The popular AMC television show, The Walking Dead came out with a spinoff series for one of their main characters, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). The first episode of the spinoff series debuted on Sept. 10. Fans of The Walking Dead franchise have been looking forward to the show finally beginning. The opening scene of the episode shows Daryl deserted on an island, coming off of a small boat in the ocean. The first two questions that come to mind are: Where is he and how did he end up there? 

There’s a sense of nostalgia when he walks inside of an RV camper. At the start of The Walking Dead, there’s an RV that was an important part of the beginning of the story, which goes back to Daryl because he has been a part of the franchise since the very beginning. There are signs as he walks through the abandoned city, making it obvious that he’s somewhere in France.  

Daryl makes it to this farmer’s market building, which is filled with things that haven’t been touched for many years. There are walkers, also known as zombies, that are inside the building, giving Daryl some action. He uses a new weapon found, a pole, with a sharp edge. He ends up fighting them all off. Something that fans haven’t seen before is that the walkers burn. It’s like their skin is on fire and as they touch humans or if their blood gets on the ground, it smokes up and dissolves as something would if it were burned. 

As he travels through, he makes it to a small town, filled with people. He struggles with understanding them, as they don’t speak English. Some of them speak English, but most of them don’t. He meets two individuals who end up knocking him out and stealing things out of his bag, but someone comes to stop them from what they’re doing. 

After getting saved, there’s a scene where he is in the bed. As he is still somewhat unconscious, he dreams. It shows flashbacks of moments with some of his loved ones like Judith Grimes (Cailey Flemming), who’s practically his niece, and Carol Peletier (Mellisa McBride), his best friend. As he wakes up he sees nuns and surgical tools on a table. They burn his skin, possibly healing his wounds. When he’s fully awake and conscious, he meets a lady named Isabelle (Clemence Poesy). She tells him that their community is all filled with nuns, which makes sense. When she asks him how he came to France, he tells her that he made a lot of bad decisions. 

Isabelle shows Daryl around. The community lives off of farming, growing crops, and using what they can for sources of food. They also have animals as well, which allows them to get sources of meat, milk, and eggs. Daryl meets a young boy Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi). 

The boy tells him, “But you’re homesick, I see it in your eyes.” This is important because Daryl is nowhere near his friends and family. He’s far away from home and his whole purpose of leaving his home is to find his friends Michonne (Danai Gurrira) and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). Somehow, something ended up going very wrong. 

As Daryl starts to pack his things to leave, Isabelle says that he’s who they’ve been waiting for. She tells him that he’s the messenger, that he’s been assigned to deliver Laurent to someone. Isabelle mentions that Daryl can help Laurent become prepared to become the new Messiah, “To lead the revival of humanity.”

There’s a group of people, who seem to be the “bad guys” in the story. The leader of the group, Codron (Romain Levi), is intense and intimidating. It’s unclear if Laurent has any relations to Codron or not, but it would make sense if it were the case. As Daryl starts to leave, without Laurent, Codron and his group make their way to the community. They ask for Daryl, who they know as “the American.” 

Isabelle tells Laurent to stay put and don’t come out. She protects him, locking him in an office. Laurent waits to lock the door and Cordon and his men notice, hearing the turn of the lock. Before Cordon can shoot the door open, one of his men yells for him. While they take a look at the walker who was once Pere Jean, the leader of their community, Laurent comes out of the office. Cordon decides to take him with them, but before they can attack Isabelle as she tries to stop them, Daryl comes in, saving them. 

There’s a fight scene between Daryl and Cordon. Daryl is known for his fight scenes with the villains in The Walking Dead, so they must continue with them. Before Daryl can get to Cordon, he drives off. 

Overall, this episode was filled with a good amount of action between both humans and walkers. It feels like an episode of The Walking Dead, not like another show. There were characters introduced like Isabelle, who will all play big parts in the storyline, a new chapter in Daryl’s journey. It’s exciting to see what’s to come with this new series for Daryl. 

Rating: 9/10