her target all along.

In the skirmish outside, Maggie and Negan come to blows, with the former holding Maggie up at knife-point. It turns out Negan is a wanted man, with the New Babylon Federation happening to be distributing wanted posters around. Hilariously, Negan wants to keep it, given he looks good.

Maggie admits that a few weeks back her group got raided. Their gear was stolen and they even took her son, Hershel Rhee, hostage. They’re over in Manhattan right now, which explains why she wants to get there so badly.

The man who has Hershel goes by the name of The Croat, and apparently he’s infamous in these parts. Negan acts like he doesn’t know him, until Maggie points out the familiar whistling. Given he ran with this fella, Maggie wants Negan’s help in figuring out who he is, finding his weak spots and getting his son back. Negan is quick to point out that the odds aren’t in her favour, given Croat is an absolute psycho.

Maggie believes that Negan owes her, and given the latter doesn’t have too many options, owing to the fact he’s a Wanted man, he reluctantly agrees to tag along. On the road, Negan explains his ties to a young girl called Jenny. He was on the run and did a stint on a farm a year back. She wanted to go with him, but she doesn’t talk. She’s been through hell, having watched her father turn into a “groaner”. Since then, she hasn’t spoken. But it’s too dangerous in Manhattan, and Negan promises to be back for her, after seeing the kid off as Maggie’s people take her in.

Marshalls show up at the bar Maggie and Negan left earlier, and immediately start asking questions. Negan is scheduled for a rather nasty execution with a very horrible death that’ll take a long time to be killed. Given Negan’s knack of killing with Lucille, he’s messed with the wrong people and the Marshalls are not messing about.

Facing death, those in the bar are quick to open up and reveal the truth, involving the blue truck and Maggie’s appearance. It doesn’t end well for the owner though, who’s quite literally thrown to the wolves. Or, well, zombies.

Back with Negan and Maggie, the pair scout the area and notice there’s a fire that burns at night and in the morning, which seems to be a sign. Manhattan is one of the epicenters to try and contain the viral infection, and with over a million and a half there, as we know it didn’t work and they’re likely still there.

Maggie and Negan get the jump on the Marshalls, using one of the men, Chris, as bait to gain safe passage across the river and make sure they’re not sniped. Although Negan wants to toss him overboard, Maggie is not so sure that’s a good idea. She believes she can find a better use for him.

The streets are eerily quiet and together, the trio head closer to the source of the smoke. The quiet in the streets doesn’t last long, as it quite literally starts raining men. All the zombies up on the roofs splat down to the ground, while others inside high rises are kept contained… at least for now. An ominous figure up on one of the rooftops happens to be watching them though.

There are traps laid around the streets, while Maggie almost walks right into the most obvious one, until Negan points it out to her. There’s also a car driving around with music blaring, attracting a whole bunch of zombies to their location.

Gunshots pierce the air as the Marshalls catch up, spraying machine gun fire at the crowd. Negan, Maggie and Chris head inside a clothing store, avoiding bullets the whole time, as a game of cat and mouse ensues. The lead Marshall is a guy called Pearly Armstrong. He discusses the intricacies of New Babylon to Maggie in particular, wanting her to hand Negan over.

While he monologues, another walker/groaner sneaks up on the trio. Negan talks sternly to the junior Marshall after killing the zombie, but it’s Pearly who gets the last word in, shooting him in the head. With Pearly’s attention fixed on Negan, Maggie tries sneaking up on him but it doesn’t quite work out. With a gun at her throat, Maggie points out she needs Negan’s help.

A light skirmish eventually sees Maggie best the guy, and after knocking him out, she can’t bring herself to hit the killing blow (I mean, we wouldn’t have much of a show if she did, right?) and he soon slips away.

Remember that woman with the crazy hair up on the rooftops? Well, she sneaks up on Negan and Maggie, blowing out their match light and bathing them in darkness. As she does, we cut across to The Croat, who happens to have Hershel tied up. He monologues, of course, talking about the kid’s spunky attitude, before seeing his handiwork firsthand.

Up on the rooftop, a badly beaten man attempts to flee but Croat is quick to dispel that, letting him drop to his doom.

The Episode Review

The Walking Dead is back because of course it is. You just can’t keep a good zombie down and unfortunately, in resuscitating this flailing series, it also brings back a lot of the issues the original show had too.

While the exposition can be expected, especially during the opening episode, there’s a methodical repetition to all this that’s been a mainstay of the main show for a long time. Hard cuts, fading to black, opening to a big exposition dump and a bit of action. Rinse and repeat.

What’s more deplorable though is the way these characters react to danger. Maggie and Negan are supposed to be veteran survivors at this point but in this opener alone, they’re snuck up on by zombies on three different occasions. It’s also a little too convenient that Maggie doesn’t kill the lead Marshall, or take his gun away after knocking him out, because of course she doesn’t.

The writing will ultimately determine whether this is going to be a success or not, because the little preview for the rest of the season, coupled with The Croat (played by the excellent Zeljko Ivanek) does give this some promise. For now though, we’ll have to wait and see but this is a rather shaky opener to kick things off.