The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon-The Book of Carol Review: A Massive Improvement Over Season 1

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival several months ago, and I enjoyed watching the first episode of the second season. I was anticipating and waiting to see how the remainder of the season would develop. In the first season I was disappointed, but in the second season I was blown away by the show as it was an excellent improvement.

In the first season of Daryl Dixon, I was reminded of The Last of Us because the plots were similar. Also, it oversold Paris’ environment rather than telling a coherent story, coupled with some scenes that made me cringe. Here in the second season, I have to say that adding Carol to the story brought life to the overall plot. Also, her interactions with Ash were really good. They both balance between what they want out of a major objective, while also clashing towards the end of the season for reasons I cannot spoil. The two actors did really great.

Be on the lookout for grieving time because Carol does a lot of this during her time on the show. I totally get it because she has not mourned the death of Sophia in this way than she did previously. Going to France really got it out of her in my eyes. Also, there is one great scene between Daryl and Carol on episode six as they both reflected on past characters and how it affected Carol that stood out to me, and another a few episodes earlier where I thought it was funny that they were both bickering over an engine. A mix of feelings instead of the sad mood all the time is worth the change of tone.

Meanwhile, Daryl has more conflicts in France and Laurent finally speaks his age rather than overusing the preachy dialogue that other characters in The Walking Dead for his age speaks (I am looking at you Fear The Walking Dead). It was also very pleasing for me that certain characters such as Cordon, Fallou, and Sylvie had a much longer time to shine, and I was happy with that since it was vital to the story and they didn’t take the back seat as they were in the first season.

In the first season, Isabelle was my favorite character, but this season I prefer Marion. The character development gave her new layers that made me care for the character as we learned more about what she was doing prior to the outbreak, why she wanted to lead, and so on. However, it is not a redemption arc at all, instead it emphasizes the “why” rather than the “how” in place of one-dimensional villain characters. Also, remember those drug-injected walkers? We get a lot more of it this season as well as the motive behind it.

Daryl Dixon‘s second and fourth episodes are standouts for the season. On the fourth, there is an action sequence featuring continuous uninterrupted camera shots that involve Daryl, and it surprised me that no camera cuts were required in this sequence. Another scene in episode five is shot in a car, which is reminiscent of a similar uninterrupted camera cutscene in the film Children of Men. As a whole, the directors for this season experimented with new ways to shoot different scenes, and I believe it paid off.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol took all the valid criticisms from the first season I had and turned it around to a great show with awesome storytelling. I came into this season with lower expectations and I left it satisfied. This season balanced character development, action, and emotional depth in a way that made it feel like a fresh chapter in Daryl’s journey, now alongside Carol.