Summary
“Everybody Wins a Prize” livens things up a bit with some needed action, but this is still a fairly dumb show.
This recap of The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 4, “Everybody Wins a Prize”, contains spoilers.
Earlier in the season, you’ll recall that Negan explained to Maggie how he knew The Croat.
It wasn’t a pleasant story. The Saviors’ dedicated torturer crossed a line by torturing to death a young girl that Negan has specifically instructed him to let go. It was the confirmation Negan needed that The Croat was a psychopath even by his standards.
“I shot his ear off and the rest of him got away,” Negan told Maggie in summary, and the once-great villain’s ill-advised redemption arc continued apace.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
Is Simon in The Walking Dead: Dead City?
“Everybody Wins a Prize” opens by returning to this story from Negan’s perspective, though it illuminates nothing. A more cynical man might suggest that it’s rather nakedly an excuse to rope Steven Ogg back in for a brief cameo as Simon.
Yes, Simon is in Dead City, but only for this 30-second cameo, which makes you wonder what the point was.
Negan’s feeling contemplative in the present day, hence the flashback. For one thing, they’re about to make their move on The Croat, which Negan describes as being like hearing the echo of a song he doesn’t want to hear anymore.
For another, in Episode 3 he killed Luther, and the others are wondering where he’s gone.
Maggie figures out early in the episode that it was Negan who offed him, and she isn’t interested in hearing his explanation for why, though she’s rendered silent pretty quickly when Negan reminds her that she’s done plenty of things worthy of explanation too.
How does The Croat escape?
Anyway, the plan to catch The Croat runs thusly: Negan baits him while Maggie and the New Yorkers free Hershel, then everyone jumps The Croat and the Burazi halfway across the city.
It goes wrong on every level, naturally, most essentially because it’s an ambush. The Croat lures the New Yorkers into the big auditorium with his MMA cage and attracts a horde of walkers to them using Miso Kovac’s “Proplakat ?e Zora” while he escapes.
If you’re wondering why they didn’t just get into the MMA cage and lure the walkers through the doors one at a time like the Battle of Thermopylae, so am I. So, presumably, is everyone.
Luckily Ginny, who Maggie noticed snooping around, has this bright idea, and it allows her, Maggie, Tommaso, and Amaia to escape into the sewers.
Meanwhile, Negan goes to confront The Croat, who seems happy to see him. As a gesture of brotherly goodwill, he throws Perlie Armstrong off a balcony, to show Negan he’s on his side, but he underestimates Negan’s newfound sense of compassion, since he saves Perlie from death (though not from a nasty hole in the leg.)
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 4 Ending Explained
At the end of the episode, Negan flees with Perlie, and he repays the favor by trying to arrest Negan, holding him at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, Maggie and co. descend into the sewers, which I’m sure will be a jolly old time.
You can stream The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 1 Episode 4, “Everybody Wins a Prize” exclusively on AMC and AMC+.
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