When The Walking Dead debuted in 2010, it quickly became one of the most popular shows on TV, thanks not to the living dead, but the living human characters. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) may have been the leader, but it was the ensemble who kept us watching for eleven sometimes very long seasons, with the likes of Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and, of course, best friends-not-turned-lovers Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). Since leaving AMC in 2022, The Walking Dead has spun off into several other series, including last year’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. On September 29, the series returns to AMC and AMC+ under the title The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon: – The Book of Carol. That’s right, Daryl and Carol are back together again and more badass than ever. The show, like many episodes of The Walking Dead universe in the past few years, has its usual flaws, but with Daryl and Carol at the center, you’re still going to have a lot of fun with this one.

What Is ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol’ About?

In The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Daryl ends up in France. There he is taken in by a nun named Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and introduced to a young boy named Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), a smart, kind, old soul who is treated as if he is a Messiah by a group of religious zealots called the Union, who are led by a man named Losang (Joel de la Fuente). Daryl also has to battle with a woman named Marion Genet (Anne Charrier), the head of a military group that is creating super-strength walkers.

The Book of Carol starts with Daryl hiding away with the Union in their island fortress. Meanwhile, Carol is in America in the Commonwealth, and on “a hunch,” as she calls it, she goes looking for Daryl. Her journey leads her to discover that Daryl was taken on a ship headed to France. Daryl wanted to get back home in the last season, and now in The Book of Carol, his best friend is going to make it her mission to make that happen. The only problem is that she needs a way to get across the Atlantic Ocean to France. Just as soon as she and the audience know this, Carol spots a small plane overhead. She tracks it down to a man named Ash (Manish Dayal), a heartbroken, lonely guy who lives all by himself on a piece of land where he keeps the walkers at bay. Ash and Carol have a similar tragic backstory, and Carol knows she must use that against him to persuade Ash to fly her to France so she can find her friend and bring him back.

‘The Book of Carol’ Has the Same Flaws As Other ‘Walking Dead’ Shows

After those first few great seasons of The Walking Dead, the series fell into the same trap, which resulted in lower and lower ratings every season. We know the formula: our heroes walk and talk, kill some walkers, walk and talk some more, run into some bad guys, get themselves taken hostage, fight the baddie and win, and repeat. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol is no different. You have to suspend your disbelief at times to make it work, but if you can let go and not take it so seriously, The Book of Carol is one of the better spin-offs. Sure, Carol finds someone with a plane way too fast and easy, but it has to happen somehow. Sure, the fact that a little plane can make it from America to France seems a bit far-fetched, but we need it, or we don’t have the adventure.

The weakest part of The Book of Carol, as is often with The Walking Dead, is its villains. In the original series, every season came with new villains for our protagonists to defeat, and outside Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and The Governor (David Morrissey), none of them felt like a major threat. The Book of Carol is smart by keeping the same villains from The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Daryl might live with the Union, but the way Lasang is so certain that a young boy will save humanity shouldn’t be trusted. His absolute belief in that absurdity, even when Laurent knows he is nothing special beyond his own humanity, is just as dangerous as Marion, with her guns and henchmen. Just like in the previous season, we get to see more of her plan to create superwalkers come to fruition, and we even get to see her own tragic backstory, as she was a simple employee at the Louvre when the outbreak started.

The Book of Carol does work by giving us not one but two groups of villains fighting against each other, with Daryl, Carol, Isballe, Laurent, and their friends trapped in between, but we know no harm will come to Daryl and Carol, which takes away some of the suspense. There are countless lazy scenes of bad guys left alive so they can return later for the plot, or our favorite characters taken hostage and looking to meet their end, only for someone to shoot and kill the bad guy at the last minute. That expectation removes any building tension because we can see the resolution coming from a mile away.

Daryl and Carol Are Paired With Two Great Supporting Characters
Image via AMC

Like the rest of The Walking Dead, repetitive, predictable plots and paper-thin villains are saved by well-written lead characters. Ash is a good man we can trust, who we root for to leave his pain behind and explore the world with Carol. We also have reasons not to trust Carol of all people, who lies and manipulates those with good intentions all to get her way. That only serves to make Carol even more compelling, as she’s a complicated person with areas of gray, not just a cookie-cutter good guy. Carol and Ash have tremendous chemistry together, but after arriving in France, they are separated for several episodes. Just as soon as we get to know Ash, he disappears, as if he’s nothing more than a plot device. That’s disappointing for a character who’s so well-written, although it is thankfully resolved later with a development that furthers their complicated relationship.

Laurent continues to be fascinating as well. A child written to be a Savior could have been cringe-inducing, but Laurent is portrayed as a kind and good soul who truly believes in people without believing in his own hype. He just wants to be a kid and looks at Daryl like a father figure. Seeing the hardened Daryl fall deeper in love with Isabelle and become closer to Laurent is a joy to watch, even if we know not to trust Daryl’s earning any happiness.

Now, about what you came for: the reunion of Daryl and Carol. You have to wait a bit for it to happen, but when it does, it will give you chills and perhaps make you shed a tear. This writer wanted more emotion in the reunion, but instead, they fall back into their relationship like old times, as if Daryl knew Carol was going to show up eventually. They’re as close as ever, and you can be reassured to know there is no jumping the shark with a romantic relationship. The two besties get back to their ass-kicking ways, trying to defeat Marion, save Laurent, and get back to America all at the same time. How they get there is filled with those usual The Walking Dead frustrations, but it’s with our two favorite characters, so we can overlook that. Besides, the finale boasts a twist that sets up another season of Daryl and Carol together. What more could a fan want?

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol premieres on AMC and AMC+ on September 29.

WATCH ON AMC +