2025 Show
David Zabel · United States of America · English, French
More of the same post-apocalyptic drama, with a refreshing change of scenery
Starting off as the 24th(!) overall season of this long-running TV franchise at the time of its release, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon understandably treads very familiar ground: general paranoia and distrust, humanity divided into survivalist factions, a search for a cure. In its early episodes, though, this series gets a boost from its uniquely historical setting—which creates a feeling of these characters stuck in a previous century—as well as a strong focus on religious faith in the time of the apocalypse. Still, this spin-off continues to go through the same action-horror motions, sticking to what’s expected at the expense of any suspense or meaningful development for its stoic title character.
After washing ashore in France, Daryl struggles to piece together how he got there and why, as he navigates a fractured, walker-infested landscape to find his way home. During his journey, Daryl has to protect a young boy, Laurent, who is seen as a messiah, while facing new, dangerous walker variants and the "Power of the Living" paramilitary group, as the connections he forms along the way complicate his plan to return home.
"If you were put off by the endless seasons of "The Walking Dead" and desperately want to return to the glory days of Daryl, this might be a good enough excuse to send you shambling back."
— Clint Worthington
"Faster pacing in the early moments would have elevated this series from “enjoyable” to “classic.”"
— Jessica Liese
Finding himself in rural France, zombie outbreak survivor Daryl Dixon searches for a way home with a nun and a young boy who may be the Messiah.
But in some respects, it's fun to have Daryl be the wandering Mad Max-esque figure through whom the story is coursed through—because that means more prominent roles for some supporting characters, especially Clémence Poésy's nun, Isabelle. In the first two episodes watched for this review, we already get a rich sense of the weight she carries. Through brief flashbacks to the day of the outbreak from her perspective, we begin to understand her journey as one wherein the spiritual has become intertwined with the personal, all tinged in guilt and a desire for redemption.
Looks like The Last of Us Part II dropped sooner than expected.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
Comments