This is a non-spoiler review for all six episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol, which premieres Sunday, September 29 at 9:00pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 – aka The Book of Carol – is a strong follow up to Daryl Dixon’s (Norman Reedus) excellent first outing from last year. It’s also a unique and thoughtful continuation of the original show, which itself forgot how to be either of those things well before it lurched to an end in 2022. The Book of Carol lacks overall thrills – this long-running franchise’s zombies sadly transformed from terrors to nuisances years back. But the twists, turns, and zompocalypse happenstance that lead to Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) finding Daryl on the other side of the ocean, and the resulting team up, are often a blast to behold.
However you're invested in Daryl and Carol's relationship – whether you enjoy their strong platonic bond or hope the occasional tease of possible romance comes to fruition – these two kick ass together. In the same way that The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live leaned into both Rick and Michonne being a tag team of ultimate destruction, capable of bringing down an entire army by themselves, Book of Carol gives us a tandem offense like no other. Just a two-person wrecking crew that not only allows Daryl to keep wielding his best weapon yet, the Morning Star Flail, but also spotlights Carol’s homicidal mojo in a way that hasn’t been showcased in a hot minute.
Carol's transformation from meek, abused housewife to absolute annihilator was one of the glowing arcs for the first half of The Walking Dead, and The Book of Carol not only re-gifts us that particular version of the charactger but it also allows her to explore the unaddressed trauma regarding Sofia that the mothership series never quite touched on. It's one thing to bury your pain and become a hardened, callous warrior, but these new spinoff shows are giving the Walking Dead saga space to tap into things that never got the proper treatment on the old show. The version of Carol we get here is both an exceptionally capable killing machine and a vulnerable mother with unaddressed grief – all of which star McBride channels through her magnificent performance.
The first season of Daryl Dixon was reworked as a solo adventure for Reedus after McBride was unable to join the cast and crew in Europe, but Carol still fits perfectly into the mix in season 2. Still, it's clear that some season 1 story elements and characters had to be remixed and reworked in order to make this second season a half-Carol affair; most of the change ups work well, though a few, understandably, feel like square pegs. You can't help but feel a herd thinning happening when the series brings together our two heroes and strips away much of the new life (and new co-stars) that Daryl found for himself last season.
It's only minorly frustrating, however, since the addition of Carol obviously is going to bring Daryl's crucible to a head. When season 1 wrapped, Daryl was torn about staying in France or leaving, and that's still at the heart of season 2. Carol realizes how bats*** it is that they've run into each other on a different continent – she never traveled internationally during the Before Times – but she's taken aback at how close Daryl has gotten to his new "family." He even remarks, almost apologetically, that he didn't expect to care about anyone new. But, as we saw, Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) melted his cold heart.
Even with the addition of McBride, Laurent continues to be the driving force in The Book of Carol. The threat of Anne Charrier's Madame Genet continues to loom and brand new dangers arise within the (so-called) peaceful Union of Hope, lead by Joel de la Fuente's Losang. Laurent is still seen as a miracle child, and his bond with Daryl threatens Losang's (Joel de la Fuente) plans for a savior. Meanwhile, Genet (Anne Charrier) continues to see the boy as someone who could undermine her tyrannical governance. The change to Losang's demeanor feels forced, but to balance that out, Genet, as a character, becomes more complex and nicely layered. Regardless, Daryl has enemies coming at him in all directions now and Carol couldn't arrive at a better time.
The Book of Carol is paced well, making room for Carol’s trek and the big addition to season 2 connected to her journey – Ash (Manish Dayal) – while also making sure that Carol and Daryl have time to reconnect amidst the swarming Big Bads (and their respective side stooges). Episodes 3 and 4 are the most provocative of the six, though Book of Carol’s finale, which I won’t spoil, has a final third that’s mesmerizing and unexpectedly rewarding as an endgame segment.
Carol and Daryl work as a duo in a marvelous way that allows the viewer to project almost whatever they’d like onto their dynamic. Unlike Rick and Michonne, who represent true love among the ruins of humanity, or Maggie and Negan, who play out a forgiveness/redemption fable, Carol and Daryl represent a deep connection that is undefined even by them. It’s one that drives Carol across the ocean just for a chance at finding Daryl. It's a relationship that some fans might even hope leads to a sexual pairing. Whatever your flavor of Reedus-McBride scene, though, it’s here. From heartfelt hugs to petulant squabbling to adeptly obliterating dozens of walkers and/or armed villains, these two work because they stand for the intimate closeness, and sometimes co-dependence, you can feel to another soul.
