In the season 2 finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City, Negan and Maggie once again clash as the battle for control of Manhattan reaches a climax (but very much not a conclusion).
In the ending of last week's episode, Maggie reunited with her son Hershel only to find that he's under the thumb of the Dama, who's revealed to be alive. The Dama has big plans for Hershel, managing to manipulate him into remaining by her side ahead of his own mother. She sees Hershel, a child born and bred after the zombie apocalypse, as the perfect achitect to usher in a new world and society, with his own unique vision.
What's more, the presence of Negan has caused a rift between Maggie and Hershel. Naturally, he's bewildered by the...complicated...relationship between them. And after the Dama convinces her that it's time for closure and that she needs to kill Negan when she has the chance, Maggie makes her way to the epicenter of the battle, where Negan stands front and center (because of course he does).
The main conflict of the episode comes when Negan's gang meet with Bruegel (Kim Coates) to negotiate. However, in true Negan fashion, he makes it into an ambush. While Negan's character has evolved a lot over the years, making fans feel empathy towards him, the character will always be a showman. In this episode, he embraces his showmanhip, launching a surprise attack by hiding walkers under a dinner table.
Negan, fuelled emotionally by his determination to save Ginny, slips back into his old ways. Before long, Lucille is back in his hand, and he's got Perlie Armstrong and Bruegel lined up on their knees. There's a super-emotional moment when Maggie is watching Negan do his old routine, ultimately killing Perlie by pumping methane into his mouth and setting fire to him. Kudos to the writers, this was a particularly grizzly death scene. Bruegel also meets his demise. Even though his death was always coming, I was disappointed to see him go, as he was one of the strongest characters on the show.
Negan uses Lucille to put Perlie out of his misery. Seeing him use it again, especially with Maggie close by, is incredibly emotional. I mean, as iconic as he is with Lucille, Negan rarely actually used it in the main show. What's more, after the hallucinations he had of his wife Lucille in the previous episode, watching him beat someone down with the bat quite literally hits different.
Maggie comes incredibly close to killing Negan. After stabbing him, she lifts Lucille herself, prepared to end him once and for all — it's an epic, fan-pleasing moment to put it mildly. That is until Negan sees that Ginny has turned into a walker.
The death of Ginny is emotionally devastating for Negan, who saw her as a daughter. In the previous episode, he risked his life to find her medical supplies (something he did for his wife years prior), and you can see the toll it takes on him that he couldn't save her either. When Maggie learns that Ginny is dead, she can't bring herself to kill Negan.
Maggie's reluctance to kill Negan widens the rift between her and Hershel, so much that he refuses to stay with her and remains with the Dama. Maggie, however, promises to stay in Manhattan.
Verdict
The finale ends with a little narration from Maggie and Negan reciting a poem about history, the future, and the path ahead. Despite a fantastic ending to the season, there's still a lot of story to tell — it feels far from over. Bring on season 3!
Episode Grade: A
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