Up against stiff competition from The Ones Who Live and Dead City, the first season of the Daryl Dixon spin-off from the Walking Dead edged it as the favourite of many critics and long-term fans of the franchise. With filming in Spain of a third season nearing completion, the second season of Daryl Dixon (subtitled The Book of Carol) arrives on both US and UK TV screens with a hugely positive momentum behind it. What lifts the debut even more is the knowledge that the scriptwriters will have at least twelve more episodes with which to play out Daryl’s pan-European story arc.
Even before season one wrapped, the showrunners on Daryl Dixon had realised it was pointless to try to make the return of Carol (Melissa McBride) the ‘surprise’ revelation of season two. Instead they knew they could focus on the dramatic consequences of her arrival in France, exploring how it would reset the already complex relationship between Daryl and Carol, and upset the delicate dynamic between Daryl and Isabelle (Clémence Poésy). Carol’s take on the political and religious conflicts that Daryl is now ensnared in could also be relied on to shake his new certainties.
First episode La Gentillesse des Étrangers (‘The Kindness of Strangers’) splits attention between Carol’s investigations in the US as to Daryl’s whereabouts and developments at The Next in northern France (although every scene was filmed in Normandy or close to Paris). After Carol retrieves Dary’s crossbow and forces the mechanic crew at the rural garage to give up information on Daryl’s abduction and transport to France, she looks in vain for a working port. Seeing a small plane fly overhead, she traces its landing strip and ingratiates herself with the solitary pilot Ash who’s built up a smallholding protected by an electrified fence.
At The Nest, Daryl is training Laurent in the art of self-defence, much to the irritation of the settlement’s spiritual leader Losang who has greater plans for the boy. When scouts arrive confirming that the paramilitaries of the Power of the Living have seized key members of the Union of Hope, Daryl is keen to join a raiding party to free the hostages and protect The Nest’s location. After the ambush of a convoy carrying the prisoners goes wrong, Daryl is able to organise the immobilisation of the vehicles and free their compatriots. Discovering his nemesis Genet is amongst the survivors, he reloads his gun preparing to execute her, before a delayed explosion enables her to escape.
When a power outage triggers a walker incursion into Ash’s compound, he’s appalled to find Carol snooping around his property. After Carol clears the felled cadavers, Ash confides to her that the grave and shrine in his greenhouse is that of his much-missed son Avi. Aware that Ash’s plane might be her only route to France, Carol knows that she needs to convince him to fly her across the Atlantic. She tells Ash that her daughter Sophia was in France with her father when the apocalypse struck, and that she would do anything to be able to search for her. Ash initially tells Carol she must leave, but he tracks her down and – empathising with her pain over a missing child – agrees to start planning their flight to France. After a nighttime storm coincides with a mass break-in of walkers, the two must battle the odds to take to the air.
Director Greg Nicotero can be relied upon to deliver quality undead action sequences, and there are some great flourishes in La Gentillesse des Étrangers. The French locations are as beguiling as ever, and Shannon Goss’ script finds new ways to reinforce the idea that Daryl is still an ill-at-ease refugee rather than anything approaching a naturalised Frenchmen. But the episode’s focus is on Carol’s journey into the skies above America. McBride is as assured in the role as ever, but what works particularly well is the story’s treatment of how Carol chooses to navigate the experience of parental trauma that she and Ash share. The encounter triggers disturbing memories of the discovery of her dead daughter in Hershel’s barn (allowing Nicotero the chance to recreate the moment, blending past and present).
Yet she lies outright to Ash about Sophia’s fate, in order to manipulate his profound grief and sense of guilt to get what she wants. It’s a cruel and emotionally abusive thing to do, but it’s an important moment that highlights one of Carol’s character flaws. She may possess a deep sense of loyalty to her long-time friend, but it’s an affinity that leads her to embrace deceit ahead of honesty. Since his arrival in France, Daryl’s own transactional relationship with his new friends has developed into a tangle of commitment and connection. Carol’s response to the ‘kindness of strangers’ that Ash embodies is to trick him, and to exploit the memory of Sonia as leverage. Perhaps the show’s most anticipated reunion will come at a cost, at least for some of those caught up in it? That would be fitting. This ain’t no fairytale…
NEW EPISODES of season two of THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON premiere in the UK on Sky Max and NOW each Friday, beginning 4th OCTOBER
Read our reviews of SEASON ONE of THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON below:
Season 1, Episode 1, L’ÂME PERDUE
Season 1, Episode 2, ALOUETTE
Season 1, Episode 3, PARIS SERA TOUJOURS PARIS
Season 1, Episode 4, LA DAME DE FER
Season 1, Episode 5, DEUX AMOURS
Season 1, Episode 6, COMING HOME