5 Ways The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon can improve in season 3

The Book of Carol failed to live up to the expectations for some Walking Dead fans, but there are some simple fixes that might help season 3 reach greater heights.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 5 - Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 5 - Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC

When The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol (the second season of The Walking Dead spinoff) previewed at SDCC last July, it was announced that a third season had been commissioned and would be set in Spain, all before season 2 had even aired. AMC clearly had such faith in the show that it was willing to commit to the third season without gauging the reaction to the second. Unfortunately, while some aspects of The Book of Carol received universal praise — largely the return of Melissa McBride as one-woman-cyclone Carol — the overall reviews for the show were mixed, and ratings were far from stellar.

It follows, then, that AMC will be looking closely at the show and potentially reconfiguring and reacting to the criticism. Star and executive producer Norman Reedus has repeatedly spoken about how the original idea for the show was a roadshow with Carol and Daryl travelling around and helping people they meet before moving on. He has also said that season 3 will be closer to this initial idea, with showrunner David Zabel labelling the series “an anthology of sorts.”

With the show moving on from France, it has a clean slate. What else should the show be looking to change in order to improve and garner greater audience positivity going forward, making it the solid hit it could be?

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Laurent - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 1
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Louis Puech Scigliuzzi as Laurent - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 1 - Photo Credit: AMC

1) No more children

On The Walking Dead, Carol and Daryl occasionally found themselves taking on surrogate children, to varying degrees of success. Carol infamously suffered tremendously after losing her biological child Sophia and also took on some of her own: Mika and Lizzie at the prison, and Henry, the son she shared with Ezekiel. Every one of those children died in a hugely traumatic way, scarring Carol irreparably. And though it has made her guarded and — as some may see it — harsh in her interactions with children, still youngsters are thrust upon her, twisting the knife in her child-shaped wound, as she lives in constant terror of failing them.

As for Daryl, he's part a part of Rick's daughter Judith’s life since birth, giving her the nickname Little Ass Kicker. He’s also bonded with Beth, Lydia, and become a surrogate father for Judith and her little brother RJ after Rick’s disappearance. Then there's Laurent, the proto-Messiah who was the centre of the first two seasons of the show, and the reason Daryl stayed in France.

By now, we get it. Carol is drawn to but scared of kids. Daryl sees himself in every abandoned child, which triggers his hero complex. They want to save every kid, but we’ve been through every iteration of it. We've experienced every kind of parent/child relationship with Carol and Daryl. Anymore would be a retread. Let the title of The Book of Carol’s finale stay true: "Au Revoir les Enfants," which translates to, "Goodbye Children.” Let Carol heal and Daryl grow, without thrusting another child under their wings.

BTS - a walker - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 6
BTS - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 6 - Photo Credit: Stéphanie Branchu/AMC

2) Make walkers the central threat

When the French location for the spinoff was announced, many fans were looking forward to exploring the origins of the zombie virus, thanks to the Fear the Walking Dead coda which showed French scientists discussing the virus. In the end, this topic was not touched on at all in Daryl Dixon. We saw Genet doing experiments on walkers, leading to some of the walker variations and the super-charged walkers who dominated the second season, but not the genesis of the French walker research.

As disappointing as that was for some, even if we give up hope of finding out the origins of the walkers, it doesn't mean we should give up on the idea of walkers being more central to the plot. The first two season of The Walking Dead were undoubtedly had the most terrifying, heart-in-mouth episodes of the show, and they didn't feature any overreaching, human threat. While “humans are the real enemy” is a sound premise, we have worn through every variation of evil megalomaniac, religious zealot, and misguided weakling leader storyline in the flagship show. Perhaps it’s time to return to something more primitive, with a focus on the brutality of basic survival?

It would be an ideal use of the brand new locations to highlight that when you have no knowledge of the terrain or facilities round the corner, your life is even more on the line than it would be in the well-trodden woods of Georgia. What if the lake you wash in has hundreds of walkers resting on the bottom? What if the hill you are standing on is actually a mound of walkers overgrown with grass? Making walkers an environmental hazard and focusing on the unpredictability of encountering them when you least expect it heightens the jeopardy for even seasoned walker hunters like Carol and Daryl.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 6 - Photo Credit: Stéphanie Branchu/AMC

3) Bring back the real Daryl Dixon

The biggest issue The Book of Carol had is that it seemed to forget why it’s title character is such a fan favourite. A man who has been defined by his loyalty and tenacity in the 11 seasons of the main show suddenly lost those qualities and became a shadow of the fan favourite he was. Having Daryl Dixon — who lived in the woods for six years, refusing to give up hope of finding Rick; who withheld Negan’s torture and abuse; who showed no interest in romance in 10 seasons, preferring to focus on his found family — emotionally abandon his American family and consider staying with a new French one in a matter of weeks is wildly out of character.

And it’s not surprising given that showrunner Zabel and Reedus could not seem to agree on Daryl’s motivation, with Reedus resisting the idea that Daryl had felt love for the French characters. Was Daryl resentful that Laurent showed up on the beach in the season 1 finale, or was it an active choice he made to choose Laurent and Isabelle as his family? The answer changes depending who you ask, and when. The Daryl that fans know and love would not reconsider where he belonged and who he loved after such a short time away. He wouldn't be saying that his connection to Laurent is more significant and "different" to his connection to Judith, who he has lived with for 12 years. Nor would he embark on a romantic relationship with a nun he barely knew (and who compared him to his abusive father), after a matter of weeks.

A cohesion must be found with the creatives on who Daryl is and what motivates him. He is — and should be — the man who will always put others needs before his own. But he is also a man who never, ever forgets who he is and what he stands for. Season 3 needs to embrace the Daryl fans remember and show that he remembers his family back home.

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Romane Vialle as Sofia - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 6
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Romane Vialle as Sofia - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 6 - Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC

4) Embrace the show's history

One of the most successful aspects of The Book of Carol was the exploration of Carol’s grief over the loss of her daughter Sophia. It was rewarding for long-time fans to see the call backs to this pivotal moment, and emotional to see Carol be allowed to work through it on screen.

One of the issues with the later seasons of The Walking Dead was the large cast, which meant huge impactful emotional stories often got pushed aside to deal with the next big event or action-packed twist. Daryl Dixon’s smaller cast means that imbalance can be righted, and allows room for greater intimacy between the audience and the two leads. It is an excellent opportunity for the audience to be allowed to truly sit with Carol and Daryl as they grow through life. They have a chance to stop, breathe and talk through the many traumas they have experienced.

It would be wonderful to have Daryl talk about losing his brother Merle; about what Rick’s acceptance meant to him; about what kept him going during his torture and time at Negan’s Sanctuary; about his guilt over Glenn’s death. And many fans would love to see Carol talk more about losing Sophia and Henry; about having to kill Lizzie; about her marriage to Ezekiel and why it fell apart. It would be particularly effective to have Carol and Daryl address issues that exist between them, from Carol’s repeated attempts to run away to their fight in Leah’s cabin from season 10. Their long history is the meat that makes their relationship so juicy and multi-layered, so it's odd that much of their interactions could be between people who just met. Zabel and the other writers should be exploiting that history to create depth to their relationship, and add layers to their interactions with the new people they meet.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 5
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier - The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon _ Season 2, Episode 5 - Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC

5) Decide on the nature of Carol and Daryl's Relationship

This is, without doubt, the most talked about subject when it comes to Carol and Daryl: whether they are, or should be, romantically involved. And it may seem as though this question has been answered; after all, David Zabel has made clear that he believes Carol and Daryl’s relationship is purely platonic. Despite this, several scenes in Daryl Dixon seemed to allude to something else. In season 1, Antoine (the pigeon man) suggests that Daryl had a girlfriend back home who waited for him. And half of Episode 4 of The Book of Carol focused on the pair's time with an elderly couple, Didi and Theo. It was very clear that the show was pointing to the older couple as a parallel to Carol and Daryl. It's implied that Didi could see they were in love, and Theo called the pair as “like an old married couple.” If we are to see them as purely platonic, why dive into those kinds of themes? It only creates confusion among the fans.

Even Carol’s reaction to Daryl’s romance with Isabelle creates muddiness about the nature of their connection. Carol was shown to be hurt and troubled by the depth and speed of their relationship.  If her feelings were only friendly why would Carol not be overjoyed that her best friend finding someone? And why was Daryl repeatedly playing down his relationship with Isabelle to Carol, and reassuring her he was always coming home to her?

Carol and Daryl have been described as sharing one soul, and as each other’s “home.” In Reedus’ words, Carol is “the one person in the world he needs.” If Carol and Daryl will always chose each other over everyone else, how does a partner get a look in? Outside romances are a pointless waste of time as Carol and Daryl will inevitably move on, or the new love interest will die. Stating that they are each other's home, and having Daryl declare they will always stay together, leaves no room for another love, and means their only true happy ending could be with each other. If their home is each other, then that’s clearly where their happy ending lies. 

So if we are to believe they are just family to each other, then the idea of their shared soul and need to be with each other has to be dropped (along with allusions to them as married couple) for a more believable, looser dynamic that leaves space for outside love interests. Otherwise, anyone who comes into their orbit will face the same fate as Isabelle.

And either way, stop having Daryl simply not answer questions posed to him as a way to avoid committing one way or another to his feelings. It's a ploy that was used in the flagship show and spinoff multiple times — "Would you settle (down)?" "Why not Connie?" "Have you ever been in love?" "You loved her?" It's a lazy, cheap way to allow the audience to believe whichever answer suits them, but which leaves Daryl's characterisation shapeless and turbid. The character deserves to have a rich and open exploration of love without the show hedging its bets for fear of dividing the already unhappy audience.

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