It's safe to say that The Walking Dead: Dead City is one of the best shows of the year.

We saw shades of the old Negan in The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 2 as he gave Maggie some much-needed food for thought about his time as the leader of the Saviors.

The good news is that the show successfully fleshes out Negan's past in a way that gives viewers some answers about his machinations while in this position of power.

Many will struggle with him saying he only kept his position because he was a monster when he needed to be.

The reception to Negan has been split down the middle ever since his arrival on The Walking Dead Season 6, thanks mainly to him making his presence felt by murdering Glenn and Abraham.

It was a turning point for the series and also a point where many fans drew the line and stopped watching.

Negan was an absolute horror back in the day, but hearing that he only carried out these crimes to show his fearless nature should help the people who struggle to watch his arc.

If you watch The Walking Dead online, you know there's a lot of Negan's past that people will never be able to forgive, but he has done a lot of work showing that he's no longer that man.

There's also been much debate about Maggie and Negan teaming up, but knowing that even Negan was repulsed by the Croat all those years ago highlights the gravity of horror we should feel about this new villain.

We don't know much about the Croat besides what we've heard, and his actions are synonymous with someone evil, so I can only imagine what he has in store for Maggie and Negan throughout the rest of The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1.

As a whole, the Buraz has the potential to be the scariest group in the history of the series. Something is terrifying about villains who cover their faces.

Negan: We didn't have much of a choice. They had guns, if you don't recall. Guns or whatever the hell those things were.
Maggie: Either way, we fight back and we end up with holes in our skulls.
Negan: Or theirs.
Maggie: Maybe.
Negan: But then what do we got?
Maggie: Us not being here.
Negan: I am pretty sure that we are here because you spun some yarn about Canada and a shipwreck that reeked of bullshit, Maggie.
Maggie: Should I have told them the truth?
Negan: Yeah. We give a little. They give a little. That's how it works. I mean, sure, they stuck us in some dank ass bathroom. Right or wrong, they had their reasons, which, by the way, makes them useful.
Maggie: For what?
Negan: Manpower, information.
Maggie: Information?
Negan: That's what I thought you were here for.
Maggie: Been pretty tight-lipped about the Croat.
Negan: Right around the time that the world turned into shit soup, the Croat showed up at my door, so to speak. He had been through... Well, let's just say he had been through some really bad shut. Worst shit imaginable. So I took him in. Kept him from brain-painting the walls. Pretty soon he was calling me his brother, Buraz. He said that I made him feel safe. Well, I guess at that point everybody was looking for a little sanctuary from the hellfire we'd all been damned to. I mean, we'd lost everything. The thing is I um... I really thought I was helping him.
Maggie: It takes a monster to make one, I guess.
Negan: No. No. You see, I was only a monster when I absolutely had to be. When I had to put on a show to protect my people. Anyway, the... The Croat, he had a way of, um... Reading people. And then toying with them. And pulling them apart. When a threat needed to be handled, it was a skill set that I found very useful.
Maggie: He was your torturer.
Negan: He took it too far. It was, um... One of our first skirmishes with the Kingdom before your time. A person had been holed up in a car a couple of miles from the sanctuary. It seemed to me she was a... drifter. Nothing to do with us or anything we were up to. So I gave a direct order. Let her walk. But the Croat, he, uh, he saw it differently. Thought that the, uh... Thought that she had beans to spill. And he was right. She was a... a scout. At least that's what she copped to before, uh... before he... She was just a kid. So after that, I knew that he was a rabid dog that needed to be put down. I had one shot. One. I missed. Blew off his ear. The rest of him got away. I haven't seen or heard from him since. Until now, of course.
Maggie: So he's gonna want to kill you?
Negan: He sure is.
Maggie: You didn't think to tell me this before?
Negan: I do know how he operates, Maggie.
Maggie: Of course you do.

• Permalink: We didn't have much of a choice. They had guns

If you can't see their reactions, how can you predict how best to fight back? Esther never stood a chance, and it's a real shame because had she not been the person to find Maggie and Negan, Amaia and Tommaso might have shot them at the beginning of the episode.

Esther leading Maggie and Negan up the building was terrifying because you never know what's around the corner in this universe.

Maggie's fear of heights came into play, and the series did an excellent job of showcasing the gravitas of her situation.

Zip lines are a fast and efficient way of traveling, but the imagery of the walkers down below as she desperately tried to escape the walkers behind her was terrifying.

Negan also had this terrified look, and it seemed like he would reach his hand out and save her in the nick of time. But their relationship isn't quite at that stage and probably never will be.

Maggie also probably didn't want Negan's help because remember that time he dropped her into a horde of walkers in the train tunnels on The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 1?

Yeah, that was probably racing through her mind as she was on the zip line. She must have felt helpless, but rolling the dice to ask Negan to save her would have been difficult.

Maggie and Negan helping Amaia and Tomasso and the remnants of their group after everything that happened showcased the desperation between the groups not associated with the Buraz.

I said... Knock, knock! Hey, easy there, neckbeard. Holy shit, are you kidding me? Seriously? You have a neckbeard and a rattail? I mean, I get it. The world went to hell and you stopped giving a shit, but my dude, there is a line. So how about you put your helmet back on, tuck all that shit back away and stop being such a distraction to the rest of us? Now, where the hell was I? Oh. Right. Knock, knock! Who's there? Butter. Butter who? Well, you butter get out your umbrellas 'cause it is about to goddamn rain. Now, I don't know if any of you have checked tonight's forecast, but if I see even one mole hair on one of your ugly ass faces, it won't be just a rainstorm. Hell, it won't be a thunderstorm. It'll be a goddamn hurricane!

Negan

• Permalink: I said... Knock, knock! Hey, easy there, neckbeard. Holy shit, are you kidding me? Seriously?...

The Croat and the Buraz have the lay of the land on this island, and everyone else will have to roll over and be a part of their wicked games -- or so they think.

Negan's knock-knock was hands down one of his best moments, and you could tell Jeffrey Dean Morgan was having a blast playing this new, morally grey, Negan.

Had he not become a monster for a few minutes, the Buraz would have quickly ascended the building and realized only a handful of people were there.

Negan can read the room, and if he can adapt this well to situations, he'll be the reason Maggie and Negan make it out of Manhattan alive.

The beauty of the Maggie and Negan arc is that Morgan and Lauren Cohan make this dynamic believable.

For Maggie, she knows Negan is the only person who can help her because he understands the nuances of the Croat, so this alliance has to work for many reasons.

Thanks to the flashbacks, it's also easier to understand why Maggie's hatred for Negan that had subsided on The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 staged a comeback.

Hershel is now in his teenage years and has a hatred for the world and questions about his past. To that end, Maggie has had to endure the pain of losing her husband, the pain of having to co-exist with Negan, and now, the pain of watching her son ask these questions.

Even if Maggie can put on a smile, she's deeply wounded because of the loss she's endured over the years. Simply put, she's never going to be truly over what Negan did to her, and that's okay.

Negan has done terrible, despicable things to many people we know and love. His actions are even having ripple effects on Fear the Walking Dead Season 8, with Dwight and Sherry struggling to process the trauma they endured.

I'd love for the couple to appear in New York because could you imagine them, Maggie, and Negan on the screen together? That would be wild.

Then again, Maggie is making enemies of her own. Perlie didn't seem too pleased about waking up without any weapons.

Negan: I'm not saying that we're friendly, that depends on you, but I don't think this crazy pigeon lady, no offence, is gonna bring us all this way to get our asses smoked.
Tomasso: Friendly? Does it look like we need friends? We own this city. There are thousands of us. I think it's more like, what are you after?
Amaia: 'Cause it's pretty obvious you dickheads ain't from around here.
Maggie: We were heading up north to a settlement in Canada. The boat washed us ashore in a storm. We're just here until we can get supplies and get on our way again.
Amaia: Bullshit.

• Permalink: asses smoked

Gaius Charles is a fine actor, and he's delivering career-best work here. It was inevitable Perlie had a tie to Manhattan because of the written note he had on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1.

The series did a great job of building the tension inside the apartment until he got to the sad realization that his brother shot himself in the head instead of turning into a zombie.

When someone dies, you want them to die peacefully, but Joel either couldn't handle being alone or couldn't handle being in a city overrun by walkers.

We know the government blew up all of the ways people could exit, so what hope did that leave for those still on the island?

It's a harrowing thought, and you could tell Perlie was cut up about his brother's death. He must have gone years without knowing what happened to him because I have to assume that communication was also cut off when the government blew up all the ways out of the city.

Knowing he managed to say goodbye to his brother, even if he was already dead, will probably inform Perlie's journey on The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1.

The sad part is that Perlie walked straight into one of the Croat's traps, something that will possibly be his undoing.

The final scene was sinister because the Croat told Perlie he's safe now, but given what we've witnessed from this villain over two episodes, he's anything but safe.

Maggie: You missed weapons training again. Lane brought out the bow staffs. It's the third time this month that you skipped it. I can't keep telling you how important it is to be ready for anything. Ready at all times.
Hershel: Yeah, I got it.
Maggie: Hershel, it's not a joke. They could come at you with anything.
Hershel: Then I guess I'd be dead.
Maggie: It's really good.
Hershel: It sucks. I'm going over to Xander's.

• Permalink: It sucks. I'm going over to Xander's.

What are your thoughts on the two new groups we met on this episode?

Are you surprised about Esther's death? What do you think of Perlie's arc?

Hit the comments.

Catch new episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.

Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.