This Strolling Lifeless: Lifeless Metropolis episode delivers excessive pressure, emotionally charged conflicts, and eerie encounters—most notably, the chilling soar scare when considered one of Bruegel’s guards is out of the blue dragged into the woods. However does Bridge Companions Are Arduous to Come by These Days maintain collectively as a coherent narrative, or is that this the place the cracks start to point out?
The Maggie (Lauren Cohen)–Hershel (Logan Kim) dynamic ought to have been the emotional core of the episode. Hershel’s obvious lifelong resentment in opposition to his emotionally absent mom drives the plot, but his motivations really feel inconsistent. The character has been performed numb, demonstrating little ardour for something, making his abrupt shifts in habits really feel contrived somewhat than earned.
“Bridge Companions AreArduous to Come to by These Days” —THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured (L-R): Gaius Charles as
Armstrong, Logan Kim as Hershel. Photograph: Robert Clark/AMC© 2025 AMC Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.Hershel’s craving to desert Maggie for all times within the Lifeless Metropolis is compelling, but his sudden reversal on poisoning Bruegel’s (Kim Coates) crew with walker blood lacks dramatic weight. His violent outburst in opposition to Maggie, meant to be stunning, as a substitute feels overwrought, an escalation not absolutely developed within the story.
We wish to perceive his anger, however the present by no means actually explores Hershel’s psyche. As a substitute of a layered portrayal, his habits typically teeters into erratic melodrama, undermining the stakes that put Maggie in pointless jeopardy.
The true star of Lifeless Metropolis isn’t Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Maggie, and definitely not Hershel. It’s the enigmatic schemer, Bruegel, who’s attempting to orchestrate an influence play in opposition to Negan and the Croat. With sharp dialogue and an air of menace, Bruegel embodies a gleeful enthusiasm for the decaying world in a approach Negan misplaced way back.
Bruegel instructions each scene. Certainly one of his greatest traces comes when he jokes that colonization is New Babylon’s area of interest— “exploitation of pure sources, annihilation of the indigenous individuals’s lifestyle.” He continues, saying he desires nothing greater than to be colonized by New Babylon, then affords to “exploit” the methane. He guarantees Colonel Armstrong (Gaius Charles) that he’ll get the methane from the Burazi and throw in “the bloody extermination of each single considered one of them as a bonus.”
“Bridge Companions AreArduous to Come by These Days” – THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured: Kim Coates as The
Bruegel. Photograph: Robert Clark/AMC© 2025 AMC Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.Later, Bruegel meets Armstrong and delivers a chilling ultimatum: “You possibly can fold or go all in. Both approach, you’re enjoying the sport. You all the time are.” His revelation that Narvaez (Dascha Polanco) lived lengthy sufficient to share all of Armstrong’s secrets and techniques—particularly the reality about Negan—not solely backs Armstrong right into a nook however completely encapsulates Bruegel’s unsettling philosophy. The present thrives when it lets him take middle stage, proving that charisma and unpredictability trump brute power.
And that’s the issue—Bruegel, in just some episodes, is extra clearly outlined than Hershel in two complete seasons.
Whereas the episode incorporates participating moments—significantly the tense second when the Croat realizes Negan manipulated him not preventing with the Darma—the pacing is uneven. The Croat’s grief over Darma’s loss of life is highly effective; his confession that he might have saved her however didn’t gave him uncommon emotional depth.
“Bridge Companions AreArduous to Come by These Days” – THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured (L-R): Jeffrey Dean Morgan as
Negan, Zeljko Ivanek as The Croat. Photograph: Robert Clark/AMC© 2025 AMC Networks Inc. All
Rights Reserved.But elsewhere, quiet moments are awkwardly punctuated by sudden motion. Ginny and Maggie’s dialog is adopted by a bear assault—a high-stakes sequence that underwhelms resulting from questionable particular results and a predictable decision. Hershel’s ninja star stunt was flashy, however the second misplaced pressure the second Maggie scurried behind the spired fence. The bear impaling itself on the spire was a foregone conclusion.
Maggie’s frantic seek for Hershel afterward additionally feels pressured. She clearly is out of types, taking pointless dangers battling walkers alone in a metropolis swarming with the useless. This leads right into a quiet dialog with Negan, the place he tells her to search for Hershel on the King Francis Theater. In return, Maggie warns Negan about Bruegel’s deliberate ambush.
“Bridge Companions AreArduous to Come by These Days” – THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured: Lauren Cohen as Maggie
Rhee. Photograph: Robert Clark/AMC©
2025 AMC Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.Then issues get existential. The Darma is useless. The Croat is exiled. Negan, the final man standing, wrestles together with his function. He asks Maggie what he ought to do about his household:
“I screwed up their lives so many occasions. How can I be certain I gained’t do it once more? What do I do? Ought to I keep? Ought to I’m going with them?”
Maggie simply appears at him. Negan tells her, rightfully—fortunately—that she doesn’t have to reply. She doesn’t. She turns and walks away.
To his credit score, Negan involves profound realizations all through the episode. When he discovers historian Bengamin Pierce (Keir Gilchrist) locked in a cell, he tells him he’s free to go—although Pierce has no thought the way to return to New Babylon. Is Pierce’s solely operate within the collection to get Negan speaking about his private historical past till he got here to some particular conclusions? In that case, what a waste.
Negan admits he as soon as thought he had every part found out—that profitable meant executing no less than a type of he vanquished, making them an instance. His individuals lived, however they lived twisted and damaged. He lastly understands that what his individuals wanted saving from was him.
“Bridge Companions Are Arduous to Come by These Days” – THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY,Pictured: Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. Photograph: Robert Clark/AMC © 2025 AMC Networks Inc. All
Rights Reserved.But the Maggie-Hershel arc falls wanting its potential, leaving us questioning what might have been if Hershel hadn’t been formed extra by Maggie’s resentment towards Negan than by Glenn’s quiet energy and kindness.
Bridge Companions Are Arduous to Come by These Days is a competently directed mess by Lauren Cohen—however a large number, nonetheless.
Who do you assume survives Season 2, Negan? The Croat? Ginny? Let me know within the feedback.
General Score:
7/10
Lynette Jones
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