At first, The Walking Dead: Dead City, Season 3 left me muddled. It didn't seem western-esque like the prior seasons. It felt rather patchworked, in fact, and thus, lacked focus. The idea of letting any outside faction enter Manhattan was too risky for the sake of the calamity it would bring, and once it arrived, it fizzled in the worst, allegorical way. (As far as Maggie's bold invite went, it's as if she'd never heard of that Monroeville Mall incident and the biker army that assaulted it, and well, you get my drift.😉)
Then there was that alternate-reality, Carnival of Souls, dark-Christmas installment, "Genesis." I can't deny that it enthralled me, if only for its uniqueness, and it was even sugared up by Emily Kinney's song-bird Beth, but at the end of the post-apocalyptic day, the insert was too disjointed for the time it lasted. I'm still trying to follow its intent, beyond the reveal that Negan despises pedophiles, and I sure won't fault him for that.
Things turned around big time, though, in Episode 7: "Hourglass," where Dillard switches from a zombie-lovin' Festus into a take-charge, ex-cop antagonist, intent on killing his once-buddy, Negan and anyone else who got in the way. Man, the standoff proved to be pure Peckinpaugh.
The character interaction no doubt helped Episode 7, 8 and 9's final-blow impact, but in all sincerity, for the sake of the season's entirety, everyone was tiptop, no matter the snags: Raul Castillo's Luis (an honorable, would-be Glenn); Amiee Garcia's Renata (a respectable, Maggie proxy); Logan Kim's Hershel (a decent, lad, if ever there was); Folake Olowfoyeku's Trader (cut straight from the Trash Queen's cloth, though nowhere near as greedy); Jimmi Simpson's aforementioned Dillard (a multi-dimensional Ed Gein: sardonic for the longer haul, but unhinged when it did count; "Tenebrae" displayed it in spades); and it was swell to see Zeljko Ivanek's Croat back (though I'd have liked more of him than the mere, come-and-go shot we got).
Of course, Lauren Cohan's Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan are the glue that kept it all together, whether testing each other's loyalty or conversing like fledgling friends in their "serene," Big Apple reverie. I suppose their strained relationship (even if it's always been hard for me to wrap my head around) hit the offbeat mark enough to make their implausible bond acceptable.
I should rewatch Season 3, now that I know how it culminates. I bet I'd still find it uneven, but hey, a rousing payoff can make all the difference with any bumpy ride. Dead City's third round more than entrenched it, and I imagine showrunner Seth Hoffman deserves a good chunk of the credit in that respect. Oh, and contrary to all the misleading bull, this may not be the end of Dead City, even if an official renewal hasn't been confirmed. (Perhaps today's Comic Con will seal the deal or at least toss fans a promising bone to gnaw on.) 🧟
