'The Walking Dead: Dead City' Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: Maggie Fights a Bear and Negan Loses Another Ally

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 Episode 6.

After weeks of limping through what felt like a pointless season, business really picked up on last week’s episode of The Walking Dead: Dead City. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has been a lost soul this time around as a sullen, hopeless man, but as intriguing as that might be for character development, it’s boring as hell to watch week after week. In “The Bird Always Knows”, Negan reaches rock bottom when the Croat (Zeljke Ivanek) attacks Christos (Jake Weary) and his men, killing them all right in front of Negan despite the Dama (Lisa Emery) forbidding him to get involved.

Knowing that he can’t depend on the Dama to let him go and see his family again, Negan begins playing mind games to pit his two frenemies against each other, leading to a brawl and the Dama trapped in a room on fire as the Croat leaves her to die. The old Negan is coming back, and all without having to swing his back, but what will happen next in Episode 6 of Dead City, “Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days”?

Maggie Doesn’t Trust Bruegel

What remains of what can now be classified as Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) group has just been “saved” by Bruegel (Kim Coates) and taken to a shelter, but what is that mysterious, growling, unseen creature that pulls one of Bruegel’s soldiers off-screen? Meanwhile, the Croat tells Negan about the Dama burning to death and how he couldn’t risk his safety to save her. He also sees the dead rat that he didn’t kill, so the wheels start to turn in his head. Negan wants to know what happens to him now. The Croat tells Negan that his family will be arriving tomorrow. When they get to New York, he can stay or go, his choice.

Maggie sees how nice Bruegel is being, but she’s seen him working with the Croat, so he isn’t to be trusted. Ginny (Mahina Napoleon), having been wounded in the walker attack, is hiding her injuries, which is certain to become a big problem soon. Maggie and Perlie (Gaius Charles) want to get out of here ASAP, but for now, they must play nice, even when Bruegel is inviting them to dinner in the same place where he has his walker fights. Bruegel promises that they aren’t being held prisoner by him. In fact, he respects them and wants to work with them. Bruegel offers to get them the methane, while killing every one of the Dama and Croat’s people. In return, they will help him fight New Babylon when more forces show up. As they’re talking, Bruegel’s soldier, who was attacked earlier, is brought in, her face ripped open. Something big and bad is out there.

What Will the Croat Do Without the Dama in His Life?

The Croat is lonely, the Dama is dead, and Negan’s going to leave. Negan tells the Croat that he can leave too and have a fresh start. The Croat wants to go back home to Croatia, but he doesn’t want to be alone. He gets excited, trying to get Negan and his family to come with him. That joy quickly fades when he sees Negan’s boot print, which looks exactly the same as the one that stomped the rat. Negan knows that he saw, and seconds later, the Croat picks up Lucille and begins beating Negan for betraying him. The soldiers watch from the church sanctuary, none making a move to help either man. Negan quickly turns the tables and beats the Croat down, telling him that he should be thanking him because Negan saved him. The Croat admits that he’s right, telling him, “You made me what I am.” Negan tells the Croat to leave and never come back. If he thought he was alone before, his life just got so much worse.

Maggie doesn’t want to work with Bruegel at all, but Perlie isn’t convinced. He can help them wipe out their enemies, and he can also see that Maggie doesn’t want Negan to die. Hershel (Logan Kim) looks angry, while Ginny storms out of the room. Maggie goes to her, telling Ginny that she wants her to join her and Hershel (Logan Kim) when everything is over. Ginny says nothing, and when Maggie sees the gun she has in her bag, she tells Ginny about how many times she tried to kill Negan but couldn’t do it. Maggie sees herself when she looks at Ginny.

Negan’s Latest Move in ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Is Further Proof He Regrets What He Did to Glenn

Is it just his soft spot for children or something deeper?

A broken Negan goes to his old cell to be alone, but he hears something down there with him in the cavernous basement. Opening a cell door, he finds Benjamin Pierce (Keir Gilchrist), who has been forgotten about for days. Negan lets him out, giving the poor guy water and telling Pierce that he’s free to go. The two discuss history, Pierce’s specialty, and Negan talks about his evil past, admitting, “Maybe the thing they needed saving from was me.”

Maggie and Hershel Fight to the Death

Maggie (Lauren Cohan) cowering and looking scared in 'The Walking Dead: Dead City' — Image via AMC

We haven’t forgotten about Hershel, who wakes up before everyone else the next morning. He watches his mom sleep for a second, then walks away. He stabs one of Bruegel’s chained walkers in the neck, collecting blood in a canteen to pour into the water supply to poison New Babylon, but Maggie catches him. Her son stomps off. The Hershel she knows is gone. He’s ready to join the Dama. There is no home with Maggie for him, especially when she can’t let go of the hole in their life named Negan. Hershel steps outside, but something big growls in the darkness. They get the door closed just in time before it lunges. Maggie has Hershel hide as she runs down a hallway screaming for help. She ends up by the walker pit, and in lumbers the growling creature: a giant grizzly bear that must have escaped from the zoo.

With one eye gouged out, this is a mean ass bear ready to kill. Maggie sets the walker fighters loose, but it dispatches of them easily. Maggie tries to run away, but there aren’t many places to go. Just in time, Hershel arrives, throwing multiple knives into the bear’s face. As it lashes about, the grizzly impales itself on a post of the walker cage. When Maggie turns to thank Hershel, he’s already gone. Knowing her son has left, she goes outside after him, ending up at the Dama’s church. Negan sees Maggie and takes her in. He tells her that Hershel isn’t there, and there’s no one for him to find because the Dama is dead. He tells Maggie to check King Francis Theater; maybe, Hershel went there. Grateful, she warns Negan that Bruegel is coming after him. Speaking of those who want to kill him, Negan asks about Ginny. He then asks Maggie for advice, not knowing if he should stay with his family or let them go, because his ways will only hurt them. There is no answer she can give, and Maggie silently walks away. Later, Negan sees through binoculars his wife and child arriving at the docks. He should be happy, but instead he looks sad. He tells his people to send his family back to Tennessee, where they came from.

The episode ends with Perlie meeting with Bruegel. Bruegel can guess that Maggie told Perlie not to trust him. Playing cards, he says that winning is not the goal, it’s the fun of the game. He then reveals that he captured Navaraez (Dascha Polanco) before she died. In her last breaths, she told Bruegel everything about their group. Now he keeps her around, even though she has turned into the walking dead. Bruegel wants methane with Perlie’s help or without it. Either way, Perlie is playing the game. With that, he puts Narvaez out of her misery. Everyone seems to want Negan dead, but it’s Ginny who gets to him first, pulling a gun on him outside of the church. He looks ready to die, but before she can pull the trigger, a weakened Ginny collapses. Negan sees the infected wound on her side and begins to cry. He is losing everything he cares about all over again.