AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
1×06 “Coming Home”
Directed by Daniel Percival
Written by Jason Richman & Laura Snow

* For a recap & review of the penultimate episode, click here.
* Season 2 recaps & reviews to come next year!
Last we left Daryl he was in the pit with a zombie about to fight.
This episode opens with soldiers strewn across a beach. Is this a scene from Normandy in World War II? Either way, cut to the current-day brutality happening on French soil, as Daryl faces off against a maniacal zombie that’s been juiced up for combat. Our survivor fights tooth-and-nail against the vicious walker, but if you get too close to one of these things it’ll burn you just as much as infect you. While Isabelle worries about Daryl it’s Laurent who’s sure that Daryl will come out victorious. Right then, Daryl downs the first rabid walker, yet this is only the initial fight; there’s more to come! Quinn’s now brought in and chained at the end of a shackle with Daryl. They each have a weapon. The lights go out and the men see more walkers ready to attack from all sides. Laurent prays for the Lord to protect his friend Daryl.

The zombies are shot up with more drugs, except one of them takes a dart to the head and it just makes their cranium explode. The other walkers are juiced for violence. When two of the walkers get let loose, one of them kills the other, which just leaves two zombies to fight Daryl and Quinn. The remaining pair of walkers go straight for the pair of lads, and one of the zombies even has a metal cap on his skull making it hard to kill. Daryl and Quinn manage to take the zombies down, helping each other to put down the dead. It’s quite a show, too. The crowd are very much behind Daryl, who picks up a zombie head, brandishes it to the people, then tosses it up near Madame Genet’s feet. This pisses Marion off. She gives Codron the green light to find and kill Daryl in revenge for his brother’s death.
At the same time, Daryl and Quinn are hiding when the former sees a wound on the latter’s shoulder. Quinn says it’s only a burn, but it looks an awful lot like a bite, doesn’t it? He’s starting to look like he’s given up. Daryl tries to push Quinn to keep moving, whereas Quinn’s starting to lament about mistakes in life, sounding like a man who’s ready to die. Daryl urges Quinn to do the right thing, so it’s time to get themselves out of their shackles, which means a limb has to come off. Then Daryl chops off Quinn’s hand. No time to be in pain. Quinn attacks the men coming for them while Daryl heads the other way. Simultaneously, Isabelle gets herself and Laurent out of their cell. They sneak themselves through the halls to find a way out.
Fallou and some others meet up with Daryl outside, getting him out of the rest of his shackles. They’ll also have a vehicle ready to go since Fallou’s handy with automobiles. Daryl now goes to get Isabelle and Laurent out, right as a zombified Quinn attacks Isabelle, along with another walker. Daryl’s able to kill one of the walkers, then he charges Laurent with saving his mother. Quite a devastating moment for Laurent, who’s got to put down his zombie father. Laurent’s reluctant until Daryl tells the boy: “God will forgive you.” That doesn’t necessarily make the kid feel better, though. But he gets it done. Afterwards, Fallou and Sylvie’s man head off together while the rest prepare the vehicle.

Daryl explains the opening scene via a story about his grandfather dying in France during WWII. This is the root of how the Dixon family ultimately fell apart back in America, as well. A great part about Daryl’s story continuing here is that we’re fleshing him out further, and we’re seeing that part of the Dixon legacy has been generational trauma, likely beginning with the death of his grandfather which then rippled throughout the generations down to Daryl and Merle. What a great way to add some new connection to the whole France setting, too. This is the right way to build a spinoff series, by layering a character in a way that’s not overdone or insincere or implausible.
Unfortunately Daryl, Isabelle, Sylvie, and Laurent are found by Codron and his men. Isabelle’s stabbed in the stomach, then Codron plans to kill the boy. Laurent tells Codron: “God loves you.” Codron kills the other men with him and points his gun at Daryl one last time. He says: “Not today, Dixon. Next time.” Maybe there are some things that Codron is simply not willing to do in order to get revenge. He’d rather it be fair. He also explains how Daryl can reach The Nest. And so off the group go, bringing Laurent to The Nest.

People at The Nest are happy to see Laurent and the others. They’re greeted by Losang, an American from New Jersey who came to Paris decades prior originally. He welcomes Daryl in and explains to Laurent they have doctors who’ll help Isabelle with her wound. It’s a pretty quick transition at this point for Daryl to be accepted into a community. He’s already helping to teach everyone how to shoot rifles. He’s even learning a tiny bit of the language when he can, as he gives a cheers in French (“santé,” or ‘to health’) to everybody while they have dinner and a drink. Things feel more calm than they have a in quite a while. Soon Losang tells Daryl they have a boat for him to get out on with a Dover fisherman, which can get him to England and then from there a boat can bring him “as far as Newfoundland” (where I’m from!). Then Daryl will make the rest of his journey back home from there. All the same, Losang says they need Daryl, but Daryl doesn’t believe it’s his fight. The only thing keeping Daryl from running off into the sunset back home is, obviously, Laurent and Isabelle.
At Maison Mere, Madame Genet receives the news from Codron about what supposedly happened with Daryl and the others. She’s suspicious that Codron has not a scratch on him, despite such a wild story. She explains that she worked in a museum before all this happened. She said she “learned which eyes tell the truth, and which eyes lie” by walking from room to room, all those pieces of art and the eyes in them looking back at her. She already knows what Codron did. He explains it was because he was ordered to kill a child. This seems to disappoint the cold-hearted Genet. She demands to know The Nest’s location. Cordon refuses to say anything, so he’s knocked to his knees by the guards. Genet warns that Codron’s only in for a lot more pain now.

Isabelle doesn’t exactly want Daryl to leave and she says as much, bringing up the fact that he so obviously cares for Laurent, too. It doesn’t sway Daryl, who’s intent on getting out of France. He packs his things and prepares to leave. He stops by Laurent’s bedside while the boy sleeps, leaving a Rubik’s Cube on the end of the bed. After that he heads off from The Nest to go catch his boat to England.
Off along the coast, Daryl’s looking for something before he leaves France for good. He sees an American flag along the way flapping in the wind, then comes to a graveyard almost covered in the mist. A row of crosses stretches out; each one with a name on it. Daryl looks around the crosses and tries to find the one he’s looking for, the one marked with his grandfather’s name. He finds the cross marked William T. Dixon. Different kinds of conflicts brought two different generations of Dixons to the shores of France, connecting Daryl and his grandfather William across time. A powerful image and moment. Later at the edge of the ocean, Daryl waves down the boat coming to pick him up. He also runs into a few zombies lying in wait amongst the tall grass and the beachside caves. All of a sudden, Daryl faces horror on the beach much different from the horror his grandfather experienced, but horror all the same. Daryl’s determined not to die there like William.

But before Daryl can get to his boat he sees Laurent waving him down.
Perhaps Mr. Dixon might stay a while.
Cut to back home in America.
A man on a motorcycle’s chased by a car. He stops to fire on it and the car stops, too. He heads towards it, as Carol steps out. She says she’s looking for Daryl Dixon and the guy’s been riding his bike. He has nothing much to say. He forces Carol to open her trunk, hoping he’ll find some goodies to steal. This only allows Carol to get a jump on him, knocking him out. He comes to in the trunk. He explains he traded for the bike and gives Carol directions where to find the men he traded with in Freeport.
Great use of “Seconds” by U2 in the final couple scenes here. Brilliant season! Bring on more.