REVIEW: ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 2 Episode 3 – “Why Did the Mainlanders Cross the River?”

In the world of The Walking Dead, just about anything is possible and that includes introducing weird communities. After what was a mess of a second episode, The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3, “Why Did the Mainlanders Cross the River?” is a tiny bit of an improvement.

During “Why Did the Mainlander Cross the River”, we get more of a glimpse into Hershel (Logan Kim)’s perspective during the present day and when he was held captive by the Croat (Zeljko Ivanek) and the Dama (Lisa Emery). Instead of being tortured, left to rot in a cell, or any other horrifying outcome that can come with being held captive, Hershel’s time with the Dama wasn’t that bad.

Throughout Season 1, we’re made to believe that Hershel was in dire circumstances the entire time. After all, he was taken from Maggie by people who are absolutely her enemies. We don’t fully understand why Hershel’s time spent with the Dama was profound enough to betray his own mother.

It could be due to Hershel’s resentment towards Maggie (Lauren Cohan) being so obsessed with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) his entire life. TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 highlights how Hershel doesn’t care about Negan because he wasn’t born when Glenn (Steven Yeun) was killed. Hershel has no connection to his father and Maggie has been projecting on him for as long as he can remember.

TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 explores New Babylon and shifts its tone.

When the episode isn’t focusing on Hershel’s perspective or Negan attacking his own group, we’re following New Babylon and this new group of Central Park people who are clearly a cult. The Walking Dead: Dead City’s tone has entirely shifted with the introduction of a Mother Nature praising group. During a chaotic and deadly run-in with walkers that surround the area, Hershel is separated from Maggie and New Babylon, leading him to meet a new friend. A friend who happens to be part of the same Mother Nature community. The weirdness continues from there.

TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 isn’t the worst episode of the season so far, but it’s certainly the weirdest and that might be somewhat off-putting to viewers. Not to mention, Navarez (Dascha Polanco) continues to be a horribly written character, and Dead City‘s problem with side characters continues.

When the Mother Nature group declines New Babylon’s offer to join them, Navarez tells Pearlie (Gaius Charles) they should force them to join. It’s certainly a choice to make Navarez this unlikable to the point where we don’t care what happens to her.  TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 fails to give in the way the previous episode did with these characters.

Maggie’s motivations keep wavering, and that doesn’t work.

As far as the main characters go, it’s more of the same for Negan as well as Maggie. Failing to take that last step in making Negan a full-blown villain again is doing a disservice to this season. If Negan refused to put on a performance in “Power Equals Power”, it would make more sense for him to be wishy-washy.

Just like if Maggie were to declare that she’s done with Negan, only to be lying to herself, would make her obsessively asking Hershel about what happened when he saw him a little less annoying. At this point there should be a clear direction for Negan and Maggie’s individual motivations, outside of killing or saving each other.

Closer to the end of the episode, Negan fails to lie convincingly to the Croat, after murdering one of the members of their group. It’s relatively out of character because Negan should be better at this overall. But the Croat clearly has hidden agendas and is likely planning to go against the Dama, who is probably several steps ahead of him.

It’s safe to say that Negan’s group isn’t nearly as dull as New Babylon’s strange approach to leadership. Would it make much of a difference if Negan decides to betray them and join New Babylon? Probably not. And that’s somewhat of a problem because these communities should more interesting than that.

A slight improvement from the last, Dead City Season 2 Episode 3, is still struggling to balance Negan.

Thankfully, the episode has some intriguing visuals and a few gory moments that distract from the silly writing and overall eyeroll-inducing moments. There’s even a moment where a dead and pointlessly introduced character’s heart is carved out of their chest and fed to walkers.

The Mother Nature group (they have no official name) is weird and feels like they belong in one of the later seasons of The Walking Dead, but why are they feeding hearts to walkers? It’s a question that likely won’t get answered, but it’s still a question to ask nonetheless.

TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 is still better than Episode 2, and some of that is due to Hershel’s flashbacks because of the Dama’s manipulation of him. Appealing to his artistic abilities and introducing him to treats he’s never experienced before is sinister. But that falls in line with the Dama and how she’s effortlessly sinister in her presence as a character. It’ll make Hershel’s potential betrayal of Maggie quite the spectacle, and she’ll regret the rift she unconsciously crafted between them. Especially since Negan will be to blame in the end.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 3 is available to stream on AMC or AMC+.

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