The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2 recap “Alouette”

Prepare for chaos and heartbreak, as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1 episode 2 takes audiences into Isabelle’s past and how it affects the current events of the show. Grab some popcorn and tissues and let’s dive into “Alouette”.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2 recap – Isabelle’s past

Season 1 episode 2 opens to reveal the night the outbreak began in France. Isabelle seems to be having a normal evening of going to a club, taking drugs and stealing from men with money.

As she prepares to head home, she notices a few people attacking each other and leaves. As she attempts to get a ride on a train home, she notices the passengers are getting attacked as well.

At this point, Isabelle finds herself amidst a chaotic scene of people screaming, fleeing while others get attacked. As she encounters her first walker, she is saved by a man named Quinn, whom right off the bat, you can tell he’s not as great a guy as he’s coming off.

He offers to help Isabelle but she wants to go home first. Upon getting home she finds her sister Lily and together they flee with Quinn.

As they travel, Lily gets more and more sick, causing the trio to pull over. It’s revealed that Lily is sick because she’s 7 months pregnant.

Isabelle had no idea her sister was pregnant and didn’t want Quinn to know. However, he notices immediately and suggests that they drop her off at a clinic, as apparently wherever he’s taking them isn’t equipped to help her.

Isabelle plays it cool, swipes the car key, and flees with her sister, leaving Quinn behind. As they continue moving onward, they pull over when they see an emergency vehicle.

Upon getting out of the car they find walkers and immediately try to get back into the car. A walker grabs Lily, but the sisters manage to escape.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2 recap – The lost children

As the flashbacks continue to unfold throughout the episode; Isabelle, Daryl, Laurent and Sylvie continue their path north. When they come across a horde of walkers, Daryl let’s their mule lose, hoping to distract the walkers.

His action however troubles Laurent as he loved the mule. Isabelle assures him he’ll survive, and they meet up with him later.

They don’t get far before they are attacked and captured by a group of children. The children are living in a rundown preschool, having survived on their own with the guidance of one teacher.

The teacher, however, has been ill for months and appears to be in a coma. They do not have the medicine they need to help her, but they know where to find it.

A man has taken over a fairly large castle nearby, hoarding all of the food and medical supplies in the area. They had sent kids there before to retrieve the supplies, but they never came back.

When Daryl hears this man has a horse, he offers to get the supplies to save their teacher. Trouble is, both he and Isabelle know the medicine won’t save her.

As Isabelle continues to lie to Laurent about his parents and why they value him so much, Daryl decides to lie as well to the kids in order to get the horse they need to move onward.

But it’s not all doom and gloom as the kids have been thriving, enjoy meals together and even watch Mork & Mindy, a show even Daryl and Merle enjoyed in their youth. As Daryl and Lou, the leader of the children, decide to travel to the castle, Isabelle and Sylvie stay behind to watch the children.

Laurent tries to make friends but he’s obviously an outcast. Daryl and Lou’s mission turns deadly fast as they come across the dried-up moat filled with walkers and one of the missing kids held captive.

Thanks to Daryl, he’s able to apprehend the man who happens to be an American from Texas. He’s been living there, in the hopes of returning home to his family.

Daryl and the boy capture him, along with supplies the rest of the kids need. Even though Daryl tells the man that America has suffered the same fate as France, he refuses to part with everything.

In a scuffle, both fall into the walker moat, where the man brutally dies, and Daryl survives. Upon returning to the children with the supplies, their teacher unfortunately passes, and Lou makes the decision to be the one to prevent her from turning.

Although the trio needs to leave, Laurent wants to stay behind. As he quarrels with Isabelle, not only mad that the mule was killed proving she lied but because he’s being treated like a baby, it becomes clear why he’s seen as a miracle and so heavily protected.

Isabelle and Lily had made it to the convent, where Isabelle would later reside. Once inside, it is revealed that Lily was bit by the walker that grabbed her.

She dies in childbirth, resulting in the nuns and priest to perform a C-section. The baby is born but Lily turns into a walker.

Isabelle, now the caretaker of the baby, names him Laurent after Saint Laurent. Yes, Laurent is her nephew.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2 recap – Codron’s return

As with any post-apocalyptic story, danger is never far away. With a limp and wounded arm Codron returns to the convent.

He discovers the recording Daryl made from the previous episode, digs through all the paperwork left behind, which includes Laurent’s birth information, as well as the map of France on the wall. Codron now knows where Daryl is headed, and you know he’s going to meet them at their destination to seek his revenge.

Although Laurent feels very alone and misunderstood, Daryl does what he can to befriend the boy. However, time is ticking and eventually he will have to be told the truth.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2 review

Considering I had just given birth to my second child not even two months ago, this episode hit home harder than I expected it to. I cried as Lily’s story unfolded, knowing how her story was going to end.

It was difficult to watch as she struggled to give birth, only to die and never see her baby. Hearing the sounds of baby Laurent for the first time brought me back to hearing my baby’s first cries at the hospital.

The profound effect this whole event has on Isabelle is evident, and you can tell she feels as though her world is turned upside down, more so now than when she witnessed walkers for the first time. Laurent is a miracle.

He should have died; he could have turned as well, but he didn’t. He survived and maybe this is what leads Isabelle into believing he’s a Messiah.

We have yet to learn how the Messiah prophecy fits into everything. It was equally sad to see these children left to fend for themselves, as they are forced to grow up quickly and in such a dark and deadly world without anyone to guide them but their teacher.

Thankfully Lou will guide them now and even on those dark days, they will have each other. The apocalypse toughens kids up but they never lose sight of being children all the same.

I am wondering why Isabelle doesn’t want to take the route into Paris as the map suggests. Does it have to do with Quinn?

Who was Quinn exactly? I doubt we’ve seen the last of him.

The next episode might answer those burning questions, as well as reveal how Paris has been surviving since the fall.

What did you think of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1, episode 2? Let us know in the comments below!

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 1 episode 3 airs on September 24 on AMC.