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The Review Geek
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Review – Another successful TWD spin-off?
Season 1 Season 2 Episode Guide Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 3 -| Review Score – 2.5/5 Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 5 -| Review Score – 3/5 Episode 6 -| Review Score – 3.5/5 Episode 7 -| Review Score – 3.5/5 Episode 8 -| Review Score – 3/5 TVland may be churning out show after show every single day but there are some that make their mark and remain a favourite even after a decade. The Walking Dead seems to be one of them, and like the producers, writers and the cast, the fans cannot let go yet. And they are one of the most well-fed fandoms because the show may have come to an end, but the characters are still running around, killing zombies as seen in The Walking Dead: Dead City. Dead City is one of the many successful spin-offs of the TWD universe and has not only been able to rope in a beloved original character but also the show's most iconic villain. Yep, Maggie and Negan have a whole show just revolving around them and it is such a hit that it recently returned with a Season 2. And don't worry, it is much more than the age-old will Maggie or won't Maggie kill Negan and avenge Glenn storyline. This horror drama has everything from creepy zombies and gory action to political skirmishes, betrayals and rescue missions. The Walking Dead: Dead City's ensemble cast includes some familiar names such as Lauren Cohan as Maggie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan. Alongside them, Season 2 stars Gaius Charles, Zeljko Ivanek, Lisa Emery, Kim Coates, Dascha Polanco, Logan Kim and Mahina Napoleon. Season 2 looks into what Negan and Maggie have been up to following their split in Season 1. New Babylon plans to invade Manhattan and make it its new base. This has poor Perlie drafting soldiers to join an exploratory mission. And as expected, once they reach the Bricks, they face their biggest opposition yet from Maggie. This puts her right in the warring path of the Burazis who are getting ready to take down New Babylon. Negan plays the twisted leader, promoting the ideals of the Dama and the Croat but it seems that not all is hunky dory. While he struggles to unite the different factions of Manhattan against New Babylon, it seems that the Dama has something on Negan. One thing that the production has got right is creating the apocalyptic world of walkers, villainous humans and anti-heroes. Existing places like Paris, Philadelphia, and Manhattan are turned into derelict versions, overrun by nature and walkers. With the story being set decades after the apocalypse, The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 shows humans rebuilding the world in a new image. The Dama's vision is explored via elevator rooms in skyscrapers, Radio City's neon billboard lighting up the walker-infested streets of Manhattan and corporate offices turned into traps. A big bad baddie makes the MET his hideout while Central Park turns into a dangerous forest, and like the rest of the city, they play pivotal roles in the narrative. The action, as usual, is pretty fun as well. 15 years may have passed, but the production keeps coming up with innovative walkers and even more innovative and gory ways to kill them. Think heartless walkers, walker cage matches and a literal bear fight. However, we are tired of the main characters putting themselves in danger and coming out unscathed. With Dead City not investing in a large ensemble, we already know that the heroes and the main villains are at least going to be alive till the finale, that's how obvious the plot armour is. But Season 2 shines when it focuses on exploring the characters' journey and their dynamics with each other. It works overtime on hashing out Negan and Maggie's complicated relationship and gives them both the closure they deserve. Perlie questions his loyalty to New Babylon while Hershel strays further away from Maggie and finds solace in the Dama. The cast of this season is pretty impressive as well. Kim Coates as the brutish Bruegel, one of the faction leaders, gives Negan a run for his money. Lisa Emery, a master at playing violent villains, reminds us of her Ozark days with the Machiavellian Dama. Who would have thought to feel sorry for the Croat? But Zeljko Ivanek easily takes Season 1's villain and makes him pitiful. Unfortunately, Dascha Polanco's Major Lucia Narvaez and Mahina Napoleon's Ginny are wasted despite having strong potential. They have a promising and overlapping storyline but both are sidelined. It is particularly a shame for Ginny as she is simply used to redeem Negan and justify Maggie's actions in the finale. But there is no emotional pay-off or tugging at heartstrings as Negan is brought to tears because of her. However, The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 is still a fun ride, from start to finish, as Maggie struggles with her obsession with Negan, Hershel goes to the dark side and Negan tries to get out of the Dama's control. Paired with gory kills and that one satisfying action sequence involving Lucille 2.0 in the finale, fans are bound to stay happy.
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says Negan Should Not Have Killed Glenn On ‘The Walking Dead'
Negan The Walking Dead decided to change a large number of things from the comics but ultimately kept its most harrowing kill in place, Negan executing Glenn with a bat in the most brutal way possible. That moment has haunted the series for years, as the show's ratings dropped, losing a full two million viewers by the next episode, and the series never recovered. If you ask most Walking Dead viewers when they stopped watching, probably 70% of them will say Glenn's death, which seemed like it went too far even though yes, it was very much faithful to the comic. Other controversial deaths like Carl Grimes, were not. Now, in a First We Feast interview between Maggie's Lauren Cohan and Negan's Jeffrey Dean Morgan to promote their show Dead City, Morgan says outright that if there was one plotline he would change, it's that kill. Morgan: I'm just gonna say this, it would have made both our lives easier, maybe not kill Glenn. Cohan: Yeah Morgan: It would have shifted the stories in a lot of ways, but you wouldn't be mad at me. Cohan: Wait, maybe we'd be like buddies! Morgan: Yeah, we'd probably be buddies! I mean, Glenn probably would have died some other way, but I wouldn't have had anything to do with it. So I'll say that just to be safe. Glenn It seems like a huge mistake in hindsight to both kill Glenn from a story perspective and also to lose actor Steven Yeun, who went on to be both a Best Actor Oscar nominee, the first Asian-American nominated, and went on to win an Emmy for his role in Beef. Now, he stars in one of Amazon's biggest shows, Invincible. Yeun did not seem pleased with his death and never returned to the show for any sort of guest dream/flashback spot the way nearly all other characters did. The Walking Dead made many mistakes over the years, but that was arguably the biggest, comic faithful or not. Now, I've speculated that the entire series is winding down, reduced to just two shows, Maggie and Negan's Dead City and Daryl Dixon's Daryl Dixon. Daryl's show is at least somewhat higher-profile and constantly renewed, where I am less confident in the future of Dead City after season 2 here. AMC does not want to let go, but maybe it's time to move on. The glory days are long behind the series, and yes, it really did peak with the pre-Negan Glenn kill. After that, the fall began. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Time of India
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Jeffrey Dean Morgan says he has auditioned "zero times" since playing Denny Duquette in 'Grey's Anatomy'
Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is best known for playing Negan, the unpredictable, foul-mouthed, bat-wielding showman of the apocalypse in 'The Walking Dead' universe, reported People. Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is best known for playing Negan, the unpredictable, foul-mouthed, bat-wielding showman of the apocalypse in 'The Walking Dead' universe, reported People. "That show honestly gave me a career. I was doing that, Weeds and Supernatural simultaneously... I've auditioned zero times since playing Denny Duquette," said Morgan. Jeffrey won over fans 19 years ago on the ABC medical drama as the dreamy heart transplant patient who appears in seasons 2 and 3 and who proposes to Katherine Heigl's Dr. Izzie Stevens on his deathbed. Morgan credits the breakthrough performance with launching his career in his 40s after years of failed pilots and guest star spots, reported People. "I'd been kicking around Hollywood for a long time, but nobody certainly knew who I was," said Morgan. "My whole career launched out of that character." "P.S. I Love You I got because of that show," Morgan said while discussing his role in the 2007 rom-com opposite Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. "Director Zack Snyder told me that he cast me in Watchmen because he saw me as Denny. How you watch Denny and go, 'Well, that's the nihilistic comedian right there,' is beyond me," Morgan shared of his 2009 comic-book film character. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologist: Just Add 1 Drop Of This Household Item To Any Dark Spot And Wait 3 Minutes Undo In 2015, Morgan revealed at PasCon that he was offered the coveted role of The Walking Dead villain, a part he was all too eager to accept despite initially receiving very few details. However, Morgan recently decided to step outside of his comfort zone and become the TV host for NBC's competition series Destination X. "I'm still not actually completely sure how the hell this happened," he said, adding, "I am not like a typical host. I'm not Ryan Seacrest -- who I love, and I think he's excellent at his job -- but that's not me. I'm a bit on the crass side, and I've got a very sarcastic sense of humour, and I didn't picture it, reported People. Producers knew they had their man, but Morgan needed more convincing. "It was my wife [Hilarie Burton Morgan] who said, 'You know what?' She came from this world. She came from the world of hosting," he said, referring to her gig on MTV's Total Request Live in the early 2000s. "She said -- in a very nice way, but much more diplomatic than I'm going to make it seem now -- 'You're not getting any younger. You've got this thing about you that it would be fun for you to be able to share that with the world, and you may have an opportunity to do that [by] hosting a show like this. '" Based on a Belgian competition series, the reality show follows players travelling across Europe on a blacked-out bus and attempting to find their location each week through various challenges. The contestant whose guess is farthest from their destination gets the boot. "I spent a month and a half in Europe being a weird, fun host, and it was great," Morgan says. "I had so much fun being the ringmaster of the circus." He added, "It's an opportunity to do something new, and I sort of relish in that still, at the ripe old age of whatever I may be," he says. "I had a great time. It was really fun, reported People. Destination X airs Tuesdays on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘The Walking Dead: Dead City' Season 2, Episode 6 Review — Barely Watchable, Unbearably Silly
Dead City I've been pretty bad at posting reviews for the second season of The Walking Dead: Dead City. Readers have been asking me where my reviews have been, and all I can say is that I was traveling in Ireland and Scotland and didn't want to spend my time there watching this . . . pretty awful TV show. It was my first real holiday in a very long time, and while I did work quite a bit on my travels, I just couldn't bring myself to watch, let alone write about, Dead City. I caught up on the episodes I missed this past weekend and then went into this one thinking it was the Season 2 finale. Imagine my surprise – nay, my sheer joy – at discovering that we still have a couple more episodes to go! Before we get to Maggie and the bear, I wanted to comment briefly on the past few episodes. Actually, I just want to comment on one scene from the fifth episode, because it really encapsulates everything wrong with this spinoff. Spoilers ahead. The scene in question takes place when New Babylon's Major Narvaez (Dascha Polanco) orders the execution of the woman who took them in and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) as well as Marshall Perlie (Gaius Charles) who lied to his superiors about killing Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Narvaez is a cartoonishly despicable character which, I suppose, is fitting give how cartoonishly villainous most of the bad guys are in this show. In fact, most of the characters in this show are either utterly flat or over-the-top evil. In any case, she hangs the first woman but before she can hang Maggie, zombies break through a gate and start shambling through the assembled crowd. The weird cult-like group that Maggie and the New Babylonians were staying with has started up a moaning chant after their leader's execution, and as the zombies walk into their midst, biting and grappling them, the people just die without a sound or fear or struggle whatsoever. The New Babylon soldiers, meanwhile, just sort of stand there until the zombies get to them before they start shooting, and when they do start shooting their aim is so bad you suspect they couldn't hit the side of a barn (oops, sorry Carol). Dead City The genuinely idiotic Ginny (who is apparently 12 but looks 17) frees Maggie after betraying her earlier (after Maggie weirdly started to free Perlie and the cult lady, Roksana (Pooya Mohseni), but then locked them back in their cell in one of the most baffling moments in the whole series). Maggie rushes off to save Hershel (Logan Kim) from Narvaez but the already-zombified (and somehow freed) cult lady shambles up and bites Narvaez in the neck instead, and she goes down fast . . . without a fight, without a scream. It's honestly one of the worst staged zombie attacks I've seen in any TWD show, including The Greatest TV Show Of All Time, Fear The Walking Dead. It's just so inert, so lifeless, every character behaves like they could care less about surviving. All these people should be hardened survivors at this point in the apocalypse but they go down without a fight, shooting wildly at the air or just standing there, dying quietly as super slow zombies trudge around them. Weirdly, Narvaez wasn't the only villain killed this episode. The Dama (Lisa Emery) – who we learn is a critic (oh snap, is this a sick burn from AMC aimed at critics or something?) – is burned to death in a hilariously goofy moment, leaving the Croat (Željko Ivanek) in charge of the Burazi. Of course, in Episode 6 he discovers that Negan has been manipulating everyone when he notices . . . blood on Negan's boot, which can only belong to the dead rat or something. No other blood could possibly have made it onto Negan's boot in this zombie apocalypse filled with violence. When he challenges Negan, he loses and Negan exiles him. So now . . . well now Negan is in charge of the Burazi, who have literally no loyalty to their leaders whatsoever. Dead City Much happens in the sixth episode, but most of it is pretty boring like the rest of this season. Maggie and Hershel have some conflict about her being a deadbeat mom (I find it somewhat unbelievable that teens in the apocalypse would be so concerned with this sort of thing, but whatever). She finds him trying to poison everyone's drinking water with zombie blood which seems mildly extreme given that he hasn't really been portrayed as all that radicalized at this point. The really big moment of this episode, however, comes right after this scene when a bear shows up, hungry for human flesh. Yes, a bear attacks Maggie and Hershel, breaking down a metal door and then hunting them while killing zombies left and right. It's a massive CGI bear that looks about as bad as you'd expect (though not as bad as that fake deer from Season 7 or 8 of the main show). It's a big angry grizzly bear, the kind that I'm pretty sure is not native to Manhattan, but it has a weakness: Knives. Granted, this is the kind of bear who would be hard to take down with a gun, even a very big gun, but one knife to the head and one knife to the eye (Hershel can aim now!) are enough to get it to act as stupid as the rest of the characters in this show and get its head spiked on a random fence. Turns out killing bears is a lot like killing zombies, after all. This egregiously goofy moment basically had me in stitches to the point that I could barely (heh) pay attention to the rest of this unbearable (heh) episode. It looks like Bruegel (Kim Coates) is going to be the new Big Bad along with the governor of New Babylon. Coates is doing the lord's work here. He's absolutely fantastic and steals every scene, spinning gold out of a ludicrous script. Any character this good is definitely going to die soon. Dead City I wish I could say that JDM is doing a good job also, but frankly this show is basically ruining Negan all over again so I don't know that I can offer up much praise for his performance except to say that he's more watchable than Maggie. But kudos to Logan Kim who has definitely upped his acting game this season. There are honestly a number of pretty good performances this season (Ivanek is consistently entertaining) but they're all dragged down by a terrible script and a story that keeps going nowhere fast. I'm so bored. Even a bear attack can't rouse me from this stupor. Two more episodes to go and . . . I just want everyone to die. I don't care if New Babylon or the Burazi or Bruegel's group wins. I don't care if Negan or Maggie or Hershel dies. I'm actively rooting for Ginny to kick the bucket. I'm happy Narvaez is dead, but a little let-down that the Dama went out in such a weird way, and so early on. I'll add more to this section if I think of anything. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on Dead City's second season so far? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Was Destination X Too Confusing to Follow? Grade the NBC Competition Hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Though he's fought off zombies for years, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is now facing something even more frightening: a group of globe-trotting reality-TV contestants on NBC's Destination X. But did the series miss the mark? Let's recap. Tuesday's premiere takes us on a winding journey as the Walking Dead vet turns Europe into a real-life game board. Here's how it works: Each week, players will traverse the continent in a blacked-out bus with the goal of figuring out where they are. After competing in challenges at unique tourist attractions, contestants will head to the Map Room where they must guess their exact current location. The player with the guess farthest away from the bus' actual destination has to leave the game, and loses the chance to win $250,000. More from TVLine TWD: Dead City's Jeffrey Dean Morgan Does His Damnedest to Plug a Massive Plot Hole TWD: Dead City Stars Tease Season 2's Higher Stakes, Surprising Moral and… What?!? 'I Won't Be in Season 3' The Handmaid's Tale Brings Back [Spoiler] in Powerful Series Finale - How Did June's Story End? But for a casual viewer, the game can be confusing. To start, you'll see contestants donning high-tech goggles from time to time, but they aren't virtual reality headsets. The eyewear functions only as a fancy blindfold — there is no VR component in this game. Next, hints are not necessarily directly tied to the destination. For example, Episode 1 grants two contestants an exclusive clue: access to an outdoor theater. The players stand in front of the ruins, which viewers learn are the ruins of Volterra in Italy. But this place is not Destination X. We're told it sits 200 miles away from the actual location — which remains unknown to viewers. The only hint the clue offers is it looks Italian, but that offers no help in deducing the city — especially since the ruins aren't even located in Destination X anyway. The bus continues on a journey to its official location, stopping for a team challenge, where players solve riddles to collect hidden coins offering secret clues. Morgan says the challenge takes place in Orvieto and features nods to the city's cathedral, rich olive oil and St. Patrick's well — all of which are meant to serve as additional clues for Destination X. The group didn't pick up on the hints, but even if they had, how does identifying Orvieto help anyone deduce where the final location will be? Viewers are told Orvieto is still 90 miles away from Destination X. In the end, the team that loses the challenge must enter the Map Room, risking elimination. After all the guesses are in, it's Big Brother vet Josh Martinez who places his guess farthest from the location, placing his 'X' on Milan. On his way out, we finally learn this week's official Destination X: Rome. (Though the group had spent no actual time there.) Apparently, the prior challenge's coins had featured clues hinting at the city's gladiators and the Vatican's Swiss Guard. What did you think of s debut? Will you stay along for the ride, or are you ending your trip early? Vote in the polls below and hit the comments with your thoughts! Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper
