Old Acquaintances

All i wanna say is that it's a big improvement i hope the graph continues like this i am just hoping things to be better this time 🤞 it's like watching your favourite team's match.

The visuals are realy great the CGI is a lot improved the only thing TWD universe has been missing the past years was the storyline it just wasn't able to hook it's Audience the characters were not feeling the same as they used to do in earlier seasons i just hope that the path they are choosing through the spinoffs has a justified ending i just really really really hope for a Good end to my most favourite franchise of all time.

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.

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.

Although I still do have concerns on the future of twd franchise, Dead City is an impressive entry to the franchise which left me excited after seeing the first two episodes. Dead City offers great performences by Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan and stunning cinematography. My biggest concern going in was that the show was going to force the two into a relationship but it is clear after viewing that is the direction they will not be going. The show also provides interesting supporting characters while still not losing focus on it's two main stars which is another promising factor as it's flagship show sometimes stumbled with that.

Maggie observes a herd of walkers in Manhattan; she is attacked by one walker and later she goes to a bar of a motel, where she has to fight for her life. Finally, she meets Negan, who was in the motel and is on the run with the teenager Ginny. Negan is wanted in New Babylon for killing a judge and the marshals are hunting him down. Maggie tells him that Hershel was kidnapped by his former follower, The Croat, and she is tracking him down until the Hudson River. Negan says that The Croat is a sick man, and Maggie says that he owes her and proposes to take care of Ginny at Hilltop if he teams up with her to hunt down The Croat and rescue Hershell. Maggie tells him that Hilltop was relocated and fires a flare; soon, her friend Gina arrives to take Ginny to Hilltop. Meanwhile, the Marshal Perlie Armstrong arrives at the bar where Maggie and Negan were, and he shows the wanted poster of Negan and asks his whereabouts. After torturing the owner of the bar to have information about Negan and Maggie, Armstrong throws her to be devoured by walkers restrained by a fence. When Maggie and Negan are ready to navigate to Manhattan, Armstrong and the two marshals arrive, but the junior one, Jano, is captured by Maggie while pissing. They use Jano as a shield and cross the Hudson River by boat. But soon Armstrong and the other marshal follows them, in the beginning of their journey hunted down by a local gang, The Croat gang and the marshals.

"Old Acquaintances" is the first episode of "The Walking Dead" spin-off "Dead City. The beginning of this show is confused, with strange things happening, such as Hershell a teenager and Maggie with the same appearance; people driving cars; and outlaw marshals that kill without judgement, although they claim that Negan killed a judge. The environment of New York recalls John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" (1981), showing a derelict Manhattan. The team-up of Maggie with Negan is maybe the worst in the show, since she hates and do not trust him; therefore, it seems incoherent this association specially when the viewer learns that The Croat has a grudge with him. But the show has many action scenes and twists and is not bad. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Old Acquaintances"