The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Episode 4 Review

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, Episode 4.

This is The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carols biggest episode yet, delivering huge developments and returning to that breakneck pace. After last week with Genet (Anne Charrier) ready to create an army of the dead – with Carol (Melissa McBride) among them – season 2, episode 4 “La Paradis Pour Toi” is right up to it, unleashing the super zombies of Genet against the nest. finally, Daryl Dixon Is good on the terrifying, faster variants.

Naturally, Carol manages to avoid joining their ranks, and she teams up with Codron (Romain Levi) – who is strapped to a car in a rig straight out of Mad Max – for a high-octane chase that kicks things off. The action doesn’t let up for the first 20 minutes or so, with the attack on the nest leading straight into another excellent action scene of ​​Daryl (Norman Reedus) laying waste to zombies and L’Union members. From there, “La Paradis Pour Toi” reaches its emotional high note, giving us the much-anticipated reunion between Carol and Daryl, followed by a heartbreaking farewell.

Au revoir, Isabelle

Clearly, Daryl is not allowed to ever be too happy

It’s not surprising that Isabelle was killed off just as she and Daryl acted on their true feelings for each other. It is quite typical The Walking Dead To kill off a character that both me and the characters care about. When it’s good, it can be a moving and memorable moment. Isabelle’s death meets that criteria, but it’s also a little infuriating that they can’t just let Daryl be happy, even for a little while.

As if there were lingering doubts, Losang’s (Joel de la Fuente) villain status is fully confirmed after he fatally stabs Isabelle. It is another in his growing list of cruel acts, believe how trustworthy he was initially. Having Carol be the one to discover Isabelle when she’s bleeding out is a bit of a poetic turn, bringing together the most important women in Daryl’s life, if only briefly. That she also brings Daryl to Isabelle is a sad turn of events, which makes their reunion bittersweet as Daryl mourns a woman he loved but who Carol isn’t even aware of.

Although it’s certainly frustrating for us to have Daryl’s first real romance snuffed out so soon and so tragically — especially given how long The Walking Dead Made us wait for it – Reedus handles the hearty material well. Daryl grieves by not exactly hiding his pain, but keeping focused on the task at hand. It’s clear that Isabelle’s death will have a lasting effect on him, probably making him more protective of Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi). It also puts him and Carol on strange footing, because it’s obvious how much Daryl has experienced in the time they’ve been separated.

Carol & Daryl are finally reunited

They are back together and grappling with similar struggles

This episode is all over the place emotionally. As sad as it is to say goodbye to Isabelle, it feels so good to have Carol and Daryl reunited. It’s a little more complicated for the characters, but that’s what we’re all waiting for. The scene plays out beautifully, with Carol revealing just as Daryl kills a walker, and the two tearfully embracing as they overcome with relief. Similarly to Those who liveIt’s appreciated that Daryl Dixon It didn’t make us wait all season for this moment.

Of course, it was immediately followed by Isabel’s death scene, which disappointed the high of their reunion. There’s also little time for Daryl to get Carol up to speed with what’s been going on in France, which has the pair feeling a bit strained as they leave the nest. At this time, however, it becomes clear how their season arcs are related – Carol is still grieving the loss of her child, reliving the moment over and over, while Daryl comes to terms with the responsibility of raising a child.

It’s an interesting way to have their stories because they don’t exactly mirror each other, but they deal with similar themes. Daryl has always shown a love for children, Judith especially, but his relationship with Laurent is different because Daryl was the only father figure he has known. There is a fear, however, having just lost Isabelle, that Daryl may lose Laurent as well, and it has him questioning if being a parent is something he can handle. Carol calls him out on this, and it’s a welcome development that Daryl finally chooses to be there for Laurent.

Daryl’s acceptance of his parental role comes in tandem with Carol finally letting go of her grief over Sophia. During their stopover with the old French couple, Theo (François-Éric Gendron) and Didi (Marie-Christine Adam), Carol is once again haunted by her past trauma. But in talking with Didi, she gains the strength to move on and stop letting the world she lost keep her from the one she found. It’s perhaps an abrupt resolution, only introducing the hurdle for Carroll to overcome, but McBride is so good with the material that it’s hard to be too critical.

Au Revoir, Madame Genet

The leader of Pouvoir is removed much sooner than expected

For the most part, “La Paradis Pour Toi” is a very strong episode with a lot of emotional payoff. And then it just goes completely off with another big death – Madame Genet, a character whose story has just been revealed and who is set to be a major antagonist. It is certainly a shocking development and helps to reduce Daryl Dixon Season 2’s Too Many Villains problem, but killing her off so quickly feels like a wasted opportunity.

Before she left, Daryl Dixon Continues to drive the fascism theme with some not-so-subtle World War II references, especially with Genet and her soldiers visiting Theo and Didi’s village. It’s a reminder that her tactics are nothing new, and France has seen her kind of tyranny before. However, she’s not a threat anyone has to worry about anymore, and it’s honestly a little ridiculous to have her taken this soon.

What’s particularly strange about Genet being killed so suddenly is how quickly her entire organization switches allegations to Losang. The people in these groups are nothing more than sheep, yet whoever gives the orders. It’s clear now that the plan all along was for Losang to be the true villain of the season, but this bait and switch is a dumb way to do it. Throughout season 2, the villain situation was a mess, and while condensing the threats makes sense, the way we got here is laughable.

Daryl Dixon Season 2’s Zombie Kill of the Week

I was really hoping this section would be a fun way to cap off each review by discussing a sensational zombie kill, but the show let me down on that front. I’ve been saying that all season The Walking Dead became less about the walkers, and Daryl Dixon has proven that to be true. Even with super zombies that can move faster than any in the franchise, aside from the opening attack on the nest, the new variants are still underutilized.

For this week’s killings, I’m sticking to the rules again and looking at the living, and no one was killed more spectacularly than Genet. It comes from Carol shooting her with the same virus she used to make the dead in her fast zombies. When it is used on her, however, it triggers a gruesome sequence as pustules form on her skin, causing it to black out as her eyes bug out before she drops dead. It may not be a zombie kill, but it’s easily the most memorable of the season so far.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 really hits its stride in this episode. Isabelle’s death is poignant, the reunion between Carol and Daryl is uplifting, and Genet’s death, while making her character building a bit pointless, is grotesque and unlike anything The Walking Dead Has done in several times. With only two episodes left to go, it’s going to be hard to top this one.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol Airs weekly every Sunday at 9pm ET on AMC.