Maggie Rhee must do the unthinkable when her son Hershel is kidnapped.
Actually Pretty Funny: Negan actually likes his wanted poster despite it being proof of a well-organized effort to hunt him down.
Armor-Piercing Question: Negan makes the point of asking how many husbands and fathers Maggie’s killed over the years. Maggie takes a good pause before she replies.
Behind the Black: Maggie is surprised by a walker that crawls up to her from behind.
Maggie viciously destroys the walker’s head in the Cold Open in a way that only causes her more anguish, since it surely reminds her of Glenn’s violent death in The Walking Dead’s "The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be". This story has actually spread to New Babylon, as Armstrong recounts the events of the encounter.
The woman in the bar prepares to cut up Maggie’s face to send a message to someone named Vasquez, similar to how Arat carved into Rosita’s face in Season 7’s "Hearts Still Beating" that left her with a scar for the rest of her life.
Maggie recognized the Croat as a former Savior due to his whistling, which she recalls specifically from Season 6 finale "Last Day on Earth".
Maggie says she had to relocate some of Hilltop to another outpost due to lingering damage from the sacking of Hilltop in Season 10's "Morning Star" and "Walk With Us", which Negan was forced to take part in due to his mission to assassinate Alpha.
In "Rest in Peace", the Grand Finale of The Walking Dead, Maggie described in painstaking detail how she still has flashbacks to Negan’s murder of Glenn. She’s shown having a nightmare that incorporates stock footage of Glenn’s death, and true to her word, plenty of it uses the footage of Negan cruelly, sadistically smiling and gloating while he did it.
Armstrong recounts the events of Operation: Cobalt, the US military’s desperate attempt to napalm large cities to contain and defeat the walkers.
The Croat asks Hershel if he’s ever met Negan, which we know Hershel has, as he personally deduced that Negan was Glenn’s murderer in Season 11's "The Rotten Core".
Dramatic Irony: Besides Negan’s apparent crime of killing a magistrate, Armstrong describes Negan as the same warlord he was as leader of the Saviors, unaware that the Savior empire has long since fallen and Negan has undergone a Heel–Face Turn.
Dumb Struck: Ginny has been rendered mute from the trauma of finding her father as a walker.
Even Evil Has Standards: Negan says that the Croat stood out among the Saviors as a particularly vile piece of work.
Freud Was Right: Alluded to. Maggie says she’s observed a fire in the city at certain routine points, and Negan offers the counterpoint that sometimes a building on fire is just a building on fire.
Inspector Javert: Had New Babylon’s forces stepped in to hunt Negan during Seasons 6-8 of The Walking Dead, the audience likely would’ve cheered them on. But since they’re working on outdated information, they’re antagonists as far as we’re concerned given they’re hunting Negan for crimes he no longer commits and has since made great effort to repent for.
Mundanger: A growing swarm of roaches is enough to rattle the trio, even hardened survivors like Maggie and Negan. When the full swarm is unleashed from a rotting horse carcass, it forces the group to flee their hiding place even with a large horde approaching.
Noble Demon: Armstrong claims to be a law-abiding citizen of New Babylon, claiming his refusal to drink or smoke is evidence of his having good character. He explains this to Maggie as well as the fact he’s a father and husband and offers her the chance to surrender peacefully, even conceding that she may be with Negan for a good reason.
Oh, Crap!: Most notably when Maggie and Negan realize they’re in the path of a walker horde being herded, they silently, but briskly walk away. When they encounter a massive swarm of insects around a horse carcass, Negan understandably says "NOPE".
Precision F-Strike: Negan says “fuck me” when they arrive on the island, making Dead City the second series in the franchise to have one right from the get-go in the first episode after Tales.
Remember the New Guy?: The Croat is said to have been a Savior during Negan’s regime, but was not conceptualized until this series.
Negan pointedly refuses to answer regarding the whereabouts of Annie and his child when Maggie asks about them.
Hilltop is said to still be around, albeit split into a different segment, but no other Coalition member is mentioned.
What the Hell, Hero?: Negan’s patience dwindles as he endures more and more barbs from Maggie and eventually questions why she’s still treating him like a bad guy.
What You Are in the Dark: When she has Armstrong at her mercy, Maggie decides to spare him due to having learned he’s a father and husband, after Negan had earlier taunted her by forcing her to acknowledge she’d killed many fathers and husbands in her time as well.
Wretched Hive: Downplayed. The bar functions pretty much like any other bar before the Fall, but according to Armstrong, it violates New Babylon law in doing so.
Your Head Asplode: The first walker kill of the series is a walker that Maggie violently destroys the head of.
