‘Daryl Dixon: The Book Of Carol’ Season 2, Episode 6 Review — A Convoluted Finale

There were two things I enjoyed in the Season 2 finale of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, The Book Of Carol.

First, I enjoyed Daryl and Laurent singing The Rolling Stones together and Daryl getting all emotional as he growled out “You can’t always get what you want . . .” That was a sweet moment and the kind of emotional payoff that you hope for in a show like this, but one that nevertheless felt unearned given the bizarre, villain-dispensing plot of Season 2. Whatever story Daryl and Laurent were meant to go on, it feels like it was intended to be entirely different from the way things ended up. I blame Carol.

Second, I enjoyed Ash and Laurent’s aerial escape. There were some fun action moments here, with motorcycles chasing after the plane, Daryl—and later Carol—going sniper mode. It was fun, even if it was super obvious how things would pan out.

The rest of the episode was just weird. This woman, Akila, shows up for this episode only and she and Fallou instantly hit it off to the point where he abandons his previous plans in order to stick with her. And sure, good for him, but why not introduce her in an earlier episode so we have time to establish her character and their relationship?

I can’t even keep track of who the bad guy is at this point, we’ve been going through one per week. First Genet kicked the bucket, then last week Losang got his, and now this week both Anna (not a bad guy, but not a good guy) and Jacinta met their makers. What’s the point of this exactly? Why couldn’t Genet just be the bad guy the entire time? Or at least just have Losang be the Big Bad once she was dead, instead of this parade of side-villains.

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Our heroes, having gotten Ash and Laurent off to safety, meet up with a pair of Scots to make a journey below the English Channel to a reportedly safer UK, but inside some kind of glowing luminescent fungus has spawned. Its spores cause instant hallucinations that are incredibly powerful. They have this effect:

• If you are not one of the heroes in our story, you’ll become a violent, raging maniac.
• If you are one of the heroes in our story, you’ll get a cathartic vision of a loved one you’ve lost who will help you overcome the odds.

This, you know, is basically how hallucinogenic mushrooms work. It’s science! Or, rather, it’s how psychedelic drugs are portrayed in movies and TV shows that need a lazy plot device to create bogus conflict. It’s a very confusing, cheesy segment. The Scots get gas masks and then, I guess turn against Daryl? So he kills them. What exactly happened here?

It seems like this entire segment was designed to do three things:

• First, find some way to make Carol stop having panic attacks every time she encounters a barn door.
• Second, give Isabelle and Daryl a nicer farewell scene, though it’s basically one of those goofy scenes where the ghost character inspires the still-living character to get off their ass and fight. Ugh.
• Finally, to clumsily get rid of Codron, who has apparently outworn his welcome.

It’s this last one that I find such a shame. Honestly, out of every character in this show I think Codron has the most interesting and compelling arc. If the entire story had been about his path of vengeance and redemption, it would have been a much better series than the one we’ve gotten. A more gritty, slimmed-down zombie Western pitting Daryl and Codron against one another, and eventually forcing them to team up in the end, would have been great. Get rid of the “chosen one” crap and the massive cast of disposable characters. Strip it all down, make it raw and unapologetic. Give Daryl a real struggle with someone formidable. And then give Codron his redemption at the end of that road.

Oh well. What we got was . . . something, alright. Not particularly coherent. I’m honestly not sure what the point of this season was other than to clear the board of everything the show established in Season 1.

We certainly didn’t learn anything about the post-credits scene from World Beyond or delve deeper into the origins of the zombie apocalypse. We did get Carol telling Daryl that it was a “feeling” that caused her to seek him out, and not the return of someone. Lots of teases and not really any payoff for any of them.

The teaser for Season 3 makes it look like we’re headed to Spain, where everyone dresses like they’re straight off the set of a Spaghetti Western. And we thought the French people dressed ridiculously. I maintain that Daryl alone works better for this kind of show, but Carol returning probably means higher ratings and that’s what matters. Wanting a good story is so 2010.

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