Everybody Wins a Prize

The episode begins with flashbacks of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Simon (Steven Ogg) at the Sanctuary during the events of the eighth season of The Walking Dead. This ends up confirming the rumors that had been circulating for some time that Steven Ogg had returned to film and that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be rejuvenated for the scene. Seeing the two actors acting together is quite nostalgic, and the addition of The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek) as a counterpoint to the two is very welcome. We finally see what the character is capable of doing to get what he wants, and it is explained why we saw a hesitant Negan up until now. That said, the script works cohesively and elucidates the dynamics between the Saviors, serving as a way to fill in gaps.

Continuing the plan that was being devised in the previous episode, Maggie and her group use the subway lines to enter the arena and complete the mission of rescuing Hershel. The way the direction uses low lights, claustrophobic rooms, and bloodied locations is enough to create an atmosphere of tension and fear of what may come. The dead teenager in the chair shows Maggie's fragility and her extreme fear of losing her son, while also making Negan try to reassure her, which adds a new element to the dynamic between the two that has been presented since the beginning of the series.

"Listening to a song I don't want to hear again." Yes, this Negan's phrase demonstrates that he does not want to relive memories that remind him of his time with the Saviors, and all of this adds to the ideological confrontation between Negan and The Croat, making it much richer and more interesting. Seeing a changed Negan since the last time he saw The Croat, while he remained the same sadist, creates dialogues and moral conflicts that The Walking Dead has always known how to work very well. The negative point of the episode is Armstrong (Gaius Charles), who was used as a resource to test Negan, but seems forced, since a predator-prey relationship has been built between these two characters so far, and changing that now doesn't seem very coherent. The Croat takes advantage of this situation to see how Negan is acting, as it has been a long time since they last met. When they manage to escape from the arena, again in an unnecessary scene, it makes no sense for Armstrong to point the gun at Negan and want to kill him after being saved, besides needing Negan to get out of Manhattan alive. Ginny here doesn't serve as many purposes as she did in the previous episode, but having her with Maggie should be relevant to the plot of the two final episodes.

Maggie's core here was the highlight of the episode. Knowing of Negan's presence there, The Croat makes a plan to ambush Maggie's group. This shows how savvy The Croat is and really prepared for the apocalypse. It was very well planned, and the fight between the zombies with the background soundtrack is spectacular. Another highlight of the scene is that the script brings back Maggie's leadership aspect, which she uses her creativity to help her group get out of the dangerous situation (and it works!). With no way out, the only solution found by the group is to escape through the sewers. The sewer sequence has everything to be one of the climaxes of The Walking Dead universe so far, as it has been a very used element in the series marketing and has been mentioned since the first episodes. The ending with Maggie disappearing into the darkness as she goes down the stairs sets the tension for the next episode. With two very well-divided cores, the fourth episode further explores the theme of how our past can haunt us. Both protagonists are having to face their past in Dead City, which creates a new dynamic between them. With the dangers shown so far, I wonder if the mission will be completed or if the ending will be open for a second season.

The way the mission is developed ends up lowering the quality of the episode. The production wastes the subway block (was hoping we'd have something cool in this scenario) and the back and forth of the characters is kind of empty, without much suspense or tension, except perhaps for the well-directed sequence of Negan in the parking lot. But from the moment the undead come into play, the episode becomes fun, with the old antagonists of this universe gaining strength in numbers in a block with good camera work. Some choreography choices are strange, like the fact that the characters didn't enter the ring before they died like mosquitoes (oh, how good it is to kill people who don't matter!) or Tommaso's senseless survival, but my namesake Kevin Dowling doesn't do too bad in the director's chair with the big battle of the episode. There is a slight claustrophobic quality in the direction that is also interesting, along with dark lighting that creates a good atmosphere - the soundtrack, however, remains indifferent in the work.

The fact that we don't have any monologues is a bonus, with good dramatic developments for the protagonists without people spilling six pages of script. With Negan, the insertion of the flashback at the beginning of the episode works both to establish the antagonist and to put a "front" to what has haunted the character, with the reunion between him and The Croat being a highlight with the villain acting as a showman and being disappointed with his former mentor's new personality. With Maggie, her sequence of investigating the desperate rooms to find Hershel, the rescue of Ginny, and the return of her leadership during the episode's climax are good moments to work on the character's anguish and strength.

Make no mistake, "Everybody Wins a Prize" is nothing special and does not demonstrate the potential that Dead City promised at the beginning, as the underground and neo-western tone of the series has practically disappeared, and we have seen little of the destroyed New York in the last three episodes, but it is an honest and enjoyable episode in its obviousness, with good developments for the main duo. In fact, the division of the plot between Negan and Maggie is welcome to shake up the narrative. The fact that the ending with the characters entering the sewer is the best scene can be seen as both a merit and a demerit to the quality of Everybody Wins a Prize, but it definitely left me curious for next week.

The showrumners of the last four seasons of FTWD even the ones who did the last third of season 11 and any future spinoffs need to to notes of how Dead City gets a good, solid spinoff done right. Every episode of this show has been solid, Negan especially is at his best in the story. I am really in shock that AMC finally got a solid series of the ground the TWD universe. Hopefully the others coming in the pipeline do the same. This episode was my favorite in this series thus far although classic Negan badassery has been abound in the previous episodes and they were spectacular too. I tell you, if everyone doesn't give Negan the respect and full credit for redemption of his past, they better start cause it's obvious here he's committed to Maggie, Hilltop and Alexandrians. Great show!

I wonder if the actor Zeljko Ivanek was actually drunk while filming season one episode four, everybody wins a prize? It sure seems like it, and the music roughly beginning at around 45:50 started to sound like car horns and it was so repetitious and annoying. I actually turned the audio down the point of good music during a scene is to intensify/enhance the scene and not bring attention to the music it was really annoying! Anyway I'm glad I got to see this for free at my friends house I don't think I'm going to be subscribing to AMC anytime soon! After all they were beating a dead horse with the last couple of seasons of The Walking Dead.

"Everybody Wins a Prize" was written by showrunner, Eli Jorné, and was directed by Kevin Dowling who is familiar with TWD as he directed two episodes of Season Eleven. For this episode, both the writing and direction is quite great, mostly the direction and acting. I'm so happy the writing and dialogue haven't changed since the first episode, consistent writing and great writing at that. 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. This episode was beautifully shot, great cinematography! The editing deserves some praise too, especially the pacing which is perfect.

Maggie and Negan carry out an attack, but not everything unfolds according to plan; Ginny and Armstrong each make unexpected contact with others.

We are now on episode four of The Walking Dead: Dead City. The direction in this episode is truly terrific, Kevin Dowling is super talented and has worked on countless projects on television. The more I see Zeljko Ivanek as "The Croat", the more I like him, he plays the character perfectly. Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are once again terrific. Loved the flashback scenes with Negan at the Sanctuary, so happy and surprised that Simon which is once again played by Steven Ogg, a phenomenal actor and character. The episode was suspenseful from start to finish, each scene inside the Croat's base has you sitting on the edge of your seat. It's nice to see some good old zombie action, great action, with Maggie even using some old tricks from previous seasons. I'm glad Eli Jorné incorporated it into the episode, showing how skillful Maggie truly are after all these years surviving. The confrontation between Negan and The Croat was a great scene, of great acting and writing, brilliant direction by Kevin Dowling. This had to be the best episode of the first four, all the build up was worth it in this episode full of suspense and memorable moments. This episode met my expectations and went above them, it was brilliant, just like the golden era of The Walking Dead. Dead City is up there.

So, one of the things that started to bother me about TWD was that, there would be some bad guy with a posse of bad guys that would have some lair or fortress or building and for whatever reason the good guys would need to break in and a large group would do so, only to be bamboozled or hood winked or tricked or trapped. So you'd think that these 2 leads, who went through all of those things could have anticipated something like this. And why did the group that they found agree to do soemthing this dangersoud in the first place. All I could think while their group was getting gobbled up was, "if I were one of the ones in charge who put my people in harms way, I would be feeling terrible and be pissed aat Maggie and Negan for somehow getting my people into that mess in the first place." The leader of the bad guys has already done the "kill someone in front of a prisoner to prove a point" thing which is boring at this point. The whole storyline about the Marshall chasing Negan is stupid. Maggie isn't as a dynamic a character as she was on the original. She has a pissed off troubled look on her face at all times, which I guess in light of the current situation that's ok, but the character is tough, smart and clever and she's only showing tough right now, the smart is someone gone and diluted. The writers also need to make up their minds about the Negan Character. It's been many years now since the fall of the Saviors, so why resurrect that storyline and the evils of Negan again. I missed it too, who the hell is Ginny, its annoying that she doesn't talk and even more annoying that she found and followed Negan and Maggie. I don't like where this is going. Its starting to make all the same mistakes that TWD and FTWD started to make and I don't want that.