Old Acquaintances

Following an attack on the new Hilltop, now called the Bricks, Maggie's son Hershel is kidnapped by the Croat, a former Savior who is living in Manhattan. Desperate to save him, Maggie reluctantly tracks down Negan for help who is on the run from New Babylon marshals led by Perlie Armstrong after supposedly murdering five people. In exchange for Maggie giving his young companion Ginny a home at the Bricks, Negan agrees to help her with the two taking young marshal Jano hostage and Maggie having to deal with hatred of Negan for Glenn's murder. In Manhattan, the trio encounter walkers falling from the buildings and a cat-and-mouse game with Perlie in a dry cleaners who accidentally kills Jano while chasing after them. Elsewhere, the Croat questions Hershel for information on Negan and sends an escaped prisoner to his death after the man refuses to answer questions about his group.

In the opening of the episode, we are introduced through Maggie's eyes to one of the world's largest cities destroyed and overrun by the dead. Weakened by the kidnapping of her son, the character is around the city to gather possible evidence of Hershel's whereabouts. It is worth noting here that the CGI of the scene is perfect, and it is evident that AMC really invested in this spin-off.

Maggie's moment of concentration is interrupted when a walker attacks her, and here we have one of Lauren Cohan's best scenes as Maggie, where the actress manages to realistically convey the disturbing feelings of her character. She hits the walker with her binoculars until his skull explodes, referencing the brutal death of her husband (what a clever move by the writers). Next comes the series' opening, which is incredibly well done and detailed. In it, we can see some of New York's most emblematic landmarks, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, and the iconic Statue of Liberty. The tense music and vibrant animation perfectly match the series' theme.

With a new camp not too far from The Walking Dead communities, Maggie goes to a hotel and discovers that Negan is sheltering with his new adopted daughter, Ginny. Upon reaching him, Maggie questions him about Annie and her son, but he avoids the subject, a factor that bothered in the episode since everyone wanted to know what happened for him to be alone.

Maggie tells him about Hershel's kidnapping and that he was taken by a former Savior member, The Croat. When Maggie does the iconic whistle to reference the Saviors, it was spine-chilling. In exchange for Negan's help in going to Manhattan and saving the child, Maggie would keep Ginny safe in her camp.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to a new group of antagonists, The Marshals. This group is formed by patrolmen from New Babylon who seek out people who have committed atrocities, serving as vigilantes. Outside the hotel where Negan was staying, the group's leader finds a book on the ground with the region's mapping, and only the Manhattan page is missing, leading them to think that Negan may have gone there.

Waiting for someone to pick up Ginny and take her to the camp safely, Maggie decides to rest in the car, and here we have a strong scene. Memories of Glenn being brutally killed along with flashes of Hershel being kidnapped come to her mind, and the character is increasingly developed and complex, especially regarding her post-traumatic stress disorder, which had not been maturely addressed before as it was in this episode.

When Maggie and Negan are about to board the boat and go to Manhattan, the group appears. Strategically, they both kidnap the young man from the group to use him cleverly. At this point, an intense conflict between the protagonists begins. When the young man starts talking about his family to persuade Maggie, Negan decides he will throw him off the boat, but Maggie intervenes, saying he can be used strategically against the Marshals and that it doesn't matter what Negan thinks. He retorts, saying that since Hershel was kidnapped, old memories have come back along with the desire for revenge. In this sense, he pushes Maggie against the wall by asking how many parents she has killed, a moral debate they had never had before, as in the main series he was always in a position of not questioning.

When they finally arrive in Manhattan, we get a beautiful glimpse of the destroyed Brooklyn Bridge. It is revealed that the government bombed all the bridges leading to the island to isolate it and try to contain the infection. Walking through the city, walkers start being thrown from the tops of buildings, and a huge horde is attracted by a sound truck. Maggie, Negan, and the kidnapped young man hide behind a pile of garbage, and here we have a disgusting scene of a cockroach infestation that forces them to leave. Luckily, the Marshals arrive and eliminate the walkers, giving them time to escape. The slightly greenish lighting and the dark filter create a tense and unsettling atmosphere.

They enter a building to hide, but the group's leader arrives. Finally, Pearlie Armstrong introduces himself to Maggie as a New Babylon vigilante and says that what he does is to protect his wife and daughter. Walkers manage to enter the building, and again, the writers show a lot of creativity in their approach to New York, with a zombie that has a live rat in its mouth attacking the young Marshal, who is soon killed by his own group member. Maggie engages in a physical fight with Armstrong and exposes his motives, which are not enough to make him give up. So, she knocks him out, and Negan and Maggie flee.

In the final scene of the episode, the main antagonist of the series is finally introduced. The Croat is in front of Hershel, who is tied to a chair about to be tortured (hardcore fans will remember that this is similar to the scene from the third season of The Walking Dead when the Governor does the same to Glenn). The moment is cut short when a group member arrives and says that a prisoner has escaped. He tries to escape through the zip lines connecting the buildings of New York, but The Croat cuts the cable and the prisoner falls. The former Savior member, even with little screen time in the episode, has already proven to be interesting and very brutal, as mentioned by Negan at the beginning of the episode.

Obviously, not everything is effectively new, with a narrative quite similar to TWD's cycle of finding a sadistic antagonist who controls a certain region and clashes with our protagonists, this time involving a classic kidnapping and revenge plot, which also resembles Old West stories. I don't have many issues with the basic premise, mainly because showrunner Eli Jorné's script is insightful in avoiding too many connections with the past series other than Negan and Maggie's feud, being able to focus on the unfolding of the mission without too much didacticism and explanations. The time jump also helps in this "disentanglement" of the miniseries.

However, some TWD quirks are embodied here in the form of monologues and cheesy dialogues. We already know that everyone suffers in this universe and that Maggie and Negan love their little fights. But one or two interactions between the two are promising, especially the boat scene, when Negan confronts Maggie for having killed several parents and children. It's so much more three-dimensional to bring Negan back to his roots: the disturbed embodiment of what this new post-apocalyptic society is. We can still see that annoying Negan with sad looks and remorseful faces, but we can also see that malevolent Negan, which is when Morgan excels, as in the great scene with the vehicle where the character makes his sarcastic jokes. Let's see where the script takes this relationship.

Another positive point of coming to a metropolitan area is the return of zombie herds, one of the few resources of the series that still brings some level of danger to the undead, who have become a joke over the years. I also hope they take advantage of urban settings like buildings, malls, and subways. The zombies are still not a major threat, but it's good to see the production trying to incorporate them into the story in new ways, like the "suicidal zombies" scene. At the moment, however, the horror remains superficial in Dead City, with some sequences being quite silly. The scenes of the characters fleeing through the streets of New York are weak, as well as the whole block against the marshal - the sequence of the guy being killed after waiting for the zombies to break down the door is unbelievably stupid.

But what is truly unbelievable is the surprisingly cool start of "The Walking Dead: Dead City." The lack of expectation may have contributed, but one can feel Eli Jorné's genuine direction in creating quality content, which brings out the best in TWD while trying to bring new concepts to a worn-out franchise. "Old Acquaintances" suffers from the problems and also from the common flaws of pilots, which are usually slower to establish the plot, but there is a lot of quality here. I hope the miniseries continues in this neo-western vibe and knows how to take full advantage of New York's metropolitan setting for horror.

To be honest, at first, I have doubts about this show seeing how the TWD franchise has been doing lately. I thought this was just going to be the same. But I am turned out to be wrong.

First of all, let's start with the cinematography and the special effects. Like the view of Manhattan looks soooo good. I am in awe at how much budget has been put into the background views (though I hope not too much), and then we have the writing. It's great and well-written so far, but it can be predictable at times, but that's it. I'm really impressed at how good it is. It's so refreshing tbh.

The only problem I have with this episode is how it gets STRAIGHT to the point, like I understand, they probably will explain why Maggie leaves Alexandria and the others and why Negan leaves his wife and child in the next few episodes, but they ought to have given us a hint of it, don't they? Especially since it's the FIRST episode of this series.

Other than that, this episode couldn't be more perfect. I can't wait to see what the next episode has in store. :D.

Ever since the main show ended it felt like these further spin offs were blatant attempts at milking the franchise. However I'm happy to say that this first episode is a glimpse at something potentially great. It's early to tell but straight away we can see evidence of the high budget in the effects and general scenery.

This is probably the best the franchise has looked visually and ultimately by stripping back the cast, characters are allowed to shine further. This episode felt a lot more focused than TWD had been in recent years with a constant sense of dread that later seasons lacked. I think you get just enough civilisation and survival to make for a show encompassing the best of both worlds. I'm hopeful that the show will continue on this path as there is a ton of potential, it's amazing how focusing on quality over quantity has helped this show.

After the disaster that is "Fear the Walking Dead's" final seasons and the other garbage spin-offs like "World Beyond" and "Tales of The Walking Dead," I have lost all hope for this universe to be good again. However, "Dead City" is breaking that cycle. I'm really liking the whole vibe of this new series, with its dark, gritty emptiness set in New York City. It gives me vibes reminiscent of John Carpenter's "Escape from New York." I can't believe I'm actually enjoying what I'm watching. I don't think l've enjoyed a premiere this much since Season 9 of "The Walking Dead." I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Additionally, I'm enjoying the chemistry between Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan. I'm looking forward to the other episodes.

The Walking Dead: Dead City begins a couple of years after the ending of The Walking Dead, it's a new showrunner and he impresses me with his writing, Eli Jorne (the showrunner) wrote the season premiere titled "Old Acquaintances". It was directed by Loren Yaconelli who directed five episodes of TWD: World Beyond, a show I wouldn't call any good, but what's positive about that is her knowledge of the universe and it was always the writing that was bad in that show and not really the direction. For this episode, both the writing and direction is quite great, mostly the writing and acting. Honestly, the dialogue is brilliant, especially the scenes with Maggie and Megan. Their deep conversations are some of the episode's best scenes, I liked all the dialogue and writing, it was great! The whole production is impressive and I'm glad AMC brought them the budget needed, everything looks great, even the VFX. Sound design and the musical score was great, which brought suspense and tension to every scene.

Maggie finds Negan and they travel to Manhattan, meeting a quiet young girl named Ginny. A marshal named Armstrong follows Negan.

TWD: Dead City brings new life to the universe, bringing us a never before seen city and everything that comes with it. I'm of course talking about the world building, the new settlement called New Babylon and the new characters the city of New York City has to offer. Two who stand out the most are Gaius Charles as Perlie Armstrong: A marshal for New Babylon who is tasked in hunting down Negan, but also Zeljko Ivanek as "The Croat": The ruthless former member of the Saviors who has kidnapped Maggie's son, Hershel Rhee. But the focus is about the fan favorites Maggie and Negan, played by Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan respectively. From the little we got to see of Logan Kim as Hershel Rhee, I can't wait for more! Zeljko Ivanek is terrific in the little we got to see of him, he'll be the antagonist of the film and I got a good feeling about this character, the history he has with Negan is actually a really great retcon. Gaius Charles is too quite great! Honestly, there are not a single bad performance in this episode and why is that? Dead City was cast well and the actors got to work with a good director and were given a great script, then nothing can stop them from doing a good performance. Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan were the best though. These actors are in good hands, regarding screenplay. This was truly a great season premiere which gets you hooked in the first half and throws you into New York City in the second half, I loved it! But what I loved other than the duo, is the location and scenery of New York City, I mean of course of how different it is to Virginia and the locations in The Walking Dead. This is more like Atlanta, but ten times worse for the protagonists, which is satisfying and engaging for us viewers. It's nothing we have seen before. It's like the golden era of TWD, unpredictable and high in suspense, also lots of gore and zombies. It was also a long time since I was grossed out during an episode of The Walking Dead, Dead City leans on the horror side of things regarding gore and zombies. The new title sequence was great! To summarize, if you're a fan of The Walking Dead and was wondering if the first spin-off is any good, I would have to say this, hell yeah.