A grizzly fan fave returns in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Adam Fresco braves the dystopian apocalypse as Daryl Dixon wanders the mean, zombie-infested streets of France.
Based on Robert Kirkman’s comic books (or graphic novels, if you prefer the idea of illustrated literature over cartoons), The Walking Dead was a hit television show about surviving a zombie holocaust long before The Last of Us made the leap from gaming to the small screen. The Walking Dead was so successful that it spawned a zombified franchise of undead drama, which includes the series Fear the Walking Dead and The World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, Dead City, and The Ones Who Live.
Now the ranks of the post-zombie apocalypse are joined by The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, in which our titular hero, played by shaggy-haired fan-favourite, Norman Reedus, washes ashore in France. How he got there and why are the big questions hanging over the series. No spoilers here, decomposing zombie fingers crossed, but the clues are liberally sprinkled throughout season one of this new Walking Dead offshoot, offering tantalising hints as to Daryl’s mysterious journey from the US to Europe, and what or who lies behind the zombie apocalypse.
The first episode, ‘L’âme Perdue,’ (French for ‘The Lost Blade’), opens with an unconscious Daryl, tied to a rowing boat, and washed ashore on a French beach. The idyllic blue sea, gently lapping waves, and golden sands may hint at a perfect world, but it’s not long before Daryl finds a little blue plastic bucket, a discarded child’s beach toy, that perfectly encapsulates the idea of an innocent society now in ruins. It’s soon apparent that France has been decimated by the same zombie plague that destroyed Daryl’s American homeland.
As Daryl walks past broken, seaweed-encrusted surfboards, rusting bicycles, and trashed cars, he enters a decaying seaside town, covered in sprawling greenery and falling into ruin. On a derelict boat, Daryl finds a voice-recorder. It’s the Captain’s log. Daryl presses play, and in a deep, Irish accented voice, the Captain tells his tale: “Nineteen months at sea. Hoping to stay ahead of this thing. Circled Spain. Nowhere safe. We’ll try Marseille next. Maybe the South of France is good. There’s got to be a safe place somewhere…”
As the episodes unfold, it becomes apparent that, despite the bitter cynicism in Daryl’s eyes, he shares the Captain’s hope that somewhere, somehow, there may be someplace safe.
Don’t worry: even though he harbours a glimmering flicker of hope, Daryl is still the tough, cynical, battle-hardened survivalist fans know and love. He’s still quick to arm himself with a rusting harpoon, which it doesn’t take him long to plunge into a raging zombie’s decomposing head. Ominously scored, shot like a noir movie, full of dark, foreboding shadow, the tension builds from this opening. Until Daryl is confronted by shuffling, decomposing members of the walking dead, who are dispatched in relentless and gory fashion that lovers of great practical make-up effects will relish.
Harpoon in hand, cloaked in a fishing smock, Daryl wanders like a nightmarish vision of a medieval knight through the desolation. And, just as Reedus’ character remains reliably gritty, violent, and determined, the cinematography and effects are first rate. Every shot of each desolate environment presents a study in the strange beauty of decay. Nature reclaims the remnants of civilisation, as moss covers rusting cars, and trees burst through buildings, covering grey concrete and broken bones in greenery. Daryl wanders over abandoned rail tracks and roads, and on through empty landscapes, past crumbling castles and into a derelict town.
It’s not long before Daryl is at the wrong end of a local militia’s rifle, and gets thrown into a savage fight to survive. A dead soldier and a blow to our hero’s head later, Daryl wakes up in a convent surrounded by nuns. But is everything as it seems? Who can be trusted in a world where the only rule is survival, and the only consequences are death…or worse, joining the ranks of the living dead?
It turns out the nuns are part of “The Union of Hope” who “believe humanity is enduring a test, from which we will soon be delivered.” Like Daryl, the sisters carry scars, both physical and psychological. But as you may have guessed, it’s not clear whether the convent is a place of safety, or just another trap, and it doesn’t take long for Daryl, taking in his new digs, to mutter darkly: “Killer nuns, huh?” After all, these seemingly serene sisters are armed to the teeth, with an array of knives, swords, axes, and jousting poles nabbed from their convent castle’s walls.
But Daryl’s not in the convent long. Cue armed militia thugs, determined to have revenge on the mysterious American who washed ashore and killed one of their soldiers. Oh, and then there’s the mystery of Father Jean, a zombie priest, and the prophecy of a messianic “messenger” to come by sea to save the world. Throw in knife wielding nuns, and a quest for Daryl to take a special boy on a treacherous journey, which might be the key to saving what’s left of humanity, and there’s plenty to sink your teeth into in this new incarnation of The Walking Dead.
At the end of episode one, as Daryl walks amongst slain nuns, militia members, and zombies, he has a moment to consider whether he’ll take on the prophecy and be “the one” to take a boy on a quest to find safe haven. No spoilers, but I’m pretty sure Daryl will do the right thing, and take the kid—and viewers—where we need to go. In a world where the only threat bigger than the zombies trying to take a bite out of you are the desperate humans trying to survive the apocalypse, there are enough charismatic and questionably motivated human characters to keep fans of the original series and newcomers to The Walking Dead universe hooked from the get-go.
It may be set in France, but the language barrier is no issue, with characters speaking English, and any French you might not know being translated. When Daryl comes across handmade flyers pasted to poles, reading: “Dieu vous aime,” he quickly flips open his phrasebook, and mumbles the translation, “God loves you”, in Reedus’ trademark cynical slur. And you don’t need to have seen the original series to join Daryl on his adventures. The creators have fashioned a show that both continues Daryl’s tale, yet is able to stand alone.
If you’re not familiar with the original show, then pretty much all you need to know before jumping on board Dixon’s trip is that at the end of The Walking Dead, our antihero left the former US to embark on a journey to find out what caused the zombie apocalypse. And whilst The Walking Dead finale may have told us Daryl was in France, it didn’t explain how he got there, or why, although it has been established that the zombie outbreak may have started in France, and that somewhere, someone (possibly The Primrose group) is experimenting on creating different types of zombies. But to what end?
With action, adventure, mystery, drama, and zombies getting shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned by the dozen, this new show does its progenitor proud. Despite Daryl’s protestations that saving the world “ain’t [his] problem”, you don’t need braiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins to guess he’ll end up helping out. Based on the promise of this new series, I’m only too happy to join Monsieur Dixon on his journey through the French badlands, as he takes on revenge-crazed armed survivalists, and settles the score once more against hordes of teeth-snapping, skin-flapping, disgustingly decomposing walking dead.
