Critic Reviews

If Daryl Dixon is a glimpse at the types of ambitious swings The Walking Dead franchise is looking to take in its new era, I’m all for it. This is a big, weird story that it’s exciting to see told. It’s easily one of the best Walking Dead things in years (and that’s including the last few years of the original series, too).

The good news is that Daryl Dixon is a considerably more gripping experience than the disappointing Dead City spinoff. [4 - 24 Sep 2023, p.6]

“Daryl Dixon” is a fun, compelling example of that well-worn story, putting a long-underused icon right in the spotlight amid a novel, unsettling environment. If you were put off by the endless seasons of "The Walking Dead" and desperately want to return to the glory days of Daryl, this might be a good enough excuse to send you shambling back.

Hopefulness bears "Daryl Dixon" aloft, to the point that you may pray he doesn't get his wish to go back home. No matter where he is, things are never going to back to the same as before. But this side trip reminds him and us that no matter what disasters befall us, life can be good again.

The new cast members and fresh story are just what was needed, and the deeper exploration of characters we’ve been following for years is very satisfying.

The focus that Daryl Dixon puts on character rather than empty spectacle is its greatest asset. It isn’t the richest or most unique of emotional journeys, with many elements still feeling rushed, but at least there is more thought to how it all plays out this time around. While the season's best acting comes from Poésy, Reedus still settles into his gruff role well.

As ridiculous as the "Daryl in Paris" logline sounds, is solid as heck. The story is both foreign and familiar, both unsettling and natural. Daryl having misadventures in a land so far away is fun in its own right but then watching him discover that this is where his true heart might belong is a deeper level of delight.

With only six episodes in which to tell a more or less complete story, there should be no room for a slow burn, yet “Daryl Dixon” doesn’t find its true rhythm until it hits a soap-opera-worthy plot twist midway through the third episode.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is a decent little show and has several moments that are significantly better than that.

The best reason to watch Daryl Dixon is not Reedus, as the taciturn title character, but Poésy, who has an uncanny, implacable quality that serves her both in flashbacks, as a grifting, soul-deadened hedonist, and in the present, as a true believer who still keeps both feet on the ground. Isabelle is a deliciously complicated creation, more so than the other survivors and bands of outsiders here, many of whom feel like refugees from similar projects.