I really thought there was a decent chance they’d kill off Negan and end The Walking Dead: Dead City with its season finale, if for no other reason than there can’t be that many of us left watching. I figured maybe, just maybe, AMC was finally ready to turn the corner. But I suppose the network needs another actual hit before it can shed TWD for good.
Negan almost died, though. But as my grandfather used to say, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Here’s what happens in the finale: Hershel joins the long and ever-growing list of Walking Dead teens who are truly insufferable. There was Henry, there was Gage, and now Hershel takes the crown as the new Dana from Homeland: a sullen, pouty brat with the judgment of moldy bread.
This week, Glenn and Maggie’s kid remains fully under the spell of The Dama, who allegedly died in a fire earlier this season but somehow didn’t. Despite lacking any soldiers, The Dama still has one precious asset: Hershel. Under her influence, Hershel convinces Maggie to kill Negan, claiming that it’ll help them finally move on with their lives. Maggie doesn’t want to do it, but she’s desperate for her son to love her again, so she agrees.
Meanwhile, Negan goes full Negan, believing it’s the only way to protect Ginny, his surrogate daughter. She’s badly injured, unconscious, and clinging to life on antibiotics. So Negan does what Negan does best: he plots murder. He targets Bruegel (Kim Coates) and his crew, eventually lining up Bruegel and Armstrong (Gaius Charles) for a good old-fashioned bat-based execution. He whips out Lucille, Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe’s them, and while Armstrong briefly escapes, Bruegel isn’t so lucky. Negan shoves a methane hose in his mouth and sets his face on fire.
Maggie witnesses this. It dredges up Glenn’s death, and when Negan is distracted chasing Armstrong, she stabs him in the back. That should be it for Negan. But he manages to crawl toward Ginny, only to find she’s succumbed to her injuries and turned. Maggie, overwhelmed with guilt — especially knowing Negan only put himself in this situation to protect Ginny — lets him live. She finally understands that “Negan” was always a mask, a role he played to protect the people he cared about.
And then, because Hershel is the worst, he refuses to reunite with his mother. Why? Because she didn’t kill Negan. Instead, he stays with The Dama, helping her plot whatever twisted nonsense is coming next. Apparently, Maggie no longer has the parental authority to stop her teenage son from siding with a literal supervillain. Teenagers, am I right? Hershel is the absolute worst thing that could’ve happened to Glenn’s legacy.
In the end, season two exists mostly to tee up season three. Maggie’s alive. Negan’s alive. Armstrong’s alive. The Croat is still out there somewhere. The Dama’s still kicking. And Hershel — traitorous, moody, idiotic Hershel — is working with her. Good luck with that redemption arc.
Daryl and Carol will be back in the fall, and it looks like there will be at least one more season of Dead City, as the TWD shuffles on interminably, entering its 16th year in television existence.
