In this episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Carol has to do some serious explaining to Ash, Losang invades Fallow’s stronghold. But hey! Life is a cabaret, my friends. At least that’s what Liza Minnelli told us.
Vouloir, C’est Pouvoir
The title for this episode means, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” This is so true for Carol’s (Melissa McBride) determination to find Daryl (Norman Reedus), even if it meant lying to Ash (Manish Dayal). We see this will to survive in the way that Daryl protects Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi). There are children back home at the Commonwealth that have a stronger claim to Daryl than this little French boy, but here we are. Laurent refuses to return to America. He is upset about Isabelle’s death. Everyone who tries to protect him dies.
While Carol and Daryl go searching for the missing Ash, Carol admits that she told a huge lie to Ash to get him to fly her to France. If Daryl only knew that Ash thinks that Daryl is the long-lost husband. The loss of Sophia, and its effect on Carol, is finally being dealt with. I don’t remember in all the years that I did reviews for the show that we saw the trauma Carol had been dealing with. She was always busy fighting. But the flashback scenes to little Sophia stumbling out of that barn, is how I imagine the horror that Carol must continually see in her mind and has kept locked inside her.
I’ve said it before, I think shooting in another country has been great for this series. The French handle life differently than Americans. And, this is important, their architecture was made to survive thousands of years. Construction was done by masters of the trade…not like the houses that developers throw together here in the states.
Laurent has yet to reveal his superpower, but he is a gentle soul, and the nuns who loved him taught him to be compassionate. I think his chat with Codron (Romain Levi) proved this, while also making Codron even more determined to protect the boy after Losang (Joel de la Fuente) visits Fallow’s (Eriq Ebouaney) compound. I think Codron’s character arc has been the most satisfying of this series. Codron, like Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), start off as bad men, but they weren’t always that way, and all it took for both men to change their hearts was the kindness of children. I do hope that Laurent and Judith (Cailey Fleming) get to meet one day.
Conclusion with Spoilers
There were so many storylines going on at the same time. Daryl is still grieving the loss of Isabelle (Clementine Poesy), but he needs help, and he takes Carol to Demimonde, where she meets the entertainment and the amazing Anna (Lukerya Ilyashenko) who took over the cabaret. Again, the difference with the French compared to the States. Three different compounds that are somewhat friendly with each other with the only destabilizer being the boy. Losang would not have gone to Demimonde or Fallow’s if it wasn’t for Laurent.
Daryl and Carol do find Ash (Manish Dayal) trapped inside a car. In one of the bloodiest scenes in this episode, we get to see how that experimental drug actually works on walkers. As expected, Ash is angry. I think Carol should have kept her mouth shut.
My grandson (ex-military) is an Aikido (Aikidoka) Sensei. So, watching Losang and Daryl fight it out was exciting because in Aikido, you use your opponent’s strength against him. Joel de la Fuente took Aikido lessons for the fight and was able to do most of the fight scene. Daryl took a beating as did Jacinta in her battle with Codron…but Daryl and Codron survive. Carol, Daryl and Laurent are ready to fly the friendly skies, but there is one little problem…the plane only holds three people.
