L’ame Perdue – As this episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon begins, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) washes ashore in France. He finds water and a recorder with a message still on it. The man on the recording discusses going to Marseille next because there has to be a safe place somewhere. While eating, Daryl hears that Sue had a heart attack so they had to let her go. Honey keeps crying because she wants her mom back. Daryl records himself while saying he went out looking for something. If he doesn’t make it back, he wants them to know he tried. He finds a sign saying “attention” so he walks into a nearby building. Daryl finds himself surrounded by zombies so he has to kill them.

Although he gets scratched or burned on the arm, Daryl manages to kill the walkers. It appears someone is watching him as he walks. Daryl stops to wrap the wound on his arm. Then, he finds a message that translates to “God loves you”. Isabelle (Clemence Poesy) watches Daryl and hangs up another message. Daryl sees someone but tries to leave without being noticed. He kicks some cans that alert Maribelle (Carmen Kassovitz). As Daryl approaches them, Maribelle says her grandfather hurt his ankle and only knows a little English. After trading them medical supplies for food, Daryl tells them he is going back to where he came from. Maribelle introduces herself and Guillaume (Bernard Bloch).

She suggests going together so they can get somewhere safe. After Guillaume says something, Maribelle says he is always talking about War World II. Two men arrive in a vehicle and prepare to rob them. When one of them grabs Maribelle and begins pulling her elsewhere, Daryl stabs his accomplice and grabs him from behind. The other man shoots Daryl who falls to the ground and grabs his neck. Maribelle attacks the man from behind while he is distracted. She tells Daryl not to use the gun so they can save the powder. Instead, she finishes the man off with her blade. Guillaume knocks Daryl out seconds later. A woozy Daryl watches someone walk off with a rifle and fire. While he is out, he remembers telling Judith that he’ll find them and bring them home.

Daryl wakes up surrounded by nuns who take care of his injuries. When he wakes up later, Isabelle checks on him and introduces herself. He takes a bath and looks at the religious artifacts on the wall around him. It seems he has a nightmare about drowning before waking up. Isabelle enters the room to tend to Daryl’s wounds. She explains that their abbey has become a part of a group that means “union of hope”. When Daryl says he never put much stock in God, Isabelle says he put stock in him. While Isabelle cares for him, they talk about their siblings. Daryl notices scars on her wrist. She says the parish priest used to say that their scars show that they have suffered. More importantly, they show that they’ve healed from their suffering.

After Daryl gets out of the bathtub, Isabelle shows him around the abbey. Isabelle thinks some of the others are afraid of him. She tells him about their weapons and explains that Pere Jean (Hugo Dillon) is a collector. Isabelle agrees to let him try the radio although she hasn’t reached anyone with it in a while. After locking the door, Isabelle says the last one was a Spaniard a few months ago and he spoke a little English. They hoped to convert the land into an agricultural property that would support them. When Isabelle is pulled away by another nun, Daryl receives refreshments. Isabelle speaks to the other nun about whether Daryl could be the one since he is strong.

The nun argues that he belongs out there with the faithless and the violent. When she says he is a person who lives without God, Isabelle says he was once too. Daryl sees Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) replicating his movements nearby. Laurent comes over and joins Daryl. He tells Daryl that he is good at math, science, and geography because Pere Jean taught him everything. Laurent thinks it’d take six generations to replicate the amount of people France once had. Laurent tells Daryl that he deserves a happy ending too. Capo (Maxime Lefrancois) approaches Maribelle and Guillaume to see if they’ve spotted two men nearby. Guillaume is attacked and bloodied. Maribelle says a man tried to rob them, but two men like him came to their aid.

Guillaume asks about the reward only to be killed. Maribelle is ordered to take them there. Daryl tries to break into a room. He finds Laurent reading to a walker. Laurent explains that the walker is Pere Jean and they’re waiting for him to rise again. Isabelle comes and sends Laurent away. Then, she tells Daryl that she’ll explain. Although Daryl wants to leave, Isabelle says he can’t because they’ve been waiting for him. They think Daryl is the messenger to deliver Laurent. Isabelle shows Daryl the picture he drew three weeks ago. She wants Daryl to take Laurent to the L’Union based up north. Daryl begins borrowing weapons while Isabelle tries to convince him to transport Laurent who will stay there until he is ready to be the new messiah.

Daryl learns that he can’t use the radio because the tube broke a while back. Isabelle tells him about a port up north that may still be active. She points out Le Havre on a map and says there are rumors of ships coming and going. Isabelle says the route marked on the map was the plan Pere Jean was going to use to get the boy up north. It’ll be hard to get up there, especially if you don’t speak French. Maribelle takes Capo and the others to the dead man. Capo worries about his brother Michel. He finds out that his brother has turned into a walker. Capo kills him before breaking down crying. He wants to track down the American who did this. When he finds one of the religious papers, his man tells him about Sister Isabelle. Capo tells Maribelle that her reward is their mercy.

Daryl still doesn’t want to take Laurent with him. Isabelle confesses that Laurent doesn’t know anything about their plan. Once Daryl leaves, Isabelle is told that he isn’t the one. Daryl hides and watches several vehicles approach the abbey. Capo and the others go into the abbey. Isabelle tells Laurent to stay put although he is worried about the guerriers. Isabelle goes to Capo to tell him they don’t have any men there. Laurent hears them when they go inside to look around. Capo hears the keys jiggling and tries to get in. Before he can, the other guerriers find Pere. Philippe (Elias Hauter) is told to kill it. Laurent arrives and becomes distraught when he sees Pere Jean killed. Capo says they’re going to take Laurent and make him a guerrier for Genet.

Daryl arrives and attacks the guerriers. The nuns fight back. Some are killed while some guerriers are killed too. Isabelle takes a weapon from a dead man. Daryl attacks Philippe before fighting with Capo. Isabelle joins in and helps Daryl who gets a gun and shoots at Capo when he flees. He manages to get away. A nun tells Daryl that he may not have had a reason to believe, but there are reasons everywhere. The nun suspects Daryl could be the one after all. They stand around a fire and say goodbye to the ones they’ve lost. Daryl tells Isabelle that he left home looking for something. He thought there had to be something out there worth finding, but he found some bad people who put him on a boat. It didn’t turn out well.

Isabelle agrees to take him to the place with the port so he promises to take her to where she wants to go. Capo gets back in his vehicle. At Le Havre, a man says they were in the Gulf of Cadiz when the prisoners escaped. Marion Genet (Anne Charrier) approaches the Captain (Gregory Kristoforoff) to remind him he was in charge of the ship. Genet says a crew is only as good as their captain. Dr. Henri LaFleur (Francois Delaive) tells Genet that their research is largely destroyed, but some of the test subjects may still be of use. Whoever did this made a real mess for them. Genet is told they did their best to stop the mutiny. The American allegedly went overboard. She learns that his name was Dixon. Genet wants him found if he isn’t dead.

 

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Review

The opening episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was a typical Walking Dead episode that fans of Daryl Dixon will probably love. There weren’t many surprises considering many of the angles have been done many times in other adaptations of The Walking Dead, but having Daryl Dixon as the central character may make a difference for some viewers. The first half of the episode was slow and really drug out to the point that it felt tedious.

It picked up once Daryl finally made it to the abbey with Isabelle. Norman Reedus and Clemence Poesy should make a good duo for the rest of the series if the story can hold up and develop a bit more in future episodes. The camerawork was better than some of the older spinoffs. Truthfully, the success of the series is probably going to depend on how much viewers want a spinoff featuring Daryl Dixon who is easily one of the most popular characters.

Otherwise, there isn’t much new here even though the series is set in a new location with new characters. Despite the lack of originality, the pilot episode was good enough to get fans of The Walking Dead excited for the rest of the series. Once it finally got moving, the episode was good although it doesn’t deviate from the formula much. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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