S01.E01: Old Acquaintances

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 06.18.23. Streaming on AMC+ 06.15.23. Proceed at your own risk for spoilers before airdate.

 

Quote

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

 

[maystone]

Three things:

1. It's atmospheric as heck.

2. Zeljko Ivanek seems to be having as much fun playing The Croat as he is fun to watch.

3. The episode is mercifully devoid of the words "lady balls" and "nut sack."

[Mr. Sparkle]

If by "atmospheric" you mean so dark I couldn't see even with all the lights off, then yes, I agree. 

I thought it was boring AF until they got to Manhattan, where it picked up. Understood that they have to give some exposition. 

It's too early for me to tell if The Croat will be an interesting villain or not. No doubt he'll be chewing up the scenery. 

So far, meh, but we'll see. 

[Iguessnot]

For those with a TiVo, I just noticed this series didn't trigger a recording, so I just set up my season pass for it.

[heisenberg]

-Gas guzzling pick-up trucks still on the road,  city with bars, law, etc...  First I thought it was years ago but no, it was in real time. Then the double-edged morality with Negan.  I told myself "Not again" and was despite with it.

Until like Superclam said, they arrived in Manhattan.  Falling walkers,  street cleaning with music, etc...  They got my interest, now let's see how it turns.

P.S.  

when Maggie look thru her lens we could see in the distance walkers shirtless or in bathing suits...  I hope we will see more of them,  I have been tired of long sleeves walkers from a couple of years ago.

[Kiki777]

Okay, zombies I can handle but not a flood of cockroaches.  Bye!

[Mr. Sparkle]

8 minutes ago, heisenberg said:

when Maggie look thru her lens we could see in the distance walkers shirtless or in bathing suits...  I hope we will see more of them,  I have been tired of long sleeves walkers from a couple of years ago.

If you're not wearing a flannel shirt and corduroy pants, are you even undead? 

[Brown44]

Out of everything on TWD and FTWD getting crawled on by roaches and a rat coming out of the mouth of a walker is the most disturbing thing I've see.

I'm supposed to believe that the best they can do is wanted posters that look like it's from the late 1800's?

[gutbuster]

Pretty sure Negan actually said "NOPE." when the cockroaches exploded all over them. That actually made me laugh.

Edited June 19, 2023 by gutbuster

[nodorothyparker]

The rat in the walker's mouth was easily one of the more messed up things I can remember seeing on any of these shows for awhile. I did briefly wonder when it was dripping walker goo into the young deputy's mouth if that was going to be an issue, but then I remembered how situational this franchise is about stuff like this at best and then I think his boss shot him anyway so never mind.

I'm as surprised as anybody that I kind of liked this, but I think I did. I mean, sure, it has has the same issues as everything else in the franchise like still running vehicles how many years past the end of the mother show timeline? But definitely atmospheric as hell, some new world building going on, and most importantly, something new to look at that doesn't involve circling the same damn trees. The new villain absolutely looks like a scene chewer.

The funniest thing of all, though, may have been the promo of Daryl's spinoff of Daryl seemingly passed out on what looked like floating wreckage. Hey, at least he's finally in some proximity to water.

 

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, Brown44 said:

Out of everything on TWD and FTWD getting crawled on by roaches and a rat coming out of the mouth of a walker is the most disturbing thing I've see.

Aw I missed that, when was that?

1 hour ago, gutbuster said:

Pretty sure Negan actually said "NOPE." when the cockroaches exploded all over them. That actually made me laugh.

He did lol. As I would have.

Some other observations:

• Maybe it's because she was a regular on Picard, but I didn't expect Michelle Hurd to die in the first episode.
• I wonder how this marshal knows Negan's backstory, specifically the story about how Negan killed Glenn. Is he partners with the Croat?
• I thought I was over Negan years ago, but even then I still thought he was funny. I think I may be able to tolerate him better as an anti-hero than an antagonist. We'll see I guess.
• Since first hearing of a Dead series set in NYC, I thought it might offer some interesting scenarios we hadn't seen yet, and might never with series set in rural areas. Walkers falling from the sky did not disappoint.
• Have always loved Ivanek, even when he's over the top.

OK I'm cautiously optimistic about this series.

(Just waiting for Dwight to make his way up the coast.)

[Iguessnot]

This was a good episode. Only really stupid thing was the Marshall standing there and letting himself get immediately swarmed.

[theredhead77]

I really liked it! It's nice to have TWD back on my TV for a Sunday night wrap-up.

Obviously Lauren and JDM are safe but I'm worried for the Jr. Marshal and the new "safe haven". It was nice seeing Neegan actually scared when he saw they were on Manhattan. Did Maggie say he wasn't going back to Ginny?

Edit: Jr. Marshal had pills he claimed are for his faux-grandmother. Wasn't the CRM dolling out pills in World Beyond and that's how they cohersed some of the people into working for them?

I didn't find it too dark (I also didn't have issues with TWD and I don't have issues with other shows).

Edited June 19, 2023 by theredhead77

[Mr. Sparkle]

Just letting you all know since I'm from New York I'm going to be absolutely insufferable about New York geography and such. So far, they haven't messed up too badly. 

[nodorothyparker]

10 hours ago, Starchild said:

I think I may be able to tolerate him better as an anti-hero than an antagonist. We'll see I guess.

That the show used the awful awful footage of Negan beating Glenn to death in the series premier as a dream/flashback has me at least a little hopeful that this show will less go the mother show's adolescent fanboy route of how we're supposed to see Negan and let JDM give him more complexity and shading as an anti-hero. Acknowledging that Negan wasn't just a funny guy who just happened to really hurt a lot of people is one of the very very few things FTWD has done right. We don't know enough about New Babylon yet to know if sending some rather zealous marshals after him is a legitimate long overdue attempt at justice or if there's something else going on there because we don't know yet what's happened in the years? since the mother show ended. 

Negan was giving off a strong sense of inevitability and weariness here and Maggie immediately clocked that he wasn't planning on coming back for Ginny. You could see that it also registered that he didn't answer what happened with the wife and impending child he had at the end of the mother show.

[Starchild]

33 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

we don't know yet what's happened in the years? since the mother show ended. 

I've read it's been about 2 years since the end of TWD. However, looking at Herschel makes it seem more like 6 or 7.

[nodorothyparker]

The WD wiki says Herschel was born in show summer 2012 and he and Maggie returned to Alexandria during the Reaper story in show summer 2021. So he's at least 9 or 10 when the mother show ends. The wiki also pegs this episode as "five or six years" after that, which matches various pre-show interviews. It's imprecise, sure, but doesn't feel implausible with what we were shown.

[Boofish]

I enjoyed the show. I'm one of the people who just can't quit this franchise or Negan. I do wish we could have gotten a back story on how The Commonwealth obviously helped Maggie rebuild a home and what happened to Annie and the baby. I hope they explore that either in this season or subsequent seasons as I'm sure this will not be one and done.

I'm also one of the fans that don't find running cars that much of a stretch. From other franchises, we can see that plenty of people managed to build civilized societies and keep the world moving (World Beyond/The Commonwealth) Honestly the part that bothered me was the opposite - Rick and his group not being able to find resources and keep things moving. I'm reminded when I visit the 13 original colonies how this entire country was built before any technology existed. Surely even the end of the world, there had to be a few smart people around to figure out basic needs such as how to preserve gas etc.

One funny thing that has always bothered me is how no one went to save any of the important stuff that mattered like the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. I know it's silly but every single end of the world show I watch my first thought is I would raid a museum and a library. 😂 

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, Boofish said:

One funny thing that has always bothered me is how no one went to save any of the important stuff that mattered like the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. I know it's silly but every single end of the world show I watch my first thought is I would raid a museum and a library. 😂 

I just assume that Nicolas Cage exists in that universe and had that covered. Not his character in the National Treasure franchise, but actual Nicolas Cage. 

Edited June 19, 2023 by theredhead77

[Crashcourse]

I was prepared to snark on this show, but it wasn't so bad.  I'm just waiting for Maggie and Negan to have the inevitable hate sex. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

8 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

I was prepared to snark on this show, but it wasn't so bad.  I'm just waiting for Maggie and Negan to have the inevitable hate sex. 

[heisenberg]

9 hours ago, Boofish said:

One funny thing that has always bothered me is how no one went to save any of the important stuff that mattered like the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. I know it's silly but every single end of the world show I watch my first thought is I would raid a museum and a library. 😂 

They have done that in TWD already. 

They took an old chariot out of a museum with collapsing floors for no good reasons that I can remember if I am correct.  

Why did they do that?

Oh!...  To build a brand new one by copying it, that's why!  They could have went to Homedepot for a new one or to a library to get some drawings but no...  Let's everyone getting killed. 

There was some writing gems even in those days!😄

Edited June 20, 2023 by heisenberg

[rmontro]

On 6/17/2023 at 9:19 PM, maystone said:

The episode is mercifully devoid of the words "lady balls" and "nut sack."

Then how is Negan in it?

Seriously, I thought Negan asked Maggie a fair question with "Have you ever killed anyone's husband or father?".

[Boofish]

11 hours ago, heisenberg said:

They have done that in TWD already. 

They took an old chariot out of a museum with collapsing floors for no good reasons that I can remember if I am correct.  

 

I think they took a boat and I believe Michonne took something similar to the DOI to write a community charter.  But agreed it was a waste of time and all it did was get someone killed.

 

6 hours ago, rmontro said:

Seriously, I thought Negan asked Maggie a fair question with "Have you ever killed anyone's husband or father?".

He asked her how many did she kill ; noticed she just gave him a hate stare and didn't respond. 

[theredhead77]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

Seriously, I thought Negan asked Maggie a fair question with "Have you ever killed anyone's husband or father?".

Totally a fair question. She's killed many out of self defense but she has also committed straight up murder. 

Edited June 20, 2023 by theredhead77

[nodorothyparker]

Negan's question was a fair one. And I think it gave her enough pause that she consciously chose to let the chatty marshal who started off talking about his wife and three daughters live, even though that's a decision likely to bite them both later. 

[iMonrey]

I guess my DVR is still set to record TWD so this showed up with my recordings. Sneaky. I was determined not to watch this, but with shows winding down and the writer's strike still ongoing I thought I'd give it a try.

Nope.

Same old nonsense, just another new crazy cartoon villain, big bad, whatever you want to call him. And what am I supposed to be rooting against the Marshall that wants to capture Negan?

I'm never going to be able to just hand-wave the Negan thing. Ever. I'm just not that enamored of JDM to get past it.

14 hours ago, rmontro said:

Seriously, I thought Negan asked Maggie a fair question with "Have you ever killed anyone's husband or father?".

Negan didn't kill Glenn out of self defense or for survival. He killed him as a power move, for revenge, and got a big kick out of it and laughed and joked while he was doing it. I'm so sick of the show trying to make this false equivalency to rationalize Negan by saying "Well, heck, other people have killed people too." It's not the same.

[Sailorgirl26]

I enjoyed it, but I was never so invested in the mother ship to be disappointed with the later seasons (except for the whole Whisperer thing -- that was interminable and the season(s) I skipped). I do, however, remain firmly in the HELL NO camp of a Maggie/Negan hate sex and/or romance plotline. 

I am glad I read this forum prior to watching though, because as soon as those cockroaches appeared, I hit the skip button, so thanks to those of you that took that hit for me. Oddly, the rat thing didn't bother me and I have a pretty low squick level. 

Looking forward to where they go with this, and I may be at a small table, but I'm also looking forward to see what they do with Darryl in Paris -- walkers dressed in haute couture! Snooty walkers turning what's left of their noses up at being forced to have to try to eat les Américain! Walkers stuck in black-and-white-checked cafe chairs, smoking ever-lasting thin cigarettes and judging the other walkers going by! Walkers on bikes in berets with rock hard baguettes under what's left of their arms! The possibilities are endless!! 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Sailorgirl26

[iMonrey]

There was also some laughably bad CGI in this. The scenes in the boat were especially bad, including the overheat shot of the boat floating past all the bodies. It looked like really early video game animation. And when they came out of the fog and saw Manhattan in front of them it looked really fake.

[Brown44]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm so sick of the show trying to make this false equivalency to rationalize Negan by saying "Well, heck, other people have killed people too." It's not the same

I hate when shows and movies do that, it's like pro wrestling turning a great heel face bc he's popular. Spike from Buffy, Shaw from the Fast movies, they did that to Godzilla since the 60's, all the Spider-Man villains having there own movies, Prison Breaks T-Bag and other's that I can't remember right now.

[rmontro]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Negan didn't kill Glenn out of self defense or for survival. He killed him as a power move, for revenge, and got a big kick out of it and laughed and joked while he was doing it. I'm so sick of the show trying to make this false equivalency to rationalize Negan by saying "Well, heck, other people have killed people too." It's not the same.

That's an oversimplification though.  Rick's group had murdered an entire outpost of Saviors in their sleep.  Clearly Negan thought that a demonstration and some consequences were needed to create deterrence, and cooperation.  No one's going to say Negan was a hero and not a villain, but what Rick's group did was just as appalling, or more.  How many husbands and fathers did they kill?  The only thing that justified them at all was that the Saviors were shaking down the communities by running a protection racket.

[millennium]

I lasted about 40 minutes until I started choking on the taste of stale leftovers.   It's the same shit, different title.   Running from walkers, hiding from walkers, walkers find you anyway.  Running from bad guys, hiding from bad guys, bad guys find you anyway.   Local warlords, gas that doesn't turn stale after ten years (when the stuff in my generator goes bad just over winter),  foundling kids with emotional trauma who need protecting ...  thanks but no thanks.  

P.S. Seeing Raffi from Star Trek: Picard be fed to zombies almost made up for it -- I had been wanting to do that for three seasons of Picard. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

2 hours ago, millennium said:

P.S. Seeing Raffi from Star Trek: Picard be fed to zombies almost made up for it -- I had been wanting to do that for three seasons of Picard. 

OK, that was funny. 

[iMonrey]

20 hours ago, rmontro said:

The only thing that justified them at all was that the Saviors were shaking down the communities by running a protection racket.

Exactly. They were trying to defend their communities. Self defense. And I don't recall them laughing and making jokes while they were doing it either. They were ruthless, sure, and they killed people, but they weren't enjoying it.

[Crashcourse]

It doesn't matter to me that they weren't enjoying it.  They still ruthlessly murdered people.

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

It doesn't matter to me that they weren't enjoying it.  They still ruthlessly murdered people.

Yeah, laughing or not, it's the same result either way.  They're still dead.  I also think Negan was playing a role when he was leading the Saviors.  Not entirely, but I do think he was amping his personality up to larger than life, in order to maintain control and play the role of sadistic leader.  Which is not to say he wasn't sadistic, I just think he was exaggerating it, just a bit.  Turning himself up to 11.

[OoohMaggie]

Having had to jump through those normal hoops set up by AMC+ to even  be able to watch Dead In The City, on top of that I admit Ive been away for a while, but dear god what have they done to this show?  If Confused was a state I'm supposed to be in then they've done a great job, is it only me who's wondering what the hell has been going on beforehand to get us into the situation we find ourselves in now? 

Seriously, no backstory, no explanation as to why we are where we are, who's who or why they matter, if at all.

I seriously wanted this to be a great success, not least because of The Beautiful One, but honestly I can't see myself being able to defend this nonsense if it continues much longer 😱🙄😭

[Crashcourse]

The Beautiful One???

[heisenberg]

2 hours ago, OoohMaggie said:

Seriously, no backstory, no explanation as to why we are where we are, who's who or why they matter, if at all.

If Hershel Jr was a thing it could be interesting to follow, but they never developed the character.  Now we are supposed to care?

I don't.

[Daltrey]

It was the first episode, I expect more back story will come...maybe.😏 

Overall I thought it was pretty good and I've always been pro Negan as JDM has always made him fun for me to watch so I'll gladly take a few lady balls along with the more nuanced maturity. It's all about balance, lol! 

A couple thoughts... Maggie must've made hoarding L'Oreal in a box top priority at some point. Seriously, would it kill them to give Lauren a little gray to help denote the passage of time? She only looks about 5 years older than the day she met Glen.😆

Ivanek cutting the rusty zip line cable like butter made me laugh harder than anything in seven years of Riverdale.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[KeithJ]

Well, I made the mistake of watching this during the day and couldn’t see about half of it.  I guess I’ll have to make sure I watch the rest of them at night.

[OoohMaggie]

23 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

The Beautiful One???

There is only one 🥰

[GustavMahler]

On 6/18/2023 at 9:53 PM, heisenberg said:

P.S.  

when Maggie look thru her lens we could see in the distance walkers shirtless or in bathing suits...  I hope we will see more of them,  I have been tired of long sleeves walkers from a couple of years ago.

Just a typical day at Coney Island...the Maggie-Negan feud resurfacing as if the tenuous truce at the end of the mother lode is just redundant. 

[Samwise979]

No ones talking about the old lady blowing out the match?? I actually gasped at that. I thought that was a good jump scare.

Loved the "nope!" .... yah I'd face the walkers over the roaches too. 

The only thing that had me really confused was... new-hilltop, is that in Atlanta? Did she follow croat from Atlanta to NYC, then somehow find negan, then drive back to Atlanta to drop kid off, then drive back to NYC? 

I'm expecting the remaining Marshall to team up with m&n at some point. 

[BasilSeal]

Just watched the first episode of dead city and i thought it was promising, some interesting world building details with the Motel / bar and the marshals with their new Babylon kingdom which frankly sounds like a whole bundle of post apocalyptic fun. no drinking, no gambling, summary executions for shits and giggles, what's not to like?

We have the usual  dumb stuff like Maggie beating a guy with a gun And then throwing away the gun, before moving on. Because, why would she need a perfectly good working loaded gun?

In fairness Maggie does this so the marshal will have a chance to live after she leaves him in the department store full of walkers. And obviously this will either come back to bite her on the arse, or the guy will be instrumental in saving her in the future, delete as appropriate.

So as ever we have the theme of 'are we the baddies' as Negan tells Maggie that she's killed people who were someone's husband and father as well, so she's no better than him. The Marshal tells Maggie he's a husband and father, which is why she lets him live.

This is standard TWD morality fare, Negan wants to throw deputy redshirt overboard but Maggie stops him, but it's Negan who saves him subsequently on two occasions until his inevitable demise at the hands of the Marshal, oops.

I think it's clear that Maggie is playing Negan, she doesn't need him to give insight into or negotiate with The Croat, she wants him to trade for Hershel because the Croat appears to want Negan, for some reason. naughty Maggie.

I thought overall it look ok given the likely limited budget, in terms of the TWD universe i've seen worse, much worse. (I'm looking at you, world beyond).

[Madding crowd]

I liked this more than I thought I would. I was a little surprised to see the bar, then again I’m originally from Wisconsin so for us the bars would be the last thing to go! I’m hoping there will be something more interesting besides the new kingdom and the new insane leader, we shall see. I still don’t like Maggie although I really liked Glen and still miss his character. The actress who plays Maggie always comes off like a very cold person, even when she lived on the farm and fell in love with Glen.
 

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Madding crowd

[AEJ79]

On 6/27/2023 at 9:59 PM, Samwise979 said:

No ones talking about the old lady blowing out the match?? I actually gasped at that. I thought that was a good jump scare.

Loved the "nope!" .... yah I'd face the walkers over the roaches too. 

The only thing that had me really confused was... new-hilltop, is that in Atlanta? Did she follow croat from Atlanta to NYC, then somehow find negan, then drive back to Atlanta to drop kid off, then drive back to NYC? 

I'm expecting the remaining Marshall to team up with m&n at some point. 

I had to look up the location of the new Hilltop as well. It's now located in New York or New Jersey.