The Walking Dead: Dead City

Landing in the Crumbling Concrete Jungle

Stepping into The Walking Dead: Dead City, the first thing you notice is the size of the post-apocalyptic Manhattan. It's a beautiful mess of decay where the skyscrapers have been overgrown and streets are full of the undead. The new series leverages the location as the hook to establish its identity from the rest of the franchise, which, up until now, has portrayed an overwhelming rural landscape. The series drops you right in the middle of the action, reintroducing Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) with the messy history that they've creatively built between the two characters. For a remote-in-hand viewer, this is either an obvious 'these two again' or an interesting 'now what?' moment. The franchise is known for resting-though-the-mortis syndrome, and the new cast and creators using the surrounding decaying backdrop of NYC is frankly a pretty engaging shift.

There is something oddly familiar about even the first few scenes. The scenery is new, but the storyline feels overused and stale. The basic storyline of a desperate mission, an unwanted partnership, and a new dangerous group in the picture is a worn out, uninspired story. This is where the first problem of the show starts. Will the background of Manhattan and the leads of the show be enough to interest new audience members and combat the resignation and lack of inspiration that occurs from the spin off overused story line? For established audience members, seeing Maggie and Negan involuntarily brought together by the events of the show will finally resolve the tension built on the past hate the characters have for each other. For a new audience member, it may seem that they have been dropped into the plot of a soap opera and unexpectedly shown intense dislike for the primary characters with no prior knowledge of the reason for their dislike. The show suffers from an over-reliance on specific emotions. While established members may appreciate the deep emotional connections, new audience members may become disinterested and turn off the show quickly.

Marathon or Meander: Holding the Remote in HD

Once you get over the hump, Dead City maintains remote control, a little shakily however. The visual presentation, especially HD streaming on Pikashow, shows off well. The decayed architecture, incredible detail city set pieces, and walker designs are great. The sound design compliments this, showing one of many core post-apocalyptic drama aspects, dreadful urban sound design with the dead moans echoing the signals of abandoned steel and glass canyons. With great visuals, and great sounds, Dead City has exceeded expectations.

With frequent scenarios and reveals, and fast paced episodes, the shows pace works well. The dynamic between Maggie and Negan is the under pinning heart of the show. Negan, played once more by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, shows his emotional side andpective as he tries to put the past behind him. The same goes for Maggie, played by Lauren Cohan, and her pain and anger towards Negan. The core of the show is the relationship between Maggie and Negan, and the answer to whether their partnership will survive the journey is why the show has strong binge watching potential.

While the main characters are well developed, the enemies the characters face and the supporting cast in the show falter quite a bit. Audience members discussed ‘cut and paste bad guys’ and ‘cliched, dystopian lawmen’ and, sadly, those descriptions can’t be denied. The new villains, while imposing, lack depth and creativity. Certain aspects of the show reek of convenience, almost to the point of being ‘clumsy literary props.’ While the focus on the, now, much loved secondary characters was appreciated, the show ‘creaks’ as the 21st iteration of this TV world, proving little engages all areas of an audience. Luckily, both Morgan and Cohan, two powerful leads, carry the show, especially with the horrifying backdrop of a post-apocalyptic New York City. It is a fun, quick distraction for the weekend.

Keep or Flip: Surviving the Live TV Gauntlet

First, let’s say that The Walking Dead: Dead City holds up against live TV and cricket! For die hard zombie enthusiasts who are fans of The Walking Dead lore, this series adds enough new elements to this post-apocalyptic world to earn a ‘keep.’ The new muddled relationship with Maggie and Negan is more focused and with the new setting is a much improved substitute for the vast main storyline. Many fans were happy with the main story of the original series, but the secondary story of Dead City brings more focus and less diluted post-apocalyptic world. Many audience members were happy with season 1 of this spin-off of The Walking Dead with 7.9 audience average ratings.

If you want something to play in the background while you house clean or do chores, you might want to look somewhere else. Compared to live TV or news broadcasts, this is not going to captivate your attention. While the background is nice, new fans just won’t appreciate the connections to past events and the patterned nature of the storyline. Even hardcore fans want something new and with this show you get more of the same. No reinvention of the genre. It is a very different experience than most shows and that is why many diehard fans are happy. In summary, fans of this show rejoice and new fans are not sure.