The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon wraps up with the comforting scene of The Walking Dead's most iconic besties venturing off and away from Paris together. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol's (Melissa McBride) reunion was one of the most highly anticipated parts of Season 2, subtitled The Book of Carol. But not only did Carol return to the franchise, she also brought along a truckload of ties to the flagship show.
Some connections and references to The Walking Dead will be inevitable, especially as the two original characters reminisce with each other, but by the Season 2 finale, the overt callbacks were getting out of hand. Instead of providing meaningful context or thematic significance, the references simply seem to take up space in the dialogue. As the two traipse into Spain in Season 3, it is time to move past their history and become their own show again, just as the highly successful Daryl Dixon Season 1 did.
'Daryl Dixon' Season 2's References to 'The Walking Dead' Felt Forced
The first real callback in Daryl Dixon Season 2 was to Sophia (Madison Lintz), Carol's daughter who turned into a walker and died in Season 2 of the original show. This was during the first episode of Book of Carol, and it was a devastating yet effective way to re-introduce the character back into the series. However, in the finale, Carol once again brings in a string of references to The Walking Dead that truly do not add anything substantial to the show. While trying to connect with Daryl about his protective and nurturing feelings over Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), Carol hits us with a barrage of memories, including the names Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Henry (Matt Lintz).
Lizzie entered The Walking Dead in Season 4 alongside her younger sister Mika (Kyla Kennedy), and gives us one of the most chilling episodes of The Walking Dead: "The Grove." In this traumatizing episode, Carol is forced to kill the young child whom she had grown to see as her daughter. On the other hand, Henry was more overtly treated as Carol's child during her time in the Kingdom with Ezekiel (Khary Payton). However, Henry was viciously killed by the Whisperers and had his head paraded on a stake, once again shattering Carol's heart.
While being reminded of these episodes is, at the very least, a neat Easter Egg, it doesn't necessarily connect with the current storyline in Daryl Dixon in a meaningful way. If anything, Carol listing off these names to Daryl should really just set off alarm bells in his head. He should probably keep Laurent well away from Carol — she doesn't exactly have the best track record with children in the apocalypse.
'Daryl Dixon' Season 2 Called Back to Sophia Too Much
While name-dropping the previous characters simply felt like extra dialogue in Daryl Dixon Season 2, the references to Sophia faced a different problem. Initially, her inclusion was subtle and brutal, as Carol uses Sophia to manipulate Ash (Manish Dayal), but McBride's micro-expressions and the Cherokee flower also hinted at how heartbreaking the original scenes were, while also magnifying the importance of her friendship with Daryl. Then Sophia ends up overpowering Carol's character development. By implying that it was some unresolved feelings about losing a child that swayed her to use that lie (instead of it being just the smartest move), Carol's character suddenly takes a huge leap back — a leap the size of roughly 9 seasons.
Sophia's loss was absolutely excruciating for Carol and the grief over the loss of a child would stay with her forever. But The Walking Dead had plenty of seasons to directly address this. It is slightly random that it is coming up now, especially at this magnitude. Carol's character arc during this season is truly just confronting the memories of Sophia. Some of the scenes are provoking, like Carol's gut-wrenching confessions of how she can't remember what Sophia looks like. But considering that they are now in Paris facing entirely new stakes, antagonists and environments, with even Daryl's loyalties being split, Carol has an over-abundance of new potential narrative beats to work with. Instead, she struggles with something from Season 2 of The Walking Dead. This was probably a case of, "better late than never."
'Daryl Dixon' Season 3 Needs To Move On From 'The Walking Dead'
What really made the first season of Daryl Dixon enticing is how far removed it was to the original show. The only real thread of connection we had was the titular character, but he was too enamored with and disoriented by the foreign landscapes, characters, and walkers to worry about reminiscing on the specifics of what he left behind in the Commonwealth. Introducing Carol was undoubtedly going to wave in a series of past references that the two shared. However, now that we have the callbacks and Easter Eggs out of our system, perhaps Season 3 should hone in on the present.
Just like how the best Marvel movies are the ones that don't focus on referencing and building the cinematic universe, Daryl Dixon needs to stop trying to bridge the gap between itself and the original show in Season 3. We finally have a series that isn't congested by countless characters and storylines, and can focus solely on the friendship, interactions, and growth of the franchise's best duo. So, instead of reeling the past back into this spin-off, Daryl Dixon Season 3 needs to prioritize storytelling and a taut script that will be able to match the quality and horror of its first season.
