Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1, Episode 3: “People are a Resource.”
We learn quite a bit more about The Croat in this episode, as well as some more peeks into the wild mind of Negan. While there isn’t much about Maggie this time around, we did get a reaction from her when someone mentioned that her son might not be alive. Surprisingly, she didn’t rip his head off.
The Ballad of Negan and Ginny
This episode includes a couple of flashbacks to the path of Negan and Ginny, before they met up with Maggie, and back when Negan thought wearing a cowboy hat would be a good look. We see Negan going through a few phases with Ginny, from strict taskmaster to heart-felt father figure.
Ginny is one of those characters that I think will have a larger role later on because right now her place is very minimal. I feel like they’re saving her up for something.
As far as Negan goes, we not only see more of his rougher side come out once again, but we see him murder someone. Again. Are the creators of this show finally getting away from that we-know-Negan-is-an-asshole-but-please-forgive-him thing they were doing in all of the last season of The Walking Dead?
We do get an interesting explanation from Negan about why he’s in his current situation. He tells Maggie that Annie (his wife and mother of his child) was attacked at one point and Negan went off and killed all five of the dudes responsible. He says that Annie was never quite the same after that–she never looked at him the same–so he decided that she could use a break from him. He sent her and their child off with a promise that he’d meet up with them later, but he never did.
I think, at some point, he regretted that decision right about the time he found Ginny. He took her on as his new “daughter figure” because he just always needs someone to protect. That’s why we see the flashbacks, to show that he grew in his respect for Ginny, which is why I think she’ll play a bigger role later on.
The Croat and Marshal Armstrong: Friends or Foes?
As for The Croat, we see his interactions with Marshal Perlie Armstrong and how he treats him well with a lavish “jail cell” and other comforts. But, as with most of the psychopathic bad guys on TWD, there’s always a darker underbelly lurking on the surface.
The Croat brings Armstrong to an area where he must fight off a few undead, one of which has the key to his handcuffs in its belly. The marshal passes all of these tests, only to be confronted about the marshal’s deep dark secret: that he’s there to find Negan.
Now, as we might remember from previous episodes, The Croat would like nothing more than to also find Negan. So, what I and the rest of the TWD fans would like to know is: will the two join forces against Negan, or will they fight each other over Negan? I’m betting on the latter because the marshal seems like a genuinely good, law-abiding man (oh, also The Croat tried to kill him), but we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, Negan is quite the wanted man and I think we’ll see Maggie protect him.
It’s Made of People!
One other major plot point of this episode that I wanted to cover was the alternative energy aspect because it answers a lot of questions regarding power sources and how the heck cars can still run 15+ years after gasoline had stopped being refined.
The Croat reveals that in the pre-apocalypse days, he was an alternative energy specialist. So he took that knowledge and applied it to the millions of rotting zombies laying around everywhere to make methane gas. The methane gas was adapted to his fortress and the vehicles, making them run almost like they did in the old days. This might even be a technology that is utilized by other groups long after The Croat is dead and gone.
You can catch each new episode on Thursdays for AMC+ subscribers, and Sunday nights for everyone else.
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