In the previous episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Daryl and Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) left Paris, leaving the group. Isabelle (Clémence Poséy) stayed back and got help from her old friend and Laurent’s father, Quinn (Adam Nagaitis). When they were at Quinn’s place, they were found by Codron (Romain Levi) and his men. In this episode, there’s a possibility that the viewers will find out how Daryl got to the country and what his journey was like before meeting Isabelle and the others.
Azlan (Hassam Ghancy), the boat driver, asks Daryl how he ended up so far away from home. There’s a flashback shown. He has his infamous motorcycle and is walking on the dirt road. His motorcycle had run out of gas. He’s still in America. A man finds him and asks if he needs some help. Daryl says no at first, but the stranger tells him they have gas. He takes Daryl to his home, his community. The place is a strange community, filled only with men.
As Daryl makes his way to the compound, he finds two walkers in the woods with a cord wrapped around them. He then discovers the walkers are linked to the community, so he takes them back with him. The community is doing some kind of experiment on the walkers. They have them chained up, then they get put inside of a storage container. As the new guy, he’s definitely making a great first impression, and doing the technique pretty well. A young guy asks him if he needs a partner, but Daryl shuts him down. He works better when it’s just him, which has been clear throughout this entire season of the series.
It then goes back to the current time. Azlan, Daryl, and Laurent are making a stop in the woods. Laurent catches a fish, but he’s surprised that Daryl suggests that they eat it. Daryl tells him that it’s only right because they need food in their systems and Laurent is a bit hesitant. Laurent asks if he has anyone he cares about. Daryl brings up some important people in his life, like Judith (Cailey Fleming), Carol (Melissa McBride), and Connie (Lauren Ridloff). Laurent says that they seem like nice people and he can tell Daryl misses them.
In the next scene, Isabelle wakes up in a big bedroom. It turns out that she is staying in a mansion, where guards are everywhere. After she wakes up, she sees a woman who’s got a tray of food for her. She discovers that Quinn brought her to his home. Isabelle closes the door back, looking out the window. She prays for Laurent, Daryl, and everyone else. Quinn comes into the room with some food. Isabelle makes a comment about how “it must have been the drugs,” that she slept for so long. Quinn said he wanted her to get her rest while he took care of her business. Did he drug her and take her to the mansion? It would make sense, seeing as though she was a bit confused when she woke up and looked at her surroundings.
After the scene with Isabelle and Quinn, it goes back to Daryl, Laurent, and Azlan in the woods. Daryl teaches the boy how to cut and skin a fish properly. Azlan prays while they work on the fish. Daryl tells him to eat it and Laurent says that he doesn’t want to. Daryl tells him, “Sometimes you’ve gotta do things you don’t want to do. Sometimes you don’t have a choice.”
We transition back to Isabelle who’s still in the bedroom. She’s searching for something, possibly anything, she can use to get out of there or use to her advantage in any way. She finds a mirror and breaks a piece of wood from it. As she holds it in her hand, she prays saying, “God, forgive me for what I’m about to do.” It then transitions to Laurent praying as well.
He prays for Daryl’s friends at home, in America. As The Walking Dead fans, it’s nostalgic to hear their names during his prayer. Laurent is praying for them because Daryl doesn’t pray. Azlan tells Daryl that he will make sure that he will be able to make it back home to America.
The next scene takes the viewers back to Daryl’s time before meeting the group. He fills his motorcycle up with gas and overhears a young man saying that he’ll do anything to help them so he can get in on the action too. The men laugh at him, but one of them tells him that if he chops up some wood, he’ll consider him coming with them. Daryl shows him how to correctly chop wood. After Daryl shows him, he walks away.
Isabelle, who’s still holding the piece of wood, comes back onto the screen Quinn comes into the room. Outside, someone knocks on the mansion’s door. Anna (Lukerya Ilyashenko) walks in and the maid tells her that Quinn is busy for the evening. Quinn tells Isabelle that he can be a better man for her. She walks behind him, rubbing her hand on his back, and then pulls him out of his seat, taking him to the bed. Her plan doesn’t follow through. He tells her that she’s not ready, but he’ll be patient. Her back is faced back, and he thinks that she reacted that way out of being nervous because of the intimacy, but she was nervous because she couldn’t pull through with using her weapon on him.
The following scene goes to Daryl lying down on the cot. There’s a flashback coming. He calls home and Carol is on the other line. He tells her that he’s in Maine. Carol was trying to tell him that someone had come back, but the connection was static. It could have been anyone like Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), or Morgan (Lennie James). The flashback ends as he hears a walker making their way towards their tent and he wakes up and kills the walkers. Azlan is against a tree, covered in walker blood and there’s something holding him, keeping him stuck as he’s got something pierced in his back. He gives Daryl his compass and tells him that he and Laurent have to go.
The next morning, Daryl buries Azlan’s body. As they make their way to the boat, they discover it’s gone. Daryl begins to yell in frustration and directs some harsh things at Laurent. Laurent admits he cut the rope from the boat because he didn’t want to be left alone. Daryl grabs him, pulling him in for a hug, and apologizes for the things he said. As they’re walking, Laurent asks why he can’t come back with him. Daryl tells him that Isabelle will be there for him. They hear an engine and men yelling, so they run and hide in the woods.
There’s another flashback with the young boy Daryl was helping chop wood. We discover he is now a walker, as he was killed by one of the men in the community. He had been killed by one of the men in the group. Going back to the present, Daryl gives Laurent the compass. He promises him that he’ll make it to him. The men find Daryl and he gets caught on purpose. Before they hurt him, Laurent steps out, making his presence known. Daryl looks upset as Laurent kneels beside him.
Back in the mansion, Isabelle puts on a diamond necklace that was gifted by Quinn, telling him that she’s ready to start over with him. Madame Genet (Anne Charrier) had invited him to her home, so Isabelle went with him. As she walks out of the car, there’s a group of people lined up. In that line are Sylvie (Laika Blanc Francard), Emile (Tristan Zibanche), and Fallou (Eriq Ebouaney).
Genet takes Isabelle and Quinn to a room with a cell and Daryl is on the other side. Isabelle is shocked to see him. Genet then puts Quinn in the cell, finding Laurent in Genet’s office. Going back to Daryl’s flashback, we see them take him and the man who murdered the kid to a boat, that was filled with shipping compartments. Most of the compartments have walkers inside them. The flashback ends and Genet has a speech for the people and tells Laurent that he’ll come out soon to show his presence.
As she’s speaking, it goes back and forth between the flashback and the present time. Daryl escapes the compartment. In the present time, Daryl shows up in the spotlight of everyone at the speech. They give him a weapon and a walker comes in. There’s a parallel with Daryl fighting a walker in the past and fighting one now, in the present. The walker gets an antidote put in him, making the walker stronger.
Overall, this episode gave viewers some answers and also some more questions. What will happen to Daryl? How will they escape Genet’s army and her home?
Rating: 8/10