'The Walking Dead: Dead City' Season 3 Episode 5 Ending Explained: Negan returns to old ways to save Maggie
'The Walking Dead: Dead City' Season 3 Episode 5 brought back the old-fashioned chaos its fans love. Titled 'Imperialis,' the episode picked up after the earthquake that devastated Manhattan in the last episode. It quickly becomes clear that the earthquake destroyed the pantry and put Maggie's community in considerable danger. Though nobody is starving, after living comfortably for a long time, rationing is taking a toll on the group. Fabian (Michael Emery), after getting caught stealing food from the armory, is forced to apologize to the entire community. After the insult, he goes to the bar for a drink. Here, he catches up with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and tells him that everything the group is going through is Maggie's fault. Her insistence on moving from Bricks to Manhattan landed them in this position.
Negan tries to direct the blame at Renata (Aimee Garcia) but fails. He spots a gun on Fabian and immediately deduces that he plans to kill Maggie. This causes Negan to return to his villainous ways, but this time to save someone close to him. He pulls Fabian's own gun on him, and just as he is about to pull the trigger, Renata arrives. She asks Negan to stop, but he goes through with his plan anyway. Renata then announces that he is under arrest. Negan challenges her to trap him in a cage, and she promises to return with an army to arrest him. Elsewhere, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) suggests calming the group by giving them electricity all day. She believes this will distract them from the issue at hand, while she and the other leaders plan how to bring in more food.
To arrange for electricity all day, Maggie needs considerable energy. To generate this energy, they need scores of walkers to shove into the tanks. She targets the turnstiles in Grand Central to get the required number of walkers, since they can create a system there where walkers can go in, but not out. However, getting them to the tanks proves to be another issue. To do this, she needs help and turns to Negan and Dillard (Jimmi Simpson). Initially hesitant, they eventually agree and put together a team for the task. The plan is to cause a diversion and then take out five walkers at a time. Renata’s engineer cousin, Solmari, and Benny create a zipline and begin distracting the horde with mice, flares, and whistles. The plan is to push them towards the entrance, where the rest will trap them in trucks.
Everything goes smoothly until the zipline weakens and Solmari almost falls to the horde. Renata wants to abandon the mission, but Negan stops her. Fortunately, no harm is done as Solmari saves himself, and the group completes its mission. Luis and Hershel are seen growing closer while working in the hospital. Dillard is also encouraged by many to show off his pet walkers, despite Negan's advice. This could lead to trouble in the future. To find out how the saga unfolds, viewers will have to wait until a new episode releases next Sunday on AMC and AMC+.
