Maggie and Negan’s trip to New York is shockingly good.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
“The Walking Dead” will never reach the level of popularity it once had. For its first six seasons of its flagship program, it was absolutely destination television. And for its last three seasons, it returned to that quality. But two incredibly mediocre seasons in the middle, and a largely terrible spinoff called “Fear The Walking Dead” largely broke the audience’s will to keep going. Even despite the quality on display throughout various spinoffs, it wasn’t enough.
But despite the fact that the flagship show has ended, more spinoffs are coming and have come. “Dead City” is up first, and the biggest shocker is that despite all expectations… its actually quite engaging.
AMC, notorious for cost-cutting and budget slashing, seems to have relented on both fronts. “Dead City” looks spectacular in every single shot. New York City looks and feels lived in, apocalypse style.
One of the show’s biggest upsides is that it finally gives Lauren Cohan something great to work with. Maggie Rhee has always been underserved by the franchise in many ways, and she hasn’t been the most interesting character, even after her husband got blugendoned. “Dead City” puts Maggie is the spotlight and Cohan is more than up to the task.
Jeffery Dean Morgan is no slouch either (the rest of the cast isn’t either, just to be clear), and Negan is once again in the center of the story. Over the course of six episodes, things build to a satisfying conclusion, even as it sets up major cliffhangers and directions for Season 2.
With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes currently ongoing, it may be a long time before we get another season of “Dead City” but it’s a season that many fans should be able to look forward too. In the meantime, this show has set the bar high for the upcoming Daryl Dixon and Rick/Michonne spinoffs, and reminds fans just how bad “Fear The Walking Dead” has become. It’s an entirely new era, and “Dead City” sets the tone at the table nicely.
