The Walking Dead: Dead City's premiere episode, "Old Acquaintances," starts with a binocular shot of New York City, the unmistakable Empire State Building being consumed by vegetation along with the surrounding buildings. It's an almost serene vision of a silent, faraway place. But this is The Walking Dead's latest spinoff series, Dead City, and just a moment later, the binoculars moved down to espy a long procession of reanimated dead moving like a slow-motion marathon along the river. Holding the binoculars is Maggie (Lauren Cohan), last seen in The Walking Dead season 11, episode 24, "Rest in Peace, in which she seemed set on forging a new path in this post-apocalyptic world.
In the intervening years between the main series and Dead City, Maggie has been raising her son, Hershel Rhee, named after Maggie's father, Hershel Greene, who'd been unceremoniously decapitated, courtesy of The Governor. Fans will remember Hershel's father, Steven Yeun's Glen Rhee, who was brutally killed by Negan Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the charismatic, over-the-top antagonist-turned-antihero.
The last time audiences saw Maggie and Negan together was in the powerful final scene the two shared, in which Maggie says that she no longer wants to live with the hate she feels for Negan. Maggie would neither forgive nor forget, but she would be willing move forward. It was a fitting moment that underlined one of the finer themes of The Walking Dead: that in a world overtaken by zombies and humans living according to their baser instincts, that forgiveness is truly a virtue. For a series that fans decried for having lost much of its verve in its final years, it was a highpoint, and a reminder that the core of the series was about holding on to one's humanity. Negan decides to leave with his wife, Annie, and Maggie remains in Hilltop to rebuild and raise her son, both parties to start fresh. And that was that.
Almost. Now, roughly two years later, Maggie is on the other side of the Hudson River scouting Manhattan for reasons unknown. She heads to a bar, where she's tracked down Negan, whose become a persona non grata from just about everywhere. Audiences later learn that he killed a magistrate along with four other individuals in New Babylon. In tow is Ginny, a young girl who doesn't speak -- the usual case of witnessing unspeakable horror rendering her mute -- whom Negan has taken a shine to. Meanwhile, Negan's wife is nowhere to be found.
"Old Acquaintances," plants plenty of small mysteries to presumably be resolved over the course of its six-episode season. However, the biggest question the new series raises is: why are Maggie and Negan together again after a poignant ending capped their years-long animosity?
During a raid, Maggie's son was kidnapped by a man who operates out of Manhattan dubbed "The Croat," played by the always-good Željko Ivanek. He's got history with Negan, setting the plot into motion: a daring rescue mission into the heart of Manhattan. Negan, not keen on the whole deal, wants out, but thanks to a particularly cunning New Babylon Marshall named Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), and two of his deputies, there's nowhere to run except straight into the heart of the beast.
Capturing a deputy-in-training during a pitstop, Negan and Maggie make their way across the Hudson. The third member of the group is a bright-eyed young character who provides much of the face-palm antics throughout the episode. When they first hit the streets, the deputy tries to run away, directly into Negan, who knocks him into submission. When gunfire breaks out and everyone hits the floor, the deputy stands up to call out to his New Babylon cohorts. When a group of walkers appear, the deputy promptly trips over his own foot, and it's up to Negan to save him. But of course, three's a crowd, and the leading duo is where the heart of the series lies. Both Cohan and Morgan deliver true-to-character performances even if the premise, on the whole, causes some head scratching.
If there was one thing that never sat right with fans of The Walking Dead, it was that Maggie's ability to move past her business with Negan didn't seem to make sense. For a character who became hardened through an endless barrage of bad circumstances, the one time she could actually attain outright vengeance, she opted to let her nemesis off the hook. For those who didn't believe that moving on would be so easy, Dead City has them covered. Maggie's had time to replay Glenn's death countless more times, which seems to have reignited her ire for Negan. Negan, who delivered an earnest apology -- as best as he could, at least -- returns in the new series wearing the same amused grin that he first appeared with. The past and who we become is integral to Dead City, but what remains to be seen is whether the past is worth digging into.
The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on AMC on June 18 at 9 PM EST.