THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Season 2, Episode 8, IF HISTORY WERE A CONFLAGRATION

Written By:

Rich Cross

THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Season 2, Episode 8, IF HISTORY WERE A CONFLAGRATION

Events finally come to a head in the Season Two finale of Dead City, with the storylines of certain key characters reaching their endpoints. But it’s the kind of muddled mess of underpowered outcomes that this frustrating season has long threatened.

Things began encouragingly enough in opening episode Power Equals Power, as the spectre of the previously shadowy New Babylon Federation was brought into the light and given greater purpose. Maggie’s maternal crisis-response to the conscription of Hershel, the military march on New York, and Negan’s elevation from prisoner to enforcer in The Dama’s putative alliance of militia, all seemed to bode well for a fast-developing Manhattan meltdown.

But things quickly unravelled into a knotted tangle of different threads, as too many characters tripped over each other in the jostle for attention. The overcrowding of the island was in marked contrast to a parallel population change that seemed to have occurred unremarked since last season. Originally, the quarantined citadel of Manhattan was an island teeming with an endless multitude of the undead. Walkers were crammed into every avenue and alleyway, and were poised to form into mega-herds in response to the slightest stimulus.

But by Season Two, that had changed. Walkers became a scattered, low-key presence, only found in any numbers at particular hot-spots. Manhattan’s streets were now largely deserted. It was a significant environmental shift, which made the island a less threatening setting.

As the walkers thinned out, the season’s human-focused storylines filled-out to compensate, as episodes traced the consequences of Hershel’s betrayal of Maggie; Negan’s faltering rehabilitation; the Foragers of Central Park; Ginny’s determination to punish Negan; the ambitions and motivations of The Dama (and the now absent Croat); the power struggle between different Manhattan crimelords; and the costs of New Babylon’s determination to colonise the island. The season finale attempts to deliver a payoff for all these unresolved story elements, but with uneven success.

With The Dama reduced to the status of a general without an army, and New Babylon only dispatching an expeditionary force in the closing moments, the confrontation between the Burazi (now controlled by Negan) and Bruegel’s militia was likely to be the focus of the season-ending smackdown.

What follows (after the inevitable verbal jousting) is a short-lived battle involving a walker ambush, flamethrowers and a bunch of axes, swords and spears. In the end, as set out in showrunner Eli Jorné’s script, it’s more of an odd spectacle than an especially exciting one. And although Michael Satrazemis is an experienced Walking Dead director, he’s not really able to fashion the moment into the season’s action high point. It’s over in a few minutes, as Bruegel’s forces are overwhelmed. Negan then has a one-on-one showdown with Bruegel, which loops back to the season’s key theme, ending their rivalry permanently.

Maggie remains peripheral to proceedings until the aftermath of the alpha male clashes. Imprisoned by The Dama after being tricked (yet again) by Hershel, Maggie is convinced by her son to finally exact her long-delayed vengeance on Negan. After stabbing him (quite literally) in the back, it is Ginny’s fate, and Negan’s reaction to it, that triggers another moment of self-doubt.

It is really difficult to account for Maggie’s motivations in the finale, as – no fault of Lauren Cohan – her character’s decisions feel entirely arbitrary, as she flip-flops between hatred for Negan and the belief that he is redeemable. There are uncomfortable echoes here of the way that Fear the Walking Dead’s treatment of character consistency degenerated as the seasons passed.

The episode ends with Perlie (who’s had precious little to do this season), Negan and Maggie sitting in a nineties’ indie album cover pose against a background of Manhattan loft windows, as a jarring voiceover attempts to provide justification for this outcome, and the first substantial forces from New Babylon arrive.

Given that so little is settled at the end of eight episodes, it’s arguable that Season Two of Dead City struggles to pass the ‘so what?’ test. Maggie and Negan are still locked in a hate-then-tolerate relationship loop; Hershel is still estranged from his mother; The Dama is still alive and kicking, and everyone’s stuck on the island of Manhattan even though there’s no compulsion for them to stay. Most of Manhattan’s militias have been wiped out, so there’s nothing to stop New Babylon getting down and dirty with the methane, even though that does not feel like an especially significant victory.

It’s not been without its moments, but there’s little doubt that Season Two has seen Dead City slip down the ranking of Walking Dead spin-offs. The limitations of its single location setting, the trimming of its budget, and the sense that its central character dynamic is in stasis all combine to stymie what had been a thrilling drama.