The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1
When The Walking Dead finished, I thought it ended perfectly for a show that at times had overstayed its welcome. It fell into the group of shows where the actors were announcing they were leaving long before their characters were written off. To make matters worse the spin-off shows were all announced before the end, so you knew Daryl, Negan and Maggie were going to make it to the end. Rick and Michonne returning for their own spin-off ‘Ones Who Live’.
However, Daryl left the last episode to continue searching for more survivors, so his spin-off show could have gone in any direction. Today, I will look at what I did and didn’t enjoy in the show.
Daryl finds himself in France floating a shore and meeting Isabelle at a monastery. He reluctantly agrees to guide her, Laurent and Sylvie to a safe haven in exchange for a connection to get him back home. On their journey they meet other survivors, some ready to help, others with their own agendas.
The Positives
Daryl exploring a new country with new threats is interesting and stepping into the bigger cities, including Paris brings a new dimension to the show. We get to see castles and monasteries used for safety, bringing a more natural defence to the undead.
Daryl has always felt like a lone wolf figure, but reluctantly helps people in need. He can build connections without many worlds and here he does the same. Even if he ends up going on another babysitter-like adventure, having spent the last few seasons looking after Judith and RJ.
The new types of walkers, this is a positive and a negative. The positive comes from the threat they possess, with the fight club battles being the highlight of the dangers. However, despite being tougher, they are still just as easy to overcome for Daryl. This becomes negative because the original show introduced the idea they were evolving and now neither show has shown as any more of this.
The Negatives
The show jumps between his time in France and how he got there. He has somebody hunting him for the whole show and it mostly falls flat by the end. It is difficult to know which timeline is which until the very end of the season.
The series feels more like an opener for something big, that is because the big bad feels nothing more than an early test, instead of an Alpha sized threat. Everything feels like it was designed to give Daryl a side quest because he was one of the most popular characters in the show. It doesn’t do anything to make him feel more important and it is harder to get invested in newer characters in a show who often introduces to someone, just to kill them off.
Overall
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon felt safe, it gives us an interesting journey with beautiful backdrops. However, it never feels like a threat is being faced and struggles to introduce the new characters. Season 2 should improve things now we have got used to the core team and built a potential connection to the rest in America.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 1 arrives on Blu-ray, DVD and digital on 30 September 2024, courtesy of Acorn Media International.