Sumith Prasad
The second episode of AMC’s post-apocalyptic series ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol,’ the sophomore season of ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,’ follows the aftermath of Carol Peletier and Ash Patel’s journey to France. After starting their life-threatening trip amid a brutal attack by a herd of walkers, they land on Greenland to repair their aircraft. Meanwhile, Daryl Dixon’s influence on Laurent becomes more and more evident, causing a headache for Losang and Jacinta, the leaders of the Union of Hope. Carol’s efforts to find her best friend take her to the palace of Madame Genet, where she tortures one of her own! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who Are Eun and Hanna? What Do They Want From Carol and Ash?
After landing on Greenland to repair their aircraft, Carol and Ash encounter several walkers. They struggle to kill all of them and save their lives, only to eventually receive help from Eun and Hanna, two local PhD students who sought refuge in a valley after the world ended. The two women offer their “guests” food, beverages, and miscellaneous items to rejuvenate themselves and repair their airplane for their journey. While Carol remains with Hanna to make dinner for the group, Eun leads Ash back to the aircraft to repair the same. The young woman asks him about their journey and learns about the death of his son, Avi.
Eun surprises Ash by asking him whether he has thought about having more children. The question is accompanied by an indication of her willingness to bear his kids. At the same time, Hanna threatens to kill Carol since her companion has ordered her to commit the murder. Eun aspires to build a new civilization by bearing children of her own. She embraces the zombie apocalypse as Mother Nature’s way of erasing the despicable civilization the human beings had built prior to the end of the world. The young woman approaches the tragedy as a necessary step in rebuilding civilization on Earth. Eun sees herself as responsible for potentially opening a new chapter of humankind’s survival on the planet.
Unlike the “condemnable” humans who lived and perished before her, Eun identifies herself as someone close to Nature. Thus, she expects Ash to conceive a baby with her. While she sees him as valuable, Eun doesn’t need Carol. The young woman narcissistically finds herself the only worthy candidate to give birth to a new civilization, which makes her force Hanna to kill the American woman. However, her companion kills her rather than their guest. Hanna hopes to join Carol and Ash after murdering her friend, only to eventually get killed by the pilot, who does the same unexpectedly, believing his friend is in danger.
Why Do Losang and Jacinta Fake Laurent’s Kidnapping?
Laurent’s life at the Nest progresses with his learning sessions with Losang and Jacinta and baseball training with Daryl Dixon. The American man is ready to accompany Isabelle and the young boy to his home country if they want to join him. However, their lives take a turn when the apparent Messiah of the future goes missing from his room. The adults at the Nest conclude that he was kidnapped by external forces, implying Madame Genet and her soldiers. Daryl then leads a group to find Laurent, only for the people from the Nest, including Emile, to turn against him, Isabelle, and Fallou.
While Daryl, Isabelle, and Fallou interrogate and kill Emile, Sylvie finds Laurent locked up in a tower-like structure within the Nest. Losang and Jacinta fake the kidnapping to ensure that the little boy won’t join Daryl and leave their monastery. The leaders of the Union of Hope expect the boy to be proclaimed the next Messiah after Jesus Christ. The religious organization’s ultimate mission is to present him as their guiding light who will lead them and their followers to a better future. The group’s legitimacy is linked to Laurent’s association with them. If the boy leaves Losang and Jacinta to be with Daryl, they will lose their credibility and followers.
Losang and Jacinta fake the kidnapping and misdirect Daryl to avoid such an embarrassing predicament. The American head of the Union of Hope expects his compatriot to look for Laurent and come back disappointed. He only intends to keep him apart from their potential Messiah. However, Jacinta tells their followers that the American wanderer is a threat to their mission, explaining why the soldiers of the Nest try to kill the man. After surviving the attack, Daryl returns to the monastery with Fallou and Isabelle, who decides to leave her life as a nun and join the former with Laurent when he travels back to the United States. She also kisses him, making their relationship official.
Why Does Carol Get Captured? Why Does Madame Genet Torture Codron?
After escaping from Eun and Hanna, Carol and Ash continue their journey to France. They reach the European country soon and land their aircraft on an abandoned racecourse. She then chooses to begin her expedition without her pilot friend because of two reasons. First of all, she wants him alive and well to take her and Daryl to the United States if she finds the latter. She is venturing into troubles and life-threatening predicaments and doesn’t want Ash to lose his life following her. Secondly, he will learn that Carol is looking for a friend rather than her daughter, Sophia, if he joins her.
The truth is expected not only to leave Ash feeling betrayed but also to make him abandon Carol and Daryl in France. Thus, she continues her journey alone, leaving her friend to repair the aircraft and find fuel for their return trip. Her search for her best friend takes her to Madame Genet’s people, who capture her as a new recruit to their army. The dictator is torturing her trusted general, Stéphane Codron, to learn about Laurent’s current location. Codron fails to kill the child towards the end of the first season and lets him escape with Daryl by killing his own men.
Genet must be hoping to lead her army to Laurent’s location in Mont-Saint-Michel to capture the boy after learning it from Codron. As things stand, Carol is part of the dictator’s army. Even though she gets selected as a soldier without her consent, the turn of events may lead her to Daryl. From her fellow soldiers, she will most likely learn about an American warrior-cum-wanderer, confirming that she is on the right track to finding her best friend.
Read More: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: Who Came Back to the Commonwealth? Theories
