This post contains spoilers from The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode 7.
The penultimate episode has arrived, and it's full of mental and emotional trauma for both Maggie and Negan. In The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode 7, "Novi Dan, Novi Početak," Maggie enlists The Croat's help in finding Hershel while Negan seeks medicine to save Ginny.
But what becomes the biggest surprise in this episode is the return of a villain everyone thought was dead.
Maggie's rescue mission
Maggie arrives at The Dama's apartment, where her charred remains lie untouched. She finds The Croat sulking in the room, listening to music on a record player, and forces him to help her find Hershel.
Taking Maggie to Hershel's room, the refurbished elevator, the two ponder where else he could have gone when The Croat remembers the safehouse. As per Hershel's drawing, they must go to the top of one building and cross a glass bridge to the other building. Together they slowly make their way up, trying to avoid the copious amounts of traps The Croat placed throughout the stairwell. As they climb, Maggie's fear of heights returns in full force.
Add to it her exhaustion from just having dealt with Bruegel's walker bear, and we have a recipe for disaster. Upon reaching the top, the two make their way through a maze of office dividers, where walkers could appear at any moment.
Maggie's exhaustion takes hold multiple times, fading in and out of consciousness, barely surviving walker attacks until she completely passes out. When she awakens, she finds herself in an office with The Croat, who shares a story about his mother in comparison to Maggie while fixing the flashlight.
Once fixed, they reach the glass bridge where Maggie's fear of heights nearly causes her death. The glass cracks beneath her, and due to the overwhelming anxiety, she freezes up. Thanks to The Croat, she's able to hold onto a ladder as the glass breaks, taking the walkers with them. Upon reaching the safe room, Maggie realizes The Croat lied to her.
After the initial anger subsides, night arrives, and the two converse. Maggie notices a signal coming from a skyscraper in the distance, believing it to be Hershel.
Negan's race against time
Ginny's condition worsens, reminding Negan of his first wife, Lucille, and how he failed her. He tells Ben, who has not left the island yet, all about Lucille and then Annie and Joshua, believing he failed them all.
But it is due to his experience with Lucille, who was diagnosed and dying of cancer when the apocalypse started, that he was familiar with some medical procedures and equipment. Going through the items Ben retrieved, he notices burn cream and immediately speaks to the people responsible for the supplies.
They tell him of a rumor that a nurse remained at Bellevue Hospital and collected all the medicine and supplies she could in the pediatric ward. However, those who have attempted to retrieve the medicine never returned. With nothing left to lose, Negan decides to go, leaving Ginny with Ben. His mission turns dangerous when he encounters a walker child and tries to evade it instead of killing it.
This causes him to fall and hit the back of his head against the floor, prompting pain, headaches, and hallucinations. He arrives to the pediatric ward where dozens of walker children are sleeping standing up. He finds the back room and searches it to no avail. But after hearing racket above him and then seeing someone in a mask leave with a duffle bag, Negan gives chase, barely escaping the walker kids and tackling the person to the ground at the front doors.
It's revealed to be Lucille, and their reunion soon morphs into Annie and Joshua before ending with Ginny. Coming to his senses, Negan kills a persistent walker that has been trying to get at him since he arrived. After killing it, he finds the medical equipment he needs for Ginny. Upon his return, he tells Ben about Bruegel, prompting him to leave, whereas he will stay. But Ben refuses to, wishing to help.
Arriving at the building, The Croat leaves Maggie, seemingly for good, to return to Croatia. Maggie reaches the top, reuniting with Hershel, who indeed used the signal she taught him. But their reunion was all a ploy by Dama herself as she's apparently very much alive, covered in burns, and strikes Maggie unconscious as the episode comes to a close.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 episode 7 review
The moment Negan discovered the burn cream I knew The Dama survived. How? No idea. Whose body did she use in her stead? No idea. What is her motive now? Again, no idea. It's a plot twist for sure that perhaps was needed to complete Hershel's arc.
If Dama was truly dead, Hershel would never have closure and probably never forget her. She's literally haunt him and Maggie forever. But if she's alive, this creates the opportunity for Hershel to do the right thing, perhaps even kill her, to officially end her control and reunite him with his mother. How will this all affect Bruegel's imminent attack?
What will his attack look like, and what will be the final scene of the season? I had previously figured Negan's fate wasn't looking very good, considering all the time spent on his character's self-reflection and practically setting up some sort of self-sacrifice. But Dead City is rumored to be renewed for season 3. Will Negan still be killed off and thus season 3 will take a totally new approach, or will he survive?
I have to give kudos to the show for keeping Ben alive for so long. I figured he'd be a goner by now, so I am impressed how long he has survived and how well developed and interesting he has become. A very underrated minor character, but an excellent addition to the cast all the same.
The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 releases new episodes Sundays on AMC.