After six weeks of apocalyptic adventures, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon ended Season 2 with some big changes, some deaths, and some surprising returns. And unlike other episodes, “The Book of Carol: Au Revoir Les Enfants” had surprising dreamlike elements that some viewers may have found confusing. That’s where our The Waking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 ending explained comes in.
Before we get to that final, surreal section of the episode, though, let’s recap what got us there in Episode 6. We’ll recap the episode (briefly), and then what happened at the end. Plus, we’ll also discuss where things are going next… Particularly given the surprising way the season ended, versus what we know about Season 3’s production.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, Episode 6 “The Book Of Carol: Au Revoir Les Enfants” Recap
As we pick up at the top of the episode, Daryl (Norman Reedus) gives Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) an old guitar and explains why he needs to stay in France. Ash’s (Manish Dayal) plane can only hold three of them, and Daryl needs to make sure that both Laurent and Carol (Melissa McBride) make it back to the Commonwealth safely. Laurent plays “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by the Rolling Stones. Daryl sings along, and his voice cracks, showing a rare bit of vulnerability as he realizes he’s destined to be alone. OR IS HE??
Turns out, Carol thinks she’s not going, and wants Ash to take Daryl and Laurent. A classic “Gift of the Magi” situation if there ever was one. But after Ash and Daryl bond over losing people in a walker-filled tunnel under the racetrack they’re holed up at (remember that for later), Ash makes the executive decision that it’s going to be Carol, Laurent, and himself. Daryl has survived this long in France, he can do it for a while longer. Despite being generally pissed off at Carol for lying to him about her daughter, Sophia, being alive in France to get him to take her to the country in his airplane, Ash thinks she’s the better choice to fly home with.
Meanwhile, Codron (Romain Levi), Fallou (Eriq Ebouaney), and Akila (Soraya Hachoumi) are exploring an abandoned asylum. Side note: no, you’re not misremembering… Akila, who is seen here as a romantic interest for Fallou, has never appeared on the show before. Weird intro! Anyway.
In the asylum, Codron and Fallou are briefly captured by Sabine (Tatiana Gousseff), who wants to know where Daryl and Laurent are. They say they don’t know, and thanks to Akila are able to drive them off… Except Codron does know! He leads them there with just enough time to warn the group that Sister Jacinta (Nassima Benchicou) is coming. Jacinta is going to try one last time to either kill Laurent or have him bit by a zombie, I’m honestly forgetting what her motivation is at this point.
Jacinta, by the way, finds out where Daryl and company are at thanks to Anna (Lukerya Ilyashenko), who makes a deal: Jacinta gets Laurent, and Anna gets Ash’s plane. She wants to go home to Russia. When they arrive at the racetrack, a Paris poster reminds Anna of a heart-to-heart she had with Laurent. This gives her the power to do what she needs to do… Lure Jacinta’s men into the zombie-filled tunnel below the racetrack (remember that?) where most of them are killed. “God is on our side,” Jacinta tells Anna as walkers surround her. “No,” says Anna. “God gave up on us a long time ago.” And she dies. RIP, Anna.
Meanwhile, Ash gets the plane going and it seems like Carol is leaving with him and Laurent. What follows is a little section I like to call Ash and Laurent’s Stunt Spectacular as Jacinta’s men proceed to chase after the plane on bikes and in jeeps, making sweet jumps off the local terrain and shooting at them as Daryl, Fallou, and Codron try to take them out. The final kill shot, though, belongs to… Carol, who jumped out of the plane at some point, and is now stuck in France with Daryl. “I had it,” Daryl says. “Yeah, I know,” answers Carol. Oh, and then Jacinta kills herself. RIP, Jacinta.
With Ash and Laurent headed back to America, Carol and Daryl need to find another way back home. Luckily, Fallou knows a Scottish couple named Fiona (Sarah McCardie) and Angus (Matt Swift) who know how to get through the Chunnel to England. Turns out England got things under control pretty quickly after the world fell, though as Fiona and Angus are Scottish they still hate the place.
During a night of drinking and bonding, a few things happen. Daryl reveals to Codron that he didn’t kill his brother, Michel (Paul Deby), meaning Codron’s whole vengeance thing for the past two seasons meant nothing. Fallou and classic The Walking Dead character who we all know and love, Akila, kiss and decide to be together for one night only. And Carol reveals why she’s been so distraught to Daryl: she can’t remember Sophia’s face… All she can remember is the zombified Sophia from when she died on The Farm. Daryl’s pep talk? “We keep going, all right? That’s what we do.”
…Which is what they do, leading to the final section as the group gets to the Chunnel.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 Ending Explained
Everything laid out above is pretty straightforward and very The Walking Dead. But once we get to the Chunnel, things start to go a little wackadoo. First, though, Fallou decides to stay with TWD fan favorite Akila in France, to help her find her sister and be in love.
Meanwhile, Daryl, Carol, Codron, Angus, and Fiona all head into the Chunnel with supplies for the guards at the checkpoint. The only thing, once they get there, everyone is dead. The reason? Psychoactive bat guano. Despite there being masks everywhere, and knowing this is the case, nobody picks up a mask and they decide to move on.
Also, as a side note… This is not true. Despite the phrase “bat s**t crazy,” bat guano is not psychoactive. It contains a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum that, per the LA Department of Health, can cause respiratory disease. So, sorry about your lungs, Daryl.
Anyway, they all go crazy and start hallucinating. Codron sees his brother Michel and starts attacking Daryl. Carol sees Sophia, who is not played by Madison Lintz because she’s 25 years old now, and instead is an uncredited actress. And Angus and Fiona see… I don’t know what, haggis, probably? Anyway, after Codron runs off, they attack Daryl. While lying down, Daryl sees Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), who tells him to be courageous like his grandfather, William T. Dixon. That gives him enough strength to kill his Scottish guides. RIP, Angus and Fiona. Isabelle walks away, tells Daryl, “Bon courage, Monsieur Dixon,” and poofs into a bunch of fireflies, which she previously mentioned she wanted to see with Daryl, and then thought she saw when she died.
Meanwhile, Carol chases after “Sophia” only to encounter a Zombie Carol, who she kills. And that’s when Sophia turns from undead Sophia to regular Sophia, and Carol can see her face again.
Because psychoactive bat guano understands when you’ve properly worked through your personal trauma, Daryl and Carol reunite and finally put masks on. Codron has run off somewhere, to TBD on what happened to him. But our duo keep walking through the Chunnel to England, as the Rolling Stones plays again. Weirdly they did get what they want, so irony!
Will There Be A The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3?
There sure will be a The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3. The show was officially picked up for a third season in July. Production has moved from France to Madrid, Spain (and other areas in Spain) for the third season, and it has been filming since August.
Your big question — and mine — is if Daryl and Carol are walking toward England, how do they end up in Spain? That’s like, the whole other direction. We’ll have to wait to find out, of course, though likely there’s some sort of boat from England to Spain to take a plane situation, or something like that. Pure speculation, though!
Season 3 is still showrun by David Zabel (who was showrunner for the first two seasons), and though there’s been no confirmation he did note at New York Comic Con the series will likely go back to simply being The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, despite Carol’s continued presence.
In case it wasn’t obvious, Reedus and Mcbride are back for Season 3. It doesn’t seem like Dayal and Scigliuzzi (aka Ash and Laurent) will be back as regulars, though I wouldn’t rule out a guest appearance at some point down the road. Additionally, Levi (aka Codron) does not seem to be in the Season 3 cast, so maybe he’s wandering around the Chunnel high on bat guano until the end of time.
There are plenty of other cast joining them, though. Eduardo Noriega, Óscar Jaenada, and Alexandra Masangkay join as series regulars, while — deep breath — Candela Saitta, Hugo Arbués, Cuco Usín, Gonzalo Bouza, Greta Fernández, Hada Nieto, Stephen Merchant, Yassmine Othman, Irina Björklund, Armando Buika, Javier Taboada, Boré Buika, Anna Gras, Claudio Bandini, Pedro Bachura, and Elena Sándell join the cast, as well.
As for other details including a premiere date? That’s TBA, though we do know Season 3 will premiere sometime in 2025. Given both previous seasons premiered in September, this will likely follow the same pattern, as long as production goes smoothly. Until then: au revoir.
Where To Watch The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Comic Book Club Live Info:
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.