As new obstacles and challenges emerge to impede their impending reunion, Daryl and Carol each become the target of an assassination attempt, albeit hundreds of miles apart and in different countries. Second episode Moulin Rouge keeps the surprises coming, as the Daryl Dixon showrunners wisely hold back on bringing the two of them together while building up the scale and complexity of the threats that they will soon have to confront side-by-side.
At The Nest, Laurent is bonding with Daryl. The youngster enjoys spending time with his new surrogate parent more than he does attending to history lessons delivered by Losang and his acolyte Jacinta. Delight at the return of the freed prisoners of the Power of the Living, is tempered by the traumatised state that Emile has been reduced to. Losang’s efforts to convince a thoroughly sceptical Daryl that Laurent embodies the hope for humanity come to nothing.
Ash has managed to pilot his plane across the Atlantic, but a mechanical issue forces him to find a landing spot in Greenland. He and Carol are rescued from an attack of lurker walkers by research students Hanna and Eun. Carol remains guarded about their generous hospitality. When the travellers eventually arrive in France, Carol sets off alone in her search for Daryl, but finds her freedom of manoeuvre is quickly curtailed. After Isabelle discovers that Laurent has been abducted, she joins Daryl in a rescue mission. But when a trap is sprung on the group, the true identity of those behind Laurent’s seizure is revealed: a conspiracy that will change Daryl’s and Isabelle’s perception of The Nest and of the Union of Hope forever. The interrogation of the captive Stéphane by Power of the Living boss Genet means that the paramilitaries may soon uncover the location of the Union of Hope’s secret base.
The action sequences threaded through the episode are gripping, but the on-screen locations are one of the other standouts of Moulin Rouge. From the very first episode, Daryl Dixon distinguished itself by the visuals of its rich Gallic landscapes. But this is easily the most striking episode to date. Doing extraordinary work as The Nest, Mont Saint-Michel has never looked more impressive, framed in any number of photogenic ways.
It is far from the only stunning location brought to the screen. Carol’s search reveals previously unseen parts of Paris, confirming just how extensively the production team have been able to secure access to the capital’s districts, showcasing different perspectives of the city’s skyline and its abandoned avenues. The shots of Ash’s two-seater plane soaring above empty countryside are just as evocative, with the mountains and lakes of Greenland looking especially irresistible (even though it’s really the no-less-impressive French Alps standing in for them).
It feels right that Daryl’s emotional connections with those in his French family have become more visibly expressed over time. He’s evolved into something closer to a father figure for Laurent, and with the terrors of their cross-country journey behind them, this is a moment to breathe and kick back – as Daryl tries to teach Laurent baseball. Isabelle is drawn into their games, but it’s a later pivotal moment between the pair, as they acknowledge their growing physical attraction that will change the balance between all of them once Carol returns.
Seeded throughout the first season is the conviction that The Nest is a refuge, offering deliverance from the dangers of a faithless world. The realisation that its fortifications might not just be for defence but also for incarceration, already teased in episode one, is made explicit here. Isabelle is forced to accept that she has delivered Laurent not to a place of safety but to a lair in which he is primed for exploitation by a religious group whose rulers have embraced fanaticism. Their delusion leads to a well-staged shoot-out at the red mill (the “Moulin Rouge” of the title) – an attempt to neutralise those seen as a danger to Laurent’s ascent to greatness.
Carol and Ash’s encounter with two isolated women, who have found a way to eke out an existence amidst the peaks and fjords of Greenland, plays out as a tragedy infused with pathos. But things get no easier for her when the pair finally land in France, and she’s detained and conscripted by the very same forces that Daryl worked so hard to escape.
Stronger than last week’s opener, Moulin Rouge proves just how inventive and unusual story arcs in the world of The Walking Dead can continue to be. The looming confrontation at The Nest between those fighting to control the future of France will now be an even more complicated showdown than first appeared. It remains an open question as to where Carol, Daryl and Isabelle will now find themselves as those crisscrossing battle lines are drawn.
NEW EPISODES of season two of THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON premiere in the UK on Sky Max and NOW each Friday
Read our reviews of SEASON TWO of THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON below:
