An Inexplicable Finale Twist Mars an Otherwise Promising 'Daryl Dixon' Season

By Dustin Rowles | TV | October 16, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | October 16, 2023 |

I won’t argue that the first season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been inspired, but it’s at least been entertaining. It’s not original — it’s stealing half a dozen elements from other series, including The Last of Us — but it’s slightly different from the other The Walking Dead series, and not just in the France setting — although that’s a big part of it. There is also purpose to the characters beyond surviving long enough to kill another Big Bad.

Specifically, Daryl Dixon meets Isabelle, a nun (in a very loose sense) with whom he is clearly smitten, and the kid in Isabelle’s care, Laurent, who is special in ways similar to Ellie in The Last of Us. Laurent’s mother also died in childbirth and turned into a zombie before Laurent was delivered, which seems to give Laurent some special ability to blend in unharmed with the walkers. More than that, everyone treats Laurent with a god-like revere — they think he’s some sort of savior. As I have explained before, more than anything, The Walking Dead is about cults.

Not everyone is as taken with Laurent. Genet, a French woman who is the head of an organization called The Power of the Living that runs experiments on the zombie virus (and often creates supercharged walkers), not only wants Laurent dead but Daryl, as well. Daryl orchestrated a mutiny on the ship that got him from Maine to France. Genet’s henchman is Codron, who wants Daryl dead because Codron falsely believes that Daryl killed his brother. There’s also Quinn, Laurent’s biological father, and Isabelle’s old boyfriend. She left Quinn during the initial zombie uprising because Quinn wanted to leave Isabelle’s pregnant sister — and Laurent’s mother — behind. (The fact that Quinn slept with Isabelle’s sister doesn’t seem to be a point of much contention. Ah, the French!)

The goal for this season is to get Laurent to The Nest, which again feels like another utopian civilization that Daryl and every other protagonist in The Walking Dead universe would normally avoid. But here, they are the Bohemian good guys.

That’s the setup. Let’s fast-forward to the season finale, where Daryl and Quinn are chained together in a staging area surrounded by a bloodthirsty crowd who want to see Daryl and Quinn torn apart by zombies. The two enemies have to work together to fend off a number of supercharged zombies. After an impressive action sequence in which one zombie head explodes and Quinn and Daryl decapitate another, they are successful. Daryl even throws a zombie head toward Genet’s people. Genet orders Codron to execute them even after the French crowd has turned against Genet and begun to root for Daryl and Quinn.

In the first of two Deus ex machinas in this episode, the Bohemian Nesters shoot toward Cordron and Genet’s soldiers, which creates a big enough commotion for Daryl and Quinn to escape. Soon thereafter, Quinn reveals he’s been bitten. Quinn sacrifices himself to give Daryl a few more minutes to escape and save Quinn’s son, Laurent. The gambit is successful, but minutes later, Laurent has to put down zombified Quinn to save Isabella, which is difficult for Laurent because he doesn’t believe in killing zombies. Also, this zombie is his dad. Daryl insists that God will forgive Laurent, and Laurent kills zombie Quinn.

With that out of the way, the rest of the episode feels like it was slapped together with 20 minutes remaining before the Writers Strike deadline. Daryl, Isabelle, and Laurent jump in a car and drive toward The Nest. The car breaks down, which allows Codron to catch up. He has wanted to kill Daryl all season long. It’s been the only motivation of the character. Genet also asked him to kill Laurent. Codron and his men have Daryl and Co. surrounded. They have Daryl dead-to-rights. His gun is pointed at Daryl’s head. “God loves you,” Laurent says to Codron.

Codron turns and shoots all of his soldiers in the face. “Next time,” he says to Daryl before allowing them to escape.

What? Where did this come from? It makes no sense. It makes even less sense when Codron returns to Genet and tells her that Daryl and Laurent escaped. She knows he’s lying and accuses him of shooting her soldiers, but why would she even suspect he’s lying? What would have given her any reason to believe that her right-hand man would inexplicably turn against the Power of the Living and allow Laurent to escape? It’s complete nonsense! There’s no context for this about-face whatsoever. It’s a Kurt-Sutter-level Deus ex machina. I hate it.

In any respect, Daryl, Laurent, and Isabelle travel to The Nest, where they can all live happily ever after, except that Daryl — despite having obvious feelings for both Isabelle (romantic) and Laurent (fatherly) — insists on returning to America to be with his family. I guess no one told Daryl they’re all in their own spin-offs now. Isabelle tries to talk him into staying, but Daryl is a lone rider, and he returns to the literal beaches of Normandy to await a ship that will take him back home. There, he spots the gravestone of his grandfather, who died in the D-Day invasion, which we saw in a flashback in the episode’s cold open. Why? It’s not entirely clear. To give Daryl an opportunity to emote?

After Daryl spots the ship, however, Laurent appears behind him. He followed Daryl to the beach. Clearly, Daryl is going to stay. Season two is already shooting, after all. It’s called The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol because they need a more wordy title. Speaking of which, back in Freeport, Maine (home of LLBean and a 20-minute drive from my house), Carol is searching for Daryl, finds the guy who is riding Daryl’s motorcycle, locks him up in the trunk of her car, and sets off to find out more about Daryl’s whereabouts.

Surprise! He’s 3,337 miles away.