AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
1×04 “La Dame de Fer”
Directed by Tim Southam
Written by Shannon Goss

* For a recap & review of 1×03, click here.
* For a recap & review of 1×05, click here.
Last we left Daryl he was falling through a weakened rooftop in Paris. He’s now trying to make his way through a tunnel where he sees Laurent on the other side of a gate being surrounded by walkers. He yells to Laurent but the kid simply stands still and folds both hands in prayer. The zombies swarm Laurent and Daryl’s sure that the boy’s been eaten alive. Except moments later the horde thins out, going in every direction, and Laurent is still alive, completely untouched by any undead hands.
Daryl wakes underwater where a zombie tries to snag him. He makes quick work of the walker but there are more looking for a bite to eat. Luckily Daryl is well layered and the gnashing zombie trying to chomp his leg doesn’t get the job done. He gets out of the water onto a hard surface again and stares up at the hole he fell through in the roof. A tough go of it, though at least he survived. After he gets out he’s walking through the city, then he happens upon a building with tender scenes inside: two old people are enjoying each other’s company; a woman is playing beautiful music on what may be a cello. Yet even with such beauty occurring there is always death, there are always walkers shambling. And there’s also Stéphane with his soldiers searching for the American. Stéphane and Genet are questioning the people from Fallou’s community, asking about the “special boy.” Sonia talks about how Laurent will save everyone, even someone like Genet, whereas Genet only looks down on Sonia and others, those she believes are weak and helpless, those she believes got them into all this mess. Genet is a nasty piece of work.

On the street, Daryl finds Antoine, who explains what’s going on with Stéphane and Genet. Antoine says “Laurent is our hope” and urges Daryl to go to the boy. Daryl quickly rushes the old pigeon man off the street when a vehicle passes by. Men in the vehicle stop, noticing Antoine’s bike and taking it. This pushes the old man out of cover, not willing to leave his pigeons. Stéphane’s men then shoot Antoine point blank. Then Daryl has to kill the men. He goes to Antoine and the old man only wants him to do one thing: let the pigeons free. He brings the pigeon cage to Antoine and helps let the pigeons out so they can fly. Then Antoine dies on the street. Wherever Daryl goes he sees people divided. He has to watch good, innocent people die. And it only steels his resolve to help the other good folks left.
Daryl takes a mace and heads to Isabelle. She’s very glad to see him back, especially when there’s nothing around but death and the sounds of shuffling zombies seeking food. She’s worried for Laurent, so Daryl has an idea of what to do. Elsewhere we see Laurent near the foot of the Eiffel Tower, or what’s left of the once great monument. The boy wants to go stand where his mother once stood in that photograph. He gets to the base of the tower and looks up, as the steel groans just like a human in pain. He looks past the barricade at the tower’s base to see the whole thing is filled with the undead. Perfect time for it to crumble, as they all get a whiff of Laurent. It’s around that time when Daryl and Isabelle arrive to start killing a few zombies. Daryl swings the mace pretty well, chopping down a bunch of walkers, as Isabelle uses her knife to do what she can. All the while, Laurent takes cover between two fallen pieces of sheet metal and watches all the zombies walk past. One zombie stops but gets killed by an unseen face. Then a couple men grab Laurent and rush him into a vehicle that speeds out of there before Daryl can pull the boy out.

One good thing is that Isabelle and Daryl capture one of the men. They assume that he’s one of Stéphane’s men, but he says no. Isabelle believes that this man must work directly for Genet. She wants to offer him “an opportunity to repent” for everything he’s done. She asks where Laurent was taken, yet the guy isn’t willing to give anything up. He’s heard about Isabelle and calls her “a thieving little slut.” This gives her a pretty good indication of who has the kid. Of course it’s Quinn. He’s sitting with Laurent right now, giving the boy candy. He asks if Laurent knows him; the boy already knows that Quinn’s his father. Quinn lies and says he was the one who saved Laurent at the Eiffel Tower. But the boy’s sceptical. Quinn claims Isabelle will soon join them, and this makes the boy all the more sceptical. Laurent’s too smart to accept what the grownups tell him after everything that’s happened.

Daryl decides the hostage needs to be persuaded to talk, so he starts in on beating the guy. He tells a story about a boy named Jimmy who was always getting beaten up. Long story short, Jimmy was made to kill a piglet, but the boy didn’t want to hurt the animal, and the fact he didn’t want to hurt it only resulted in more pain. Daryl stabs his hostage a bit to elicit a response. The guy eventually tells Daryl and Isabelle that Quinn wants to use Laurent, essentially, as a bargaining chip to get what he’s seeking. Daryl asks how they can get into the Demimonde secretly, but the hostage won’t talk any further. So he has to ratchet things up. Finally, upon the threat of further brutal violence, the hostage tells Daryl and Isabelle that there’s another way into the Demimonde, only it’s real dangerous. He offers to draw a map, however, Daryl would rather bring the hostage with them. Isabelle thinks the Daryl’s story of Jimmy was actually about himself. He just says: “Nah, I made all that shit up.”
Daryl, Isabelle, and the hostage meet up with Fallou and his people. They’ve got a plan and everyone’s prepared to do their part. While Fallou and his crew head one way, Isabelle and Sylvie head another way together, and Daryl takes the hostage with him. Sylvie asks Isabelle if she’s ever had “romantic feelings” since she took her vows. Isabelle says no, though Sylvie thinks there’s something between her friend and Daryl. At the same time, Sylvie’s gotten close with Emile; before they left, they shared a little kiss. There’s not always time for beauty in the midst of a post-zombie apocalypse, so it’s nice to see it happen when possible. Soon, Isabelle and Sylvie meet a man named Azlan at the river. Azlan asks about the boy.
Meanwhile, Laurent is alone at Demimonde and his father’s meeting with Genet and Stéphane. It seems that Quinn summoned Genet to “negotiate for the American.” She offers a bunch of things to exchange for Daryl, but none of it exactly piques Quinn’s interest. He’s more interested in The Japanese Footbridge, a painting by Claude Monet. He also lies to Genet and says he doesn’t have Laurent. He’s keeping the boy because he wants to lure Isabelle back there. For revenge? Probably. Or maybe something… worse.

The hostage leads Daryl to a hatch somewhere outside the old bunker that now houses the Demimonde. Down below are more of “the hungry ones.” Daryl and the hostage go down below, moving through tunnels that presumably link to the Demimonde. Simultaneously, Fallou and his people are taking position under the bridge where the entrance to the Demimonde sits. They start tossing Molotov cocktails and firing rifles at the men guarding the entrance. Deep in the tunnels, Daryl and the hostage hear the noise, so they pick up speed. But the hostage takes a chance and flees Daryl in the darkness  while hungry walkers growl for human flesh. He doesn’t get far and then Daryl leaves him to be eaten alive once hearing how to navigate the rest of the way to the club.

Inside the Demimonde, Daryl bides his time then goes looking for Laurent. He quickly finds the boy but then Anna has the two of them at gunpoint. She strangely lets them go, though. Daryl and Laurent move fast but not fast enough, as Quinn shows up after realising Fallou’s attack was a diversion. Daryl and Quinn fight on the catwalk about the club’s main floor. Neither man gets the upper hand initially until Daryl has a blade at Quinn’s throat. He doesn’t want to kill Laurent’s father in front of the boy, so he just knocks Quinn out. Then he and Laurent leave to go meet their friends by the river.
At the boat, Emile arrives injured with Fallou and the latter advises Isabelle that Genet has the place surrounded. Laurent and Daryl soon return, too. But things are precarious with Genet’s constant threat. Isabelle wants Daryl to help Laurent get out of there. She needs someone capable like him. That means Isabelle is staying behind to try negotiating with Quinn so that Daryl and Laurent can get out safely. Things are messy and people are splitting up even more; sometimes the hardest things to do in this post-zombie apocalypse existence are the best things to be done. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. And now Daryl has to put off trying to return to America a little longer. Although he’s more than willing to do it. There’s part of Daryl that sees Laurent like Judith, and he feels he failed Little Ass Kicker, so he wants to do whatever’s humanly possible for the boy.