The Walking Dead: Dead City has been teasing the return of “the old Negan” (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) for two seasons now, and towards the end of Season 2, it looked like he might finally be coming back. It all began with the presumed death of The Dama (Lisa Emery) following a scuffle with The Croat (Željko Ivanek), during which he left her to burn to death. It continued in Episode 6, “Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days,” with Negan now left in charge and having to make big decisions about the inevitable upcoming fight.
But in true The Walking Dead franchise fashion, the AMC series just confirmed a massive fake-out in Season 2, Episode 7, “Novi Dan, Novi Početak.” It’s one that some fans might have predicted, but for others, it came totally out of left field.
The Croat Returns, But That’s Not All
The events in Episode 5, “The Bird Always Knows,” suggest that, being engulfed by flames and trapped, The Dama was done for. While he had the opportunity to save her, The Croat decided not to do so. He made his choice. He was going to take Negan’s side and work for his old leader once again. Negan got into his head and convinced The Croat that The Dama didn’t save him; she was using and abusing him all this time, when he was the one with the real power.
The Dama isn’t seen again as the story shifts focus to Negan and The Croat, along with the parallel story of Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Hershel (Logan Kim). In Episode 6, Negan reveals to The Croat that he orchestrated the whole plan that led them to this moment. He cut the fuse box to frame Christos (Jake Weary), knowing that The Croat would act in retaliation and eliminate him. He then stomped on The Dama’s precious pet rat so she would think it was The Croat, causing a deeper rift between them.
Terrified with this knowledge, The Croat isn’t sure what to do. Negan leaves him no choice, telling him to leave and never come back. While he walks away, fans get a sense this isn’t the last time they’ll see the character.
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Apparently, it wasn’t the last time The Dama was seen either. In Episode 7, “Novi Dan, Novi Početak,” both The Croat and The Dama return. First, The Croat is seen sitting in The Dama’s room, staring at what he presumes to be her burned body on the ground where the fire had broken out. He is interrupted by Maggie, who arrives and sees the body, then demands that The Croat help her find Hershel. With nothing left to lose and nothing to fight for, he obliges, and the two become an unlikely pair. They travel together to a safe house that The Croat believes Hershel might be in.
As it turns out, however, after a grueling trek up dozens of floors and across a glass bridge that alerts Maggie to the fact that she’s deathly afraid of heights, this isn’t a safe house after all. It’s a location with meaning to The Croat, where he reminisces about his mother and his childhood. Maggie soon realizes that he lured her there in hopes that she would kill him because he’s too much of a coward to do it himself. But she doesn’t. While sharing some tender moments, Maggie spots a flashing light from a building across the way. She recognizes this as a signal she taught Hershel when he was younger, and she gets ready to head over to her son.
The Dama Is Still Alive in ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’
It Was a Surprise Many Fans Didn’t See Coming
When they arrive, The Croat leaves Maggie, saying this is her moment, not his. He puts his hand out to shake hers, leaving her confused, but she obliges. She then heads up into the building to find her son. Sure enough, Hershel is there, and Maggie is elated to see her son. He apologizes for the things he did, but says he knew she would find him from the signal she taught him. Ready to move on, however, Maggie gets a surprise.
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It definitely would have made more of an impact.
The Dama appears with light burns on her neck, one side of her hair completely singed off. She has a knife, and she means business. The death of The Dama was a complete fake-out for the show. It wasn’t on the same level as Glenn (Steven Yeun) with that dumpster death fake-out in the original series. Fans weren’t that devastated to see her go. But her return is a complete surprise. The resurrection of The Dama as the season’s villain and the clear hold she still has on Hershel, however, takes the story into repeated territory that fans may have grown tired of by now.
Does The Dama Still Need To Be Part of the ‘Dead City’ Story?
Bringing The Dama back makes sense because it didn’t seem like her story had a proper conclusion. She manipulated and brainwashed Hershel, and Maggie had hoped that Hershel had finally come out of this trance. But this move proves that he hasn’t, and he views her more as a mother figure to him than Maggie.
Maggie realizes the gravity of the situation in an earlier conversation with The Croat. She chastises him for being so cruel as to kidnap her son, keep him prisoner, and even cut off his toe. The Croat reveals that it was Hershel who gave the go-ahead for them to do that once The Dama explained to him why she needed it, and what her plans were for a better world. He felt it was a worthy sacrifice.
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Speaking of The Croat, with his betrayal of The Dama and the fact that he is still alive and out there, she will be gunning for him as well as Negan. Thus, while Negan is preparing to fight the New Babylon Federation and deal with other potential enemies like Bruegel (Kim Coates), he has no idea that The Dama is still lurking as well.
Her resurrection suggests that there may be plans for a third season of The Walking Dead: Dead City, unless her story concludes in the season finale. But with the attention likely refocusing back on Negan and his battle, there will probably be a lot more Dama story to tell. The question is whether fans are interested in it, or whether they’ve had enough of her antics and Hershel’s naivety. Stream The Walking Dead: Dead City on AMC+.
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