Dead City Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Karma is the name of the game

If you were excited to see Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) back in action in the previous episode you’ll be sorely disappointed in episode 5 of Dead City. I have tried to find the silver lining for every episode of season 2 but have been let down by the weak writing. I can’t say it gets better in “The Bird Always Knows.” While there is much to look forward to there is still tons to be desired for fans.

Lies, Lies, And More Lies

Hershel (Logan Kim) and Maggie start off evading each other’s questions. Maggie wants to know if the woman in his drawing is really someone off a billboard. Instead of answering, he dodges and questions Maggie about what it was like seeing Negan again. Their relationship is crumbling before our eyes and a lot like Maggie and Negan they keep going in a circle, never mending fences. The love between them is evident but the obstacles surrounding them are perpetually in motion. 

One Last Hurdle To Jump

Negan makes a solo trip to see (Jake Weary). He wanted nothing to do with Negan and deservedly so. And that is where the writing got a little wacky. Cristos is a badass feisty leader with no concern or care to join the alliance to fight New Babylon. Then all of a sudden Cristos’ children come out to break an intense debate. It made him come off weak and Negan knew he had an in at that point. He attempted to connect with him because he was doing all of this to protect his own child. Even so, the endless redemptive child arc is so outdated. It may have worked a little better in this series if we’d actually seen Negan with his child one time. It’s still hard to feel sympathy for a man who took so many parents away from their children. For me, Negan comes off like a lost leader. The only key that turns for him is manipulation. It was also pretty out of character for Cristos to be like all is forgiven because you have a kid too welcome to the A-Team.

Unfortunately for Cristos, The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek) ruins the party and throws a dagger into the floor. The same weapon was used to cut the power off to 6th Avenue. His men were responsible for trying to weaken The Croat’s movement. The next event was completely overkill. Croat turns up the gas in the room to poison Cristos and all of his men, even Negan until he is benevolent enough to give him a mask. I don’t understand the point of his thought process or the writers. They cut the power to some lights so what? I don’t think it was necessary to kill a group that The Dama (Lisa Emery) needed to supply her army. They could have used that downfall to keep Cristos and his men in line. Cristos was another intriguing character portrayed by the talented Jake Weary, that we barely got to see. They are purposely making The Croat so bad to make Negan look like the good guy. But at least he was kind enough to not kill the women and children, so there’s that. 

Lucia Is The Worst

Back in the land of the crazy cult, and even crazier Lucia (Dascha Polanco) has gone insanely power-hungry and detained Roksana (Pooya Mohseni) as an enemy of the federation. Navarez will let her go if she complies and becomes an ally. Not only does Roksana get taken to the box, but so does Perlie (Gaius Charles) for being a traitor and lying about killing Negan. Because Negan is an asset Lucia does not detain the one person Negan trusts, Maggie. Her master plan is to make Maggie go to Negan and offer up the surrender of New Babylon. She wants The Croat and Negan to escort her forces from the boathouse off the island while Maggie takes Roksana’s people into the tall grass. Until that happens Lucia will be holding Hershel until she gets what she wants.

With Hershel in Lucia’s custody she asks the million-dollar question, why would she keep Negan alive after all he’s done? Why is she reluctant to kill the man who ruined her life and ruined her relationship with her son?

Ginny(Mahina Napoleon) has fully switched sides with Lucia. The only incentive she has is to kill the man who killed her father. The man who took away her whole life. You’d think she would get along with Maggie more in that aspect.

“If you stop fearing what you’re so sure are the endings, you start to see they’re also the beginnings.”-Roksana

Always Keep Your Enemies Closer

Negan is simply all over the place. He gets in The Croat’s head about how The Dama treats him like a second-class citizen. After being reprimanded for demolishing Cristos and his crew Croat fully loses it on The Dama. She certainly had it coming with her nagging and badgering, but The Croat made a really stupid move over personal anger. The Dama was right about that much, he’s too emotional to be a successful leader. There is still something to be said for building her a methane empire that’s on the cusp of taking over the greatest city in the world.

Karma Finally Comes In Dead City Season 2

Then came the moment of reckoning. Roksana had one last chance to save her life and succumb to Lucia. She chose her spirituality instead and died the way she always lived, standing for what she believed in. The crack of her neck snapping was not something I was ready for. After her hanging Maggie was next. Why must they keep torturing this woman? She’s been through more than enough. I’m all for character growth but there are better ways to go about it than torture porn. 

The annoying chanting by Roskana’s people was enough to allow the walkers to burst the gate open. Lucia tried to use Hershel as a human walker shield. Meanwhile, Ginny came threw in the end to help Maggie down from the rope to rescue her son. It was no match for Momma Maggie who lunged her knife at any walker that dared to get in her path.

The Sweet Death We’ve All Been Waiting For

Karma came for Lucia in the end where a freshly turned Roksana took care of the mess she started in true Sasha form(Had she been successful against Negan). Sadly many people of her went down in a brutally yet peaceful fashion. As if they were ready to join their family on the other side. I’ve honestly never seen that kind of acceptance to die in all my years of watching The Walking Dead.

What irks me the most about those turn of events is Maggie had the chance to save Rosksana and Perlie prior, but she instead locked them back in the box before going to save Hershel. Those two could have aided in saving lives before the Lucia madness got out of hand. P.S. What was the point of getting Roksana’s people killed? Lucia had already gotten most of her own killed and people are a resource. It doesn’t feel like any one of these characters has an actual strategy. 

Truths Are Heard As A Villain Rises

Hershel does come clean to Maggie about The Dama regarding their connection and how she wanted his help to bring the city back. He feels a lot of guilt for all the love lost over his obsession, even if The Dama was right about New Babylon. Before they can march back home Bruegel(Kim Coates) makes a thundering appearance apologizing for being late to the party. The personality-rich leader has a few more tricks up his sleeves.

The biggest issue of the season is shying away from things that would make this show entertaining and honing in on story arcs the audience doesn’t care about. Coming into season 2 I never would have expected Hershel and The Dama to be the most interesting duo. I understand Maggie’s willingness to repair her relationship with Hershel but it’s hitting brick walls. And what made Negan Negan, is falling flat.

Sure, he’s worried about his family so he falls in line. He’s come a long way throughout his redemption journey, but it’s just not good television to see a soft-spoken watered-down version of the character. Put Negan and Maggie back together but do so with growth attached. They’ll never be friends and never should be. She’s still haunted by his past deeds, but they could become something in between. The ardent tension between them is no longer effective. Neither Maggie nor Negan care about New Babylon or its need for Methane. It would be much more compelling to see the duo fighting for a cause they are both passionate about. New York City and the Bricks aren’t places where these lead characters will end up spending the rest of their days. It begs the question what is the point of all of this?  

I don’t think Negan was trying to make strategic moves to be one step ahead of the game. I think he’s at his wit’s end and The Croat and The Dama killing each other would give him an out to be free. And it almost worked. Negan crushed The Dama’s rat with his boot and set up The Croat to be blamed for it. As much as I hate rats I do think he could have just freed it instead of brutally pancaking it into the ground.

Regardless it all lit a fire under The Croat that in turn transferred to The Dama’s demise. Or was it? Her room was set ablaze by a candle accident. You’d think they would learn some kind of fire safety this many years into the apocalypse. The Croat refused to help her from the inferno around her and fled the scene. I think we can safely say the marriage is over. Have we seen the last of The Dama? Only time will tell to see if she went up in dust.

Tune in next Sunday at 9 PM ET on AMC and AMC Plus to see what’s next for the saga of Negan and Maggie to see Lauren Cohan’s directorial debut.

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About the author: Shay has been writing as a journalist professionally for years. Her most common topics to cover are drama and horror but she looks forward to getting her feet wet with new and exciting genres and projects. @ShaySleighs