The second season of Daryl Dixon reaches its halfway point by bringing Daryl and Carol agonisingly close to one another – but on opposite sides of a battlefield and already facing certain death. Like its predecessors, the plot of L’Invisible is built around separate and parallel storylines, but this time around, both characters are not evenly served by the narrative. The need to have Carol ingratiate herself with Genet, becoming a member of her inner circle and accompanying her to The Nest, means that scriptwriter Lisa Zwerling has to string together a series of contrivances that stretch credulity too far. But there’s much else going on in the episode to recommend it – not least the chance to see signature Paris landmarks succumb to the original onset of the contagion.
At the Louvre gallery, put-upon janitor Genet is encouraged to join the collective struggle for better working conditions by organiser Sabine. When the contagion reaches them, the quarantined Genet is horrified to see her husband, Adrien, killed by fresh walkers in front of her outside the glass of the Pyramide du Louvre. A grieving Genet stands alone in front of the Mona Lisa in the hope of answers. In the present, Carol is assigned new work details but witnesses the deliberate execution of workers of the Power of the Living and learns of plans to attack the Union of Hope with an unstoppable army.
At The Nest, Sylvie’s attempts to find and free Laurent end in tragedy. Fallou, Isabelle and Daryl find a way into the castle and stumble across the ceremony that Losang has prepared to demonstrate Laurent’s invincibility. Daryl and his compatriots launch an attack and escape with Laurent. They are forced to separate and battle their way out separately. After a heroic fight, first Daryl and then Isabelle are captured. The pair spend an emotionally charged night together, pledging their fealty to one another. When Carol is betrayed by someone she considered to be an ally, she’s forced to pretend she’s a hunter with a grudge who wants Daryl dead. Forced to join the militia convoy heading to the newly discovered location of The Nest, Genet unveils her devastating and barbarous plan.
As the timeline flips back to the original outbreak, some extraordinarily powerful and evocative scenes filmed in and around the famous Louvre gallery in Paris light up the screen. The production values and sense of scale that director Michael Slovis achieves are impressive. The locations look stunning because – as must-see tourist stop-offs – they are so iconic, but also because Slovis wrangles the sense of dread and dislocation that engulfs them so well. It’s the kind of urban spectacle that has become one of the show’s welcome signatures.
Genet’s backstory, which reveals a modest and unassuming life torn asunder by bloody trauma, puts her subsequent moral degeneration into sharp focus. Her ruthlessness and the deluded convictions that inform it are given more screen time here, including her utter humiliation of a militia member who dares to object to the poor quality of the group’s food. It’s a moment that demonstrates that her followers are as much motivated by the terror of defying her as they are persuaded by her ideas about what the world must now become.
Even though his fate reinforces that sense of Genet’s brutality, Cordon is not well served here. After allowing Daryl’s group to escape execution last season, Cordon had been in line for an interesting character journey. But he’s become sidelined as a hostage who has withstood Genet’s campaign of torture but who suddenly gives up The Nest’s location to Carol because she asks him. Carol’s own “revelations” to Genet (a mix of disclosure and deceit), which are bound up with a foiled escape attempt, deliver her to the passenger seat of Genet’s armoured vehicle and a personal guided tour through Paris – an outcome which is not entirely convincing.
Daryl’s story is so much more satisfying. After Daryl frees Laurent from the ceremony, the extended chase and fight sequence that follows is choreographed with real energy and tension. Daryl’s and Isabelle’s detention deliberately slows the pace, building on the growing emotional entanglement seen in last week’s episode. Unaware of Carol’s proximity to him, Daryl describes to her the life that the three of them could enjoy back in the US. Isabelle’s character journey continues to be handled well, as her faith in the cult she supported is displaced by a fierce commitment to her new family. Following Emile’s demise last week, partner Sylvie’s story adds extra poignancy, although a far greater toll now seems imminent.
The idea of the amped-up walkers, which the Power of the Living’s scientists have been working to create since Season One, introduced an extra sci-fi edge to the Walking Dead world. But the remorseless assault that is about to be unleashed on The Nest seems to be exactly the purpose for which they have been created. With both Daryl and Carol plunged into a state of near-death peril, just a few hundred metres from one another, it’s the ideal moment to roll the credits – as the opening battle in a new civil war to settle the future of France is about to erupt.
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:
SEASON 2, EPISODE 1, LA GENTILLESSE DES ÉTRANGERS
SEASON 2, EPISODE 2, MOULIN ROUGE
