The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 2 Review

This review contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3, episode 2.

The first thing that struck me about The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’s latest episode is that last week’s cliffhanger was a bit misleading. The final moments of Daryl Dixon’s season 3 premiere made it seem like Carol had been captured by the skull-clad, torch-wielding cultists. But within seconds of this new episode, it turns out Carol is fine; she just went a bit further down the road.

The main conflict of the episode kicks off when Daryl saves a nice couple from a group of gunslinging baddies. While the boyfriend is reluctant to help them, the girlfriend tells them that her grandmother is a healer. Since Carol needs medical attention, Daryl asks to see her. The couple initially refuse to take them, because their community isn’t very welcoming to outsiders, but they change their tune when Daryl holds them at gunpoint.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Feels Like A Post-Apocalyptic Spaghetti Western

It’s Like A Fistful Of Dollars With Zombies

When they arrive at the couple’s village, the episode follows the usual Walking Dead formula pretty closely. Our heroes are ingratiated into a new community where everyone seems hostile and they have to earn their trust. Over time, they prove their worth, make some new friends, and help protect the community from outside threats. And, of course, the apparent safe haven turns out to be harboring some dark secrets. We’ve seen it a million times before.

But this time, it feels slightly different, because it plays on western tropes in a really fun way. As Daryl strolls into a village full of innocent people, all being terrorized by a band of nefarious villains and their tyrannical leader, and decides to take action, it feels like A Fistful of Dollars with zombies.

Daryl and Carol’s Spanish adventure is borrowing heavily from the themes and visuals and storylines of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci’s classic Euro-westerns.

I’ve been loving the spaghetti western vibes of this season so far. This episode has an armed standoff with a gang of bandits, a community holed up in a fortress, and Daryl looking like a crossbow-wielding Man with No Name. The previous seasons set in France didn’t have much of a distinctive identity, but Daryl and Carol’s Spanish adventure is borrowing heavily from the themes and visuals and storylines of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci’s classic Euro-westerns (although they were Italian-made, spaghetti westerns were mostly shot in Spain).

I’m Continually Impressed By Daryl Dixon’s Cinematic Visuals

For A TV Show, It Looks Amazing

Daryl looking off-screen in The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon season 3 episode 2

Much like in the premiere episode, I’m blown away by the cinematic visuals that the Daryl Dixon team are able to pull off on a TV budget. The village set has a massive scope and feels grimy and lived-in, and it’s used as a backdrop for striking shots like a brutal fight scene silhouetted against bright orange flames, or a dinner scene whose dark, moody lighting reflects the content of the conversation.

Norman Reedus continues to nail the balance between Daryl’s surface-level stoicism and his deeper underlying sweetness. He also captures the character’s long-standing social awkwardness, going back to his traumatic childhood, as he’s reluctant to embrace new friendships. Melissa McBride doesn’t have much to do, since Carol’s head injury means she’s not really acting like herself, so hopefully that won’t be a season-long thing and we can get back to the Carol we know soon enough. Óscar Jaenada is a great new addition to the cast as the charming but mysterious Federico, and Alexandra Masangkay’s Paz has a lot of potential.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs new episodes on AMC every Sunday.

Overall, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 3’s sophomore outing doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the premiere episode. The cliffhanger was just a cheeky bit of misdirection, and the terrifying villains that showed up on the beach aren’t the omnipresent threat they seemed to be. But there’s still a lot of potential here. If the rest of the season keeps up the spaghetti western vibes and puts Daryl in a Django-like gunslinger role, then there’s hope yet.