The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - This European Vacation Proves Refreshing
AMC's The Walking Dead has come and gone, but just like its shambling zombies, the franchise lives on. The latest spinoff is The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, a 6-episode series following Daryl (Norman Reedus) in France as he leads a young boy and woman to safety while also hoping to secure passage for himself back to America. As a premise, it's not too dissimilar from HBO's The Last of Us, which earlier this year brought a renewed interest into the now well-worn, post-apocalyptic genre. Daryl Dixon is looking to do the same, and inject a little freshness into television's longest running zombie story.
Thanks to a brand-new setting and largely new cast, Daryl Dixon manages to be exactly what it promises - a new tale within The Walking Dead universe that, while in many ways familiar, is different enough to feel exciting. Daryl is a stranger in a strange land, literally washing up on shore and needing to start from square one. In fact, this show itself feels like it's starting from square one, free from most of the baggage the main show collected over its 13-year run. We're familiar with Daryl, of course, the gruff loner who's actually one of Walking Dead's most kind-hearted characters, but placing him in situations where he doesn't fully grasp what's happening (and not just because of the language barrier) creates interesting challenges for him to overcome.
Daryl Dixon is a strong entry in The Walking Dead's catalogue because it's pulling in everything that's worked best before. Its story is straightforward, and thanks to a limited run of 6-episodes, moves at a good pace. Beyond the core three, characters can come and go, never at risk of overstaying their welcome, and the show doesn't linger in one place too long. It largely centers on Daryl protecting and ultimately mentoring his young charge, which has always been a good role for Daryl to play, so making it the focus here is a strong choice. The move to France also allows Daryl Dixon to be easily the best looking of The Walking Dead shows, with downright beautiful cinematography of the French countryside and Paris. There's a spooky ambiance permeating the show, too, helped along by a setting that feels more ancient and has weathered worse over the centuries. "America is an infant," one of Daryl's new allies says, "but here, we have survived many apocalypses. We will survive this one, too."
Traveling along with Daryl are Clémence Poésy as Isabelle, a nun with a checkered past, and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Laurent, a mysterious child who many believe is their new messiah. Because of this, Daryl Dixon is a surprisingly more spiritual show than expected, with a more positive perspective on faith than The Walking Dead has depicted before. This adds not only to Daryl's challenges, with him needing to figure out what it is he believes in, but also lends a different air of the supernatural with a kid who may or may not be destined for something greater. Both Poésy and Scigliuzzi work well alongside Reedus - who, now extremely comfortable in the role, is given the chance to peel back some layers and show new sides of the character - with Poésy's Isabelle proving an especially strong companion to Daryl as she similarly only began to understand her worth when the world ended.
Where the show suffers a bit is with its villains, who either are connected with the CRM or are just so similar they're indistinguishable. As the fascist military group is positioned to be the ultimate villains of the whole saga, it makes sense to tie them in, but it does begin to pull Daryl Dixon towards feeling a bit too much like later seasons of The Walking Dead and its spinoff World Beyond. Again, only being 6-episodes helps the show not feel too bogged down by this, but knowing a season 2 has already been ordered, it's certain they'll continue to be a problem for Daryl and his new allies. That said, the walkers this time around are given a few twists to make them scarier and more interesting than they've been of late, and it's always welcomed when the literal walking dead get to be actual threats rather than mere nuisances.
It's not controversial to say The Walking Dead became a bit stale in its later seasons, and while it did find its footing again before the end, Daryl Dixon proves a reboot may have been all that was needed. Not that this show is a true reboot, but it's enough of a return to basics to remind us why we enjoyed watching in the first place. In having Daryl struggle with new challenges in an unfamiliar setting, all while opening himself up to new people, Daryl Dixon injects The Walking Dead with a freshness the franchise has been lacking. Here's hoping a second season can continue that trend, as will the next spinoff entry centering on Rick and Michonne.
(Edit, heck guys this blew up and while I’m really happy everyone enjoys it, it’d be scummy if I didn’t credit Ogata Tomio and Yoneyama Mai’s work for some of these expressions! Glad I was able to translate it to make our blue lions squad more angsty!)
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