One of the absolute weirdest ideas put forward in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2? That if the world falls, the theater kids will take over.
Spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2, Episode 5 “The Bird Always Knows” past this point.
This isn’t something that is explicitly explored in this week’s episode, but it is an idea that’s been bubbling beneath the surface all season long as the TWD spinoff series delves further into the gangs of New York. And on paper, it makes a certain amount of sense: there are different members of the elite class in Manhattan who are intrinsically different than those you might find in other cities, and Dead City is embracing them through the clans that have taken over parts of the island.
The most prominent example here is the clan led by The Dama (Lisa Emery) — or was, as Dama is seemingly burned to death by her second-in-command The Croat (Željko Ivanek) this week. In last week’s episode, we got a version of Dama’s origin story, that she was a feared theater critic who was mercilessly mocked in a play titled The Little Empress, and ended up biting the playwright — ending her career. In the post-apocalypse, she’s consolidated power in the fictional King Francis Theater and led a gang that rules New York. She’s also encouraging young Hershel (Logan Kim) to embrace his vision as an artist to help her reshape the city.
Then there’s Bruegel (Kim Coates), whose origin is unclear, but he’s likely meant to be “new money” in the Gilded Age sense, having taken over the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He’s flamboyant, gauche, and talks constantly about art without creating any himself.
What’s so bizarre about this is the stark contrast both these villains strike with the might-makes-right leaders of nearly every previous community we’ve seen in the Walking Dead franchise… To the point that Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) seems to be patiently waiting for them to do their thing then screw up, so he can step up and be the badass we know he is.
We’ve also met two other major groups in the city this season: the Foragers, who live in Tavern on the Green in Central Park; and a group that speaks Dutch and lives downtown. These two drive home what showrunner Eli Jorné is getting at, the idea of New York moving back to its primal self. The Foragers are the homeless who live in Central Park IRL, the Dutch founded New York, the new money elite are part of its history, and NYC is known for its theater. This all makes sense, again, on paper.
Where it doesn’t make sense is in action on screen, as the thought of a theater critic terrifying thugs and gangs into submission just does not work at all. Similarly, despite his pretty cool little knife ring, Bruegel opining about art is the sort of thing that would likely get him murdered immediately in the zombie apocalypse. One of the first things that we understand — particularly if you’ve watched dozens, if not hundreds of hours of The Walking Dead — about the zombie apocalypse is that the strongest or most diabolical take over, and the fops get killed immediately. The ones who use money for power, like Bruegel, have exactly zero power in a society where currency is weapons and food. Dead City suggests the opposite, that in NYC, those who are most cultured rise to the top.
Theatricality works in these situations if also paired with strength (see The Warriors as the most specific example paralleling Dead City). But neither Dama nor Breugel seems to have this strength, despite being told by the other characters that they do. Perhaps there are some steps in the middle we’re missing. But as is, this idea, that theater kids would take over New York, is the sort of fantasy that would get you panned in the New York Times.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of The Walking Dead: Dead City premiere on Sundays on AMC and AMC+. The episodes premiere at 9 pm ET on AMC and AMC+
Here’s the full list of episodes in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 with premiere dates:
- Sunday, May 4, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 1 – “Power Equals Power”
- Sunday, May 11, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 2 – “Another Shitty Lesson”
- Sunday, May 18, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 3 – “Why Did The Mainlanders Cross The River?”
- Sunday, May 25, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 4 – “Feisty Friendly”
- Sunday, June 1, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 5 – “The Bird Always Knows”
- Sunday, June 8, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 6 – “Bridge Partners Are Hard To Come by These Days”
- Sunday, June 15, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 7 – “Novi Dan, Novi Početak”
- Sunday, June 22, 2024: The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 2, Episode 8 – “If History Were a Conflagration” *season finale*
Where To Watch The Walking Dead: Dead City
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