It’s a shame when a new season starts up with intrigue, only to fall flat in the second episode. The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2, “Another Sh*tty Lesson” is less interested in making sense and more interested in having its characters be nonsensical. During “Power Equals Power”, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) finally returns to the version of himself that’s more interesting (aka him being a villainous leader) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) finally shows signs of moving beyond her past. Unfortunately, Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 makes Negan seem like he’s merely a leader for show, and Maggie is left unable to see the warning signs of betrayal in her own son.
TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 focuses on the communities working on their defensive and offensive strategies. Negan’s side of the fence is trying to keep New Babylon from invading and stealing their resources. Meanwhile, Maggie’s alliances aren’t thinking wisely and want to attack now. A decision that proves to be fatal for most of New Babylon’s army because Negan, The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek), and the Dama (Lisa Emery) are using their methane weapons in full force. Not to mention, New Babylon thought that traveling by ferry was an obvious way to be noticed.
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The shows in The Walking Dead universe aren’t always known for the characters being written like they have common sense. It’s unfortunate that TWD: Dead City is no exception to this fact. Maggie and Negan seem to be the only ones who have a modicum of awareness of their actions. Otherwise, the show is still struggling to give its minor characters likability or more dimension as characters. One of the New Babylon marshals, Lucia Navarez (Dascha Polanco) is on her high horse, and it costs people their lives as a result.
TWD: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 isn’t going all in on big bad Negan yet.
The Walking Dead: Dead City doesn’t seem committed to making Negan go full big bad just yet. During Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 he shows mercy by allowing Maggie, Hershel (Logan Kim), and Ginny (Mahina Napoleon) to escape after the ferry runs into methane explosives and is attacked by Negan’s group from afar. It’s a mistake that proves to be disastrous for a violin player that Negan has seemingly become friends with. The man is murdered in front of Negan by the Dama and all because he saw Negan let Maggie and co get away?
Everyone’s decision-making in Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 seem to be more for dramatics, rather than actually giving us a reason to care about the outcomes. For example, New Babylon’s side of the overarching plot is merely them wanting to go to war with adversaries they’re underestimating. It’s frustrating to watch in “Another Sh*tty Lesson” because it takes up a huge chunk of the episode. And then there’s Negan having to deal with the nearly cartoonish villainy of the Dama.
The Negan that fans know and love (or hate) is still underneath this version he’s still trying to hold onto. A version of himself that’s less than fascinating version in all honesty. There’s such thing as villains being allowed to be complex without enduring a “redemption arc“. If we’re all being honest, Negan’s character never needed a poor attempt at a redemption arc, a new wife in which he has no chemistry with, or a child with said wife. Reminding the audience of his family in this episode did nothing in the grand scheme.
As Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 carries on and tries to establish the seriousness of the situation, the audience is left to wonder how exactly New Babylon is going to fair after losing much of their army. There’s also the elephant in the room of Hershel setting that fire in, which served as a beacon for Negan’s group. And how Maggie realizes what Hershel did in this episode. Will it lead to a confrontation and a possibly deadly showdown between mother and son? The Walking Dead is no stranger to escalations between loved ones, after all.
Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 tries to set up emotional escalations, but Hershel needs more rounding out.
Hershel’s character is still not formed enough as a character to really feel invested in his motivations. The focus is more on how Maggie is emotionally dealing with her son betraying her and the community. And Lauren Cohan absolutely sells the moment. It’s the Maggie side of things that make Hershel interesting, and that bucks against any development he could have. As long as the writers add some depth to him and make him a little less annoying, this betrayal plot might have a decent enough outcome in the end.
Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 isn’t a total lost cause, though, and there are decent parts involving the relatively cool and destructive usage of the methane. Though, the whole episode can’t be jam packed with action sequences or explosions. After all, TWD: Dead City is a horror drama, not a horror action series. But moments like that help distract viewers from the abysmal character writing or nonsensical choices that barely move the plot along. Considering, nobody cares how the marshals view the law or what the New Babylon stands for.
The visuals are still a strong point of the season, and the cinematic aspects really help Dead City shine. Giving us more gory sequences, as well as more scenes of people cussing, really shows how much leeway Dead City is allowed. And that works in its favor because Negan in particular is known to cuss like a sailor. Something that The Walking Dead didn’t allow as much of. Thankfully, Dead City isn’t afraid of allowing its characters to talk like people do.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 is still a major step down from the premiere and makes many mistakes as far as character motivations. The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 isn’t too unwatchable, but it’s certainly not that rewatchable either. But the visuals as well as continued usage of methane help to keep audiences sticking around until the end. If only the show would make the characters do less or no mind-numbingly stupid things, then they might be cooking with gas. Otherwise, it’s just a middling episode that doesn’t rank high on the rewatch factor.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 2 is available to stream on AMC+ or AMC.
