"Doma Smo" is the sixth and final episode of the first season of AMC's The Walking Dead: Dead City. It is the sixth episode of the series overall. It premiered on July 23, 2023. It was written by Eli Jorné and directed by Gandja Monteiro.[1]
Plot[]
Tensions between Maggie and Negan come to a head; Ginny's search continues; questions arise around Armstrong's path forward.
Synopsis[]
After spotting the flare, Negan and Perlie search a parking lot for Maggie, believing that she had been the one to fire the flare. Ginny draws their attention using the whistle that Negan had taught her, shocking Negan who happily greets the young girl and demands to know how she got to Manhattan. Maggie joins the group looking for Ginny, and she admits that Ginny had turned up at the arena just before the walkers came, guessing that Ginny had just wanted to be with him. A herd begins to approach, drawn by the flare, and Negan insists that Ginny can't be here as he can't protect the young girl and help Maggie at the same time, angrily reminding Ginny that the plan was for him and Maggie to come to Manhattan to get Hershel while Ginny stays safe with Maggie's people. Perlie offers to take Ginny where she needs to go while Negan stays with Maggie to rescue Hershel. Ginny holds on to Negan who tells her to go with Perlie who is good people and can keep her safe. Ginny continues to refuse, so Negan tells her that he can't go with her, and she can't and doesn't want to stay with him. Ginny doesn't know him, and Negan is not who she thinks he is. Speaking for the first time since her father died, Ginny tells Negan "I... want you to...", but Negan interrupts her, annoyed that after months of silence, Ginny finally wants to talk now.
With Ginny refusing to relent, Negan finally admits to Ginny, much to everyone's shock, that "I killed your dad. I'm not wanted for robbing a wagon train. I killed five men. And your daddy, he was one of them. It's why I tracked you down to the farm. Why I let you tag along, 'cause I knew you had no one. You? You're just a debt that I had to pay. That's it." Heartbroken by the revelation and Negan's harsh words, Ginny leaves with Perlie. Once Ginny's gone, Negan becomes visibly upset by what he had to do in order to get Ginny to leave, leaving Maggie visibly sympathetic with him. As the herd approaches, the two quickly leave the parking lot.
Across the river on the mainland, Perlie pulls his and Ginny's makeshift raft ashore, and tells her that it's time to go. With a long glance back at Manhattan, Ginny follows the marshal.
Early the next morning, Negan and Maggie stake out the now-abandoned entrance to Madison Square Garden from the building where Amaia, Tommaso and Luther had previously shown it to them, looking for any sign of the Croat returning to his former base. Noticing how tired and upset Negan is, Maggie offers to keep watch while he sleeps, but Negan refuses her offer. Maggie sympathetically acknowledges that what Negan did with Ginny couldn't have been easy, and wonders if the plan with Perlie is going to work. Negan notes that Perlie had been surprisingly glad to see him, calling it all water under the bridge. While their reunion didn't go off without a hitch, with all of their history and "that brotherly bullshit," Negan thinks that he and the marshal can work something out.
In turn, Maggie shares a story with Negan about how, after her mother got sick, she would tell Maggie stories at night about the real Santa Claus who would sometimes come down from the North Pole to the Macy's store in Manhattan to visit all of the kids. Maggie used to daydream that she'd one day visit Macy's and become best friends with the real Santa who would take all of Maggie's lost or broken toys and find a way to replace them. Pointing out of the window, Maggie sadly notes that Macy's is right across the street from them. Suddenly, the Croat's car drives past Macy's and Maggie and Negan rush to the roof of the building to better follow him. The car heads for a plume of smoke on the horizon - the same one that Maggie had tracked from across the river as a possible clue to the Croat's location and that Esther had warned them against going to.
Maggie and Negan follow the smoke to the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal where the Croat's car is parked. As they head inside, Negan begins to become suspicious that everything is too easy and he asks if Maggie knows what Ginny had been trying to tell him, but Maggie lies that she doesn't. Negan realizes that it's a trap just before Maggie draws a knife and they engage in a brief fight before Negan runs off. Maggie chases Negan outside where he puts down a few walkers and makes his way out onto a series of beams over the walker-infested docks. The two fight with Maggie stabbing Negan in the shoulder and Negan kicking Maggie onto a container below. Negan disarms Maggie of one of her knives and holds it to her throat, forcing her to drop the other one before disarming himself.
"Here's what I'm thinking. The Croat never took your grain, just your kid. For collateral, sure, but he wasn't ever coming back for no harvest. He wanted me. And for what? Who the hell knows. But whatever that crazy son of a bitch wants with me, I sure as shit ain't gonna like it. You and I both know that much. The shit thing is Maggie, we could've done it. We could have saved Hershel. Because you and I together, we make one hell of a badass team. But you know that, don't you? Maybe some part of you always wanted it to end this way. The fact is, Maggie, it doesn't matter what excuses I give you, or how many apologies I offer, you can't get over it. And you shouldn't," Negan tells her. The Croat arrives with several Burazi and Maggie holds a knife to Negan's throat.
Perlie drives Ginny to the Bricks where Nina greets her with a hug. The marshal sees that the young girl has forgotten the jacket that Negan had given to her in the car, but Ginny silently refuses to take it.
In the back of an old ambulance, as Maggie continues to hold Negan at knife point, the Croat explains that he had first gone to look for Negan at the Sanctuary, only to find it to be a long-abandoned husk which the Croat calls depressing. After searching up and down the mainland for months, the Croat had learned that Negan was wanted by the New Babylon Federation for murdering four men and a magistrate. The Croat then found Jerome whom the Croat implies that he had tortured for information. Jerome told the Croat the story of the Widow - what the Saviors had called Maggie during the war - and the Croat thought that Maggie could help as she was strong, smart and had vulnerabilities that could be exploited. While Maggie had needed a little push, she had her own incentives in the form of revenge upon Negan for her husband's murder. The Croat admits that he had never expected Maggie to pull it off, but she found Negan and brought him home. "Doma smo, eh? You know, for a moment when I saw you on the catwalk, all alone, I thought to myself, lucky me. I get to have Negan and the child." Maggie and Negan are both visibly alarmed by this, but the Croat reassures them that Negan is enough. Maggie continues to look upset as she realizes just what she's leaving Negan to after all that they've gone through together.
The group arrives at the Security One Bank where the Croat has been keeping Hershel locked up in the vault. Negan asks Maggie to look after Ginny for him as the Burazi bring Hershel out who is shocked to see his mother holding a knife to Negan's throat. Maggie and the Croat trade Negan for Hershel with Negan telling the boy that it's good to see him as Negan walks by. Maggie embraces her son for the first time since he was kidnapped, but Hershel barely responds to her.
Perlie drives back to New Babylon, passing a small herd of walkers in a field. Perlie briefly pauses at the community's sign where three people have been hanged for their crimes and they have reanimated. In an office, Perlie meets with the Prefect, the leader of the New Babylon Federation, describing what he had witnessed in Manhattan and lying that he had killed Negan. The other men in the room cheer for Perlie killing Negan and Perlie finishes out his story that he got back to his boat and found his car where he had left it with enough ethanol to get him home in one straight shot. The Prefect expresses disappointment that Perlie shot Negan as she would've liked to put him on display instead and make a statement to other survivors. Perlie refuses a cigar which is against New Babylon law, and the Prefect asks how his daughters Marjorie, Bea and Dessie are doing, promising that they looked out for them while he was gone. In an implied threat, the Prefect suggests that she should pay them a visit so that they know about how hard their father and his heroics to protect the Federation's body politic.
As Perlie reluctantly takes the cigar, the Prefect describes just how much work had gone into making it and how central heating is the optimum way to maintain the exact temperature that's needed. Ethanol comes from corn which takes up thousands of acres of fields, so the New Babylon leader wants to hear Perlie's story again, but this time, she wants him to tell her all about the methane which is a much easier and cheaper method of fuel.
In Maggie's truck, Hershel brushes off his mother's attempts to talk about his ordeal, stating that all he ever does back home is to wait for the next bad thing to happen and, if anything, Hershel felt safer in Manhattan. The two fight about Hershel's refusal to eat, and Hershel finds the hat that Negan had gotten for him. Maggie tells him that it was a gift and it's like the one that he used to wear, but Hershel just thanks her sarcastically for getting him a souvenir for being kidnapped. Maggie tells Hershel that she's glad to have him back, but Maggie's son accuses her of caring more about revenge. Over Maggie's objections that she came for him and that it's not true, Hershel tells his mother that "it's like you're obsessed with him. With Negan. With what he did. Getting him back. You've always... And I'm right here. But you don't see me. It's like my whole life you've been looking over my shoulder, watching for him, waiting for him. But you never see me. Whatever. It doesn't matter." Maggie finally realizes that her obsession with and anger at Negan has consumed and controlled her to the point that it's badly affected her relationship with Hershel which is something that Maggie had once told Negan that she never wanted to end up happening: allowing her rage at Negan to continue to control her and for her son to see it. As Hershel turns his head away in order to hide his tears, Maggie looks across the water at the badly damaged Statue of Liberty before she drives off.
In the back of the ambulance at night, the Croat fondly recalls the Saviors' second visit to the River People after they refused to comply with Negan's demands from their first visit. Negan had marched right up to their leader with Lucille before offering that bat to the Croat who had only just arrived at the Sanctuary, broken from the brutal loss of his family. Negan saw something in the Croat and what he could become, and he allowed the Croat to have a crack at it. Not knowing what he was doing, the Croat had missed the first time and then hit the man with far too much force the second time to the point that the Croat was lucky that the man was still breathing. However, Negan didn't get upset with him and took his time with the patience to show him how to do it right. Once the man's head was destroyed, the Croat saw what Negan told him that he'd see from the crowd: complete and total submission. "We were untouchable. No one could ever take anything from us again." Negan admits that he remembers that and that it was beautiful when the Croat asks. The Croat admits that it took him years to finally understand what had happened between them and that he shouldn't have killed the girl. Negan told him not to do it and the Croat disobeyed him, causing the Croat to become the threat that needed to be handled. The Croat promises Negan that that will never happen again.
At the Bricks, Maggie puts Ginny's dinosaur toy on the bed next to the sleeping young girl. Maggie visits Hershel and tells him that "I've been um... thinking about what you said. You know, for a long time, for most of my life, I felt like the world kept taking... and kept taking, and, um, I think at some point, I thought that if I could just fight hard enough, I'd be able to get it back. A little piece of it at least. But it doesn't work that way, because you just end up losing what you got. And I don't wanna keep doing that anymore. I don't know how, but this thing with Negan... I'm gonna finish it. So that I can just let it go." Hershel is pleased with Maggie's confession.
At the King Francis Theater, where a number of people are laying passed out around the auditorium, the Croat tells Negan that his battles with the Manhattan Tribespeople were just practice for the war to come. Once the Burazi have full control of the island, the Dama says that a clash of civilizations is inevitable. After the Croat had told the Dama about all of the good that Negan had done and the people that Negan had saved and protected, the Dama had said that Negan is the missing piece. The Croat is excited to introduce Negan and the Dama, comparing it to Mommy and Daddy coming together. However, rather than allowing the Croat to stick around, the Dama dismisses him in order to talk to Negan alone, much to his disappointment.
The Dama offers Negan a drink, telling Negan that she's pleased to finally meet him and to discover that Negan is actually real and not the product of the Croat's insanity. Having heard of Negan's performance at the tribal hideout, the Dama is impressed by Negan's taunting, joking and the extra but absolutely necessary pinch of gruesomeness that created a lot of shock and awe. Negan refuses the drink, and the Dama pulls Perlie's badge out of her purse. The Dama explains that she's worried about the forces behind the marshals coming after the island's natural resources like a pack of hyenas. "The island needs leadership. Now more than ever. Someone with confidence, fearlessness, charisma, that special, shall we say, political talent. For what is politics if not performance?" Realizing that the Dama means him, Negan questions why he would help her. The Dama reveals that there are other settlements as far north as Harlem and, if they can unite all of the settlements under one rule, they will be indomitable, and it can all be Negan's again.
The Dama offers him the keys to the kingdom, but wonders how she can be sure, pointing out that Negan might not be the man that he used to be and maybe he never was which Negan acknowledges. The Dama presents Negan with a small box containing a severed pinky toe. At the Bricks, Hershel, who is missing his right pinky toe, plays his guitar as the Dama explains to Negan that she had a lot of talks with Hershel who told the Dama the story of the man who had murdered his father, not just in front of his mother, but an unborn Hershel as well. The Dama could sense in the rest of Hershel's story what Hershel himself couldn't, that his father's killer might feel remorseful and responsible for the boy whose family he destroyed. Maggie goes through Hershel's drawings which include images of Manhattan, the vault that he was imprisoned in and the Dama. Hershel had only told the Dama this story once he felt safe with her, and here Negan is, having come all of this way to save him. The Dama eventually let Hershel go in exchange for Negan, but she kept a little piece of him "and I can always go back for more. Make it last. We have a lot to discuss. A lot to plan for." Negan finally takes the drink that the Dama had offered him, and Maggie and Negan get the same look on their face at the realization of the threat that the Dama poses to Hershel and the lengths that she's willing to go to.
Other Cast[]
Co-Stars[]
- Pallavi Sastry as Nina
- James Gushue as New Babylon Man #1
- Dan Truman as New Babylon Man #2
- Christopher Bailey as Assistant
- Sean Thompson as Piano Playing Buraz
Uncredited[]
- Bryce Biederman as Buraz Underling
- Victor Plajas as Buraz
- Justin Clarke as Buraz
Deaths[]
- River People Leader (Confirmed Fate)
- 3 unnamed New Babylon Federation criminals (Alive, Confirmed Fate)
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode, "Doma Smo", is Croatian and means "we are home". It has been shown to be the motto of the Burazi.
- This episode was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on July 20, 2023.
- It's revealed that one of the five men that Negan is wanted for murdering is Ginny's father.
Episode Highlights[]
TBA
References[]
| Season 1 | "Old Acquaintances" • "Who's There?" • "People Are a Resource" • "Everybody Wins a Prize" • "Stories We Tell Ourselves" • "Doma Smo" |
|---|---|
| Season 2 | TBA |
| Episode Guide: TV Series • Fear • World Beyond • Tales • Daryl Dixon • The Ones Who Live • Webisodes | |