Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 3 of The Walking Dead: Daryl DixonThe third season ofThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is in full swing, with the two main characters, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride), fully embroiled in the politics of a small Spanish town. The post-apocalyptic spin-off re-located from France to Spain with a whole new set of characters, but something Daryl says in Episode 3 reminds us of a particularly glaring absence in the show. While searching for a way to fix the coat he and Carol shipwrecked, Daryl finds a Rubick’s Cube and briefly recalls the child prodigy who could solve them in a blink of an eye: Laurent (Louis Puech Scgliuzzi).
Now, if you’ve watched even one episode of the first two seasons of Daryl Dixon, you would know how instrumental Laurent was to the narrative. So, you will also know how strangely ironic that scene is. How is the show not addressing Laurent’s absence in a larger way? Have we just forgotten about the child messiah who was supposed to lead humanity out of the apocalypse just because he was on a plane to America? Laurent was the foundation of the spin-off’s premise, and it is truly bizarre that he is now nowhere to be seen.
Laurent’s Story Feels Unfinished in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’
Throughout the first two seasons of Daryl Dixon, the main characters were constantly fending off attempts from multiple organizations to abduct Laurent. Everyone wanted him for their own political agenda due to the unusual circumstances around his birth: his mother turned into a walker just before giving birth to him. We’ve seen this storyline before in The Last of Us, where the protagonist’s undead birth made her immune to the disease and thus was a valuable commodity in the apocalypse, just like Laurent. As such, we expected something similar to occur here, but instead, Daryl Dixon practically gave us nothing.
Sometimes Laurent was just a figurehead for a cause, but most significantly, the Nest wanted to use him in an extreme ritual to prove his immunity by exposing him to a walker bite. But this never pans out. So, when Daryl and Carol save Laurent and tuck him away on a plane to America, we wondered if the implications around his birth would ever be explored. Season 3 is making it abundantly clear that it is not a priority at the moment, leaving even his fate ambiguous, let alone his potential immunity status. The storyline feels sorely unfinished, and it seems like a strange decision for Daryl Dixon to leave it open-ended, especially as Daryl references him in Episode 3.
Why Is ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Abandoning Laurent?
Apart from the glaring unfinished feel of Laurent’s story, it also seems too important to neglect for an entire season. Laurent’s almost mythical messiah status wasn’t only vital for the spin-off’s narrative, but also it’s hook. It was the first time The Walking Dead had seriously considered a potential way out of the apocalypse — the metaphorical other side. Sure, there was the time Eugene (Josh McDermitt) lied about having a cure, but that was a brief storyline (and, I emphasize, a lie) that was hidden in the folds of the show’s exploration of post-apocalyptic survival and humanity. Laurent was the first time a feasible and entirely possible solution arose.
As such, the conflicts and themes of hope and how characters navigate it (trying to steal it for themselves or make a spectacle out of it) created the premise of Daryl Dixon. So, abandoning it for an entire season just feels nonsensical. Season 3, instead, returns to the simplistic and repeated premise of Daryl and Carol trying to get home without the Messiah story to add nuance to it. The absence of Laurent and the implications around his story could not be felt more sorely, especially in light of the unfolding events in this season.
‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Feels Incredibly Low Stakes
Forgetting about Laurent is unfortunately to the show’s detriment as Season 3 feels more low-stakes than ever. The fate of humanity is no longer in the balance now that Laurent is not on the screen and the scope of the story dramatically reduces to a random Spanish town. In the first seasons, Daryl’s primary goal was to return home, but he simply could not ignore the ramifications of what Laurent represented, and eventually became more embroiled with the politics of the warring factions. But here, Daryl and Carol still have the same goal of returning home but are side-tracked because of… a random couple?
In these first three episodes of the season, they seek refuge after saving the life of a couple, only to be pulled into the town’s traditions because the usually cunning and calculating Carol became very invested in the way the town operates. She keeps speaking out against the town’s admittedly cruel tradition of sending a girl to the town that controls them and grows closer to some of the people there, particularly Justina (Candela Saitta). So, when Justina offers herself up in the closing scenes of Episode 3, we know exactly where this is going. As heartless as this may sound, chasing after a woman they just met simply pales in comparison to protecting a young boy who could cure the apocalyptic disease in terms of stakes.
Perhaps these storylines may not feel as bizarre and low-stakes if Laurent’s story was running concurrently, but unfortunately, Daryl Dixon completely neglects its most powerful story. The character’s absence is more than just a strange decision, as it actively hurts the show. We can only hope that the spin-off will do Laurent’s unfinished story justice in later seasons as his ambiguous fate casts a dark shadow over the current season.
- Release Date
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October 1, 2023
- Network
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AMC
- Showrunner
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David Zabel
- Franchise(s)
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The Walking Dead
