The time has finally arrived where we have a chance to get a really good look at another country (that is not connected with the States like in Fear the Walking Dead). I would say that I am not in love with the premise, another escort mission, and with a religious direction to boot, but I like the lead of course, the already different walker variation, and the belief that we will see other walker types. Daryl will have more baddies to face off and a tough journey home. Those are the things I’ll be looking and hoping for with this particular season.
The first question everyone wants to know is how does Daryl make it to France. I’ll start this by talking about the episode end where Daryl gives us the answers we are looking for. He says he left home looking for something worth finding since he thought they had to be something out there. He found bad people who put him on a boat. That didn’t go well and he ended up washed ashore. We will start here and touch back on the ending later.
Daryl washed on shore and his dingy boat went back to the ocean. He got his bearings, walked around a bit and saw a sign that was in a foreign language. This is the moment that Daryl knew he was in some real trouble. He makes it to a little town and sees a little family boat, steps inside in the pursuit of water and supplies, he sees a tape recorder and listens to the recordings of a doomed family and their history. The voice refers to trying to get to Biarritz as maybe it is safe there, it is due east but across the country from his point Marseille. With no other information or ideas he heads off in that direction after recording a message of who he is and what’s his journey. He takes the recorder along. After a long walk he ends up at a market and comes across the first new variant, one the locals call a burner. One touched his skin and instantly burned it, it is pretty wild.
The episode blows through a lot of the roster we don’t get much of a chance to learn about. As I mentioned not in love with aspects of the story. Daryl proves he can handle rough characters, which is appealing to a passing nun. He is double crossed by someone who I sense we are going to see her again, her name is Maribelle. My initial gut reaction is they are going to tie in that she is related to Rick Grimes, just based on the comics.
Daryl and the nuns get into a fight with the rough character group and all but one of them dies, while on the side of the nuns only two survive, and the boy, Laurent, who the nuns believe is the Messiah that will bring the world back, and who they want Daryl to escort to a safer place to fulfill his mission. Daryl finally agrees to only after he learns of a working port town that is close to where they want Laurent to go.
I’m way more excited to see this group at the port that Daryl escaped from, who they are, what they are about, and if or when Daryl is able to take back over the boat so he can go home.
