This Strolling Useless: Useless Metropolis episode delivers excessive pressure, emotionally charged conflicts, and eerie encounters—most notably, the chilling bounce scare when certainly one of Bruegel’s guards is instantly 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 reasonably than earned.
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| “Bridge Companions Are Arduous 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 Useless 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 surprising, as a substitute feels overwrought, an escalation not totally developed within the story.
We need to perceive his anger, however the present by no means actually explores Hershel’s psyche. As a substitute of a layered portrayal, his habits generally teeters into erratic melodrama, undermining the stakes that put Maggie in pointless jeopardy.
The actual star of Useless Metropolis isn’t Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Maggie, and definitely not Hershel. It’s the enigmatic schemer, Bruegel, who’s making an attempt 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 manner Negan misplaced way back.
Bruegel instructions each scene. One in all his finest traces comes when he jokes that colonization is New Babylon’s area of interest— “exploitation of pure assets, annihilation of the indigenous folks’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 certainly one of them as a bonus.”
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| “Bridge Companions Are Arduous 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 may fold or go all in. Both manner, you might be taking part in 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 heart stage, proving that charisma and unpredictability trump brute pressure.
And that’s the issue—Bruegel, in just some episodes, is extra clearly outlined than Hershel in two total seasons.
Whereas the episode incorporates partaking moments—significantly the tense second when the Croat realizes Negan manipulated him not combating with the Darma—the pacing is uneven. The Croat’s grief over Darma’s demise is highly effective; his confession that he may have saved her however didn’t gave him uncommon emotional depth.
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| “Bridge Companions Are Arduous 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 because of 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.
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| “Bridge Companions Are Arduous 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 along 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 make sure I received’t do it once more? What do I do? Ought to I keep? Ought to I’m going with them?”
Maggie simply seems 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 concept the best way to return to New Babylon. Is Pierce’s solely perform within the sequence to get Negan speaking about his private historical past till he got here to some particular conclusions? If that’s the case, what a waste.
Negan admits he as soon as thought he had every little thing found out—that profitable meant executing a minimum of a type of he vanquished, making them an instance. His folks lived, however they lived twisted and damaged. He lastly understands that what his folks wanted saving from was him.
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| “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 in need of its potential, leaving us questioning what may have been if Hershel hadn’t been formed extra by Maggie’s resentment towards Negan than by Glenn’s quiet power 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 suppose survives Season 2, Negan? The Croat? Ginny? Let me know within the feedback.
Total Score:
7/10
Lynette Jones