The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 episode 2 recap and review: "Moulin Rouge"

In the season 2 opener of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon The Book of Carol, Daryl finds himself growing closer to Laurent which doesn't bode well for Losang and the Nest. Meanwhile, Carol manages to make a new friend who happens to be a pilot and together they leave the United States for France.

Although The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon The Book of Carol season 2 episode 2 starts slow, "Moulin Rouge" unexpectedly picks up the pace, leading to several plot twists, action, and a possible new romance. Let's not waste another second and get into this recap and review because it is a doozy.

Welcome to France

Carol and Ash manage to cross the Atlantic but before they can reach their destination, they are forced to land due to a fuel leak. While Ash tends to the leak, Carol takes it upon herself to take care of approaching walkers.

But as expected they get the upper hand. Ash aids in her battle with the walkers when they are saved by two women.

If anyone is familiar with The Walking Dead or any of its spinoffs, these two strangers will either be A. short lived bad guys or B. good guys who also won't live long. If you guessed A. you are correct!

The two women immediately separate Ash and Carol, where it becomes clear that the two are not mentally stable. This is probably due to their seclusion and almost non existent human contact.

Whilst Carol sits inside their small home, trying to talk her way out of getting killed by the one, the other proposes to Ash via gunpoint that they need to contribute to the repopulation of the world. While it is not clear if Ash was assaulted or not, (as the second lady returns claiming to have done so, in a manner of words), Carol is still trying to talk her way out of getting killed.

She does promise multiple times to bring her captor along and eventually, she agrees by killing her friend who had been pressuring her to kill Carol. On their walk back Ash manages to kill the captor using a flare gun (that the episode was not remotely subtle about showing repeatedly) and together he and Carol escape and continue towards France.

When they do arrive, Carol manages to convince Ash to remain with the plane while she goes ahead. Keep in mind he still thinks Carol is searching for her daughter and has no clue about Daryl.

Carol manages to enter Paris where she notices a truck full of food stopping by to pick up a homeless man (which makes no sense considering its a city full of countless abandoned buildings, apartments, and the like). She's able to follow the truck via the trail of grain seeping from a hole in the bag she quickly made.

The trucks are indeed full of food, and it doesn't take long for Carol to merge with the large crowd of people seeking the food. This is all a ploy by Genet, who lures in starving survivors in the hopes to obtain volunteers for her experiments that the general public knows nothing about.

Carol is caught and sent into one truck while others are moved to a second truck, this includes the separation of a married couple hoping that the promises Genet's organization made will improve their lives. On the way, it becomes clear that Genet's intentions are indeed nefarious.

The trucks are separated and we come to find Genet has been torturing Codron. He has yet to reveal the location of the Nest (even though the pocket watch with an engraving of the Nest location is wide open) therefore it seems Genet is ready to use more extreme measures.

The plot thickens

While you may think that is a lot to digest, Carol's story is only half the story. At the Nest, Laurent is becoming increasingly less interested in his destiny which is understandable as he is a kid.

He loves spending time with Daryl (which includes learning how to play baseball) and rather enjoy his life than tend to his endless studies. It was established last episode that Losang is both worried about Daryl's influence on Laurent and Laurent's overall preparedness.

In fact, their people have supposedly been beginning to doubt the mission, which does not bode well for the Nest as a whole. Losang reluctantly agrees that Laurent will need to prove himself to the people sooner than planned.

But alas, when Isabelle goes to check on her nephew the following morning, he's missing. Within moments they deduce that he was kidnapped which leads Daryl, Isabelle, and a small group of people to aid in his rescue.

This includes Fallou who just returned from being captured by Genet and Emile who has been acting weird (suspicious) since his return. While the group is gone Sylvie notices a nun preparing a meal Laurent tends to eat.

She follows her to a secret location where Laurent is studying with Losang. Slyvie's fate is left unknown by the end of the episode.

Meanwhile Daryl discovers this to be a trap as several members of the Nest attempt to kill him and Isabelle. When Emile attempts to kill Fallou, we learn that he has seen horrific things while captured by Genet.

He's also become quite the extremist believing in Laurent to the point of making such irrational decisions. But perhaps the biggest reveal is that the next day Laurent will be tested by proving he cannot turn upon getting bitten by a walker.

Emile is killed leaving Fallou, Isabelle, and Daryl as the only survivors of the trap. Their troubles increase when they notice the water has risen around the Nest meaning they'll need to wait until the next day to return home.

This provides Isabelle and Daryl the perfect opportunity to kiss (finally), as their growing tension and bond has been prevalent since the previous season. Back at the Nest, Losang learns that this trap could cost Daryl, Isabelle, and Fallou their lives, an act he did not agree to.

The episode full of surprises

When the episode began with Ash and Carol meeting the two women, I was worried it was going to be a rather uninteresting episode. Perhaps it is from my years and years of watching The Walking Dead but at this point if new side characters aren't progressing the plot in any way (whether for good or bad reasons) I'd rather they not be included in the story at all.

What was the honest purpose of their inclusion except to tell audiences what we already know? The apocalypse changes people for the worse, it makes them unhinged, this is their cliche reason for why they are doing this etc. We didn't even learn anything new about Ash or Carol.

Thankfully after that detour, the plot picks up, revealing how desperate the Nest is becoming for Laurent to fulfill his destiny. At this point they are becoming as warped and evil as Genet, so focused on their mission they do not care how many lives are sacrificed along the way.

Isabelle was debating Daryl's offer of leaving with Laurent and following him back home. Now it seems it may be the only choice.

Will they manage to stop the test in time, or will Laurent prove to be immune? One option seems more likely but the other would make the show a lot more exciting.

Speaking of Isabelle and Daryl, they finally kissed but what will happen next? Will they both regret it or deepen their growing relationship?

Or will the show take the easy way out and kill her off? I want to have faith in the direction their relationship goes but TWD has a horrid track record when it comes to Daryl and romance.

Daryl was always fine as a character who wasn't tied down to anyone. However, when the show decides to open up the possibility of a relationship, they somehow mess it up.

So, either give Daryl a solid romantic relationship (one that will stay and last) or don't even tease the idea at all. I'm not opposed to his romance with Isabelle.

In fact, I believe their connection was very real and believable since they essentially met. The last thing I want is to have Daryl be heartbroken again. He deserves to be happy. Stop using him as a romantic tragedy punching bag.

Last but not least, Codron deserves all the credit in the world for not revealing anything to Genet after he's endured so much pain and torture. I was floored to see how committed he was to keep true to his promise. If he does indeed die this season, let it be known he is an unsung hero and legend.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 episode 3 airs on October 13, 2024 on AMC. Stay tuned as we'll be recapping the season each week!