The second episode of AMC’s post-apocalyptic series ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,’ titled ‘Alouette,’ revolves around Daryl Dixon, Isabelle, and Laurent’s journey to the north of France. As their journey progresses, they encounter a survivor community. Daryl helps the community to garner resources from a man who has been stealing the same from the village. The episode also sheds light on Isabelle’s past, depicting how she ends up in the abbey. The engrossing episode ends with a pivotal revelation concerning the birth of Laurent, explaining how he is connected to Isabelle! SPOILERS AHEAD.
A Window to the Past
‘Alouette’ begins with depicting the first days of the zombie apocalypse through the eyes of Isabelle. When hell broke out in Paris, Quinn, who loved Isabelle, took her and her sister Lily to a safe place. Midway through the journey, Lily revealed that she was pregnant. Quinn told Isabelle that they couldn’t take Lily with them since their destination didn’t have any hospitals to take care of the latter. Isabelle then stole Quinn’s car and drove away with Lily. Before reaching a safe place, they encountered a herd of walkers, who bit Lily. They ultimately ended up at the abbey of Mother Superior and Father Jean.
In the present time, Daryl and Isabelle, along with Sylvie, are taking Laurent to the north of France, hoping that the latter will grow to become the messiah of humanity. When they encounter a herd of walkers, Daryl releases their mule to distract them. The mule runs away, only for the herd of walkers to follow the animal. Meanwhile, Daryl and others get captured by a group of survivors, who take them to Lou, their leader. When Lou realizes that the guests are harmless, she provides them with food and a place to stay until they can continue their journey. From Lou and others, Daryl learns that a man known as La Tarasque has been stealing food and other resources from the village.
Daryl then goes to La Tarasque’s castle with Lou to find a horse so that he can continue his journey with Isabelle and Laurent. Daryl gets into the castle and frees one of Lou’s companions, who had been imprisoned at the place. Meanwhile, the custodian of the castle starts to fire at the intruders. Daryl then confronts the man, who reveals that he is an American named RJ Gaines. When Gaines talks about returning to his family in the United States, Daryl reveals that the walkers turned their home into a wasteland. A fight ensues between them, only for Daryl to win the same and Gaines to die. He continues his journey with Laurent, Isabelle, and Sylvie.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Episode 2 Ending: Who is Laurent? Why is He Special?
When Daryl first ends up at Isabelle’s abbey, she tells him about Laurent being a special boy and the messiah who will lead humanity in the future. However, she refrains from revealing how he is connected to her. Laurent is really Isabelle’s sister Lily’s son. During the early days of the apocalypse, Lily ended up at the abbey, accompanying her sister, with a walker bite. Due to the bite, she confronted death at a short distance, specifically while giving birth to her son. When she died, Lily hadn’t given birth to her baby. However, Father Jean and other nuns found a way to take the baby out while Isabelle dealt with a turned Lily.
Isabelle considers Laurent special because he wasn’t supposed to survive his mother Lily’s death. He was born when his death was almost a certainty. When Laurent was born defeating death with his existence, Isabelle started to believe that her nephew wasn’t just another human being. She named him after Saint Lawrence or “Laurentius,” believing that he has divine connections. When Laurent grew up to become a big boy, his unusual talents and abilities further convinced Isabelle that her nephew was going to lead humanity one day. She assumes the responsibility of protecting Laurent not only because she promised Lily to do so but also because she wants him to be the next messiah.
As far as Isabelle is concerned, Laurent’s birth, during a time when “death” was ruling the world through the “walking dead,” is enough evidence to consider him as humanity’s ray of hope. When the zombie apocalypse raised an unignorable question mark over survival, Laurent was born, making Isabelle and others believe that his birth was the way God chose to make it clear that hope hasn’t died yet outrightly. That’s also the reason why Isabelle and other nuns of the establishment put their lives on the line to protect Laurent. Rather than cherishing the safety of her abbey, Isabelle embarks on a life-threatening journey to Northern France so that Laurent can grow to become a messiah where there will be father figures and teachings to learn more about the world.
In all seriousness, Laurent can be a normal boy without any divine connections or prewritten destiny. But his existence is significant or special because it gives hope, irrespective of whether it is false, to a community of religious men and women who live in a world with barely anything to seek comfort and security. The members of the Union of Hope, by believing in Laurent and his alleged divine connections, look forward to a better tomorrow, which gives them enough reason to fight for their survival. As someone who has been seeking reasons to remain alive, Daryl must have recognized the importance of such a reason or hope, which may have helped him understand the plight of Isabelle and others well enough to help them.
Read More: How and Why Did Daryl Dixon End Up in France? Theories