THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON, Season 3, Episode 5, LIMBO

Written By:

Rich Cross

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Season 3, Episode 5, Limbo

With the showrunners making no effort to disguise their intentions, the fifth episode, Limbo, emerges as Daryl Dixon’s homage to the spaghetti western — albeit one with a few extra Mad Max motifs thrown in. Limbo is a ‘bottle’ episode that does little to advance the season’s story arc or move forward the show’s key relationships.

But it is an entertaining diversion from the main event, and an episode filled with glorious visuals courtesy of some stunning real-world Spanish locations. And it’s unlikely that Norman Reedus raised many objections to the chance to temporarily become the heroic ‘man with no name’ who – as the premise demands – comes to the aid of an isolated community terrorised by a gang of extortionists.

Out on the open road, Daryl, Carol and Antonio come across a wrecked vehicle. They rescue a badly injured Roberto, strapped to a bridge and menaced by walkers, and learn of Justina’s abduction following the pair’s short-lived escape from the clutches of Torres’ henchmen. Needing to split up, Daryl agrees to set off alone in pursuit, while Antonio and Carol take Roberto back home for life-saving medical treatment.

Back at Solaz de Mar, Antonio clashes once again with settlement leader Fede in a re-run of their recurring conflict about the community’s relationship with their supposed ‘protectors’. The challenge that confronts Antonio is that Fede controls access to the medicine and resources that the ailing Roberto desperately needs. Fede is now convinced that Roberto is a disruptor and the architect of his own misfortune.

But the episode’s main focus is on Daryl’s solo mission, which begins with some arresting visuals of him powering through the endless rugged scrubland of the Monegros Desert of Zaragoza — every inch the lone warrior on a quest. Those shots are then topped by the appearance of the engine and carriages of a train being dragged along the tracks by a posse of walkers, all yearning to reach the human rider just out of their reach up front. Chofo, the vindictive leader of the Buzzards bandit group, orders his riders to rob and kill Daryl, triggering a brief but intense chase. Later, Daryl — dehydrated and on foot — is found by the kindly Mateo and taken to their village (the real-life location of the ruins of Old Belchite offering evocative visuals).

When he learns that Mateo’s isolated colony of lepers, already estranged from Spanish society, has been targeted by the rapacious Buzzards who have stolen all of their water, Daryl knows what he must do. Daryl’s character arc across Season Three has been about his need to reconnect to people, after emotionally recoiling from others following the Laurent’s escape and the death of Isabelle. Taking on responsibility for the survival of those in “Limbo” is an expression of a wider redemptive impulse on his part, which helps to set the scene for the sacrifices required in the upcoming finale.

As Daryl sets to work to take apart the criminal enterprise, viewers are treated to some classic western action, especially the scenes of him taking down the Buzzards’ train single-handedly. Mateo’s people are understandably delighted to have such a saviour championing their cause. And even if it’s not obvious how this community feeds itself, given there’s no evidence of agriculture or husbandry (or indeed of a water source), it is clear what their salvation is meant to represent by way of metaphor.

And as Carol and Antonio fret about Roberto’s fate and Justina’s whereabouts, Daryl sets off alone again into the wilderness in the direction of Barcelona (and the main season storyline), channelling his inner-Clint Eastwood as he goes.