Daryl Dixon: How the Show Broke the Cycle and Became The Walking Dead's Best Spinoff

I was late to start watching The Walking Dead television series. The show was quite engaging despite falling into the same patterns. The group would find a safe place to stay. Big threat comes along. Fight. Lose some members while getting away. Find a new place. Fear the Walking Dead also fell into the pattern. The main difference was that Rick Grimes would waffle in his decisions. He was never certain he was doing the right thing. Madison Clark, on the other hand, operated purely on maternal instinct. New characters would join the group and get lost along the way. When Daryl Dixon came out as a series, it was a new plot formula.

In The Walking Dead, Daryl was a strong supporting character who stepped up to be Rick's most trusted ally. Daryl did not want to be the leader, unlike Rick's best friend Shane Walsh, who became a problem for the group. In the Daryl Dixon series, Daryl isn't looking for a safe place to live. Daryl was always comfortable living alone, away from everyone. Instead, Daryl is wandering around Europe trying to find a way to get back home.

The problem for Daryl is that he is getting caught up in local conflicts in his efforts to find a way home. In the first season of Daryl Dixon, Daryl agrees to protect Isabelle and Laurent on their journey to Le Havre where Laurent is meant to fulfill his destiny. Unfortunately, Daryl's effectiveness at staying alive has earned him enemies within a short time of arriving in France.

The journey to Le Havre spills over to the second season, in which Daryl gives up his opportunity to get home. However, Daryl gains an ally when his best friend Carol shows up looking for him. At the conclusion, Daryl and Carol head to the Chunnel to get to England, which goes as one can expect in a zombie universe.

The third season fakes out the viewers into thinking Daryl and Carol will be in the UK. But as it turns out, there's nobody left except a guy named Julian, who they convince to use his sailboat to take them back to America. Of course, things are never that easy. After a big storm, they are shipwrecked on the coast of Galicia. Carol is injured, needing medical attention. The two stumble upon a young couple who meant to elope until Daryl threatens them with a gun unless they get help for Carol. Just like that, they enter into a new conflict.

What I am enjoying about the Daryl Dixon series is that the characters are not staying in one place and wallowing in their own mess. Instead, Daryl and Carol are like knights-errant finding new adventures. They help set things right and move on to the next adventure. In some ways, I suppose it's like The Odyssey, except with zombies.

I have just finished watching the third season of Daryl Dixon. They were close to sailing off to America. But circumstances destroyed their opportunity. Fortunately, it looks like the duo will reunite with a French ally from the second season, who was an enemy in the first season, Codron. It seems like season 4 will likely be in Spain, but could also take them back to France.

Long term, I'd like the show to take the Viking route to America, if they sail. The would first stop in Iceland, maybe Greenland, and then back to the American mainland. But, if they fly, then it would be less dramatic and a faster change of setting.

As a whole, I'm enjoying Daryl Dixon as it changes up the formula a bit. In the other shows, particularly Fear of the Walking Dead, the characters are well aware that they are trapped in a cycle of finding a have, facing an outside threat, getting displaced, and then having to find a new place to live. Yet, they can't seem to break out of the cycle. Daryl, on the other hand, is driven by the desire to go home. In his quest, he ends up doing side quests to help others.

One example of a side quest is when Daryl comes upon a leper colony that had their water stolen. They share what little water they have with him and ask for his help in recovering it from the bandits who took it. Daryl is already on a quest to rescue somebody; but he temporarily sets that aside to help the lepers get their water back.

There is also a scene in which Daryl and Carol are having a conversation about how fed up he is of always moving and fighting. He fears that when he returns to America, he will grow restless and wander off again. The payoff of this series is seeing Daryl grow as a character.

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