‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Recap – ‘Doma Smo’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Maggie Rhee and Negan in Episode 106 of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ – ‘Doma Smo’. (Photo Courtesy of Peter Kramer/AMC.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season One Finale of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, 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.
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One particular word that often sends shivers down the spine of anyone that hears it… is forgiveness. Which is a word that one would think would instead soften one’s heart, since it speaks to a better tomorrow and freeing one’s soul of a particular pain that someone imparted upon us, but that simply isn’t the case. Because that is a word that we’ve come to learn to associate, with completely and utterly forgetting about what that person did to us, through absolution no less, and that’s terrifying. For when someone wounds us deeply, we believe they deserve none of that, just our ire and our fury and that bad things should be imparted upon them. So, forgiveness is out of the question, and what’s amazing… is that our concerns with forgiveness can lead to deep internal conflict as well.
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For we make a great deal of mistakes in life, some small, some large and the big ones… tend to stay with us. To the point where we deeply lament those mistakes and use them as fuel for improvement and we of course… rarely forgive ourselves for what we did at that point in time. To keep that reminder fresh, and the thought of letting that go is equally as unsettling, since it could mean forgetfulness would come into play and history would repeat itself. But the fact of the matter is… forgiveness is not the horrifying concept we pretend that it is. It is critical to our growth, and to not forgive can create great problems for us psychologically and in our everyday lives, and what’s equally as important to realize about forgiveness… is that it is possible to do so and not lose the lessons learned through the dark days that came our way. 

If anything, all of this is critical to our discussion today, simply because it served as the focus for both Negan and Maggie Rhee’s journey in the season one finale of The Walking Dead: Dead City, on AMC. In fact, ‘Doma Smo’, was so eager to explore this complex truth about forgiveness… that it flew through a lot of resolution. For instance, this finale wasted little time, in getting Ginny and Armstrong off the island. Courtesy of a cold admission from Negan regarding how Ginny came to be in his stead. And after that… the Hershel matter was quickly resolved. After of course, Negan discovered the double cross and spoke from his heart regarding how dirty it was and unnecessary. But it did lead to the prisoner exchange in question, and that brought Hershel back to the mainland for a powerful moment that started this grand exploration regarding forgiveness.

Because once he and mom had a moment to themselves, he let loose on her. To the point where he spoke to the reality that all she did, was fear Negan, fear trouble really. All because… she couldn’t let what happened to Glenn go. Couldn’t find forgiveness really, and those words stuck with her deeply and left her rattled because… he was right. Maggie had never forgiven the act, and she had to. For forgiveness is the only way to truly let go of the pain we carry, and that left her in a fascinating place mentally. Because we’ve never seen Maggie this reflective or this aware of her actions and her anger and well… she made a promise to Hershel that she would find release and finish this at last. For she finally came to understand that without letting go of our pain, without forgiveness, we are indeed stuck in place and will never grow, and never find peace.

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Gaius Charles and Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon as Armstrong and Ginny in Episode 106 of ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ – ‘Doma Smo’. (Photo Courtesy of Peter Kramer/AMC.)

As for Negan… well he came to learn a lot about forgiving oneself. Because being on the island, with the Croat, dredged up a lot of memories. Mainly because the Croat was still stuck in his Savior mentality and wanted to reminisce about the good ol’ days when Negan was bashing heads in with Lucille. And while Negan was able to acknowledge what that meant to him in the moment, this interaction taught him… that he was in this situation because he never forgave himself for the things he did. He played the martyr for his actions and did his time and of course… made efforts to repay and did heroism from time to time. But he always saw himself as the man he was, not the man he could become and that the only way forward… was self-forgiveness. For to not forgive ourselves also traps us, and leaves us doubtful of our potential, and it was fascinating to see this duo learn these lessons. 
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Simply because zombie themed storytelling rarely explores such matters, especially since the characters are forced to live in the gray and do awful things at times to see another tomorrow. But it does speak to the reality that this franchise is ready to move into new territory, and a new tomorrow where these kinds of concerns must be addressed at last. And this journey really did offer up some powerful perspective regarding how a lack of forgiveness can impact us and how hard it can be to let go of the darkness we carry in the name of strength and self-control, and this episode deserves a round of applause for exploring that and for pointing out that this is a form of self-abuse. The only question that now remains… is how quickly Negan and Maggie will be able to work upon what they’ve uncovered about themselves… since this episode did also offer up… some setup for the recently announced second season.

After all, we came to learn in this story, that the mysterious Dama that wants and needs the old Negan back in the saddle… is one step ahead of Negan and ready to apply whatever pressure to keep him going. Since she took the time to befriend Hershel and grow trust between them so she could take his toe. Which was to serve as a reminder that she could get to him again and do far worse if Negan did not comply, since she sensed his newfound humanity. Plus, there appears to be another old-world problem brewing in the new one. Since Armstrong’s debriefing was less about Negan and more about… the methane production plants that the Croat built. For New Babylon wants resources badly, and humanity has enjoyed the fruits of resources for quite the long time and letting it all go after the apocalypse will clearly be no easy task.

A move that sets the stage for war in season two, between New Babylon and the Dama’s Manhattan fiefdom, alongside more character studies and growth for Negan and Maggie and well… that’s going to make the wait for that new season quite difficult. But that aside, we do need to celebrate this brilliant season finale, and an equally as brilliant season. For this show really did usher in a bold new era for The Walking Dead Universe. Courtesy of its wonderful focus on the characters, its new location and desire to really challenge these characters in a new and dynamic manner, through bold and intimate storytelling, and that really did bring about one engaging season. The kind that left us eager for more and finally showed off the true potential of this franchise when it removes itself from the comics and it will be quite interesting to see what incredible moments await us in year two, when we return to this Isle of the Dead with two characters we absolutely adore. Until next time.

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