"The Bird Always Knows" is the fifth episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead: Dead City. It is the eleventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 1, 2025. It was written by Sarah Nolen and directed by Ed Ornelas.[1][2]
Plot[]
Negan makes some big moves, while Maggie takes matters into her own hands.
Synopsis[]
At Salvatore, the Croat tries on a fancy new outfit.
Outside of the 6th Avenue Substation just down the street from Radio City Music Hall, a Buraz technician stands guard, smoking a cigarette and watching a walker pass by on the other side of the street. Four men sneak down the street and hide behind a van, killing the guard with a thrown hatchet to the neck. Inside, three of the men fiddle with the equipment while the fourth cuts the wires at a fuse box. The power goes out, including to Radio City Music Hall and Salvatore. Confused, the Croat looks out of the window before moving away when a walker smacks up against it. The Burazi leader looks around the powerless store in confusion.
Moving through Central Park, Maggie puts down a walker with her arm blade and Perlie tells her that if Negan was telling the truth, then they need to scope out the Burazi methane operation at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Perlie suggests that some churches have secret chambers and private entrances that they could possibly use to sneak inside. Perlie wonders if they can really pull this off with just a dozen people left, but Maggie thinks that they can so long as no one knows that they're coming. Watching a silent Hershel go on ahead, Perlie informs Maggie that there should be a bridge up ahead or they've taken a wrong turn.
Maggie joins her son a park bench and asks Hershel about the drawing that he had made of the Dama and if Hershel had really seen her on a billboard or something as he had previously claimed. Hershel reaffirms this which Maggie knows is a lie, having just seen the Dama in person at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hershel asks what it was like for his mother seeing Negan again and what he had told her. Maggie reveals that Negan had said that they should go home which is what they're going to do.
At the King Francis Theater, Negan secretly observes the Dama encouraging her beloved pet rat to find its way through the maze that she has set up in her room. Negan backs out of the room unnoticed before the Croat arrives and compliments his new suit. As the Dama berates the Croat for the loss of power, Negan watches the rat make its way through the maze. The Croat explains that their technician abandoned his post, so the Burazi are still trying to find the reason for the power outage. The Dama is worried about how bad this makes them look, warning the Croat that without the methane, they have no chance of bringing back the city, let alone defending it. The Croat points out that it was just one substation and they had only lost power on 6th Avenue, but the Dama smashes her glass in a fit of rage before composing herself.
The Dama tells the two men that their forces are almost ready and only Christos and his gang are left. Negan demands to know if the Dama will uphold her end of the deal and give him his family back after Negan gets Christos on board. The two argue with it being clear that the Dama is reluctant at best to uphold her end of the deal and set Negan free rather than continuing to use him for her own purposes. Negan warns the Dama that he's as good as it gets and Negan is all that she's got, but the Dama counters that she wouldn't be so sure about that. "Christos was always going to be the feisty one. You get him onboard and we're good. Pinky swear. Pinky toe swear," the Dama seemingly concedes, although Negan is visibly dubious about her trustworthiness.
The Dama is pleased to see that her rat has reached the food in the maze and switches her attention to her pet as the Croat tells the Dama that he will bring the methane cannisters to Christos as a gift. However, the Dama points out that that tactic failed with Bruegel so Negan will go in alone instead. The Croat is doubtful given how badly Negan and Christos got along when they first met, but the Dama feels that Negan was right to put the gang leader in his place and establish boundaries. The Croat continues to protest, but the Dama firmly orders him to focus on cleaning up his mess as well as to change out of his ridiculous new outfit.
Maggie, Perlie and Hershel reach the Loeb Boathouse and New Babylon Army emerge from hiding and take them into custody. Inside, Lucia announces that Roksana has been detained as an enemy of the New Babylon Federation and she will only be released as soon as Roksana agrees to support their conflict. Having mutinied against Perlie's command, Lucia orders him to be locked in the box. Now aware that Negan is still alive, Lucia is arresting him for treason as Perlie had lied about executing Negan. A shocked Maggie realizes that Ginny had told Lucia the truth and tries to back Perlie's lie up. When the New Babylonians move to arrest Maggie too, Perlie finally admits that he had lied, but Lucia is lucky that he did as Negan is with the Croat now. Negan told them where the methane is, and he knows a hell of a lot more than that too. Negan is the only connection that they have, and Maggie is the only person that he trusts. After a moment's consideration, Lucia has Maggie and Hershel taken to her quarters.
Maggie confronts Ginny who asks if Maggie knew that she was going to see Negan when she left. Maggie admits that she did, and she had kept it a secret because Maggie knows that Ginny has a gun and Maggie had to wonder who Ginny was planning to use it on. Lucia asks where the methane is, claiming that nothing will happen to Maggie if she tells her unless Maggie breaks the law. Maggie tells Lucia that it doesn't matter anyways because the major won't like what else Negan has to say. Even with the New Babylon soldiers and the Foragers, Lucia will never stand a chance against the Croat who has maybe 50 to a hundred people. Lucia suspects that Maggie is lying to get her to give up because that will mean that Maggie can go home.
Lucia asks for Hershel's opinion on whether or not they can trust what Negan said, and he confirms it because Hershel believes that Negan feels like he owes Maggie. Lucia wonders if Maggie feels like she owes Negan too, but Maggie just dodges the question. Lucia tells the other woman that she wants Maggie to go to him and offer their surrender under the condition that Negan and the Croat come to the boathouse to escort their forces, unmolested, off of the island. Lucia plans to ambush the Burazi by having Maggie lead them through the walker-infested tall grass where the dead will take care of most of them. Lucia reassures Ginny that they will leave Negan for her to kill. In order to ensure Maggie's compliance, Hershel will be staying with the New Babylonians.
At the substation, the Croat goes through the equipment and orders one of his men to make sure that the exhaust isn't blocked. The Croat gets angry and defensive when the man questions him, echoing the Dama's sentiment that the power going out makes the Burazi look weak. The Croat refuses to do anything that will make them look weak. Releasing the man after a tense moment, the Croat orders the Burazi to check the compressors. The Croat finds the slashed wires in the fuse box and discovers something on the ground beneath it that makes him smile.
Maggie leaves the restaurant, watched by Lucia.
In the midst of a thunderstorm, Negan arrives at Blood Shirts' Base and uses his new Lucille for the first time to kill a nearby walker. Negan and the two Burazi with him are quickly surrounded and captured by Christos' gang.
In the freezer, Perlie looks at his wedding ring and Roksana asks if he has children which Perlie confirms. Perlie laments that his three daughters will think that he died a traitor, but Perlie always knew that this day would come. On the other hand, Roksana has options as she could join New Babylon and help Lucia get what she wants. If Roksana refuses, she'll be executed and whoever takes her place will have to make the same choice. Either way, Roksana will have died for nothing. Roksana recalls her uncle Cyrus who had a little yellow bird that would go everywhere with him. Cyrus would get out a box filled with colorful papers, each of which had a riddle on it. The bird would go into the box, pull out one of the papers with its beak, and whatever it chose was the riddle meant for their family. "The bird always knew somehow. When Iraq invaded, he was conscripted. Sent to fight in a war he knew nothing about and had nothing to do with. I remember the morning he left. The sun hadn't even come up yet. That. That was dying for nothing."
Negan is brought before Christos with the methane cannisters, and he dismisses the other two Burazi. Negan asks Christos again to join the fight against New Babylon, informing him that everyone else is in, including Bruegel. Christos informs Negan that he made a big mistake in coming, guessing that Negan has come to pressure and intimidate them into the fight. Christos reiterates that his gang is not interested in what Negan is selling and nothing that Negan says can change their minds. Taking Lucille, Christos tells Negan that he's not at his pulpit and doesn't have the Burazi, methane torches or his bat this time because Negan is in Christos' home this time.
Two twin girls run in and speak to Christos in Dutch, referring to him as their father. The fearsome gang leader's demeanor softens as they talk and Negan spots women and children, including a baby, in a back room. Christos calls Mila to take his daughters away. Finally understanding that Christos is not a power-hungry warlord but rather a man only trying to protect the women and children under his care, Negan apologizes to the gang leader, having not understood the situation that Christos is in. "Clearly you have people you are trying to protect, and that changes things. I don't want to do anything that jeopardizes their lives." As a father and a husband himself, Negan can relate to Christos' difficult position.
At night, a New Babylon soldier goes to investigate a few walkers that have been drawn to the gate by the storm. Maggie sneaks up behind the soldier and whacks him in the head, killing the guard. Maggie finds Perlie and Roksana, but Perlie warns that if she goes after Lucia, New Babylon won't stop until they catch her and kill Maggie and all of her people in retaliation, including her son. Declaring that she'll make sure that New Babylon doesn't catch her, Maggie locks the two up and leaves to go after Lucia while Perlie frantically yells out for her.
Christos explains to a sympathetic Negan that "after 10, 15 years of scavenging, there was nothing left. So, when Bruegel started the fights, it just, you know, it made sense. If we couldn't scavenge, we could trade. The more we lost, the more we had to keep playing. Playing the game, playing his game. Until we lost everything. Our weapons. Our food. Our home. And now you've come here, and it's not just trade, it's not, it's -- it's going to war. It's making alliances. You gotta imagine from where we sit, it just seems like more rigged games." Negan understands the tough spot that Christos is in and why he doesn't want to help, but Negan warns him that Christos can't just sit this one out. Christos doesn't want to help them which is fine, but one day the Croat and all of the others will come for him or, God forbid, New Babylon will. The other choice is to fight with them against New Babylon. The harder that Christos fights, the more influence that he will have in the events to come, but if he leaves it to the likes of Bruegel and New Babylon, they will decide for him which Christos doesn't want.
Just as Negan seems to be getting somewhere, the Croat interrupts them. The Croat comments that he never took Christos for someone who knew anything about circuitry and accuses Christos of being the one to knock out the fuse box at the substation and thus power to 6th Avenue which Christos denies. The Croat throws a bone knife into the floor, the object that he had found under the fuse box and seemingly the proof that Christos and his gang are responsible. Negan begins trying to talk the Croat down, only to suddenly become dizzy. The Croat reveals that the methane has been going the whole time, and they have about 30 seconds remaining. Christos tries to storm up to the Burazi leader with Lucille, but he collapses from the gas. As Christos' men collapse around them, the Burazi don gas masks and help a protesting Negan out. Once all of the gang members are down, the Burazi begin to slaughter them with the Croat kneeling beside Christos to personally kill the man.
Outside in his car, the excited Croat gives Lucille back to Negan and reveals that he had only slaughtered the men, letting the women and children live as the Croat is not a monster. The Croat justifies his actions because the gang had sabotaged the Burazi facility and put everything that they've worked for at risk. Dejected and horrified by the senseless massacre, Negan asks if the Dama had asked the Croat to do it, but he doesn't answer.
Lucia questions Hershel about the situation between Maggie and Negan and is surprised when the boy reveals that Negan had killed his father. Lucia asks why Maggie didn't kill Negan if they're not friends, but Hershel doesn't answer. Spotting his mother sneaking around, Hershel reveals that he had tried to kill Negan once a long time ago. While Hershel didn't set out to do it, the gun was suddenly in his hand and Hershel was aiming at him. However, Hershel missed his shot. Lucia tells Hershel that if he couldn't pull it off, a 12 year old girl will have to do and if Ginny misses, then Lucia will do it herself. Lucia realizes from Hershel's darting eyes that Maggie is coming up from behind her and the two women struggle. Ginny enters and aims her gun at Hershel to force Maggie to surrender, betraying Maggie.
At the church, Negan tells the Croat that what's done is done, but who cares what the Dama is about to say. Negan reiterates his repeated point about how badly the Dama has been treating the Croat. "She treats her goddamn rat better than she treats you. She treats the rat better than she treats both of us. Strokin' it, and feelin' it, and lovin' it, and givin' it a great big giant maze. You are building her a methane empire, and yet that rat gets more respect for what, sniffin' around, gettin' lucky, finding a half-rotted berry? Do not sweat the Dama. All right? I got your back."
In the freezer, Perlie sees Maggie being taken into custody and laments not stopping her. Roksana tells Perlie that him seeing death as something to back away from is what gives others power over him. If a person stops fearing what they are so sure are the endings, they start to see that they are also the beginnings. At Roksana's prompting to be his own little bird, Perlie takes a glittery object from a small pouch which the Forager leader calls a good and hard riddle. "After years of walking through the woods, a man comes to a fork in his path. To go left is to return home, to his past. It'd be nice, he thinks, to wear his old clothes, to sleep in his old bed. But what if nothing's like he remembers? To go right is to venture into the unknown, to see what his future holds. But what if there are hidden pitfalls or bandits? The man is getting old. He's got life left in him for one last journey. Which way does he go?" Perlie guesses that the bird always knows, but showing Perlie that the pouch is full of identical objects, Roksana reveals that the bird got some help.
Negan tries to justify the Croat's actions, but the Dama angrily berates the Burazi leader for the massacre and going against her explicit instructions to compromise everything that she's built. Realizing that Negan is right about her treatment of him, the Croat finally snaps and accuses the Dama of seeing him as no better than her rat who at least has a prize waiting for him in the maze. Stunned by his outburst, the Dama leaves, telling the Croat that they'll talk about this once the Croat has gotten a hold of himself.
Outside of the restaurant, the New Babylonians have set up a bonfire and a noose for an execution with the fire and the noise drawing a massive herd to the gates. Standing on a stool, Roksana is placed in the noose where Lucia gives her one last chance to change her mind. Accepting her fate, Roksana tells her gathered people to not be afraid as she is joining them rather than leaving them. Roksana is only going where they're all going, where they've always been. On Lucia's signal, a New Babylonian kicks the stool out from under Roksana's feet, hanging her. Roksana's neck snaps, killing her instantly, and her body is dragged away. The Foragers all begin moaning in mourning for their leader, agitating the walkers at the gates.
Maggie is placed into the noose next with Hershel having to be restrained from going to help her. Realizing the effect that the moaning is having on the walkers, the New Babylonians try to quiet the Foragers with one even hitting a man in the face with his rifle. The herd breaks through the gates and attacks the crowd, devouring the unresisting Foragers. A horrified Ginny barely manages to shove a walker off of her after getting pushed onto a piece of metal and Hershel tries to take advantage of the distraction to rush to Maggie's aid, but he's grabbed by Lucia as the New Babylonians fight back. However, the New Babylon soldiers fall victim to the herd and in the chaos, a walker attacking a New Babylon woman knocks over the stool holding Maggie up. As Perlie tries to reach her to help, the walker grabs at the struggling Maggie. To Maggie's shock, she is suddenly saved by Ginny despite the girl's earlier betrayal.
Seeing that Maggie has been saved, Lucia tries to shoot her, but has run out of bullets fighting the herd. With her soldiers falling all around her and still holding Hershel as a hostage, Lucia makes a break for it as Maggie takes Ginny's knife and fights her way through the walkers to save her son. Grabbing Ginny, Perlie retreats back into the restaurant for safety. Taking advantage of the herd being distracted eating everyone else, Lucia makes it out, only to have a zombified Roksana emerge from beyond the gate and attack from behind. Her hands full with the struggling Hershel, Lucia is unable to react in time to the new arrival. Maggie manages to pull her son to safety as Roksana bites Lucia in the neck. As Maggie and Hershel flee, Lucia is devoured by Roksana and two other walkers.
In her room, the Dama listens to opera and lights several candles. To the Dama's shock and grief, she finds her beloved pet rat lying dead on the ground, having been crushed under someone's foot.
Now the only survivors of the army that had come to Manhattan aside from Benjamin Pierce, Maggie, Perlie, Hershel, and Ginny sit in silence. Perlie looks at what Roksana had given him, and Ginny pulls up her shirt, revealing a large wound on her back that she hides from the others. Hershel finally tells his mother that the woman that he'd drawn was real and had been with the Croat, apologizing for not telling her sooner. Hershel admits that he was the one who sent the smoke signal warning the Burazi that New Babylon was coming. The Dama was nice to Hershel, and she wanted to know him. The two mostly just talked about the city and the Dama's plans for bringing it back which the boy found inspiring. The Dama wanted Hershel to protect the city from New Babylon, and she was right about New Babylon given everything that they've done and are about. However, at the docks, Hershel had only intended to get his mother and Ginny and go and he had never intended for everyone to die. "I keep all these -- seeing all these soldiers crawling out of the water. I should've known it would happen like that. All -- all those people," Hershel remorsefully tells Maggie. Maggie reassures her son that it's over and they're going to go home now.
Hearing a knock on the door, the confused Maggie and Perlie go outside to find the Silk Stockings dispatching all of the walkers using medieval weapons and putting down those who died. Greeting the two, Bruegel quips that he seems to be late to the party.
At the theater, the Croat visits the Dama's dressing room to make peace with her. The Dama doesn't answer his knock and when the Croat enters, he finds the dead rat. Believing that the Croat had killed her beloved pet, the Dama accuses the confused man of doing it to send the message that he's calling the shots now. "I pulled you out of the gutter! I put you back together. I gave you a new life. And this is how you repay me? I should've let you fucking die. You are nothing without me." The Croat snaps that it's actually the Dama who is nothing without him: he has given her new life and everything that the Dama has asked for while all that she does is pick and pick and pick from the comfort of her high throne. Shaking his finger in her face, the Croat calls the Dama "an empress with no clothing," and "a proud, pathetic little queen."
Grabbing the Croat's hand, the Dama bites him in a rage. The Croat throws the Dama off of him to the floor, knocking over a table full of candles which sets the rug on fire as a metal clothes stand falls on the woman, pinning her to the floor. Trapped, the Dama begs for the Croat's help, calling the man by his real name, Mile. The Croat goes to help her, but changes his mind and runs away, leaving the Dama to burn alive.
Sitting in his old cell, a pleased Negan uses a knife to remove the remains of the Dama's rat from the bottom of his shoe. Having stoked the Croat's doubts and anger towards the Dama, Negan had killed the animal to set the Dama off and pit the two against each other, finally riding himself of the Dama.
Other Cast[]
Co-Stars[]
- Dennis Grajeda as Substation Buraz
- Cassidy Goron as Little Girl #1
- Carly Goron as Little Girl #2
- Vera Bulder as Mila
- Leah Del Rosario as Hershel Acting Photo Double
Uncredited[]
- Jeff Byrd as Larry
- Tessa Diaz as Yadi
- Briana Mitchell as New Babylon Officer
- Larry Nuñez as New Babylon Officer
- Theo Kypri as New Babylon Soldier
- Maritza Diaz as New Babylon Soldier
- Chris Silcox as Forager
- Christopher James as Buraz
- Tom Sinko as Blood Shirt
- Kevin Galvin as Blood Shirt
- Justin Thomas as Blood Shirt
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Deaths[]
- Cyrus (Confirmed Fate, Pre-Apocalypse)
- Christos
- Roksana (Alive and Zombified)
- Yadi
- Larry
- Lucia Narvaez (Alive, Off-Screen)
- The Dama's Rat
- 1 unnamed Buraz
- All unnamed adult male Blood Shirts
- All unnamed Foragers
- 7 unnamed New Babylon Army soldiers
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Trivia[]
- Only appearance of Mila.
- Last appearance of Christos.
- Last appearance of Roksana.
- Last appearance of Larry.
- Last appearance of Yadi.
- Last appearance of Lucia Narvaez. (Alive)
- The title of the episode, "The Bird Always Knows", refers to Roksana's story about the bird always knowing.
- Keir Gilchrist (Benjamin Pierce) is not in the opening credits for this episode, despite his character still being alive.
- The Croat's real name, Mile, is revealed by the Dama.
Episode Highlights[]
To be added.
References[]
| Season 1 | "Old Acquaintances" • "Who's There?" • "People Are a Resource" • "Everybody Wins a Prize" • "Stories We Tell Ourselves" • "Doma Smo" |
|---|---|
| Season 2 | "Power Equals Power" • "Another Shitty Lesson" • "Why Did the Mainlanders Cross the River?" • "Feisty Friendly" • "The Bird Always Knows" • "Bridge Partners Are Hard to Come by These Days" • "Novi Dan, Novi Početak" • "If History Were a Conflagration" |
| Season 3 | TBA |
| Episode Guide: TV Series • Fear • World Beyond • Tales • Daryl Dixon • The Ones Who Live • Webisodes | |