Sumith Prasad
The sixth and final episode of AMC’s post-apocalyptic series ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City,’ titled ‘Doma Smo,’ revolves around Maggie Greene and Negan’s showdown as the latter tries her best to retrieve her son Hershel from the Croat. It doesn’t take long for Negan to realize that Maggie has been lying to him after meeting Ginny. Maggie tries to defeat Negan to present him to the Croat, who wants bigger things from Negan than vengeance. The engrossing episode 6 raises more questions than answers, making the viewers intrigued about its ending. If you are up for a detailed take on the same, you are at the right place! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Finale Recap
‘Doma Smo’ begins with Ginny encountering Negan after a life-threatening search. He asks her to return to Hilltop so that she will remain safe. He makes it clear that he cannot safeguard her while helping Maggie find her son Hershel. Perlie Armstrong offers to take the girl back to the community on the mainland, only for Ginny to continue tightly embracing Negan. Realizing that Ginny will not leave him, Negan reveals to her that he killed her father and several other men and that he has been taking care of her because he made her an orphan. Ginny gets devastated and runs away from him. Perlie goes after her and takes her to Hilltop.
After Ginny left, Negan and Maggie team up to find the Croat’s den to retrieve Hershel. They go to the building from where the black smoke emanates. Upon getting into the same, Maggie tries to attack Negan but he anticipates the same. The two of them fight each other while walkers are underneath them. Negan deduces that the Croat didn’t steal her grain but only Hershel, asking her to bring the former to them. Maggie doesn’t respond to Negan, who realizes that the former hasn’t forgiven him or accepted his change to be a better person. The Croat arrives at the place in no time to happily reunite with his former leader.
The Croat reveals to Negan that he had been searching for the latter for months, only to learn from Jerome that the former vicious leader of the Saviors had been busy helping the widow of one of his murder victims, Glenn. The Croatian also reveals that he would have taken Hershel for good if he captured Negan on his own, without the help of Maggie, seemingly making her question her decision to betray Negan for the kidnapper of her son. Perlie meets one of his superiors and colleagues, only to tell them that he encountered Negan on the island and killed him. His superior asks him to talk about the methane reserve on the island rather than what really happened to Negan.
Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Ending: Does Maggie Get Hershel Back?
Yes, Maggie does get Hershel back. After getting into the Croat’s den, Maggie attacks Negan and makes it clear that her only priority is her son Hershel. Although the Croat isn’t ready to part ways with Hershel wholeheartedly, he doesn’t want to betray Maggie upon promising her to return her son when she hands Negan over to him. Maggie has always held certain principles and values closer to her heart and betraying her companion isn’t one. However, when it comes down to choosing between Hershel and Negan, the choice is clear to her. There is no doubt that she wants to protect her son, even if it means leading Negan to his death.
Maggie has suffered enough because of Negan, who mercilessly killed her husband Glenn in front of her. Although she is not seeking vengeance at this point, she hasn’t forgiven him. She knows that she cannot suffer again in the name of Negan by choosing him over the safety of Hershel, who is all she has left in this world after Glenn’s death. In her mind, the misdeeds she commits that endanger Negan ceases to be misdeeds because of the suffering he had made her endure in the past. That’s why she is able to hand him over to the Croat despite knowing that she is doing something wrong.
Negan accepts Maggie’s decision to betray him for safeguarding Hershel. Ideally, Negan would have wanted to team up with Maggie and fight the Croat for her son and he would have done it if she had told him the truth. But he understands why she didn’t take such a risk because she doesn’t have any obligation to protect the murderer of her husband when her child’s life is on the line. Thus, he doesn’t fight her or the Croat, which makes the latter release Hershel to his mother.
Why Do the Croat and Dama Want Negan?
When Negan initially reveals his history with the Croat, detailing how he tried to kill the latter, to Maggie, it seems like the Croatian wants Negan to exact his vengeance on him. However, the Croat doesn’t want Negan’s blood. Furthermore, he accepts why Negan wanted to kill him. The Croat admits that he should have followed the orders of Negan when the latter was his leader while they were part of the Saviors. The Croat even respects Negan’s authority and sees the latter’s attempt to kill him only as a punishment he deserves for deviating from his leader’s path.
In the Croat’s eyes, Negan is an authoritative figure who deserves respect and subordination and that’s exactly what the former and his mistress, the Dama, want from Negan. The Dama and the Croat have been building a kingdom of their own using one of the most valuable resources in the post-apocalyptic world, methane. They have been ruling Manhattan as their empire and they are ambitious to expand their reign to other parts of the city. The Dama makes it clear to Negan that she is hoping to integrate more communities into her empire and create a federation, similar to the Commonwealth.
The Dama and the Croat want Negan to be their general. The Croat had witnessed the lengths Negan did go to safeguard his people, the former members of the Saviors, and how ruthless he had been with others. The Croat knows that Negan is a force that makes others surrender to him and his people. The Dama wants to conquer other communities and defeat her enemies using Negan’s ruthlessness. She knows that methane is too valuable a resource that will attract enemies, which is evident considering the interest of Perlie’s superior in the same. The rulers of New Babylon may want to lay their hands on the resource and the Dama must be trying to form an army to fight them, with Negan leading the same.
What is in the Dama’s Box?
Although the Dama has several plans to expand her kingdom with the help of Negan, she knows that he is a changed man. But she is also vice enough to know that the ruthlessness in Negan cannot be evaporated, especially after he displays the same by slitting the gut of one of the Croat’s men. The Dama, thus, shows him something to evoke that ruthlessness. She wants Negan as her subordinate, doing everything she asks him to do. She wants to control him like a dog and whatever is in the box is the collar she is putting on his neck to do the same.
The box contains a finger the Dama took from one of Hershel’s legs. She is showing him the same to make it clear that she will hunt Hershel down again if he doesn’t do what she says. The Dama has witnessed the mighty Negan accepting his defeat to Maggie without even a fight, which shows his guilt and regret of killing her husband Glenn. The Dama is using the same to control Negan, hoping that he wouldn’t want to be the reason behind more misfortunes that may befall Maggie and Hershel. She wants Negan to be obedient to her to stop her from hurting Hershel in the future.
Read More: Where is The Walking Dead: Dead City Filmed?
