Reviews
“The Walking Dead: Dead City” Review – Episode 5 Unleashes the Monstrous “Walker King”
Picking up right where the previous episode of “The Walking Dead: Dead City” left off, Maggie and co. dig deeper through the Methane-filled sewers of New York City while Negan and Marshall Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles) venture off on their own journey through the city. Ginny (Mahina Napoleon) is now also along for the ride after intervening during the attack on Madison Square Garden.
Napoleon’s character continues to not say a word, choosing only to communicate through judgmental glances. Meanwhile, the Croat (Željko Ivanek) takes a rage-fueled trip to an abandoned theater where he reports the recent skirmish to a mysterious woman called the Dama (Lisa Emery) who seems to be his superior.
The Methane in the sewers causes Maggie to aggressively hallucinate, once again replaying the visual of Glenn (Steven Yeun) getting his head bashed in by Negan. The shocking flashback was very effective in the series pilot, but at this point it feels overused and over-indulgent. It’s clear Maggie is still processing that painful memory, but there has to be another way to showcase that aside from constantly replaying the visual.
Tomasso (Jonathan Higginbotham) manages to find oxygen tanks in the sewers, but Maggie is suspicious of the lucky coincidence. She manages to cough out a confession out of him that he confided with the Barazi in exchange for access to resources that could allow him and Amaia (Karina Ortiz) to travel to a safer place. Tomasso is the reason the Barazi knew about Maggie’s attack and partly responsible for the casualties that occurred in the arena. There’s a moment of brief relatability, where Tommaso explains to Maggie how he is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his family, a mantra Maggie has followed many times before.
Unfortunately, Tommaso’s apology is short-lived as what were previously thought to be dormant sewer walkers spring to life and cannibalizes both Amaira and Tommaso. The deaths are quick, and rather unwarranted. Nothing about the sequence seems sensical, considering the survivors thought it would be a good idea to take a break and rest on top of walker bodies. It joins a long line of “The Walking Dead” universe deaths that feel tacked on and inconsequential.
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee – The Walking Dead: Dead City _ Season 1, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Peter Kramer/AMC
The biggest revelation of the episode comes when Ginny abandons Maggie in the sewers, leaving a blood-stained “LIAR” message on the walls. It’s revealed that while Ginny was temporarily living at Maggie’s community (dubbed The Bricks) she investigated Maggie’s grain supply after she claimed the Croat was draining the community’s resources periodically as punishment. Much to Ginny’s shock, Maggie’s community seems to be fully stocked on resources.
Via flashback, it’s revealed that when the Croat kidnapped young Hershel (Logan Kim) he handed Maggie the “Wanted” poster with Negan’s face on it. All this time Maggie has been lying to Negan about the plan against the Croat, as it seems that she must trade Negan to the Barazi in order to get her son back. This certainly plants the seeds for a tense confrontation in the upcoming season finale, as until now, Negan and Maggie have developed a loose, but effective trust between one another. If Ginny’s ultimate purpose in the show was just to expose Maggie’s lies, then that’s quite an underwhelming revelation for a series regular.
Seeing the Croat nearly crumble under the superiority of Lisa Emery’s Dama is an interesting reversal of roles for the character who’s served as the main antagonist since the pilot. With just one episode left in this season, hopefully the show is able to explore this additional villain enough to make her inclusion in the last two episodes feel relevant to the main story.
The atmosphere of Dama’s lair, so to speak, gives off an eerie vibe with operatic music echoing throughout the vast theater. The building and Dama as a character evoke a twisted elegance that calls to mind the Milton family from the Commonwealth in the main series. These types of stylistic locations continue to add to “Dead City’s’” unique apocalyptic DNA .
The true highlight of “Stories We Tell Ourselves” occurs when Maggie comes face to face with the creature referred to as the “Walker King.” First teased in one of “The Walking Dead: Dead City’s” early trailers, the “Walker King” is an amalgamation of about 3 walkers all stuck together with sludge, fat, and other putrid substances. The monster, practically created and puppetered by a crew, brings an old-school style of zombie shock to “The Walking Dead” universe.
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee – The Walking Dead: Dead City _ Season 1, Episode 5 – Photo Credit: Peter Kramer/AMC
Maggie tussles with the creature as all of its mouths and arms gnaw and thrash at her. While the fight is short-lived, the awakening and approach of the “Walker King” is some of the finest practical effects work we’ve seen in “The Walking Dead.” After Maggie defeats the behemoth, viewers are treated to a classic Jason-Voorhees-at-the-canoe-style jump scare when one of the walkers attached to the monster springs up one more time to screech up at Maggie. The puppeteer work in this moment looks like something straight out of “Creepshow,” which is totally a compliment by my standards.
Meanwhile, Negan and Marshall Armstrong continue to play cat and mouse as they explore more of New York City. They stumble upon some creepy doll sculptures that don’t really have much of a pay-off aside from the reveal of a corpse with an ax in its head. While Negan constantly tries to outsmart the Marshall and escape, the two continue to get the upper hand on one another. Eventually, they stop the games and get to talking. They bond over the fact that both of them used to work for the state, as Negan was a gym teacher and Perlie was a drift collector.
The two have a heart-to-heart in a school bus, where Negan is able to find a first-aid kit because of his experience in schools. Throughout the show, Perlie has proven to be one of the better developed characters out of the new cast. His turn from supposed antagonist to valuable ally has been an entertaining journey to watch play out on screen. The bond between him and Negan rings true, and Gaius Charles and Jeffrey Dean Morgan have palpable on-screen chemistry.
As we near the last episode of “Dead City,” one of the most glaring issues has surprisingly been the lack of exploration with Maggie. While each episode seems to give us ample time with Negan and his relationship with others, it often seems like Maggie is tasked with moving forward the main plot and re-treading existing character traits.
The scene between her and young Hershel earlier in the series was such a fascinating glimpse into Maggie and her son’s relationship. It would have been beneficial to include more of these moments where we receive insight into Maggie’s life post-”The Walking Dead.” Now that some of the side characters have been chewed off, hopefully more time can be spent exploring other facets of Maggie’s character in the season finale of “Dead City.”
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Reviews
‘The King Tide’: An Island Town Rots with Moral Decay in Canadian Folk Horror Fable [Review]
The opening scenes of director Christian Sparkes’ The King Tide set an ominous tone: a powerful storm takes down the power lines of a small island town as a pregnant woman loses her child while her dementia-suffering mother sits nearby. In the morning, as the town takes stock of the damage and the power is restored, a surprising discovery is found in an overturned boat in the harbour: a baby girl…with the ability to heal.
Writers Albert Shin and William Woods, working from a story by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby, treat the story as something of a morality tale mixed with a fable. Following the cold open, the action jumps ahead 10 years at a point when the unnamed island (the film was shot in Newfoundland, Canada) is thriving. The fishing is bountiful, the islanders are self-sufficient and have cut ties with the mainland, and most everyone is happy.
As characters are prone to saying, it’s all thanks to Isla (Alix West Lefler), the miracle baby who has grown up worshipped by the islanders. While Mayor Bobby Bentham (Clayne Crawford) and his wife Grace (Lara Jean Chorostecki) endeavor to raise Isla like any other little girl, the reality is that the island’s entire ecosystem revolves around her miraculous powers. It is only because of Isla that they survive; every aspect of their lives – from medicine to food – relies on her.
Each day the citizens line up for their allotted time with the young girl – be it to stave off breast cancer, like Charlotte (Kathryn Greenwood), or recover from another night of heavy drinking like former doctor, Beau (Aden Young). There’s even a predetermined schedule for when she will go out on the boats and use her power to lure fish into the nets.
One fateful day, Bobby succumbs to peer pressure and alters Isla’s schedule at the last minute to accompany cod fishermen Marlon (Michael Greyeyes) and Dillon (Ryan McDonald). A childish game with fatal consequences is played, but with Isla indisposed, a young boy, who would have otherwise been fine, dies. And while the rest of the community grieves, it is Isla who is completely shaken and, unexpectedly, loses her powers.
Suddenly the entire balance of the island is thrown off. Folks like Grace’s mother, Faye (Frances Fisher), who relied on Isla to keep her dementia at bay, suddenly reckon with mortality, while the food security of the town is called into question. Faye’s late-night “support group” meetings take on an urgent and secretive tone and the townspeople claim ownership of Isla’s time despite Bobby and Beau’s protests that she needs rest to recover from her trauma.
Like the best thrillers, the politics and personalities within the community come into play as morals are compromised and the good of individuals vs the collective is played out in increasingly desperate situations. The King Tide excels because it is interested in exploring the competing motivations of the townspeople, while also resolutely refusing to paint anyone as inherently good or bad. These are desperate people, determined to remain independent and free from outside interference, while protecting their trapped-in-amber way of life.
These developments work because there’s a humanity to the characters and The King Tide wisely relies heavily on its deep bench castoff character actors to drive the conflict. Crawford is the de facto protagonist of the ensemble and he’s also the most straightforward character: Bobby is a good man and a loving father, but he’s no white knight. At several points in the film, his willingness to acquiesce to the demands of the community and retain his power causes events to spiral further out of control.
Even more fascinating are Grace and Faye, two commanding women whose capacity for maternal love is matched – or eclipsed – by their own self-interests. A mid-film discovery about Isla’s power reframes Grace’s priorities, ultimately pitting her against her husband. As a result, Grace is incredibly compelling and frustrating (in a good way) and Chorostecki, who has done great genre work on both Hannibal to Chucky, plays the moral ambiguity exactly right. Grace is a fascinating and flawed human character in a film filled with them.
The same goes for Fisher, who deftly balances Faye’s grandmotherly love for Isla with the needs of the community and, by extension, her own health demands. In the hands of a lesser performer, it would be easy to hate Faye for her actions, but Fisher’s performance perfectly captures the fierce determination and fear that drives the island’s matriarch.
Finally, there’s Aden Young, The King Tide’s secret weapon. The ten-year jump reveals that Beau has undergone the most significant transformation: while everyone else has benefitted from Isla’s powers, her presence has eliminated the need for a doctor. With the clinic effectively shuttered, Beau has become an alcoholic; a shell of his former self with no purpose.
Like Bobby, Beau is the easiest character to root for because of his selfless desire to protect Isla, but Young (renowned for his work with Crawford on Rectify) unlocks the character’s tragic pathos and, in the process, becomes the film’s emotional anchor.
Framing the moral decline of the islanders and anticipating the unexpectedly devastating climax is the natural beauty of Newfoundland. As shot by cinematographer Mike McLaughlin, there’s a steely beauty to the geography, resplendent with rocky cliffs, pounding surf, and gusty bluffs that reinforce the islanders’ isolation.
There’s a fierce pride in their struggle to survive independently, evident in the simple lodgings and the antiquated alarm bell that is rung whenever fishing ships from the mainland stray too close. It’s a chilly, atmospheric calling card for one of the most picturesque provinces in Canada, but it is a perfect complement for the folk horror narrative.
Armed with serene, beautiful cinematography, murky moral developments, and a deep bench of talented character actors, The King Tide is a quiet gem that demands to be seen. It’s one of the year’s best genre films.
The King Tide is in theaters April 26, 2024.
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