To explain how I felt going into The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon‘s Season 3 finale requires a little recapping.
Episodes 1 through 3 got shiny gold stars from me, thanks to the deepening mystery in Solaz and Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) remaining headliners. Episode 4 started to show the series’ cracks before Episodes 5 and 6 broke them open completely, with what can only be described as meaningless plot points.
So, as I pressed play on Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 7, I prayed to The Walking Dead gods that the season finale would course correct the damage done in the last three episodes. Unfortunately, in my humble yet critical opinion, it did not.
Resolution occurs in part. Roberto (Hugo Arbués) and Justina (Candela Saitta) reunite, and Daryl puts a beatdown on Fede (Oscar Jaenada). However, when Carol and Daryl’s boat catches fire in the episode’s final moments, it confirms no major resolution for our main heroes. Sure, Carol has a new love interest, and Daryl has… uh… um… hot dogs, but they’re essentially back to ground zero when it comes to getting back to the States. That, in short, is my biggest problem with Season 3: Nothing really happens, at least when it comes to our main characters.
This is a story about Solaz, not Carol and Daryl.
The Daryl and Paz Team-up Continues
As I said in my review of Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 6, I have no issue with Paz (Alexandra Masangkay). In fact, I think she’s one of the spin-off’s more interesting characters. Still, like the feud between Fede and Antonio (Eduardo Noriega), Paz’s past dealings with Guillermo (Gonzalo Bouza) feel glanced over. The inter-spliced, haphazard flashbacks to Guillermo nearly killing her seem like Daryl Dixon trying too hard to justify his later death, especially when considering he is a sex trafficking womanizer who also happens to be married to Paz’s former girlfriend, Elena (Greta Fernández). (Trust me, Daryl Dixon. We already hated him before this episode.)
However, before all that, Daryl and Paz infiltrate El Alcazar through one of the season’s most significant moments of convenient writing. Apparently, El Alcazar representatives hit up the refugee camp known for liberating women from El Alcazar… for work? And, just like that, Daryl and Paz have free entry into the lair of their enemies. Oh, and they also have to wear Phantom of the Opera-esque masks, which makes concealing their identities a breeze.
Perhaps the best thing about Daryl and Paz’s covert excursion is the zombie marionette show. Those who watched the Daryl Dixon Season 3 trailer already got a quick look at this oddity. However, it proves to be just as delightfully demenented as promised, and watching the freed marionette-zombies chomp into a room of elites feels particularly satisfying after seeing how they auction off women like cattle. There’s something so perfectly campy about a walker, dressed as a jester, tearing into a man’s throat that makes me wish Daryl Dixon spent more time chronicling the downfall of El Alcazar.
Instead, the narrative bounces between Paz and Daryl, who separate to find Elena and Justina, respectively. Both succeed in their endeavor, although Daryl locating Justina just before she’s attacked (killed?) by her new husband feels convenient… again. Likewise, Paz killing Guillermo feels satisfying but rushed. Despite Daryl Dixon marketing him as their big bad, Guillermo became neglected in a plot overstuffed with antagonists, which is a huge reason the past three episodes started to decline.
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Too Many Villains, Not Enough Time
Fede. Guillermo. El Alcazar. Los Primitivos. The man I’ve become quite comfortable calling the “Prick in the Bathtub.”
What do all these people and groups have in common? They’re antagonists, none of whom, apart from Fede, are particularly memorable. Not to mention that Los Primitivos and the “Prick in the Bathtub” had little to no effect on the plot. Los Primitivos made a big splash in Episode 4 with no apparent motive and no returning scenes. Likewise, the “Prick in the Bathtub” was nothing more than a side quest for Daryl in Episode 5. (Seriously, what did that entire episode accomplish except to fill time?)
In The Walking Dead, villains like the Governor, Alpha, and Negan had multiple seasons to flesh out their plots, motivations, and eventual falls (or redemption in Negan’s case). For Daryl Dixon Season 3 to cram FIVE antagonists into its seven-episode run is ambitious, to say the least. To say the most, it doesn’t work. None of these villains gets the proper development.
Fede comes the closest, which is ironic considering Daryl Dixon initially posits him as a torn leader forced to make morally questionable decisions to keep his town safe. Remember, this is the apocalypse. We longtime TWD viewers can understand how people get caught in exploitative situations like this. Fede could have just as easily become a hero. So, the fact that he plummeted into a full-blown bad guy in just two episodes is disappointing, especially when Guillermo and El Alcazar, the true monsters, get so little screen time by comparison.
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Carol Remains a Mixed Bag in Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 7
My issues with the spin-off’s treatment of Carol extend further back than Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 7. Really, they began in Episode 4, when the camera kept zooming in on Daryl, leaving Carol blurry and just barely in frame during the attack on Solaz. The Season 3 finale is more of a mixed bag. Carol loses the damsel-in-distress thing, saving Antonio and later Daryl when Fede pulls a gun on him at the boat. She even punches a walker in the face with her bare fist. Really, it’s probably the most Carol action we’ve seen since Season 3, Episode 1.
However, I keep going back to what Daryl said in Episode 5: “They need you.” The “they,” of course, refers to Antonio and Roberto, whom she just met. To put it bluntly, parts of Daryl Dixon Season 3 shove Carol and Daryl into stereotypical gender roles. Carol spends a good chunk of the season “playing house” in Solaz and talking to men about their feelings, while Daryl does the adventuring and flashy stunts.
Funny enough, what’s always made Carol unique is the way she twists stereotypes. Sure, she’ll wear a collard shirt and sweater, but she won’t hesitate to kill when needed. Yeah, she can bake a casserole, but she also isn’t opposed to a bit of torture to get answers. That part of her feels lost this season, and the brief glimpses aren’t satisfying enough.
Even her final conversation with Daryl feels one-sided, depending on how you look at it. “You know, my whole life I’ve been running. Just running and fighting. That’s all… I just hear that voice, and I got to go,” Daryl says to Carol on the beach. Running and fighting are both coping skills Carol shares with Daryl. At times, The Walking Dead felt like an alternating competition about which of them could do it best, and they’ve had heart-to-hearts like this before. Perhaps what’s different is Daryl’s vulnerability. “I’m afraid when we get home. I’m going to hear that again.”
For Daryl, this is huge and harkens to their conversation in Episode 1 when Carol accused him of hiding what’s in his head and heart from her. These are the type of quiet character moments I like to see, and where early seasons of The Walking Dead particularly excelled. Yet, Carol lacks the same full-circle character moment. Apparently, her resolution came in Season 2, and now her story is primarily about Antonio.
However, after watching this conversation between Carol and Daryl close to a dozen times, I hypothesize that Carol is also talking to herself when she says, “Maybe it’s finally safe to go home and stay.” In that light, both characters seem to realize they’re happiest and safest with the people they care about; their past trauma just makes that contentment seem scary. So, while it may not have been as direct as the “I love you” scene in TWD, it’s always gratifying to see emotionally unavailable characters giving a little something to each other.
Still, I wanted more from Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 7. One conversation between Carol and Daryl feels disappointing, especially because they spent the two episodes (and most of this one) apart. Not to mention, watching their boat burn down after all the work they put into it is just downright depressing. I get it’s setting up another season in Spain (or another part of Europe), but still. Throw a dog a bone. Just one.
What Comes Next for Daryl and Carol?
It’s still too early to know what Daryl Dixon Season 4 has in store for Carol and Daryl. However, we do know that Season 4 will be the spin-off’s final season.
Codren’s return suggests Daryl Dixon already plans to use some of its trademark convenient writing. Whether Codren is the key to new transportation, Laurent, or both is anyone’s guess right now. However, I hope this final season of Daryl Dixon remembers that the true heart of the series will always be Carol and Daryl. Romance. Friendship. Platonic soulmates. It makes no difference if we get more intimate moments where our rebellious, stir-crazy heroes learn running isn’t always the answer to their problems. (Oh, and a reunion with Rick would be nice, too!)
Other Thoughts
- In what I can only imagine is another moment of convenient writing, Codren is here in this exact town in Spain. You know, the place Carol and Daryl accidentally found themselves. How could he possibly know how/where to find them?
- Honestly, I’m proud of Antonio for calling Fede out. The series could have done more with their lifelong feud, BUT for once, it seems like Antonio decided to stand on business instead of just talking Fede’s BS.
- Wait, did El Alcazar just come to a refugee camp known for liberating women from El Alcazar to ask for volunteers for an event?
- Not Anotnio getting hung by his arms!
- I love the zombie marrinettes, but I also think these rich snobs find it a bit too funny.
- Okay, scratch that, the Mario Anotinette-looking zombie knocking the other zombie out with its septer is pretty funny.
- Man, auctioning off women like this is disturbing with a capital D.
- Finally, Carol is back to fighting!
- These last two episodes can be summarized as such: Person A gets taken by an antagonist. Person B goes to save Person A, only to fail. Person A gets involved with another rescue attempt for Person B.
- Carol, why are you acting like you’ve never seen walkers before? Please, stomp on their heads. Use the chains as weapons. Do literally anything because this is unlike you… Oh, never mind. Daryl is here to save the day. *Eye roll*
- Yeah, Justina, let Fede have it! (But also, don’t get bitten by walkers doing so, please.)
- “I saw it myself. La Ofrenda is over.” Cool. Okay. Yeah. I guess all it took was a handful of zombies and a little fire to bring down a long-established evil regime.
- I hate to say it, but Fede feels like a Scooby-Doo villain at this point. I almost wish he would shout, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids,” at Daryl and Carol.
- “This whole time, I’ve been trying to get home. Why the f*ck did I leave in the first place?” Oh, Daryl, you’re going to ask this now of all times.
- The boat is on FIRE! Looks like Daryl Dixon plans to stay in Spain for another season or, at least, somewhere in Europe.
- The Spanish cover of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” feels so appropriate right now.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been renewed for a fourth and final season.
