This week we have a double dose of Daryl Dixon and there’s certainly a lot to talk about. There was a train, a guy singing to zombies, some insane fights, and a romance that has been hinted at for a while. With the season finale up next, let’s explore these two episodes and examine the ending of the penultimate episode to see what we’re in for!
Episode 5 embraces the western genre.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Episode 5, titled “Limbo,” mainly follows Daryl (Norman Reedus) setting off on his own to go to Barcelona in hopes of rescuing Justina. Along the way, Daryl stumbles across a train in the middle of the desert, a group of walkers herded behind it. A gang of men guarding the train attack him. After barely surviving an entertaining fight, he soon comes across a group of lepers who were also victims of this gang. Daryl, unable to say no to anyone who asks him for help, offers to take care of this gang and get these survivors their stolen supplies back.
Daryl does what he does best and has one heck of a fight with the people on the train. He is able to work his way inside the train and fight with the leader, who is enjoying the lap of luxury soaking in a bathtub. Daryl easily dispatches him by drowning, and takes the water back to the survivors. With his work here done, he heads out to continue his journey to Barcelona.
Carol (Melissa McBride) and Antonio (Eduardo Noriega) tend to a wounded Roberto, who was found clinging to life after attempting to find Justina on his own. Carol and Antonio get a little closer to each other as the truth behind what happened to Justina is beginning to come into focus.
Episode 6 gets romantic.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Episode 6, titled “Controbando,” splits itself evenly between two plots. The first follows Daryl as he approaches Barcelona, where he meets with an unexpected friendly face in the form of Paz (Alexandra Masangkay), the security person from the village. Her trusty whip her weapon of choice. While they both want to get Justina back, Paz is also trying to see if she can rescue the woman she loves the most, Elena.
As they enter the city, they quickly run into some old friends of Paz’s, and they decide to help them get back Justina and Elena. If they play this right, they can take out the king in the process and end the awful tradition of the young women kidnapped by the royals. Sadly, their attempt to free Justina fails and Daryl is forced to watch helplessly as she and Elena are taken away once again.
While all the commotion is happening with Daryl, Carol and Antonio’s relationship becomes more romantic and serious. They have several moments that bring them closer together as Antonio attempts to teach Carol some Spanish and when Carol accidentally walks in on Antonio showering (awkward). But, the biggest moment of this plot line came when Antonio reveals the truth behind his wife’s death.
Since the season began, we haven’t been given an explanation of what happened to Antonio’s burned face and the circumstances behind his wife’s death. He tells Carol that they were documentary filmmakers in a dangerous political environment when a car bombing occurred.
After the dust settled, Antonio awoke badly burned, his wife was dead from the explosion. The only person who knew this was Fede, who was using this as leverage over Antonio and threatened to tell Roberto the truth. But unfortunately, Roberto overhears the confession to Carol. This news angers him and solidifies his decision to go with Carol and Daryl to America and be away from his father. As Carol agrees to sneak Roberto out of the village and take him back to America, Antonio stays behind as a distraction after finally kissing Carol.
The show is at its best when it takes on genre properties.
As I’ve been saying for most of this season, Daryl Dixon is at its best when it embraces a genre. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Episode 5 took the western genre to the limit. With stylistic influences from Mad Max: Fury Road and Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, this episode was a lot of fun and took full advantage of the western genre.
The train sequence and elaborate chase and fight sequences, the leper colony in need of help from a stranger in the desert, and the greedy and evil man in the train all made for a truly memorable and wildly fun episode of television. Episode 6, while not as much fun, focused more on intricate heist-like sequences that followed our heroes on the streets attempting to get Justina back.
The one-off villains feel more threatening.
There are a few complaints about both episodes. This season has separated Daryl and Carol repeatedly. These two episodes gave them each their own separate story, but in return this seemed to make one of their stories suffer. For example, Episode 5 was definitely Daryl’s episode and Carol’s role was small and not nearly as important. Episode 6 focuses more on Carol. After the show fought so hard to get Daryl and Carol back together, it’s too soon to keep separating them.
Another issue is the “villain” of the season. Fede, the leader of the village, is painted as the villain of the season, but in most cases the walk on “villain of the week” that is quickly dispatched by Daryl is far more threatening. I know the royals are ultimately the main antagonist of the season, but even they aren’t a giant threat.
Overall.
With a wild and fun adventure in Episode 5 and a budding romance and shocking revelation in Episode 6, these two episodes covered a wide spectrum of emotions. Daryl feels defeated after failing to rescue Justina, Carol and Roberto made it out of the village, and Antonio faces punishment in the village by Fede.
Will Daryl find a way to get Justina and Elena back? Will Carol and Roberto get reinforcements and return to the village and save Antonio? Can Daryl and Carol finally get on the boat and go home?
From a young age, Tyler has been amazed by filmmaking and writing. When he’s not watching movies in theaters, he also enjoys playing video games and binging one of the numerous shows he’s watching at any given moment. Working with The Young Folks was a highlight of his writing career and he is looking forward to this new adventure with In Between Drafts!
