The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2 has reached an end, but it seems to be the beginning of a beautiful, complicated friendship for Maggie and Negan. They play their same dance again in the finale — Maggie sets out to kill Negan, something makes her feel sorry for him, and they’re back to square one. But this time, their newfound partnership doesn’t seem to be based on coexistence with each other. A shared traumatic experience may have instilled a sense of respect and sympathy in each other.

But before Maggie and Negan hash things out, Perlie has his own problem with Bruegel to deal with. In Season 2, Episode 6, Bruegel blackmails Perlie into a deal that helps both of them snatch the methane from Negan. Bruegel’s methods to make Negan kneel for the new mayor of New York make Perlie uneasy. Bruegel dropped Ginny off at the church to kill Negan. He wasn’t confident she could pull it off, given her injury, but it was worth a shot in Bruegel’s eyes. When confronting him about this, Perlie accidentally lets it slip that Ginny matters to Negan. Suddenly, Bruegel has his insurance in case the chat with Negan goes sideways. The chances of Bruegel using this insurance are getting slimmer by the minute though. Ginny’s still on a ventilator by the time Bruegel arrives to talk shop.

The Dama Offers Maggie a Way Out

Negan and Bruegel Also Engage in a Fight for the History Books

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Maggie finally meets the woman who’s been holding her son captive, both physically and psychologically. The Dama plays it nice with Maggie, seeing her as a potential asset. She’s exceptionally giddy about meeting her pupil’s mother. For anyone wondering (like Maggie) why the Dama isn’t dead, she doesn’t really dive into the logistics. “Yes, [that body] was one of the already dead,” the Dama explains. “I let her burn until she got nice and crispy.” The Dama has interesting choice of words for Maggie when she sees her attempt to escape from the restraints: “I don’t want to have to punish you. Or anyone else.”

Hershel is here by his own accord, but the Dama sees him as nothing more than a tool that can be easily broken. The only one who doesn’t see their partnership this way is Hershel. The Dama makes a proposal to Maggie, or more of a demand in technical terms. The Dama wants Negan dead for being an irritating thorn in her side, and by all means, Maggie should want Negan dead too. She’s giving Maggie the chance to kill him and end this torturous cycle that Maggie is stuck in with him. It’s intriguing what the Dama does here with Maggie. She validates Maggie’s pain to get her under her spell, but invalidates Maggie’s trauma to Hershel to coax him into joining her.

Bruegel and Negan meet. Perlie stands guard in a literal knight’s uniform, keeping his identity from Negan a secret. The two men in power exchange gifts: Bruegel has a piece of historical art for Negan, and Negan has a special feast. But viewers might recall from Season 2, Episode 2 when Negan told a story about a similar feast at the Sanctuary, in which he fed people walker remains. But that’s not the case here. The only walkers in attendance are the ones hiding under the table. The meeting quickly turns into a Red Wedding spectacle. Bruegel’s army is shut in. Pews are set on fire. Walkers fight humans and humans fight humans. Negan and Bruegel bring out the big guns with Lucille and a flamethrower. Nobody’s playing Mr. Nice Guy anymore.

Bruegel Finally Gets His Methane in a Burning Death

The Rest of New Babylon Make Their Way to New York

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Hershel visits Maggie and is taken aback by the Dama’s cruel treatment of her. But he’s still convinced that the Dama has their best interests at heart. He asks Maggie to kill Negan to get him out of their lives forever so they can start over as a family. Again, it’s Hershel’s voice but the Dama’s words. Until this point, Hershel didn’t care if Negan lived or died. He resented Maggie for caring so much. Now that the Dama wants him dead, so does Hershel. But if it means getting her son back, Maggie will kill Negan once and for all.

On a rooftop, Pierce and a Burazi lookout notice a boat crossing the river. Smaller boats have already docked. A soldier in Western attire bursts through the door, killing the Burazi lookout. Pierce, thankfully, says the right thing when they ask who he’s loyal to: New Babylon. As the federation closes in on the city, Negan gets his revenge. He plays a game of “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” with Bruegel and Perlie for trying to kill Ginny, despite the latter wanting to save her. But Negan doesn’t know that. Bruegel’s willing to throw him under the bus as soon as his life is on the line. But no amount of sweet deals is good enough for Negan.

Maggie watches everything unfold from afar. It’s the line-up from the Season 6 finale and Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead all over again. Yet, she does nothing to stop it. She has her own mission to carry out. Perlie turns out to be the loser, but he’s not who Negan wants to kill first. Negan may not want to kill him at all. Yet, Negan doesn’t take Bruegel the good old-fashioned way with Lucille. No, if Bruegel wants the methane, he’ll give him the methane. Negan sticks a tube connected to a methane tank down Bruegel’s throat, forcing him to swallow the walker-generated gas. Negan lights his mouth with a torch and sets his insides on fire before hitting his head with Lucille. Is this technically the first dragon of The Walking Dead?

Maggie Spares Negan… But Makes Hershel Her Enemy

A Devastating Character Death Puts Maggie and Negan on the Same Side

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Perlie gets away, triggering a cat and mouse game between him and Negan. Perlie tries to reason with Negan. He was only here to protect Ginny after all. But Negan is sick of maybes. He wants certainty, and he can’t be certain that Perlie wasn’t here just to back Bruegel. Maggie joins the fight when Negan gets the upper hand over Perlie. She stabs him in the back. For a minute, it actually seemed like she did it. Maggie might have finally killed Negan.

Maggie picks up Lucille and chases after him. She towers over him with the bat to give him a taste of his own medicine, prepared to take the final blow. But they hear walker growls coming from Ginny’s cell. Ginny died and turned into a walker during the fighting. All three grieve the young girl — Negan the most. Maggie sees how much effort Negan went into saving her, just as she did taking care of her at the Bricks. She can’t bring herself to kill him.

Maggie, Negan and Perlie take shelter in an apartment where Perlie treats Negan’s stab wound. Negan regrets not being there for Ginny when she died. Tragically, it’s like the circumstances of Lucille’s death. In both cases, Negan was off doing everything he could to save their lives, only to return to find them dead. Maybe this is his wake-up call to change for good. Maggie knows she has to confront Hershel about her decision. Before she can even speak, he knows she didn’t go through with it. In some cathartic way, Maggie sparing Negan is fitting. Her mercy is proof that she’s better than Negan. But Hershel doesn’t see it that way.

Rather than trying to convince him to come home with her, she lets him make his own choice. Without hesitation, he stays with the Dama. Maggie is heartbroken, but she promises she won’t leave the city as long as he’s here. Back at the apartment, Maggie, Negan and Perlie notice the second wave of New Babylon soldiers marching through the streets. Perlie thinks back to the riddle Roksana told him. The trio can either choose to go back to the past that is filled with old stories, or move forward to the future where nothing’s waiting for them. Maggie and Negan make their own path, one where they move on together to something that’s yet to be conceived.