Welcome back, Multiversity readers, to another recap of TWD: Daryl Dixon episode two. Daryl, Sister Isabelle, and Sister Sylvie have not only survived the attack on the Abbet of St. Bernadette but are taking the pilgrimage to deliver “the chosen one,” Laurent, to his new home. This crew is following the original pathway, and now Daryl will have to step up as the new leader/protector. So, let’s check out the things that unfold as they hit the road in “Alouette.”
1. Father Daryl
After their first bump in the road and losing the donkey that was the engine to their wagon, Daryl and his crew are forced to walk the rest of their journey or hopefully find another donkey or horse. Once again, Daryl is knocked out by a mysterious group that turns out to be young children. An abandoned school is filled with those left behind by their parents and raised/taught by a now-dying woman, Madame Dubois, and currently under the leadership of a girl named Lou. Sister Isabelle and Sylvie recite their prayers to prove they’re nuns and lie that Daryl is a priest from America to explain his connection to being with them. Lou is weary but accepts it and later puts him on the spot during dinner to lead them in saying grace. He doesn’t exactly give a church-approved prayer, but he talks about how messed up the world is to have some positivity since they are still together and can help each other.
2. Operation La Tarasque
After finding out there’s a man the kids call La Tarasque (about an old dragon children’s story) that has a horse Daryl and his crew could use, he lies about using the medicine the man also has as a way to save Madame Dubois. Lou was hesitant to go over there before after a failed raid; she doesn’t go into detail about it but changes her mind in the hope of being able to save the woman who has helped her and countless others. Just the two, Daryl and Lou, go, and they quickly bond over Daryl’s lie about being a priest, but she looks past it because she can tell he’s a good person after being willing to try and help them all. He ends up locking her in a farmhouse to take on this mystery man himself, who turns out to be a crazy Texas-born American named RJ who is holding up in a castle, thinking that everything is fine in the United States. Daryl quickly jumps on him and holds him captive to let Lou and her child soldiers decide his fate. However, things can’t go that smoothly, and he nearly gets his gun back on Daryl, but they both fall into a pit of zombies he had surrounding his castle. Daryl fights through the mob of zombies after they start devouring RJ but is still stranded at the bottom of the moat. That is until Lou drops a rope after being rescued by one of the children from her school. It’s a little cheesy ending but still provides the feel-good moment Daryl referred to during his “prayer.” Daryl also admits his lie about the medicine after Madame Dubois passes away from the disease; it provides a chance for him to give Lou the proper pep talk about being the official leader.
3. Isabelle’s Flashback
The episode starts with a flashback of Sister Isabelle’s life, not only before she became a nun but on the day the world started turning people into zombies. The flashback continues throughout the episode and shows Isabelle as a thief who stole from guys at clubs. Isabelle gets rescued in the city by a guy she’s dating, but his true colors start to come out when she brings her sister along for the ride to a “safe place” he has in mind. He seems semi-open to it, but once they find out the sister is pregnant, he tries desperately to dump her off at a clinic or hospital. Thankfully, Isabelle’s pick-pocket skills come into play as she steals his keys, and the two drive away, leaving the jerk behind. After escaping an ambulance filled with zombies, the sisters arrive at the Abbey just in time to help Lily as she goes into labor. She turns into a zombie during the middle of the birth; she’d been bitten during the previous attack, but the baby comes out normal. That’s when we get the big reveal that Laurent is not only “the chosen one” according to the nuns, but she’s Isabelle’s nephew, whom she’d promised to look after.
4. Sly Soldier
The episode wouldn’t be complete without a breadcrumb from The Gurrirers, who’d been notably absent throughout the episode. The soldier who’d been hunting down Daryl in revenge for his brother, and now other soldiers under him, is seen walking through the Abbey trying to find clues on where Daryl and the remaining nuns could have gone next. He finds Daryl’s tape recorder from the first episode that he used to introduce himself, where he came from, and the map Sister Isabelle laid out for Laurent’s trip. I’d have expected Daryl to try and cover his tracks a bit more, given that he is a tracker, but being in a new, strange country and just trying to get back home could cause you to forget a thing or two. It shows the audience that this soldier isn’t far behind them on this trip.
5. More Straightforward
Now, I usually stick with the things that happen in the episodes, but I believe it’s worth pointing out the better points compared to The Walking Dead’s other spin-off Dead City. Maybe it’s because Daryl is the only character we have to focus on rather than the dueling main characters, but his goal of trying to get back home seems way more focused than what they had to do. Daryl’s antagonists seem to be coming from outside his purview rather than the two characters looking over each other soldiers and leaving the audience very little to go after week to week. The build-up throughout DC’s initial season didn’t feel like an “If” one of them will betray the other but more of “When,” which took a little steam out of the engine for that show, in my opinion. This is a little funny, considering this was initially supposed to be a Daryl and Carol show, but once that actress decided to step away, the writers had to adopt a new strategy.
