Twigs - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Episode 1

Joel meets Ellie. Wait...

[Warning: This essay contains spoilers for all of The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Episode 1.]

The Walking Dead has finally given me hope.

Following hot off the heels of the disappointing and boring Dead City, I initially didn’t have high hopes for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The idea of Daryl washing ashore in France felt rather silly on the surface. It didn’t help that one of the spinoff’s most prominent teasers saw Daryl floating upside down on a small, kayak-looking boat. The whole time leading up to the series premiere, I assumed Daryl had somehow managed to float all the way from America to France on a small, capsized boat. Which would have been funny, but wouldn’t have boded well for the series’ quality as a whole. I was also skeptical about the premise of the show, due to its similarities to the 10-year-old video game and 9-month-old TV series The Last of Us. Despite these misgivings, I went into the series with an open mind.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon follows its titular character (and longtime Walking Dead alum) Daryl, as he washes ashore in France following mysterious events the audience doesn’t fully know about yet. He decides to begin traveling across the country, in search of a port he can use the get back home. Along the way, he’s severely wounded by a pair of survivors who are part of a larger, mysterious antagonist group of guerrilla fighters. Following his injury—and the robbery of many of his things—Daryl is rescued by Isabelle, a nun from a convent that’s part of the progressive religious group the Union of Hope. While Daryl is thankful for their hospitality at first, things start to go awry a little over halfway through the episode. This is when Daryl gets introduced to Laurent, a young boy who seems more sophisticated than his age lets on. While Daryl is determined to leave the convent after his wounds are healed, Isabelle implores him to stay. This is because she believes he is part of a prophecy where he will deliver Laurent to France. Because Laurent—according to Isabelle—is the messiah.

It’s best to get the elephant out of the room right away. Daryl Dixon has many similarities to The Last of Us because of its premise. Both shows boil down to the same basic ideas. A jaded survivor (Daryl/Joel) is tasked by a secret nation-wide organization (The Union of Hope/The Fireflies) to deliver a child (Laurent/Ellie) across the country because they are important (the messiah/immune). While Daryl Dixon’s executive producer Greg Nicotero insists the similarities were a coincidence because both shows were in production at the same time, The Last of Us game has been around since 2013. And was an immediate hit within the zombie fandom upon its release. It is borderline impossible for those behind Daryl Dixon to have been oblivious to The Last of Us for almost a decade before this new spinoff started production. So I’m inclined to believe Daryl Dixon was inspired by the game to some capacity. Which isn’t a bad thing, so long as the series does something different with its premise.

While the similarities still exist, I do believe Daryl Dixon stands on its own as a series that is inspired by The Last of Us rather than something trying to emulate it. This is first established by Daryl not believing anything Isabelle is saying about prophecies and messiahs, promptly ignoring her pleas for assistance while he “borrows” weapons from the convent’s arsenal. Once the convent is attacked by the new antagonists of the series (who are apparently called “The Cause,” but haven’t been named as such in the show yet), Daryl decides to take Laurent to Paris alongside Isabelle and another nun, Sylvie. However, his main goal is to get to a port close to Paris in order to get home, with Laurent’s delivery just one stop on the way there. Since promotional material confirms Daryl’s arrival in Paris is the end of his Laurent mission but not of his whole journey, it seems Daryl Dixon is setting up the delivery plot as only one arc of the show. With Season 2 already deep in production, this means Daryl Dixon could easily veer from the general path of The Last of Us into something entirely new later down the road.

But another concept that makes this spinoff in particular stand out is the introduction of religion and prophecy. While it’s unclear how true any of this will turn out to be, it’s not the first time The Walking Dead universe has explored the supernatural. This was first touched on in Season 1 of the main show, when Jim had a dream about the members of the group dying and dug just enough graves for the number of people killed in a Walker attack before it even happened. Daryl Dixon will see Laurent trying to pray zombies away from attacking him, which could result in a wholesale return of supernatural elements to the franchise. Something I would be fine with seeing to spice things up a little bit. For now, though, Laurent’s existence as a messiah appears to be a Union of Hope pipe dream. But one Daryl is willing to entertain so he has companions that will help take him home.

Because Daryl cannot travel alone in France, something quickly established within the first 15 minutes of the premiere. Not only does he not speak any French, but the country has plenty of unique, horrifying dangers that he encounters right away. This comes in the form of variant Walkers, something touched upon in The Walking Dead’s final season, but which was never fully fleshed out. Here, though, it’s quickly established France has some nightmarish zombies that pose a significant threat, and that make the concept scary again. Daryl’s first encounter with a group of Burners is terrifying, as neither he nor the audience is prepared for what they can do. Watching Daryl get a dangerous burn on his arm from simply getting grabbed by the new variant underscores just how horrifying France is going to be. Anyone familiar with the spinoff The Walking Dead: World Beyond also knows fast zombies are prowling the streets of Paris. In reality, acidic corpses may be the least of Daryl’s problems going forward. And it’s a cool concept the show seems keen on fleshing out.

Beyond conceptualization and the story, though, Daryl Dixon brings back two things The Walking Dead franchise has been sorely missing for almost a decade. These are 1.) Impressive action scenes, and 2.) Strong characterization. Despite not having a ton of action throughout, Daryl Dixon establishes itself as an exciting series with plenty of battles to come. When Codron and his men attack the convent, they have a short-lived yet bloody fight with a group of nuns. This in itself was done much better than a lot of action scenes The Walking Dead has drummed up in recent years. But beyond that was the fistfight between Daryl and Codron. Unlike a lot of fight scenes in shows where it’s clear the characters aren’t going to kill each other, the way this one was choreographed made it seem like either of them could die. It helped that Daryl managed to shoot Codron twice as he was escaping. This helped portray the violence in the series as a life-or-death scenario, making it all the more engaging in the process.

Characterization was another major high mark for the premiere. The show knows when to use dialogue and when to use silence to develop its characters. I feel like this was strongest with Codron, whose brother is killed when trying to rob Daryl and a duo of survivors that ultimately betray Daryl as well. Going back to the scene of the crime, the tough-looking Codron seems desperate to hide his panic when his brother is nowhere to be found. Then, his sibling walks out of the shadows of a building, transformed into a Walker. Codron, who just a few minutes ago murdered a man in cold blood simply for annoying him, breaks down. He tearfully kills his brother’s reanimated corpse before holding him in his arms, crying. Then, more determined than ever before, he goes to the convent, intent on finding and killing Daryl. Codron feels like a very human and very sympathetic villain. While he abuses his power within the guerrillas, his reasons for going after Daryl feel justified in his mind. There are layers to his character future episodes will no doubt explore in greater detail. But he’s just one strong example of how well the series manages to do characterization.

Daryl Dixon is also helped by the overarching story of the show at large, beyond the mission to get Laurent to France. The end of Episode 1 reveals Daryl was captured by a mysterious group of people and held prisoner on a boat. He managed to escape, and was now in France hiding from these people while trying to find his way back home. However, his captors have not forgotten about him, as the destruction he waged on the boat resulted in important yet mysterious research getting destroyed. Even though the group could assume Daryl is dead, their leader, Genet, insists on combing France to see if he’s still alive. It’s clarified that most of the group believes he’s probably dead, but the research he destroyed was seemingly so important, they want to make sure his fate has been sealed. However, it seems to be less about vengeance than it is about making sure whatever research they’re conducting doesn’t become common knowledge among other survivors. I’m interested to see what top secret info Daryl might know, and how it plays into the rest of the show.

The series premiere of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was the best episode of the franchise in years. While I went into it expecting the worst, I was surprised by a level of thoughtful writing, deep characterization, and exciting action that’s been missing from this universe for a long time. Due to The Walking Dead’s ever-shifting quality episode-to-episode in the final season, I will maintain a level of wariness as Daryl’s journey through France continues. However, given just how strong this first episode was, I’m really looking forward to the next one. And to how the journey to deliver Laurent will possibly tie into the overarching story of the entire show.

For the first time in a very long time, I’m excited to see what happens next in The Walking Dead.

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