Previously on AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Laurent was taken and Daryl (Norman Reedus), Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), and Fallou (Eriq Ebouaney) go to find him, bringing the community’s soldiers with them. We shortly find out that Laurent isn’t missing and Losang (Joel de la Fuente) has been keeping him hostage. Carol (Melissa McBride) and Ash (Manish Dayal) begin their mission of going to Paris and meet two individuals who eventually try to kill them. Ash and Carol make it out alive Carol makes Ash stay and wait for her to return.
The episode begins with a flashback of Genet working as a museum janitor, looking at the infamous Mona Lisa painting. As she and the other janitors complain about their hours, their phones begin to go crazy, getting notifications. Everyone leaves the museum and Genet is on the phone with her husband. The security guards won’t let him inside to get her and they won’t let her leave either. While on the phone, she’s also talking to him through a window. They tell each other “I love you,” before she begins to cry, watching him being attacked by walkers. After he gets killed, she goes back to the room where the painting is. As she looks at it, the scene transitions to the present, with Carol looking at the same painting.
Genet comes up to Carol, asking her what she sees in the painting. Carol tells her that she (Mona) seems sad. Genet points out that she’s new and Carol says she’s a tourist. Carol lies and tells her she came to Paris thirteen years ago and got stuck here. While they’re talking, they overhear a man complaining about his food. Genet makes him eat his food off the floor after he pushes his tray off the table.
Then we see Carol and her new friend Remy (François Perache) get assigned to their jobs, Carol being in the kitchen and Remy being in the stables. They walk and he translates their positions for her since he can speak both English and French. While they’re walking, they hide, to watch a secret experiment. The guards are shooting hostages and putting some type of antidote in them, which makes them turn into walkers.
In Paris, Sylvie (Laïka Blanc-Francard), who’s locked in her bedroom, gets a knock on the door. Someone brings her food and as he enters her room, she knocks him out, immediately leaving to find Laurent. Losang finds her as she’s yelling for Laurent. Sylvie runs from Losang and guards crowd her, stopping her from escaping. The guards begin to grab her and Losang yells at them to let her go. Instead of letting her go, they push her, while she’s pushing them. Sylvie falls off the ledge, resulting in her dying.
Next, we see Fallou, Isabelle, and Daryl on the beach, finding a way to sneak into the castle. Fallou points out an entrance and they make their way toward it.
In the castle, Laurent is in a room playing with a Rubix cube. Losang comes to him and gives him a coat. He makes Laurent some tea, putting something in the cup, before making him drink it. Laurent tells the man that he wishes Daryl and Isabelle were there with him. Losang walks him to a ceremony, made for him specifically. Losang begins with his speech saying that there’s “a light at the end of the tunnel,” expressing how Laurent is the future. The guards bring a walker, which Laurent will have to kill. As they take the hood off, it’s Sylvie and everyone gasps. Isabelle, Daryl, and Fallou are standing in the crowd. Daryl shoots at her with his bow and arrow.
Chaos begins to rupture and everyone runs, Isabelle grabbing Laurent and finding a way to escape. Fallou and Daryl are ahead of them. Fallou finds a place to hide and waits until the guards leave. Daryl tells the group to meet him at a hideout in the woods and he creates a distraction, separating himself from the three others.
Later, we see Carol at the Maison, starting her first shift in the kitchen. She begins to ask around, seeing if anyone knows Daryl. She hears Codron (Romain Levi) murmuring Daryl’s name. She goes over to him, asking if he knows where he is. She begs him to tell her, saying that Daryl is her brother and that he’s the only family she has left. He tells her and warns her that she needs to find him before Genet does.
After her shift, Carol tells Remy about what she’s learned. She asks him to come with her and he says he can’t because he needs to find his husband. They say goodbye before she leaves.
We then see Daryl on the ground, his face all bruised up. Losang tells him to stay down because of how injured he is. He tells Daryl that Laurent will provide strength to their people. He asks where Laurent is and Daryl doesn’t say a word.
The scene then transitions to Carol, trying to find a vehicle with keys inside, and none of them are unlocked. She sees some horses so she escapes with one of them. Before she can exit the tunnel, guards are waiting for her at the exit. Remy snitched on her and she ends up in Genet’s office. Remy and his husband are allowed to leave, while Carol faces repercussions. Carol tells Genet the truth about being from America and using a plane to get to Paris. Genet asks why she wants to find Daryl and Carol tells her she wants to kill him. They make a deal that tomorrow, Genet will take Carol to Daryl’s location so that she can kill him herself.
It’s now the next day, and Carol and Genet are on their way to the castle. They stop at the museum and Genet reflects on her time at the museum when the apocalypse began.
Laurent makes it to the hideout and Fallou meets him there. Laurent thinks it’s his fault that Sylvie died and he worries that Isabelle might be dead too. Fallou tells him to think positively and not blame himself.
Back at the castle, Daryl gets angry when he watches Isabelle dragged into the cell and chained to the wall. Daryl tells her that they should try to get some sleep. She asks him to tell her a story and he tells her about him making his way to Paris and not caring about anyone until he met her. He tells her that when they go to America, Laurent can be a normal kid, going to school. She wraps her hand at the edge of the wall and he does the same, to hold her hand. Isabelle tells Daryl that she loves him.
While Carol and Genet get closer to the castle, Losang comes into the room and tells Isabelle that he needs to talk to her. Isabelle tells him that she’s not going anywhere with him. The guards grab her and take her, but before they can leave, Daryl says he’ll tell him where Laurent is. Losang ignores him and walks away.
Genet gathers her soldiers and they prepare for their war. Carol notices Genet is turning them, and before Carol can say anything, the guards grab her and put her with the soldiers, fooling her. Genet was never going to actually work with Carol.
Overall, this was a good episode, filled with action and heartfelt moments. Between Isabelle and Daryl having their heart-to-heart, Losang, and Genet both being the villains, and Carol one step closer to getting to Daryl, a lot is going on. It will be interesting to see how Carol manages to escape and how Daryl will get Isabelle and reach Laurent and Fallou.
Rating: 9/10