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'The Walking Dead: Dead City' Episode 2 Review: Negan's character transformation and a heart-to-heart with Maggie

The second episode of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' explores Negan's character development and how Maggie is coping with it

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The creators of 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' were clear about one thing - they wanted to see Negan and Maggie reach a point in their relationship where they could find some peaceful closure. This can be called quite ironic as the two characters are thrown into the chaos and grime of Manhattan (not far from the real one) after the apocalypse took over. 

Their dynamic seems to have developed a lot more in the second episode of the new spinoff, thanks to the convenient situations they have been forced to survive in right next to each other. This episode also asks questions about Negan's individual character and how far (or not) has he come from back when he brutally killed Maggie's husband. 

How has Negan changed?

This episode gave the viewers both new and bittersweet nostalgia for the main 'The Walking Dead' series. There was a conversation between Maggie and Negan in a dirty, old bathroom where they were held more or less as hostages. In making Negan open up about the antagonist of the series (besides the same old 'walkers') The Croat, Maggie also made him confess to some things he thought of about himself. On hearing the backstory she says, "It takes a monster to make one, I guess." Negan replies, "I was only a monster when I absolutely needed to be." 

He goes on to say that he had to "put on a show to protect his people" and tells Maggie that he was also subjected to torture by the Croat who they are going after. In a few minutes, in an attempt to help the small community they have now become a part of and as payback for killing one of them, Esther, we see the old side of Negan that he was talking about in action again. In classic 'The Walking Dead' gory fashion, he brutally slices open one of the Croat's men who had attacked the old woman. He acts like a madman as he showered the Croat gang with the man's blood and guts. It was then proven by Negan that he meant what he told Maggie in the bathroom and thinks of the new community as 'his people' now.  

Maggie's struggle with Negan

Given their history, Maggie is obviously struggling with Negan being pushed back into her life by her own doing. We see her going through a whirlwind of emotions in the second episode as compared to pure anger and disdain in the first one, which is quite the distance covered in such a short period. 

When she witnesses Negan in his "monster" mode, while we see pure horror on her face reminiscent of the time Glenn was killed right in front of her eyes, she still restrains herself from saying anything - almost as if she has learned a lot more about Negan's intentions and nature. It will be interesting to see how their relationship progresses from here in the later episodes as it seems to have a high pace, given that the season will have only six episodes. 

The second episode of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ premiered on AMC and AMC+ on June 25, 2023.