The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (series)

I fell out with The Walking Dead main series a number of years before they stopped making them... Actually, I am not even sure if they stopped making them. I felt as though the series had run its course and they were just rehashing the same stories over and over again.

That being said I did really enjoy a few characters that were on that show and Daryl was one of them. I also quite like actor Norman Reedus who as far as I know hasn't really done a great deal outside of The Walking Dead. Because I appreciated his character, I decided to give this series a chance even though I am dead tired of zombie shows and movies.

src

As far as I can tell this show seems to be almost exactly the same thing as The Walking Dead but this time it is France! So if you got sick of the original series the way that I did now you can relive all of that but you now have the added benefit of having very difficult to understand accents mixed in there as well.

The show didn't start out the best way in my mind because as absurd as the scenarios are generally speaking in most zombie shows and films, the notion that Daryl just floated all the way across the Atlantic ocean without starving to death is a bit of a stretch.

src
What makes it even more crazy is that let's go ahead and suspend our disbelief for a moment and presume that it is possible to float across the Atlantic and not die from dehydration, starvation, or the myriad of other problems that would happen out there. One would still presume that a person in such a situation would probably manage to grow one hell of a beard in that time but not Daryl! He has a small goatee that is cut just so. I guess he had his priorities while adrift and kept to his grooming schedule.

src

The beach he washes up on is conveniently located within walking distance of a rather large city where he manages to stock up on supplies that the locals apparently didn't need including batteries and a tape recorder. This was very handy and lucky indeed.

I get frustrated when stupid crap like this happens because with the impending doom of a zombie apocalypse being upon us, supplies aren't just going to be lying around especially since this is meant to be taking place many years after the initial outbreak.

Why is Daryl here? Well since I stopped watching The Walking Dead years ago I don't even recall if he even survived the other series and I certainly don't remember him getting on a boat and pushing out towards Europe. He seems an unlikely character to attempt to undergo something like that but another amusing aspect of his surprise visit to France is that when asked what he is there to do he says that he is going to head back to the States. This is not a great start as far as plotlines are concerned.

France also has these pockets of civilization in existence just like the original city and of course, self-appointed governmental types are too busy killing one another to focus on the very obvious common enemy that is the undead roaming the countryside and filling the abandoned shopping centers in the cities.

src
_{oh and there's a rather irritating child actor that gets introduced early on as well as an added bonus}

There has only been one episode released and they are sticking with the one a week release on AMC with only 6 episodes planned to be released in season one. Hopefully this means that they are going to skip a lot of unnecessary dialogue and side-quests but if episode one is any indication of what is set to come, I don't have high hopes that this is going to entertain anyone that isn't already a huge fan of zombie stuff.

For me, this show probably would be something that I considered to be decent if it wasn't for the fact that in the past 15 years or so basically every imaginable avenue in the zombie realm has already been well-trodden.

Should I watch it?

It's honestly too early to make a call on this but so far I can say that this is in my opinion slightly above average as far as available series are concerned right now. I can't really even attempt to spoil things for you because I don't know very much but so far it at least appears as though they are going to be focusing more on the human aspect of things rather than endless battles with slow moving zombies. I hope they can stick to that because there's only so many times that you can watch Daryl stab half a dozen crawling undead in the skull before it gets a bit on the repetitive side.

I will continue to watch them as they are released for no other reason that the fact that there really isn't a better alternative available at the moment. I give this one a lukewarm "whatever" as a rating for now.