AMC has brought back The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon for a second season, subtitled The Book of Carol. The first episode, “La Gentillesse Des Étrangers” premiered last week and created excitement for The Walking Dead fans. The first season ended with Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) still in Paris, starting his journey back home to America after receiving a call from his friend Carol (Melissa McBride) about someone returning to Alexandria. But, before he can leave on the boat, his young friend, Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), stops him from leaving.
The season two premiere begins with Laurent waving Daryl down. When Laurent turns around, he starts to fight off walkers, following closely behind him. Daryl saves him from the small hoard. Daryl comments they’ve been together for two weeks. The two of them head back to the castle, to meet with the community.
We see Isabelle Carrière (Clémence Poésy) and Sylvie (Laïka Blanc-Francard) again as they’re seated for the meeting. Another community’s camp was ambushed and some names were listed: Dr. Lafleur (François Delaive), Fallou Boukar (Eriq Ebouaney), and Emile (Tristan Zanchi). The three helped Daryl, Laurent, and the two women last season. Lafleur, Emile, and Fallou are in danger; no one knows where they are or if they’re still alive.
Later, we see Daryl talking to Isabelle. He tells her he’s not sure if he’s supposed to be there. He’s conflicted about going home and staying.
Next, we see Carol riding her motorcycle. She stops and checks an area out, using her binoculars to find a community. She goes there, asking for help to fix the bike. The guys mention Daryl and she notices his crossbow. They tell her that they don’t know where he is. While they aren’t paying attention, she swiftly grabs the crossbow, shooting one of them in the foot. One of them tells her Daryl went off on a boat to France. She takes one of the cars in the lot and drives off. Carol’s driving and gets distracted as she sees a plane flying in the sky, which causes her to crash into a tree. She walks to an abandoned car lot, trying to figure out where the plane is coming from. It’s now dark when she makes it to the location.
A man, Ash (Manish Dayal), finds her as she gets herself caught in his trap that’s set for the walkers. He lets her out and she cleans herself up. He lets her stay overnight in his barn. Before going inside, she hesitates, remembering when she found her daughter as a walker in season one of The Walking Dead.
The next day Ash leaves Carol to find her some parts for the car. While he’s gone, she takes a look around his place. She goes to his shed and finds a map. While she’s looking at it, the generator goes off, unlocking the gate. She goes to the greenhouse, not realizing that the gate is open and a hoard of walkers is entering the premises.
Carol hears the plane and hurries to leave, only to be bombarded with the walkers. She tries to get away, only to be trapped. She exits by going to the roof, only to make eye contact with Ash, who’s upset.
After Carol gets out, the two of them kill the walkers. Ash tells her once she’s done cleaning up the mess, she must leave. When she’s done, the two of them talk. He had a son, Avi. Carol learns more about Ash and he decides to let her stay.
Another flashback shows as she sits down to have dinner with Ash, with a white rose on the table. The flashback is also from season one of The Walking Dead, where Daryl gives Carol a white rose to give her hope that they’ll find her daughter, Sophia. When the flashback ends, she tells him about Sophia, leaving out that she’s dead. When the following day comes, she leaves.
Carol is walking when Ash drives to her. He tells her to get in, saying, “We have work to do.” They go back to his home and begin planning their trip to France. She still isn’t telling him the truth about Sophia.
A thunderstorm hits, turning off the generator and exploding powerlines. Ash and Carol stand and watch as his shed blows up, which has ethanol inside. They have to push the helicopter, preparing to leave immediately.
Back in France, Daryl and some of the recruits find Fallou, Emille, and Lafleur. As he gets them safely to a vehicle, someone comes from behind the truck they were trapped in. It’s Marion Genet (Anne Charrier), who’s injured. She’s laughing as he reloads his shotgun. She puts her hands up to the side and before he can shoot, an explosion goes off behind him, giving her the chance to run.
Returning to Carol and Ash, a huge hoard of walkers move their way as they get into the helicopter and fly off into the sky.
Overall, this was a good episode to start the new season. It’s good to see the characters returning from last season and being introduced to new ones like Ash. It’s exciting to see how Carol’s journey will turn out as she makes her way to get Daryl.
Rating: 8/10