'Dead City' is looking pretty awesome so far. I loved the opening with Maggie on her own scouting a new landscape (a ruinous Manhattan) with no background or exposition. It's an interesting way of throwing the audience into this new story without a lot of information, inviting curiosity, and it also cleanly distances this show from any lingering plot threads that might be unnecessary baggage from the main show, apart from those that are significant specifically to Maggie and Negan.
Some years have passed since 'The Walking Dead' finale (I'm guessing about seven or eight), and a former Savior has kidnapped Maggie's son and is holding him for ransom in Manhattan. Maggie tracks down Negan, who has been on the run and now has a bounty on his head from an incident in another settlement, to help her.
I like the feel of the show. It's very gritty and still has a post-apocalyptic/neo-western feel. The remaining humans seem to have more or less adapted to their situation, but everything is kind of broken and falling apart, unlike the settlement we saw in 'World Beyond' that looked meticulous and pristine (before it was razed, anyway). That's definitely something this show gets right.
The same applies to the scenery once they actually reach Manhattan, whose skyline is now crumbling and spotted with scorches and overgrown vines. It has a very 'Escape From New York' feel (As does that great promotional image with the protagonists stand in front of the head of the Statue of Liberty), so I'm guessing they just shot at locations and then in certain shots added in very simple, but effective static visual effects. There's a great sequence showcasing the destroyed Brooklyn Bridge when Maggie and Negan arrive, and a little bit of expository background about what happened to Manhattan after the outbreak began.
Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan step back in to their roles seamlessly (Negan is still one of televisions' most charming villains). The new characters, The Croat, and a group of ill-fated Marshalls spearheaded by Armstrong, also seem intriguing and I'm looking forward to see where they go. Maggie and Negan capture one of Armstrong's Marshalls, a young trainee, who is accidentally killed towards the latter half of the episode. They made him kind of relateable and naive/inexperienced, revealing information about his family and background, and then they shock you by killing him off. It's great character development, making you sympathize for a character who doesn't live past the first episode, something 'The Walking Dead' in its' earlier years used to have a real knack for. Little details like that really give me confidence that this show may surpass my expectations.
The first episode really set up this one-off series in a great way, and there's a lot of potential here. I don't wanna jinx it by being too negative, but I've been watching the final season of the 'Fear...' spin-off, and, well... Let's just hope 'Dead City' doesn't waste the good will that this first episode has imbued it with. I watched the "Inside Look" with the show's main writer after it ended, and it genuinely seemed like he had an actual vision for what he wanted in the show, and that's really apparent in the first episode, so I've got kind of a good feeling about it.
Edit 1: The people who don't like it because it has "zombie cliches" (No s@$#, it's a post-apocalypse zombie show), "there's nothing new" (again, it's a post-apocalypse zombie show, you're either into that or you're not), and suggesting we should "watch 'The Last of Us' instead" are just trendys. They'll watch something as long as it's popular. When 'Last of Us' just keeps going even after its' shiny newness has worn off, they'll bail on that too. 'Walking Dead' has had its' ups and downs. The main show was consistently GREAT up until Season 9, and even after was still pretty good for the most part. The 'Fear...' spin-off had two really good seasons (1 & 6) but it struggled for most of its' run, and 'World Beyond' was awful. But I *LOVE* this horror/post-apocalypse/zombie/survival subgenre. I've probably seen Romero's original three 'Living Dead' movies ten or more times EACH, and I was a fan of those a full twenty years before AMC started producing 'Walking Dead", and over a decade before Kirkman's first 'Walking Dead' comic book. 'Walking Dead' could do infinite spin-offs until the day I die, and as long as they're good (Which the first episode of 'Dead City' was), I'd still be watching whether it was popular to do so or not. Trendys are not genre fans. That doesn't mean their opinions are irrelevant, just mercurial, but if you're a fan of the zombie/post-apcalypse subgenre, their vague critiques of the genre (not the actual contents of the show) can be safely ignored.
Edit 2: Four episodes in and I'm still mostly enjoying the show. Episode 2 was excellent, with an incredible ending. Episode 3 was underwhelming, and mainly functions as an exposition dump. Perlie Armstrong gets some good action scenes, but the Croat is fairly unimpressive so far. He gives a big speech, but we never really see him actually *leading*. This is something that the main show did a SUPERB job with on a consistent basis; The Governor, Negan, Alpha... all had a 'command presence', and a fair amount of time is spent exploring both the motivations of these characters, as well as their individual leadership styles, and even their followers and how they interact with each other. The Croat doesn't seem to have a second in command, nor have we seen anything that might provide insight into the structure of his organization, or more importantly, WHY people follow him. He's pretty generic in that regard. Zeljko Ivanek does imbue the character with a distinct personality, but everyone following him are just generic goons. I mean, I still freakin' remember characters who barely had any dialogue from Negans' crew, like Regina, Arat, Laura, etc. The Croat has a bunch of nameless extras. It's not good for his character.
Episode 4 picks up a bit, but the the action sequence where Maggie and the others are fighting off zombies in the arena doesn't have a lot of tension. The camera is mostly wide shots... few close-ups on their actions, the protagonists' expressions, or the zombies, no gore/effects shots... Other than that, it was a good episode. I loved seeing Steven Ogg return briefly as Simon. I lowered my overall score from 10 stars to 8. They really need to give The Croat more development, not just in his past with the Saviors (which they've done a good job of establishing), but in the present with his own organization.
Episode 1: 10/10.
Episode 2: 10/10.
Episode 3: 6/10
Episode 4: 8/10.
Some years have passed since 'The Walking Dead' finale (I'm guessing about seven or eight), and a former Savior has kidnapped Maggie's son and is holding him for ransom in Manhattan. Maggie tracks down Negan, who has been on the run and now has a bounty on his head from an incident in another settlement, to help her.
I like the feel of the show. It's very gritty and still has a post-apocalyptic/neo-western feel. The remaining humans seem to have more or less adapted to their situation, but everything is kind of broken and falling apart, unlike the settlement we saw in 'World Beyond' that looked meticulous and pristine (before it was razed, anyway). That's definitely something this show gets right.
The same applies to the scenery once they actually reach Manhattan, whose skyline is now crumbling and spotted with scorches and overgrown vines. It has a very 'Escape From New York' feel (As does that great promotional image with the protagonists stand in front of the head of the Statue of Liberty), so I'm guessing they just shot at locations and then in certain shots added in very simple, but effective static visual effects. There's a great sequence showcasing the destroyed Brooklyn Bridge when Maggie and Negan arrive, and a little bit of expository background about what happened to Manhattan after the outbreak began.
Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan step back in to their roles seamlessly (Negan is still one of televisions' most charming villains). The new characters, The Croat, and a group of ill-fated Marshalls spearheaded by Armstrong, also seem intriguing and I'm looking forward to see where they go. Maggie and Negan capture one of Armstrong's Marshalls, a young trainee, who is accidentally killed towards the latter half of the episode. They made him kind of relateable and naive/inexperienced, revealing information about his family and background, and then they shock you by killing him off. It's great character development, making you sympathize for a character who doesn't live past the first episode, something 'The Walking Dead' in its' earlier years used to have a real knack for. Little details like that really give me confidence that this show may surpass my expectations.
The first episode really set up this one-off series in a great way, and there's a lot of potential here. I don't wanna jinx it by being too negative, but I've been watching the final season of the 'Fear...' spin-off, and, well... Let's just hope 'Dead City' doesn't waste the good will that this first episode has imbued it with. I watched the "Inside Look" with the show's main writer after it ended, and it genuinely seemed like he had an actual vision for what he wanted in the show, and that's really apparent in the first episode, so I've got kind of a good feeling about it.
Edit 1: The people who don't like it because it has "zombie cliches" (No s@$#, it's a post-apocalypse zombie show), "there's nothing new" (again, it's a post-apocalypse zombie show, you're either into that or you're not), and suggesting we should "watch 'The Last of Us' instead" are just trendys. They'll watch something as long as it's popular. When 'Last of Us' just keeps going even after its' shiny newness has worn off, they'll bail on that too. 'Walking Dead' has had its' ups and downs. The main show was consistently GREAT up until Season 9, and even after was still pretty good for the most part. The 'Fear...' spin-off had two really good seasons (1 & 6) but it struggled for most of its' run, and 'World Beyond' was awful. But I *LOVE* this horror/post-apocalypse/zombie/survival subgenre. I've probably seen Romero's original three 'Living Dead' movies ten or more times EACH, and I was a fan of those a full twenty years before AMC started producing 'Walking Dead", and over a decade before Kirkman's first 'Walking Dead' comic book. 'Walking Dead' could do infinite spin-offs until the day I die, and as long as they're good (Which the first episode of 'Dead City' was), I'd still be watching whether it was popular to do so or not. Trendys are not genre fans. That doesn't mean their opinions are irrelevant, just mercurial, but if you're a fan of the zombie/post-apcalypse subgenre, their vague critiques of the genre (not the actual contents of the show) can be safely ignored.
Edit 2: Four episodes in and I'm still mostly enjoying the show. Episode 2 was excellent, with an incredible ending. Episode 3 was underwhelming, and mainly functions as an exposition dump. Perlie Armstrong gets some good action scenes, but the Croat is fairly unimpressive so far. He gives a big speech, but we never really see him actually *leading*. This is something that the main show did a SUPERB job with on a consistent basis; The Governor, Negan, Alpha... all had a 'command presence', and a fair amount of time is spent exploring both the motivations of these characters, as well as their individual leadership styles, and even their followers and how they interact with each other. The Croat doesn't seem to have a second in command, nor have we seen anything that might provide insight into the structure of his organization, or more importantly, WHY people follow him. He's pretty generic in that regard. Zeljko Ivanek does imbue the character with a distinct personality, but everyone following him are just generic goons. I mean, I still freakin' remember characters who barely had any dialogue from Negans' crew, like Regina, Arat, Laura, etc. The Croat has a bunch of nameless extras. It's not good for his character.
Episode 4 picks up a bit, but the the action sequence where Maggie and the others are fighting off zombies in the arena doesn't have a lot of tension. The camera is mostly wide shots... few close-ups on their actions, the protagonists' expressions, or the zombies, no gore/effects shots... Other than that, it was a good episode. I loved seeing Steven Ogg return briefly as Simon. I lowered my overall score from 10 stars to 8. They really need to give The Croat more development, not just in his past with the Saviors (which they've done a good job of establishing), but in the present with his own organization.
Episode 1: 10/10.
Episode 2: 10/10.
Episode 3: 6/10
Episode 4: 8/10.