{"id":578,"date":"2025-06-02T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/?p=578"},"modified":"2025-06-03T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T11:41:33","slug":"the-walking-dead-dead-city-the-bird-always-knows-review-shock-and-awe-awe-shocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/2025\/06\/02\/the-walking-dead-dead-city-the-bird-always-knows-review-shock-and-awe-awe-shocks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead: Dead City \u2013 THE BIRD ALWAYS KNOWS \u2013 Review: Shock and Awe. Awe, Shocks."},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Walking Dead: Dead City thrives on tension, existential dread, and the creeping realization that choices\u2014no matter how well-intended\u2014can spiral into devastation. The Bird Always Knows delivers all that and more, weaving treachery, guilt, brutality, and redemption into a grimly elegant tapestry.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0\u2014<\/span>\u00a0THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured: <\/span>Logan Kim as Hershel. Photo:
\nRobert Clark\/AMC \u00a9 2025 <\/span>AMC
\nNetworks Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nAt the episode\u2019s heart is Herschel\u2019s (Logan Kim) torment over the fallout of his betrayal. His confession to Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is laced with regret as he admits that he signaled the Croat but failed to anticipate the bloodshed that followed. It\u2019s a rare moment of honesty, one that digs into the psychological horror of unintended consequences. His sorrow is palpable\u2014not just for the act itself, but for his failure to understand the stakes until it was far too late. His apology is genuine, yet hollow in the face of the dead who cannot hear it.<\/p>\n

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Maggie, hardened by her own vendetta, offers absolution\u2014or at least an attempt at it. She tells Herschel to let it go, but her words are tainted by hypocrisy. She has clung to her grudge against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) with an iron grip, her own soul consumed by an unrelenting thirst for vengeance.<\/div>\n
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\u201c<\/span>The Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u2014<\/span>\u00a0THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD
\nCITY, Pictured:<\/span> Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee. Photo: Robert Clark\/AMC \u00a9 2025 <\/span>AMC Networks Inc. All
\nRights Reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nThe irony isn\u2019t lost on Herschel or the audience. Maggie\u2019s credibility, asking Herschel to just let what happened go, is nonexistent. Here, the episode masterfully juxtaposes personal vendettas against the broader horrors of war and betrayal, showing how anger corrodes and how redemption, if it comes, is rarely clean\u2014a lesson Ginny (Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon) learns in this episode.<\/div>\n

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As the story shifts to the city, its \u2018shock and awe<\/i>\u2019 intensifies. The Dama (Lisa Emery) dispatches Negan to persuade gang leader holdout Christos (Jake Weary) to join her cause against New Babylon. Negan\u2019s discussion starts promisingly. He and Christos find unexpected common ground in their shared goal\u2014protecting their families. It\u2019s a fleeting glimpse of hope, a moment where unity seems possible amid chaos.<\/div>\n
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\u201c<\/span>The Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u2014<\/span>\u00a0THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD
\nCITY, Pictured (L-R):<\/span> Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Zeljko Ivanek as The Croat.
\nPhoto: Robert Clark\/AMC\u00a9
\n2025 <\/span>AMC Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nHope is violently ripped away when The Croat (\u017deljko Ivanek) struts in. Firmly in the grip of his invulnerability complex that twists every slight into an unforgivable challenge, The Croat arrives not just to sabotage Negan\u2019s progress but to obliterate any perception of the Burazi\u2019s weakness. His weakness. His response to Christos’ substation attack isn’t just retaliation\u2014it\u2019s theatrical brutality, a gruesome display meant to reassert his dominance.<\/div>\n

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Negan\u2014and the viewers\u2014are blindsided by the revelation that the Croat had ensured the gas canister remained on the entire time, silently flooding the room and sealing Christos\u2019 fate before anyone had a chance to fight back. The moment of realization is sickening. Resistance was never an option\u2014just death, delivered with chilling precision. Then comes the true horror: the Burazi descend upon Christos and his men, their bludgeoning a violent exclamation point on the Croat\u2019s calculated cruelty.<\/div>\n
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The Croat chuckles as he assures Negan that he spared the women and children, as if that concession dims the sheer ruthlessness of the massacre. When Negan asks whether the Dama sanctioned the attack, the Croat\u2019s silence speaks volumes. The weight of The Dama\u2019s unspoken approval\u2014or dangerous ignorance about The Croat\u2019s actions\u2014settles over Negan like a suffocating fog.<\/div>\n
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\u201c<\/span>The Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0\u2014<\/span>\u00a0THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD
\nCITY, Pictured:<\/span> Dascha
\nPolanco as Narvaez. <\/span>Photo: Robert Clark\/AMC \u00a9 2025 <\/span>AMC Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nMeanwhile, Narvaez (Dascha Polanco) raises the stakes at the Forager\u2019s compound, arresting Roksana (Pooya Mohseni) and Armstrong (Gaius Charles) for crimes against the Federation. She forces Maggie into an impossible situation, demanding that she go to the city alone and deliver Negan and The Croat to her, using Herschel as leverage.<\/div>\n

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Bending is not Maggie\u2019s way. She fights her way back into the compound, only to be betrayed by Herschel\u2014whether out of cowardice or impulse\u2014when his eye movements unintentionally reveal her position. Even still, she seizes control, pressing a knife to Narvaez\u2019s throat, only for the power dynamic to shift again when Ginny trains her gun on Herschel, unmoved by Maggie\u2019s desperate pleas because the little girl is big mad that Maggie didn\u2019t tell her she was going to see Negan when she was in the city. Argh!<\/div>\n
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The episode does not shy away from the recklessness of youth, portraying Herschel and Ginny as impulsive, easily swayed, and frequently unreliable. The writers emphasize a brutal truth: their decisions lack the anchor of maturity because their brains are simply not developed enough to grasp the full consequences of their actions.<\/div>\n
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For example, Ginny\u2019s actions allow Narvaez to implement her one solution for defiance\u2014execution. Roksana is led to the gallows. Her people mourn so loudly that their cries stir the undead. Chaos erupts as walkers swarm through the fences, forcing a frenzied shift in the battle for survival.<\/div>\n
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\u201c<\/span>The Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD
\nCITY, Pictured: <\/span>Mahina Anne Marie Napoleon as Ginny. Photo: Robert
\nClark\/AMC\u00a9 2025 <\/span>AMC
\nNetworks Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nGinny, injured in the melee, finally snaps out of her treacherous malaise, saving Maggie from Narvaez\u2019s noose. Then, in delicious irony, the freshly reanimated Roksana tears apart Narvaez\u2019s throat\u2014her violent end a poetic consequence of her own ruthless rule. Hurray!\u00a0<\/div>\n

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And just when the tension settles, a knock at the door\u2014a surprise visitor for Maggie and Armstrong as Bruegel (Kim Coates) arrives, casually announcing, \u201cLooks like I\u2019m late to the party.\u201d I don\u2019t know about other viewers, but I was left with a sinking feeling that Maggie\u2019s troubles are far from over. Damn! Can you give our girl one day?<\/i><\/div>\n
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Meanwhile, in the city, Negan plays puppet master, sowing doubt between The Dama and The Croat. By killing the Dama\u2019s beloved pet rat, he plants the seeds of suspicion about the Croat\u2019s motives. Then, by reminding the Croat of how shabbily The Dama treats them both, Negan feeds the Croat\u2019s fear of weakness, setting off an epic confrontation.<\/div>\n
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\u201c<\/span>The Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD
\nCITY, Pictured<\/span>: Lisa Emery as The Dama. Photo: Robert Clark\/AMC\u00a9 2025 <\/span>AMC Networks Inc.
\nAll Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nThe Dama and the Croat exchange insults before the Dama sinks her teeth into the Croat\u2019s hand. Too bad, so sad\u2014The Dama ends up swallowed by flames, shrieking \u201cMile! Mile! Help me!\u201d like the wicked witch melting in The Wizard of Oz. So, awe, the shock<\/i>.\u00a0<\/div>\n

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The episode closes on a macabre note as Negan scrapes smashed rat guts from the bottom of his shoe\u2014a grim reminder that The Dama\u2019s end is only the beginning. One Dama down\u2014The Croat and Bruegel to go. Then, finally, he can leave this cursed city behind him.<\/div>\n
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While The Bird Always Knows is high-stakes storytelling with betrayals, executions, and unforeseeable twists that unfold with ruthless efficiency, it\u2019s one of those heavy-lifting episodes. The episode sheds actors from the call sheet, not gratuitously, but as a necessary evolution in the story\u2019s pitiless world. The plotting intrigue\u2014from the Burazi\u2019s \u2018gas and smash\u2019 slaughter of Christos\u2019 gang to Roksana\u2019s hanging\u2014feels familiar and fitting within the TWDU. After all, none of the casualties were well-known (Roksana, Christos) or particularly likable (The Dama)\u2014so bye-bye. Next!”<\/div>\n
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One lingering question remains\u2014why does this review omit the conversation between Armstrong and Roksana? Given that the episode\u2019s title is based on this exchange, it seemed positioned as a moment of significance. And yet, its absence from discussion only reinforces its lack of real impact. My appreciation for the episode wouldn\u2019t have changed had it been cut entirely. In fact, it should have been\u2014because it adds little to the main plots.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Now that the New Babylon forces have been decimated, what\u2019s Bruegel\u2019s gambit with Maggie and Armstrong? Let me know in the comments.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Overall Rating:<\/div>\n
9:10<\/div>\n
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<\/a>Lynette Jones<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I am a self-identified ‘woke boomer’ who hails from an era bathed in the comforting glow of a TV, not a computer screen. Navigating the digital world can sometimes leave me feeling a bit unsure, but I approach it with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Patience and kindness in this new landscape are truly valued. Let’s embrace the journey together with appreciation and a touch of humor!<\/div>\n
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The Walking Dead: Dead City thrives on tension, existential dread, and the creeping realization that choices\u2014no matter how well-intended\u2014can spiral into devastation. The Bird Always Knows delivers all that and more, weaving treachery, guilt, brutality, and redemption into a grimly elegant tapestry. \u201cThe Bird Always Knows\u201d\u00a0\u2014\u00a0THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY, Pictured: Logan Kim as Hershel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":589,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itc-ns.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}