While the pairing of Rick and Michonne in The Ones Who Live and the prospect of the reunion of Carol and Daryl in Daryl Dixon are premised on powerful emotional entanglements, Maggie and Negan are connected by a shared history of conflict and bloodshed. It’s the dysfunctional nature of their enforced alliance, a collaboration that seethes with resentment and distrust, that makes the storytelling of Dead City stand out from other Walking Dead spin-offs. In what is the most consistently action-driven of its siblings, it revels in showcasing its evocative urban locations – crowded with endless numbers of marooned walkers and battled over by competing groups of human protagonists. But it is the character clash between Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) that provides the spark, precisely because their working partnership is so unlikely (although it’s sufficiently well written not to feel implausible).
Settlement leader Maggie is a woman on a mission. Her son Hershel has been abducted and taken to the island of Manhattan in New York, and she is determined to rescue him. Meanwhile, the redemption-seeking Negan, who took the life of Maggie’s partner (and Hershel’s father) Glen, is being pursued by relentless marshal Perlie. Both these damaged individuals make their way into the citadel and are compelled to join forces to survive the island’s unexpected perils as they get ever closer to The Croat and The Dama, the powerbrokers of Manhattan. Presented with the opportunity to exchange Negan for Hershel, Maggie makes a fateful choice that will change the future for all three of them.
With strong visuals of undead-infested streets, zip-wire-linked skyscrapers, and claustrophobic sewer systems, Dead City scores well on the design front. Morgan and Cohan are well matched when it comes to channelling their characters’ inner alphas, with extra tension coming from their exposure as both hunter and hunted in an alien environment. While special features on the release are limited to footage of a promotional WonderCon panel, what will excite fans more is just how enticingly the betrayals and deceit of the season finale set things up for season two.
SEASON ONE of THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD
