The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 episode 5 recap and review: "Vouloir, C'est Pouvoir"

After the chaos and heartbreak that ensued last episode, we're happy to see that the plot takes a pause but only momentarily. In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 episode 5 "Vouloir, C'est Pouvoir", Daryl tries to convince Laurent to come to America but alas their pilot Ash is missing.

While Daryl and Carol search for him, Losang's mission to find Laurent continues, leading to a showdown between himself and Daryl. Will our heroes be able to escape France via Ash's plane?

The search for Ash

The episode opens with Daryl, lost in thought and downright heartbroken before he and Carol carry on leaving the broken-down car behind. When the duo slowly makes their way to where Ash had landed the plane, they come to find him missing and the area booby-trapped.

Amongst those who fell for the traps is a man, hardly surviving, who explains that they were drawn to the area for the plane. Daryl also learns that Carol lied to Ash in order to convince him to bring her to France.

What the two don't know is that Ash was somehow being chased by walkers and found protection inside an abandoned car. In the process of trying to fight off the walkers he accidentally gets a concussion and passes out inside the car.

Daryl and Carol's luck changes when they reconnect with Laurent and Fallou at the camp, another secret and safe location as seen in season 1. There Daryl also finds Codron, who at this point, has probably had the most character development out of all the characters in the series.

He deeply regrets all his previous mistakes and is currently focused on protecting Laurent, even if that means working with Daryl. Although Daryl and Laurent reunite, the boy seems less than thrilled at the idea of going to America and declines Daryl's offer.

Daryl is saddened, believing he has failed Laurent, and decides to join Carol in searching for Ash. This means going to Demimonde, the underground club Quinn owned in season 1.

With Quinn dead, his ex-girlfriend Anna (we think, the show never specified as she seemed to like him more than he liked her), runs the place. While there Carol recognizes the gas cans Ash used for his plane.

They learn where the cans came from and decide to search for Ash there. In the meantime, Laurent and Codron have some heartfelt moments before Losang arrives with soldiers.

At this point, everyone in the camp has learned what Losang did at The Nest and begins to distract him so that Codron can escape with Laurent. Carol and Daryl eventually find Ash in the car, managing to fight their way through but even after getting into the car, walkers surround them once again.

With no means of escape, they decide to shoot two walkers with the serum Genet and her people were creating so that the two injected walkers will kill the others. This was a pure moment of dumb luck as in season 1 we saw this result wasn't always the case.

It only seemed to happen once when Daryl was forced to fight the walkers but hasn't happened since.

Who will stay and who will go?

Regardless, the walkers are mostly killed enabling Daryl and Carol to escape with Ash. They make it back to the plane but once again Daryl needs Anna's help.

Carol stays behind to watch over Ash, while Daryl seeks Anna finding Codron and Laurent there as well. During this time Daryl learns that Laurent has been worried for him, as he has lost everyone who had truly mattered to him.

Their brief heart to heart leads to Laurent agreeing he'll return to America with Daryl and Carol. Soon after Losang arrives searching for Laurent.

They follow Daryl, Codron, and Laurent into the catacombs via a secret entrance from Anna's office. Here Daryl and Codron begin to pick off Losang's soldiers one by one.

Daryl and Losang have a thrilling fight (although at times it was very hard to see what was happening), ending with Daryl crushing Losang's head in with a skull. With Losang finally dead you'd think our heroes are in the clear but alas Losang's right-hand woman wasn't killed by Codron, which means she'll probably return for revenge.

If that isn't enough Carol finally comes clean to Ash about the real reason she needed to get to France and of course, he took it as well as expected. But he still agrees to fly them home.

When Daryl and Laurent arrive, we come to one more problem: the plane can only hold three people. Who will stay and who will go?

Far better episode but not much happens

Although this episode had a lot of great moments such as Codron getting more character development, Laurent fully trusting Daryl, and Losang finally getting his comeuppance, there was still a lot of running around. The fact Daryl had to go to Demimonde several times and that he and Carol were forced into a side quest to find Ash, only to have the episode end on a cliffhanger where one person will have to stay behind, was a little convoluted.

It felt like this episode was both rushing to play catch up and hit all the key plot points before the season finale while also dragging. I must have checked the clock several times wondering when this episode was going to wrap up.

At this point, there is one episode left of the season, and it feels pretty obvious that Laurent will be sent home with Ash, whilst Daryl and Carol stay behind. Thus, probably, why the series continues into a third season for our heroes.

Even though season 2 had all the intention of continuing the story, it really fails in comparison to season 1. There were multiple times I was watching and missing the previous season that somehow told a near-perfect story like that of a hero's journey or epic tale of redemption and growth.

Season 2 feels like an entirely different show but not for the better. It dragged, lagged, made numerous ridiculous decisions, and didn't really add anything to the overall story arc at all. Will the season 2 finale at least do the season some justice? I certainly hope so.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 episode 6 airs on November 3, 2024, on AMC. Stay tuned as we'll be recapping the season each week!