The Walking Dead: Dead City S2/02 Review.

Dead City episode 02 “Another Shitty Lesson” starts off with decaying skeleton with a rather convenient bird’s nest in the back of its deteriorated skull. The babies have long since hatched, with nothing left but broken eggshells and old twigs.

GOING ACROSS THE ISLAND.

Powerful vehicles pull up to reveal a scene of Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and the New Babylon Federation arriving via a literal covered wagon to a boat to cross the Hudson River. This is all to satisfy Governor Charlie Byrd (Jasmin Walker) and her right-hand woman, ruthless Lucia Navaez (Dascha Polanco), dangerous plan to steal the methane gasoline from The Dama (Lisa Emery) and her band of tyrants for their community.

PREVIOUSLY, ON LOST…

Now, the Federation is merely made up of a few wild west soldiers, but the rest are all civilians. Last episode, they had one of their own (Jason) hanged for deserting, because of a forced (though masked as voluntary) draft among the people and any allied colonies.

All aboard the yacht, The Liberty Queen. Roll the opening title sequence.

A pile of discarded baked cockroach shells adorns the cell’s cement floor. This is where Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has been spending his time, on and off, when The Dama does not require his services.

Our favorite prison guard, Violin Boy, Victor (fan favorite, Logan Schmucker) begins to tell the tale of his childhood to an otherwise morose Negan.

VICTOR’S VIOLIN.

Victor tells the story of how his father forced him to play violin as a child, and how instead of hating it, he loved it. He speaks of the different composers and the emotional effect they had on him, citing Vivaldi for possible inspiration, and plays The Four Seasons. One by one, he goes through different musicians, Mozart (mom’s suggestion), Brahms (dad’s), until he finally lands on Bach.

CASTING THE CHARACTERS WITH HEART.

Despite Schmucker being a minor character, he is showcased heavily in this episode. And we all know what that means, don’t we? Say it ain’t so! The actor conveys a poetic and lost soul, weaving in child-like nostalgia in his monologue, and also being our music-fied therapist.

Christine Kromer (casting director), has knocked it out of the park this season, for Schmucker and Gilchrist‘s (Historian Benjamin Pierce) casting alone in such fascinating and unique characters.

It takes a lot, especially in a gigantic franchise such as The Walking Dead, to be able to win an audience over in such a short time. Victor’s mannerisms are both playful and calm in such a god awful world and then there’s another side of him. It’s gritty. Raw. And he drops just one F bomb of the night. (The actor is actually a classical violinist.) We salute you, sir. Sincerely, a fellow former violinist & AEA kid.

MEANWHILE, BACK WITH THE FEDERATION.

Governor Byrd and Major Navaez lay out their plan to get to the island via boat. Lucia, as usual, is becoming more antagonistic and reckless by the moment. However, she is a true woman of the law, and in so doing, she is prepared for every caution. Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles) is immediately surprised by a possible war on the horizon for just an exploratory mission.

I NEVER THOUGHT ANOTHER CHARACTER WOULD ANNOY ME MORE THAN ANDREA. I WAS WRONG. SORRY, LUCIA.

Has he not realized yet that Lucia is kind of out of her mind? Maggie has more sense than this, and we see it come to a head when she outright decks Lucia right in the face. This isn’t the first time she has punched someone, and we hope it’s not the last. Homegirl deserved it. It’s like if Michelle Rodriguez were a grumpy sheriff, that’s Lucia.

The writing gives Polanco nothing to work with. You catch glimpses of a softness here and there in the character’s eyes, but it’s just black and white that this is just going to be a pain in the ass villain as time goes on. There are layers to this character, but we have yet to see them. All in all, it’s a shame, as we know what Dascha can do.

Perlie starts to see the disillusionment of the federation but is still cautious to watch his ass because of his two daughters back at home. He is starting to see that Maggie is right.

THE PAINTING OF SATURN.

The Dama sits in her lavish little apartment, fawning over her art and materialistic things. We have to wonder, just what did this woman do before all of this? Was she a politician? A journalist? What makes her tick?

She displays a classical art piece of Saturn eating his own young, boring a lounging Negan and pretty much just wasting everyone’s time. Emery portrays her with conviction and an effortless, almost Cheshire cat-like slink to The Dama. She is a fascinating character, but…we just want her reign of terror to promptly fuck off.

We’ll save her pet rat, though, right?

It’s just The Croat and The Dama going back and forth about what to do about the incoming attackers, which ends up having explosive and deadly results. Thanks to Negan, we’ve got the fireworks like the 4th of July on the horizon.

 

OH, GINNY. STOP GINNY-ING.

 

And then we have Ginny, someone who is so hell-bent on killing Negan for the murder of her father. And let’s not forget that weird scratch she had before. Is it possible it was a walker and not the brambles? And if so, why is it taking so long for the infection? Could she be immune? Or was it just a scratch? Either way, she’s paying a lot of attention to the wound in last week’s episode, and that has our interest piqued.

 

It’s no secret that she and Maggie have had a rough go at it. With Ginny becoming increasingly distant and moody, Maggie has to really up her game in the mother department with both of her kid(s). Before we can really get to the bare bones of the situation, a smoke signal goes up into the sky, and we are onto our next adventure.

OUR STOWAWAY IS HERSHEL RHEE.

Much to Maggie’s shock and concern, Hershel has followed her out there. The exploratory mission has officially turned into a shit storm. Kind Krista let Hershel take a horse, and he tracked her from there. Looks like he might have picked up a few things from Uncle Daryl? Or, just Maggie’s survival skills. (Time jump and all, it might not make sense for Daryl.)

Our next F bomb drops via Hershel, thatt’a boy! He calls out Maggie on her emotional distance and her failure to let go of the past, which, as we have seen as viewers, is warranted for her to be as such. This kid didn’t see the world before. He didn’t have a donut, he didn’t go to regular school, he didn’t go on a roller coaster, or eat pizza. There is so much more to his world than he thinks of. Tack that onto a moody mother, forgotten memories, and never meeting his father? You’ve got a recipe for disaster. Maggie and Hershel head back to the tents.

KA-BLAM.

After Lucia threatens to hang Maggie and her son, Maggie deservedly socks her right in the mouth. Pretty much what all of us have wanted to do since the first episode. Maggie is taken away as a prisoner in front of a distraught Perlie.

On a rooftop preparing the explosives, The Croat stands with Negan and the others. I actually thought Victor was Christos for a second, I don’t know why. It might be the hat.

Maggie then tries to talk to him on the ship, handcuffed to a pipe with her son, but he storms out before they can have an actual conversation. Added for comic relief, Pierce is a little seasick and vomits over the side of the ferry when he tries to talk about more history. Ginny shows up and is persuaded by Maggie to cut her loose, as well as Hershel.

LIGHT THEM UP.

Surprise! The buoys in the water are the explosives. Count me out of that boating trip.

As The Croat prepares his gang of misfits via Negan’s forced orders from The Dama, Victor surprisingly shows up as the one who gives them the signal to fire the explosives out into The Hudson. Negan looks through a scope at the ship from a building top, and hesitates when he sees Maggie helping Hershel into a lifeboat.

The Governor is knocked off the deck, and Pierced is thrown overboard.

Unfortunately, this has terrible consequences later.

PIERCE, YOU’LL GO DOWN IN HISTORY…

 

Our second fan-favorite, Ben, has been recovered by The Dama’s people via washing up on a pier, and is spared to be her personal historian errand boy by recording everything they do on his now soaking wet notepad. She spots one of Hershel’s drawings and becomes more intrigued.

BYE, BYE, MR. VIOLINIST PIE…

This is puzzling. The Dama was taken with Hershel like a protégé last season, so she punishes Negan for helping save him. He never directly says it is Hershel, just one of the children. As she asks Victor to play his violin, The Dama laments how she is not interested in going back (the music), but wants to go forward. Except, isn’t classic art also the past?

She slowly slits Victor’s throat, letting him bleed out in front of a held back and protesting Negan. Goddamnit.

Planting a gentle kiss on The Croat’s temple, it is revealed that he was the tattle-tale. Ah, yes, her little bitch boy.

LIKE WET CATS.

With Lucia emotionally defeated and physically exhausted, the group has no choice but to stay out of sight and try to collect their bearings before nightfall.

 

Hershel ties a makeshift bandage around Charlie’s leg (as we know, the methane gas was highly contagious from walkers), could it be… a death sentence?

As Maggie and Hershel have a heart-to-heart, both admit that they are scared of where this road will take them. “I love you mom.” – Hershel Rhee.

Sneaky Ginny has Lucia’s revolver that she intends to use to go after Negan with. Well, that was a lot to unpack.

Onward to a rather overgrown Central Park.

The end credits pause to reveal an in-memory title card dedicated to Fear: The Walking Dead & TWD Franchise’s production manager/producer, the late Frank Hildebrand, who passed last November.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!

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About the author: Katie Harden is a professionally repped New York-based/bi-coastal musical theater, entertainment journalist, and indie film actress. She is proudly part of the Actor’s Equity Association/SAG-E and frequently interviews colleagues, friends, and celebrities, along with reviewing television and movies. Find her at the bottom of a can of Arizona sweet tea or in the ocean!

Work: AMC, Tribeca, Showtime, HBO, The Emmy’s, The Walking Dead magazine, MGM, Universal, Sony Screen Gems, 492 Elm (editor), Bloody Disgusting (guest writer), and more.

INSTAGRAM: @KATIEHARDENOFFICIAL TWITTER: KHardenOfficial

 

 

 

EP01: MAGGIE’S HARROWING WALKER FIGHT AND LUCILLE’S RETURN EP01.