5 things The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3 got right (and 5 it didn't)

This summer AMC announced that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is ending after its fourth season, before the third season had even aired in the fall. Given AMC’s decision, it’s worth looking back to see how season 3 fared now that it has completed its run. Since this is the first full season with Carol and Daryl together (as the spinoff had originally been commissioned), there was a lot of expectation resting on it. Reviews have been mixed, with some loving the Spaghetti Western-themed Spanish season, and others finding it dull and full of issues. So let’s examine that, and take a look at some of the big wins and losses in Daryl Dixon's penultimate season

5 things The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon got right in season 3

1. The First Episode

This episode seemed to encapsulate the roadshow template that was originally talked about when the spin off was announced and illustrated how well it would work. Focusing on lots of Carol and Daryl together — fighting walkers, adventuring together, sharing deep conversations and light banter — it showcased so much of what viewers have come to love about Daryl and Carol and their relationship. 

With a perfect mix of action, intimacy, jeopardy and humour, we followed Daryl and Carol across a deserted England, before encountering the last living Englishman, Julian (played by British comedy actor and writer Stephen Merchant). We got to know Julian, his backstory, his heartbreak, and his hopes as he bonded with Carol and Daryl, connecting with their own personal stories and moving the plot forward before his tragic death, all within one episode.

The weaving of Julian’s story in with Carol and Daryl’s own as they faced what had happened to them in France, dealt with Carol’s severe injury from their shipwreck, and faced their mortality with humour and warmth, together, felt like exactly what a Carol and Daryl spin off was made for.  

2. The Stunning Scenery

If there is one part of TWD production that always far and away exceeds expectation, it’s the cinematography. Showrunner David Zabel has spoken about how much they want the country they are filming in to feel like a character in the series, and this was certainly achieved with the first seasons in Paris, but the show excelled even further with the Spanish locations. 

The golden hues and sandy vistas absolutely evoked the Spaghetti Western theme and the main settings for the story were visually stunning and emotive locations. The real town used as Solaz de Mar, with its pale stone buildings around a courtyard, provided the ideal arena for a myriad of scenes - from the town dancing and bonfire celebrations, to Fede’s planned execution for Carol, Roberto and Antonio.

Daryl’s solo journey — taking in the ghost town of Belchit, where Daryl encountered the leper colony — provided many stunning visuals of the Spanish landscape, including the arresting visual of his bike passing the Osborne Bull. Shot after shot featured the breathtaking Spanish hills and mountains as backdrops to the action. From beach to dessert, lighthouse to bombed church, every scene was a feast for the eyes.

3. Paz

In a season which struggled with its representation of female characters, cowpoke Paz was a delightful standout. The tough but sensitive wrangler was a great companion for Daryl, but also an enchanting and fierce character in her own right. The loner’s love with princess Elenah, who had been trafficked away in the first Ofrenda, was a moving and gripping story that you could not help but root for. 

Stunningly played by Alexandra Masangkay, Paz was captivating in every scene, and it was fantastic to see another formidable female fighter. Not only was her chemistry with Great Fernandez as Elena palpable, it also offered much needed representation for the LGBQT community. Their emotional romantic relationship was a compelling exploration of not just lesbian love in the apocalypse, but also, potentially, that of nonbinary and transgender characters. Paz’s flashback showed her with short hair and more masculine dress, and having Elenah call Paz a “cowboy” and dub her “handsome” suggests that perhaps in a different world, Paz would have been seeking a change to her gender identity. It’s a very timely issue and one that it’s incredibly refreshing to see a zombie show tackle, even if it's just subtly.

4. Daryl’s childhood flashbacks

Ever since episodes such as Hounded and Still gave us glimpses of the difficult childhood Daryl and his older brother Merle endured, fans have longed to see that aspect of Daryl explored. When he stole the self-help book on child abuse in Consumed, it seemed as though he might tackle his past on screen, but nothing every came of it. Now that we have these flashbacks scattered through the season which show young Daryl and Merle trying to evade their violent father, it feels as though the topic is coming to light.

We have seen Daryl grow from the violent, reactive man who trusted no one and flinched from each touch, to the emotionally supportive, steady leader he is in the spinoff, but it’s clear the troubled child is still alive inside of him. We can see it in the way he is afraid to speak of what he wants from life, and his need to continually prove himself by being the hero. These glimpses of his young self running for survival and being protected by his brother illustrates so much of why these character traits still rule him. The young actors chosen to play the Dixon brothers do a tremendous job in portraying the fear and confusion those young boys feel, and evoke a real spirit of the older actors who portray the characters. Hopefully in season 4 we’ll see more of how these flashbacks will contribute to Daryl processing his past and moving forward to happiness.

5. Fede

While many Walking Dead antagonists are either megalomaniacs out for world domination (like Madam Genet), or those who have little connection to reality (like Alpha), Fede is a very different kind of “bad guy." He is simply a man in a position of power who wants to keep his people safe, but has lost his way morally in the best way to do that. His desire to keep out strangers shows his reticence to put his town in danger or risk losing resources, and he eventually warmly includes Carol and Daryl in the town’s celebration. 

When Carol raises the issue of trafficking girls, it becomes clear that Fede has spent years trying to brush the inequity and barbarism that comes with his rule under the carpet. When Carol drags it into the spotlight, causing his niece and mother’s vision of him to be tainted, he fully unravels.

Showing both sides of Fede — the man who nearly dies saving his town from the Primitivos, and the man who tries to kill Roberto to protect his own secrets — gives us a real multilayered antagonist who we can feel complex, competing emotions for, especially when we understand he has lost his own true love to another man.

5 things The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon got wrong in season 3

1. Too many enemies

In terms of antagonists, aside from Fede, we had the driving force behind the Ofrenda, Guillermo, as well as the Primitivos, and the Buzzards. Together, Fede and Guillermo, and the larger El Alcazar story would have been sufficient adversarial content to fill the season, on top of the usual walkers and nature hazards.

The Primitivo appeared on the promotional picture for the season, and were part of the biggest action sequence when they attacked Solaz. Yet we know absolutely nothing about them, their motivations, where they come from, why they are the way they are, or what their ultimate goal is. As a group they lacked any kind of identity outside of their skull masks, and their lack of smarts (running straight at people pointing guns at them) meant they had very little impact as a threat.

The Buzzards (the group Daryl encounters with the train), too, had little explanation, though their leader held promise as a charismatic bad guy. Sadly, he was killed before we could explore anything about who his group were or why they existed. In a season of just 7 episodes, there is not room for four different groups of bad guys, and the result is rushed plots which feel very much like writing for effect, not story. Flashy action sequences are great, but they are even more effective when we understand and care about the motivations of all parties involved. 

2. Antonio and Carol

Eduardo Noriega is an extremely talented actor, and Antonio, as a supporting character, would be a fine addition to the cast. However, the issue lies in the fact that Antonio is cast as Carol’s love interest. Antonio’s main personality trait seems to be as a movie buff — a story already played out in the main show with Ezekiel — which makes his monologue about the importance of cinema come across as mansplaining. And when he brings up the Mona Lisa, and Carol does not mention that just weeks ago she was standing in front of that very painting, it feels as though she has been gagged to make him more interesting.

The greatest issue, however, comes when Antonio reveals his secret past as being an active supporter of the very real terrorist organisation ETA. To use a real group, who only ended their bloodshed 15 years ago, is incredibly distasteful, particularly when it is only done in order to give him a traumatic past to match Carol’s. Carol being a victim of domestic abuse, or having to kill a child to protect a baby in her care, is not the same as a man who “insisted” his wife, too, support the terrorist organisation to the extent that it cost her her life. And the fact that Antonio then let Fede blackmail him over this, ensuring Antonio supported the trafficking of teenage girls to royalty, all to prevent Roberto learning the truth of his mother’s death, makes Antonio beyond a coward. Considering we saw Carol say she wanted “a man of honor” in the main show, Antonio seems an unlikely candidate for this rushed, uneven romance.

3. Repeated scenes

While callback and parallels can work as a neat narrative tool, overusing them with no obvious reason simply feels like lazy unimaginative writing. In Daryl Dixon season 3 there were so many scenes which echoed or were almost exact repeats of ones which have come before, it became almost comical.

Carol and Antonio shared several scenes which were strikingly similar to those shared by Daryl and Isabelle previously. From toasting each other across a crowd, to tending a shoulder injury and discussing their impression of the country, asking intrusively about scars, and the men seeing a blurry vision of a woman with a rifle which comes into focus to reveal Carol/Isabelle coming to save them, the same shortcuts to intimacy happened over and over again.

But the greatest sin of repetition was the appearance of Codron, which played out almost exactly the same as Morgan’s return to The Walking Dead in season 5. Both men took a pilgrimage across country to find the hero they had last had an unpleasant encounter with, wearing almost identical outfits and carrying a staff. While Morgan laid an offering at an altar when he found signs of Rick’s life, Codron took an offering from the statue which showed him signs of Daryl’s presence. The fact Codron has found Daryl in another country is unbelievable enough, without adding recycled details from the flagship show to the conceit. 

4. Sidelining Carol

Season 2 of Daryl Dixon (subtitled The Book of Carol) did a fantastic job of showcasing the badassery, ingenuity and resilience that made Carol a fan favorite, as she traveled to find Daryl. In season 3, Carol is disappointingly largely reduced to a prop for both Daryl and Antonio.

It was utterly frustrating to see her raise the issue of the Offrenda, but not be part of the rescue of the women at El Alcazar. Knowing Carol’s experience and skill at getting into places and tearing down regimes, it felt such a waste, particularly with Carol’s past as domestic abuse survivor. Not having Carol go to the community where the girls who had escaped the abuse and servitude of El Alcazar had found refuge, or see her inspire the terrified girls to fight for themselves against the men who brutalised them felt like such a missed opportunity for story depth.

And with Antonio, Carol became an older version of a “manic pixie dream girl”, existing only to serve as a reason for him to open up, and a vessel for him to unburden himself upon. Through their courtship, Carol spoke a miniscule amount about herself, and ended up acting as Antonio’s spokesperson. 

Also, the woman who took down Terminus and the Wolves almost singlehandedly would have a better scheme to rescue Antonio from his public torture than to wait until it’s dark and walk out infront of the entire town and untie him. Where is the Carol who was respected by Negan for her cunning, and feared by everyone who crossed her?

5. Separating Carol and Daryl

The initial poster for season 3 of Daryl Dixon released at SDCC featured Daryl and Carol separately killing Primitivos. Though visually striking, it caused little stir. Shortly after, a new promotional picture was released featuring Carol and Daryl on the bike together, skidding through the action as the deadly duo we know them to be. This poster created a huge amount of buzz, garnering three times the average likes of other season 3 posts on Instagram. Fans were excited to see Carol and Daryl in action together, yet, as laid out above, Carol was almost entirely removed from the action for the majority of the season.

While obviously they need to separate at times to create stories with other characters, the first two episodes of the season showed how well it worked when Carol and Daryl did that but still repeatedly came together to discuss their situation and work as a team. Keeping Carol away from the action purely so she can develop a romance is only a small part of the issue that the prolonged separation raised. It’s not simply that fans tuned in expecting to see Carol and Daryl kicking ass and taking names together, working as the perfectly in sync killing team we know them to be, it also created an issue with Daryl’s story.

Without Carol by his side through much of the body of the season, Daryl’s emotional journey is stunted and fails to move forward. Due to Daryl’s reticence to share his emotions and thoughts with people he doesn’t know well (which is keeping in character), the audience has to guess what Daryl is feeling in his emotional exchanges with Paz, Julian and Roberto. Only in their final exchange on the beach does Daryl finally verbalise an issue on his mind to Carol, an issue that hadn’t moved any further forward from their conversion in Episode 1. 

How ever you see the nature of Carol and Daryl’s relationship, their onscreen chemistry is second to none. It’s a magic that can’t be replicated, and it should be at the heart of this spinoff in both adventure and emotion, because there’s no question the characters are at their best in each other’s company. Carol crossed the Atlantic in the apocalypse simply to be by Daryl’s side, so it makes no sense that the pair would suddenly become so blasé and fickle with their connection that they’d then spend more time apart than together.