While The Walking Dead tended to stay relatively serious and somewhat believable with its portrayals of post-apocalyptic society, its spinoffs aren’t afraid to show the wild and weird parts of this new world. The survivors have been living amongst the dead for so long that they’ve found a way to bring back some of the guilty pleasures from their lives before the fall. In the third episode, titled “Paris Sera Toujours Paris”(which translates to “Paris will always be Paris”), we get to see what happened to the city of Paris while Daryl and his traveling companions meet some unusual characters.
The episode begins with Daryl and Isabelle investigating a man they believed had a working radio for Daryl to use. What they find is two men who have clearly gone insane in their isolation and have managed to destroy the radio and use it to amplify their music. The music was for a theater in which the stage was rigged up with walkers strung up to look like they were playing instruments. It’s at this moment that Daryl is done wasting time and tells the group that they’re going to Paris now.
Not long after entering Paris, the group is met with some of the members of Isabelle’s religious group who are led by a man named Fallou. Before taking them back to their base, the group is taken through the city streets and shown the remaining landmarks and reminisce on the world before the walkers. Once they reach the base, Daryl insists that Fallou get him a radio so he can begin finding a way back to America. Unfortunately, the base doesn’t have a radio and instead relies on pigeons to deliver messages. Daryl can’t wait a month for a return message to show up, so Fallou brings up a contact he has who could possibly get Daryl on a ship.
Before setting off to visit the contact, Daryl and Isabelle make a trip to her old home to collect some of her personal items. Isabelle pulls out a box full of drugs and watches that she plans to use to trade for Daryl’s passage on the ship. She then tells Daryl about her life before she was a nun and her nights of sitting at the bar not feeling like she was whole or making a difference in the world. Back at the base, Laurent is helping console a widow who feels comforted by his presence. When Daryl and Isabelle return, they all set off to meet Fallou’s contact.
The group must walk through an ancient catacomb filled with the bones of those who died during the Black Plague. They bring up the fact that this isn’t the first apocalypse that the people of France have lived through. Once through the catacombs, they enter what seems to be a nightclub. While walking around the club, Isabelle and Daryl meet the contact and owner of the club, the very much alive Quinn whom Isabelle last saw in her rearview mirror as she stole his car as she and her sister left him behind.
Quinn seems almost happy to see her and they ask him about his ability to get Daryl on a ship. Just then, Laurent walks in and Quinn’s facial expression changes as he meets the young boy. He then makes the shocking statement that Laurent is his son and he will only help them if she and Laurent stay with him.
After Daryl declines the offer for her, Isabelle storms off angrily. Just then, Condron and his men enter the club. He has been slowly tracking Daryl down and was hired by the mysterious Genet who has been experimenting with walkers. Condron and Daryl end up fighting on a rainy rooftop and just as Daryl falls through a glass roof, the episode ends.
This episode continued the upward building of the plot and gave us a few revelations. What I’m beginning to notice and appreciate is the expansion of Daryl as a character. He’s more expressive and thoughtful and actually has meaningful dialogue in this show as opposed to his grunts in the original series. His dry and gruff tone mixed with some of the unique and strange characters he encounters throughout this episode makes for some great moments.
Along with some more impressive enchantments and visual effects, this show is not slowing down on quality. If I had one complaint about this episode it would be the pacing of Isabelle and Daryl’s conversations in the first half of the episode. We as the audience were given all of this information last week and having them reiterate it again just didn’t feel necessary. Other than that, I’m still pleasantly surprised with how well this show is turning out to be and I can’t wait for what’s to come.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on AMC at 8 p.m. Central every Sunday.
Feature image courtesy of Emmanuel Guimier/AMC
REVIEW RATING
-
'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon' 1x03 - 7/10
7/10
