The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back - TWD: Daryl Dixon Retrospective
This may or may not be an unpopular opinion, but regardless, I wanted to share my retrospective thoughts on the first and second season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon spinoff. Please feel free to leave your own opinions and rants! I'd love to hear them.
Preface
I want to preface this by saying, Isabelle, my darling, I'm so sorry. You deserved the world.
Now that I got that out of the way, I'd like to start this little big rant with my thoughts and biases before any of the three recent spinoffs came out. Out of TOWL, Dead City, & Daryl Dixon, I was least looking forward to DD. I love Daryl so much as a character, but the idea of going to France was not appealing to me in the slightest.
However, that being said, DD became one of my most anticipated shows after the first episode aired! They managed to do something none of the other spinoffs seemed to grasp. It was original (for the TWD universe) and fresh. And we finally got to see Daryl embark through a character arc we hadn't really seen completed before.
Season 1: A Retrospective
Season 1 was easily the best TWD had been in a hot minute. The writing, cinematography, acting, and characters all aligned to create something unique and beautiful. And I stand ten toes down on this opinion.
The plot was an interesting convergence of relationship dynamics fueled by a singular goal, getting Laurent to the Nest. The way the show plays with perspective and unreliable narrators was so fascinating to see unfold through the season. The way the show established Isabelle as a liar in the second episode of season 1 was so masterfully done with little details dropped here and there. They didn't spoon feed the audience, but rather laid out the crumbs for us to pick up.
And for once, we got to see Daryl in a situation we haven't seen him in a hundred times before. I was so excited about the prospect of seeing him open up and go on this journey with Isabelle and Laurent to the point where I was starting to dread him going back to America. This leads me to Isabelle's character.
Isabelle is easily the most interesting character to be introduced into the universe as of late. Again, this is just my opinion, but the idea of a women who had a hard life (understatement) and then, became a nun after the Fall because of circumstance and what she assumed was a miracle... Yeah, that's REALLY interesting to me as a viewer.
Clémence Poésy absolutely nailed her role as Isa. Again, I love Daryl. He's easily one of my favorite TWD characters, but she stole the show for me. I found myself looking forward to her scenes over everyone else's. Despite the season only being six episodes, Isa and Daryl's bond felt so natural and it was amazing to witness for a couple of reasons:
1) We were finally seeing something DIFFERENT from Daryl's character and not the same old same old. We were getting to see the development he earned from TWD. It felt rewarding to finally see him open up more and actually have a pay off to all the development he went through in the original 11 seasons.
2) I'm not going to mince words, I loved Daryl and Isa. Truly, absolutely, adored them. I think they complimented each other really well. She called Daryl on his shit and he called Isabelle on hers, but they both care so deeply about others. But even if it hadn't ended up being romantic, I would've still love every scene they were in together and I would've eaten that shit up for eternity.
3) Isabelle was such a compelling character to me because she was strong in way that's rare to see highlighted in TWD. She was strong in her faith and her will. She protected her own even when she would physically be overwhelmed. This reminded me of only one other character in the show: Beth Greene. And essentially, Isa was a mirror to Daryl. They both came from a harder life, granted it was hard in different ways, and they both ended up survivors who cared deeply for others. As Isa said, "Broken until the world ended." They were two sides of the same coin, honestly.
Little bonus for season 1: Codron and Madam Genet were also so great to watch! And Codron character development was *chef's kiss*
Season 2: A Retrospective
The second season started out promising. I loved the direction they were taking the Laurent storyline, especially after they discovered the origin of the messiah prophecy was a lie (which was already hinted at in the first season anyway). When Isa finally found out Losang was lying and his intention was to have Laurent bit, I was ecstatic to hear she wanted her and Laurent to go home with Daryl. It felt like everything was clicking into place.
Then, they did the one thing that made me lose all respect for the show. They killed Isabelle in the most disrespectful and pointless way imaginable.
They've given walkers more meaningful deaths than the one Isabelle got! She was a main character, a co-lead! An entire episode was dedicated to her backstory and they killed her off like that?? And don't even get me started on Daryl almost immediately moving on like it was nothing. This could be chalked up to him not having time to grieve or "that's just how Daryl is", but that's bullshit. And that little season at the end of the season doesn't count either. Not in my book!
Killing Isabelle felt so blatantly disrespectful and just confirmed to me that I can't trust another TWD show to make good writing choices. Instead of embracing something new and different, they set fire to it and watched it burn, gleefully. Daryl immediately went back to being the same stagnant character in the blink of an eye. It was very reminiscent to what happened to his character after Beth died. He stopped moving forward and developing until Angela Kang became showrunner. Now, the same thing is happening on DD.
Don't even get me started on Carol. I loved Carol in the original show, but what is the point of her being on DD? They are just rehashing the same storylines for no reason. And really, it just feels like they killed off Isabelle to make room for Carol. It's like the writers think they can't have two female leads on the screen at the same time?? I swear I started building resentment towards Carol because of it, even though none of that is her fault. I blame the writers first and foremost!
It really pained me to see Isa go out like that and not to mention the fact Laurent didn't get to say goodbye to her. If they wanted a purely Daryl + Carol season, they could've put Isabelle on the plane with Laurent and Ash at the end of season 2. That way season 3 would just be Daryl and Carol in Spain. I truly felt all of my love and interest for this show die the moment Isabelle did.
I've seen a few rants talking about how killing Isabelle was just another example of misogynistic writing. The trope where they kill a female character to further the development of a male character. However, I don't even think that's what this is. Daryl literally got ZERO character development after Isabelle died. He just went back to being closed off. The same old same old, as I said. He had an actual emotional character arc while Isabelle was alive. Now that she's dead, so is his character arc.
I feel like we've already explored all the areas we could emotionally between Carol and Daryl. There's no where else to go with their relationship. I am someone who finds character arcs, and the completion of them, the most interesting thing to watch in media (plot be damned lol). And I don't see what else they can do with Carol or Daryl that we already haven't seen a hundred times before.
They missed a huge opportunity to give us flashes of Isabelle, Laurent, and Ash trying to make it back to Commonwealth. Isabelle's arc could have continued, begging the question, "How far would she go to keep the people she loves alive? How far would she go to survive for the people she loved?" This was something they started exploring with her character in season 2, but it ultimately got cut short. Coincidently, it was the same arc Beth was about to go on if they hadn't killed her.
And I will not be falling for this "Daryl is better as a lone wolf" propaganda! It has been shown and proven over and over again that Daryl needs people. Needs community and responsibility. That's who he is. He's a protector. Without family, he becomes an isolated shell of himself. He's always been better with people.
In Summary
I've lost hope, honestly. DD season 1 revived my love for the series with its beautiful cinematography, dialogue, and characters. However, after season 2 episode 4, I see they're falling back into old, tired patterns. It's disappointing to say the least. The pointless rehashing of the same character arcs are irksome at best.
I debated whether I even wanted to give DD season 3 a try, but I want confimration that they're taking the show the direction I think they are. If I'm right, I think I'm done. I just don't see the point of watching the same thing over and over with no risks taken in Daryl's development. My expectations are low. And I don't think my hope will be restored.
I know that sounds harsh. It was a weird experience to suddenly lose all interest in something you love so much at the death of a character that had only been on screen for nine or ten episodes. I can't explain it, since we've had worse deaths in TWD, but it was the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Anyways, I'd love to hear what you all think. I know this is very late, but with the impending release of DD season 3, all these feelings started to resurface.
