‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Recap – ‘Alouette’

9/18/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Norman Reedus, Clémence Poésy, Laïka Blanc-Francard, and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Daryl Dixon, Isabelle, Sylvie, and Laurent in Episode 102 of ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ – ‘Alouette’. (Photo Courtesy of Emmanuel Guimier/AMC.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Two of ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’. To revisit the Series Premiere, click here. Also, this piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It is definitely safe to say, that the AMC series, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, accomplished wonders with its series premiere last week. For not only did it remind us of how much we love the title character in question and his incredible survival skills, but the series also took the time to really explore some new corners of the TWDU in both the literal and figurative sense. Since we are now in France with Daryl, and able to see how poorly Europe fared under the plague of living death that ravaged the world, and the premiere also made it clear… that this part of the world and Daryl… are quite hopeless in nature. For the devastation has taken its toll on the people of France and Daryl is clearly in a different place mentally than when we left him in ‘Rest in Peace’, and well… it is quite important to revisit these key elements of the series premiere of the show for one reason and one reason alone.

Simply because… that was to inform us that this will be a story about redemption and how we find hope in our darkest hour. Which is something that zombie fiction doesn’t always cover that much, and understandably so. After all, the death of death would rob humanity of hope, of the belief that there was something better for us in death be it peace or perhaps a voyage to an afterlife. And of course, it’s about survival of the living in the wake of the end of everything, which doesn’t make pondering upon hope all that easy. But now that this franchise is in a new place… where humanity is slowly starting to come together in communities again and rebuild, now is the right time to explore the nature of hope and its place in the world and well, ‘Alouette’, more or less offered up two potential paths of finding hope, through two key storylines. One of which of course… involved Daryl.

For it became obvious in this story, that Daryl has… lost his way in more ways than we expected. For not only is he jaded and without hope, but he has also lost sight of how helping others fueled him and helped him to believe in something greater. Which allowed for this story, to explore how one can get back to that point in their mental journey when they seem too far removed from it. A feat that this storyline accomplished, by having him and new friends find some ugly struggles on their way north. For they lost their mule when a large herd of the dead appeared and that brought them to unexpected safety, within the confines of a former school that had become a beacon for the future. Where its children grew up away from the chaos and found ways to be self-sufficient in all the important ways… but one.

Because they needed medication for their ailing teacher and guardian and since Daryl is of course... the finest warrior this franchise has ever known… he stepped in to help. For the location of everything they would need from a health standpoint also harbored a horse and trouble of course. In the form of a moat filled with the walking dead, and a man that was more eager to hoard and inflict pain than be decent to others. To the point where he even kept one of the students captive, in his makeshift basement. Which offended Daryl to no end, and that brought out… the best in Daryl. For he valiantly fought the dead and did all the right things for those kids. Including offering up the truth about the chances of their proctor/hero’s survival, after hiding it for selfish reasons. But what mattered more here, was that Daryl found purpose again, and a belief in more by being the hero, by righting injustices and that spoke deeply to that central theme.

Clémence Poésy as Isabelle in Episode 102 of ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ – ‘Alouette’. (Photo Courtesy of Emmanuel Guimier/AMC.)

But there was mention of more explorations regarding hope here and how we find it, and that was handled by Isabelle’s unique story. For this particular tale… took the time to transport us back to the beginning of the end. Of the night that the dead returned to life in France, and since France is ground zero for all things TWD, Isabelle endured one terrifying evening. Wherein she watched Paris quickly slip into utter chaos. The kind that saw panic grip this proud city, since the dead were quickly rising to power. But thanks to an old friend, she and her sister, Lily, were able to escape the madness and headed out to the countryside in the hopes of reaching an obscure destination that would keep everyone safe from the scourges of living death and well, it was her time on the road that truly robbed Isabelle of hope.

For out there, in the madness and the fear, someone she cared about was ready to abandon Lily when it was revealed that Lily had been keeping her pregnancy a secret. Which was a level of cruelty that Isabelle could not process, and that prompted her to abandon that friend and set out on her own with family, only to suffer through more heartache and hopelessness when she and Lily encountered more walking death and devastation and the horrors of this new world. Since Lily did take a bite on the arm in an encounter with the dead and well, the suffering that ensued and the worry about the health of Lily’s now forthcoming child, was more than Isabelle could bear. For everything was falling to pieces and there seemed to be little to look forward to with the world crumbling around her. But the birth of the baby, a boy that would be named Laurent, changed all of that for her.

In part because there was beauty to be found in that moment, the beginnings of life in the midst of constant death, in the most biblical way imaginable. Since Laurent was born in the very convent where we met Isabelle, and of course, death and resurrection in a manner that defies the norms is one of many important themes in the good book, and is to signify our enduring spirit through hope, and salvation through a new beginning and that wasn’t lost on Isabelle, and that… and one other key thing about Laurent gave her hope again. For we would be remiss to not point out… that Laurent survived infection, for his pregnant mother should have passed living death onto him, and perhaps she did. To the point where the antibodies and protection the womb provides may have helped him fight off that infection and given him his own antibodies to living death. Time will tell of course, but what matters more in this moment, is that beauty in the worst times around us… can give us hope and lift us up in ways we never thought possible.

All of which made, for a supremely uplifting episode when all is said and done. One that saw a hero that’s been hiding, emerge from the darkness and embrace the light, and it set the stage for an epic journey with Laurent. One that could in fact, relate to a cure at last for the plague that has brought pain to the world for decades on end. But while we wait to see if Laurent is indeed the answer to the apocalypse’s prayers or just the sheer recipient of a genetic lottery, it is the hopefulness of this tale that matters most. Since it was wondrous to feel that once again in a universe that has seen its characters struggle with some supremely difficult times, and it’s a good thing that Daryl and his new friends are finding it right now. Because undoubtedly, tough days are ahead in this journey, and they will need that hope to sustain them and lift them up… when darkness comes calling once again. Until next time.

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