When we last saw Maggie Rhee and Negan, the two old foes had reluctantly teamed up one more time in a bid to save the former's son Hershel from one of the latter's old friends. The world of The Walking Dead is smaller than it might seem, right? But that was the premiere of the first season of The Walking Dead: Dead City as the two ventured into the dangerous territory of a walker-ridden Manhattan in the hopes of finding Hershel alive.
The season ended with a cliffhanger that confirmed that at least some of the new post-Walking Dead TWD Universe spinoffs would return for subsequent seasons. Maggie had traded Negan to The Croat in return for her son, leaving New York City behind as her longtime rival was forced to face ghosts of his past (and potentially relive it too). It set the stage for a very interesting second season, presenting the pair with something of a role reversal: Negan, the villain, sacrificed his freedom for Hershel's life, while Maggie, the hero, felt guilty for leaving him behind.
That brings us to season 2, which is all about restoring power - and all kinds of it.
Here we go again
The season 2 premiere of The Walking Dead: Dead City, aptly titled "Power Equals Power", opens with the apparent restoration of power in New York City. As we learned last season, The Croat and The Dama are using the walkers as fuel, breaking down their bodies to produce methane - which can then be used to power the city. And, as expected in any post-apocalyptic TV series, anything that can serve as fuel can make its producer a target. But we'll get to that shortly...
It doesn't take long for us to catch up with Maggie, who is taking Hershel and Ginny out hunting. Hershel is attempting to learn how to throw a dagger at a deer, but he misses. Maggie assures him it's fine and that he'll learn in time when Ginny storms past them; she has injured her hand but won't reveal how. Before going after her, Maggie notices a large moth nearby.
The trio return to their settlement and Hershel begins helping his mother pick out items to give to Ginny as she continues to settle in. Both of them have quiet moments, as Hershel looks at his missing toe (which was taken by The Dama as insurance to get Negan to adhere to their orders) and Maggie stares at an NYC cap, potentially feeling guilty over what happened to Negan. In a bid to break the tension and reconnect, Maggie recalls a story about the origin of their special signal: Placing a hand over a torch came about when Hershel, as a child, held a lightning bug in his hand, assuring his mother that he was okay.
Maggie, Hershel, and Ginny are out again when they hear vehicles approaching the settlement (and see another large moth on their travels). It's the New Babylon Federation, who have come to recruit soldiers on an exploratory mission to New York; they hope to take down The Croat and harness their power for themselves (and perhaps the future). Their leader is among the arrivals, along with a new marshal named Lucia, and Maggie's old enemy-turned-ally Marshall Perlie Armstrong.
It turns out that the Federation will be spending some time at Maggie's settlement to see if anyone there should join the fight. The caveat is that if you are conscripted, you must serve. Those who don't will be punished by death, as evidenced when Lucia has a man hanged for attempting to escape. And thus, Maggie's people are left with little choice. Well, they would be if this wasn't Maggie freakin' Rhee we are talking about here.
Perlie tells Maggie that he will be recommending her for conscription. She threatens to reveal that he lied to the Federation about killing Negan if he does that, but she relents upon learning how helpful this mission could be for the future. There is one condition she adds, though: If she agrees to go with them, nobody else there must be chosen to go. It's a deal that Perlie is willing to work with, so he presents it to the New Babylon leader. Lucia says that she must prove herself.
Maggie is forced to battle a dozen walkers on her own to prove that she is worth more to the mission than 20 of her people. Ginny volunteers too (against Maggie's wishes) and the two then battle and defeat the army of the undead. One sneaks up behind them but Lucia kills it with her gun; she's impressed, very impressed. And with that, the deal is done.
Negan is back (and perhaps deadlier than ever)
The other half of the premiere was devoted to the other main character of The Walking Dead: Dead City. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan was presented with quite the offer when we last saw him, but from his first appearance in the season 2 premiere, it appears that he did not take The Croat and The Dama up on it. He wasn't the leader of anything, as we all expected to see, as he was revisiting a different aspect of his life: His time as a prisoner.
That's right, Negan is imprisoned in a small cell. He is seemingly friends with the young man named Victor keeping watch outside, as he shares his "meal" with him and plays the violin for him too. But that goes away when The Croat shows up and pleads with Negan to take them up on their offer. Again, Negan refuses and the threat on Hershel's life simply doesn't carry any weight anymore as he reminds them that Maggie was a "mama bear" that they did not want to mess with.
But the New York dwellers are desperate, for they have heard about the New Babylon Federation's plan to take over the city and bring back the rule of law. The Dama requests a meeting with Negan to convince him to become their charismatic leader and unite all of the factions of survivors and take the fight to the Federation. He again denies the request, so she reveals that the train that his wife and child supposedly got on for Tennessee had been rerouted and would eventually find its way to Manhattan.
Negan didn't take that shrouded threat lightly, and the next time we see him, he's back in his infamous leather jacket and biker gloves. The Croat has even made him a new version of Lucille, with some apparent upgrades. It means nothing to him because he doesn't want to be that person anymore, but he'll do it to protect his family.
Negan sets out to begin the recruiting process in a way that only he can, performing it up for those watching. The Dama has invited members from each of the groups to the church, making them all - unbeknownst to them - a captive audience for Negan. He starts relatively lowkey, offering up the announcement that the Federation is coming to inflict laws upon them, but when one of the barbaric group leaders - Christos - tells him they won't follow him, he finds his footing.
The Croat presents Negan with the new and improved Lucille, which he places against Christos' head. He then presses a button on the bat, sending shards into Christos, making quite the statement to everyone in attendance. Negan isn't fooling around and they have all the weaponry and power needed to hold the cards. And with that, he tells them to think - but not for too long - about whether they want to join him or not.
The Dama and The Croat are very pleased with his performance, but Negan is shaken up by who - or what - he had to become this night.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode 1 ending explained
"Power Equals Power" was an emotional rollercoaster for all of the main characters. Maggie had to leave her son in the episode's closing moments as she ventures out to Manhattan and he stays at the settlement. But his warm farewell to his mother doesn't mean that he's accepted her return to the city without him, and it looks like he might have his own plans to return there too.
Maggie asked him earlier in the episode if the city had some kind of hold on him. He brushed it off, but we also know that he lied about who The Dama was (telling Maggie that the woman he had drawn was from a billboard). The closing moments of the episode highlight this, as he stares at the picture of the chilling woman responsible for cutting his toe off. He has no intention of talking about what happened during those days of captivity, but it seems as if he damn sure plans on getting some kind of revenge. Something else that would suggest as much is that he has secretly mastered the art of throwing daggers after all.
With Hershel looking intently at his sketch of The Dama and of New York itself, it's clear that he plans on returning to The City That Never Sleeps in his own way and his own time. And even in the apocalypse that nickname for the city remains true, for we briefly return to it and, through it all, we can hear the eerie growling of countless walkers, making the city their own at night.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 airs on AMC and streams on AMC+ every Sunday.