As you know, I’ve been a fan of The Walking Dead franchise since the beginning, and like any long-running property, there have been good and bad parts.
The Walking Dead: Dead City, the second of three post-original series spinoffs, has been the biggest wildcard because it notoriously reunited Maggie and Negan in the same show.
But for the most part, it’s been a chilling new entry that has added another layer to the zombie apocalypse.
Sadly, The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 4 featured so many eye-roll moments that I questioned whether I was watching one of the latter seasons of Fear the Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 was a decent attempt at adding some gas to a tired franchise, but the second season is struggling to have much of a purpose.
Kim Coates is a fantastic actor, but he’s been pretty much wasted this season. Bruegel was supposed to be this talented leader with people wanting to work with him.
But welcoming the Dama, Negan, the Croat, and other people they work with into his home for an evening of fun and games should have had a bit more stakes.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Lacks Stakes
With the above names in the mix, you expect bloodshed, but it was used as a plot device to have Maggie and Negan cross paths and have a chat.
If The Walking Dead universe has taught me anything over the last 15 years, it is that you need to suspend your disbelief.
Sadly, I draw the line at Bruegel inviting this different faction into his home without guards around the perimeter, both on the ground and in the sky.
It’s laughable that Maggie, Hershel, and Perlie managed to get into what should have been Fort Knox. The lack of security throughout the whole building added to its stupidity.
How did Bruegel know that the Dama, Negan, or the Croat wouldn’t try something to wipe him out of the equation and take his place?
The only silver lining is that you can tell Kim had a fantastic time playing this eccentric man who has little grasp of what’s happening.
Maybe the Dama had a plan to kill Bruegel if he didn’t agree to fall in line, but Negan, being the ever-calculating constant in this franchise, made Bruegel become pro-Dama.
What message does that send to all of the people who opposed the Dama, the Burazi, and everything they stood for?
The only good thing about it is that Bruegel seems to be playing this eccentric role in public, but is thinking about the bigger picture behind the scenes.
Bruegel Could Become a Major Player
Look at the way he wiped out Tony when he no longer had use for him. That seems to be a surefire sign that there’s more going on behind his eyes than he’s leading everyone else to believe.
I wouldn’t be too mad if he killed the Dama in the next few episodes because, let’s face it, her power and influence is getting more comical by the episode.
Benjamin spilling all the details about her status as a theater critic before the world went to crap came out of the left field.
If the intent was to show that even the normalest of people could become villains in the apocalypse, it was a terrible attempt at it.
We already had Negan’s backstory to show us how someone in the depths of grief became a villain, and frankly, no other villain’s origin story will top that, so why bother?
I’m also not convinced where The Walking Dead: Dead City is going with the Dama and Hershel. They have this undeniable bond, thanks to the youngster’s perspective of the state of the world before and after the apocalypse.
Hershel has spent all these years feeling different about the way the world is, and for the first time, possibly ever, he feels seen by the Dama.
The sad part of this is that the Dama is using him as a chess piece in her quest to upend Manhattan, and once his usefulness is done, she’ll probably find a way to double-cross him.
Will Hershel Survive Season 2?
The Dama is manipulating Hershel, and now that Maggie knows it, how can she proceed?
I was paying close attention to whether Maggie told her son what Negan told her about the methane because it would have been the best indicator of how much she trusted him.
Deep down, Maggie doesn’t want to believe Negan that Hershel can’t be trusted, but a part of her has been questioning things ever since she got him back on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 6.
Now that she knows the woman from his drawings is one of the influential leaders in Manhattan, what is she supposed to think?
Hershel isn’t forthcoming about anything with his mother, which adds even more resentment from Maggie. I’m interested to see how she navigates this next chapter because she can’t allow Hershel’s behavior to go unchecked.
He’s a liability to her and the people of the Bricks, but how far will she allow him to play dumb about his connection to Manhattan?
Despite the stupidity of how they crossed paths, Maggie saw something in Negan she thought was missing: Humanity.
She saw how he didn’t want to give her a sliver of information because it would mean the deaths of Annie and Joshua.
Sadly, I’m beginning to think they’re already dead, and this tease of a Savior-like Negan will become more full-fledged.
There are some compelling storylines on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2, but the hasty execution of everything else is bogging them down.
Here’s hoping the back half of the season can bounce back because, right now, the show is moving in the wrong direction.
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