This is a spoiler-free review of all eight episodes of the series. The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3: Season 3 premieres Sunday, July 26th at 9:00 PM ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.
The Walking Dead: Dead City has finally hit upon the most winning formula for its third season, offering compelling new elements and a bold new direction that should have been part of the series’ DNA from the beginning. Barring the premiere episode’s sort of messy “reboot,” Season 3’s story of seeing Maggie and Negan as sworn enemies of friends is what this series should have been all along.
Season three is as close to a resolution as the series gets, given the messy picture of the last few years with Horvath, Dame, bitter Hershel and New Babylon, and Maggie and Negan pretending they hadn’t yet settled into friendly coexistence by the end of The Walking Dead’s final season. I hope you can forgive the initial rush to right the wrongs of the first two seasons, but once the dust settles (literally), the new path our characters find themselves on turns out to be quite a good one. And in the second half of season three, you’ll see a phenomenal episode unlike anything The Walking Dead universe has ever done.
The third season is much less confusing than the first two, and keep in mind that the end of the second season was already working on righting the wrongs of the first season by clumsily closing out this weird Last of Us-style apocalypse created by father and daughter Negan and Ginny – a stupid idea designed to ride the trend at the expense of Negan and Ginny’s own previous personal growth valid new family. Teaming up Maggie and Negan for a new series was a great idea, but Dead City started out by pretending The Walking Dead: Season 11 never existed, and now we’ve finally gotten to the point where we narratively acknowledge that was a dumb move.
There is only one true ending to the Zompocalypse story. Asked as a question, the question is: “How do we restore?” Dead City now goes one step further and explores whether a true utopia is truly possible. Should a community always live in fear, in hiding? Is a non-lethal approach to community relations truly achievable? Scarcity causes panic and conflict, so can we really reach a place of comfort and camaraderie – something better than even Alexandria, Hilltop and others?
Even if the thought of “Neggy” makes you miserable, you have to admit that these two characters connect on the deepest level. “
Manhattan continues to serve as the backdrop here as Maggie and the newcomer siblings, played wonderfully by Aimee Garcia and Raul Castillo, attempt to create a community that not only thrives, but clearly advertises itself to the world as a beacon of hope. This attempt to seriously move forward means past scars need to be buried, and it allows Lauren Cohan to tackle her best Maggie material in years, confront her grief over Glenn, and finally enter into a dynamic with Negan that makes sense given everything they’ve been through and endured together.
I’ll admit, I’m a Negga shipper; It’s these slow enemies that I like -? teaming up. I would be in seventh heaven if “?” it meant lovers or even kissing, but I understand why the show didn’t want to go there. I also completely understand why most sane people Let’s leave behind the tried and true romantic clichés.I still can’t forgive Negan and I would never want to. That being said, without spoiling anything good, season three breaks down a few walls and offers intriguing, emotional directions and scenarios you wouldn’t expect. I was both happy and upset, so try to understand this as deeply as possible. At the very least, even if the thought of “Neggy” makes you miserable, you have to recognize that these two characters connect on the deepest level. It’s an itch that season three finally scratches, not to sensationalize or make headlines. It’s thoughtful and wonderful, and the aforementioned second episode is the best thing the Dead universe has done in years.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, who has some pretty bad “shit-pants” Nigan-isms this season (ugh), is a square peg in a sea of round holes, believing in Maggie’s new dream and wanting the best for her, but also too trapped in his own pessimism to be anything other than aligned with it all. Though now that Dead City has matured, beyond the two being at each other’s throats, and even past their rocky archenemy phase, Negan sees himself as Maggie’s protector, even if she never asked for it, and even if it undermines her new social values. Negan doesn’t stand aside and sulk, no; However, he slips back into slacker Negan mode by befriending Dillard (Jimmi Simpson), an ex-cop who lived in a bar in fairly severe isolation and who had to mold his psyche into some unique shapes in order to survive emotionally. It’s a fun but complex bromance.
Season three doesn’t have a full-fledged villain; there is a third act antagonist, but for the most part the struggle involves trying to be a bright, virtuous light in a swamp of sin and selfishness. The season isn’t a home run, given the embarrassing heavy lifting done in the premiere to wipe the slate clean, and the messaging at the very end feels a bit reductive and regressive. However, much of it is rich and meaningful; new characters are well introduced and well looked after, some bumbling old characters stop being a problem, and Maggie and Negan – finally – have the relationship they should have had since the beginning of Dead City.