In the previous episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) were taken to Madame Genet’s (Anne Charrier) community. They were reunited shortly, with Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and Quinn (Adam Nagaitis) there. Quinn and Isabelle were invited there by Genet as guests, but she seemed to have other plans, specifically for Quinn. Daryl and Quinn got locked up in cells, while Genet had Isabelle and Laurent accompany her. She wanted Laurent to show himself to the crowd when the time would come during her speech. Not only were they there, but within the crowd were Sylvie (Laika Blanc Francard), Fallou (Eriq Ebouaney), Emile (Tristan Zanchi), and of course, Codron (Romain Levi).
In this finale episode “Coming Home”, Daryl is faced with a walker, a very powerful and dangerous one. The whole crowd is watching as the fight happens. Before viewers see what happens, the opening scene is a catastrophic war. The scene then goes back to Daryl as Codron yells to him, “Today you die…for my brother!”
Daryl fights the walker, who’s sizzling, with a battle axe that was used in medieval times. The walker runs at Daryl, who walks away and grabs a flag, pushing the flagpole into the walker’s head. Laurent smiles at Daryl’s victory, but this is only the beginning for him. The guards take the dead walker out of the arena and Quinn gets walked out. That means that he and Daryl now have to fight. Before they begin, they get chained up together and the lights flicker on and off. More than five walkers surround them, each man getting a weapon. Laurent prays for Daryl, hoping he wins the fight.
The guards shoot the tranquilizer at the walkers, which gives them more skill and energy for the fight. One of the walkers reacts badly to the tranq, its head exploding. Fallou, Sylvie, and Emile get closer to see what’s going on. Isabelle and Fallou make contact and they are more than likely going to come up with a plan. Daryl and Quinn end up working together. As a walker moves above Daryl, Quinn tries to hit it, when another walker comes and grabs him. Daryl ends up saving Quinn’s life.
The crowd chants “Dixon, Dixon, Dixon!” as they defeat the walkers. Genet is upset with how it resulted and Daryl throws the walkers head her way. Fallou shoots one of the guards and makes a run for it as the crowd starts to spread out. Daryl and Quinn leave as well and as they’re walking, Daryl looks at Quinn’s back, noticing that he was bitten, but Quinn brushes it off saying it’s a normal wound. Genet puts Isabelle and Laurent in a cell, leaving them alone. Isabelle shows Laurent that she was able to steal the keys from one of the guards so they have a chance to escape.
Quinn and Daryl stop running as they form a plan and Quinn distracts the guards, yelling as he attacks them, letting Daryl go. Isabelle and Laurent hear the yelling but keep going. Daryl makes it outside and goes to a car, grabbing his knife. Daryl hears someone, but it’s just Fallou, Sylvie, and Emile. Emile cuts the chain from Daryl’s wrist and Fallou starts to get a car running.
Daryl finds Isabelle and Laurent in the tunnel and as they try to get the gate open, a walker comes. Quinn was now dead and he came charging towards Isabelle. Daryl gives Laurent his weapon, encouraging him to go save Isabelle. As they all escape, Fallou and Emile separate from the rest of the group, saying their goodbyes. As the four of them are in the car, Isabelle apologizes to Laurent for having to kill the already dead Quinn.
As Laurent says it’s fine, the car starts to flutter, making them stop on the road. Isabelle tells Daryl that she has something to confess to him. She lied to him about a picture. She thought it’d help convince him to go with them, to a beach. Daryl gets under the car to fix whatever the issue is. Daryl asks her to grab something, but she doesn’t say anything. Since he’s underneath the car, he has to get back up.
As he gets up from under the car, Codron and his men are standing there there. They tell them that Laurent is the first to die. Codron holds the gun to Daryl and Laurent tells him, “God loves you.” Codron then shoots his men and tells Daryl, “Not today Dixon. Next time.” Codron then leaves them, letting them know they’re free to go. The group makes it to The Nest. They welcome everyone and have some people assist Isabelle, who was injured. They meet a man Losang (Joel de la Fuente), who is from America as well. He’s the leader of The Nest.
Isabelle wakes up the next morning and hears commotion coming from outside. She looks out the window, opens the doors, and watches Daryl teaching the people how to use guns. It’s a medium-sized community, but one big family. There’s a montage of the time spent there. Sylvie and Isabelle are walking and they find Laurent and Daryl being funny with each other. While Daryl is skinning a potato, Isabelle smiles at him from across the room.
Then, Daryl walks into the room but notices she’s tending to her wound. She asks if he can help her. She asks if he likes it there at The Nest and it’s obvious he does, but he misses his home in America. Losang tells Daryl that he will be able to get Daryl home. Daryl is torn between going home and staying there.
Back at Genet’s home, Codron tells her that they were outnumbered by Daryl and his group, saying that they had underestimated him. He lies to her, telling her that he went for Laurent but didn’t make it in time to grab him. She knows he lying, asking if he shot her men and he tells her that he couldn’t kill Laurent. That was the truth. She asks about The Nest and he shrugs, making her men put him down to his knees. They take him away, presumably to one of the cells.
Daryl packs up to leave and Isabelle finds him, upset he wasn’t going to say goodbye. She wants him to stay and so does Laurent. Daryl wants her to be happy there, but he wants to go back to America. She dryly tells him goodbye and leaves. Daryl notices Laurent is in bed sleeping, like the rest of the children. He stands there, looking at him, putting a Rubix cube on the bed. He doesn’t tell him goodbye. Daryl takes one more look at The Nest and heads to his destination, which is a long two-day journey for him.
As he’s walking, he notices an American Flag poled up and he walks through a cemetery. He starts looking as if he’s searching for a certain grave and he finds his father’s, he had died in the war there. He looks out into the ocean, seeing his boat coming closer to shore. So, he takes one last look at his father’s grave and walks towards the boat. As he’s watching the boat coming, walkers start piling up toward him. He fights them off and walks towards the boat and he has a smile on his face. He hears his name being called by Laurent.
In the next scene, a man is riding on his motorcycle and a car is tailing him. He shoots at the car, making them stop. The driver gets out and it’s Carol (Melissa McBride) from The Walking Dead, Daryl’s best friend. She tells the man that that’s Daryl’s bike he’s riding on. She knocks him out and wakes him up in the trunk. She asks where he got it from. She takes the bike and drives off, ending the episode.
The finale of the season was great to watch. It is bittersweet for The Walking Dead fans, as they don’t know if Daryl will stay at The Nest or if he’ll go back home to America to be with his family and friends. It was filled with a lot of action and a lot of happy moments. It was the perfect way to end the season, finishing it off with them making it to their final destination.
Rating: 9/10