Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 Episode 4.
The third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has switched up the spectacle of Paris, France for the beauty of a small villa on the coast of Spain. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) are together and separated no more, but in the last episode, “El Sacrifico”, they still spent too much time apart. Daryl has his hands full trying to find a rudder with Roberto (Hugo Arbues) so he can fix their boat and get back home to America. Meanwhile, Carol is fully invested (when she’s not skirting a new romance) in the lottery that sends a chosen woman to live with Guillermo (Gonzalo Bouza) and his El Alcazar forces. As the episode ends, Justina’s (Candela Saitta) guilt got the best of her, and she gave herself up to the lottery to save another. As the fourth episode, “La Justica Fronteriza,” begins, will Daryl, Carol, and Roberto be able to save Justina from a terrifying life that will keep her from her family forever?
Daryl Doesn’t Want To Fight for Solaz del Amar in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Episode 4
“La Justica Fronteriza” starts with Daryl flashing back to himself as a child running from his home before he comes to in the present as Roberto desperately pounds on Fede’s (Óscar Jaenada) door seeking answers, only to be restrained by his father, Antonio (Eduardo Noriega). Fede’s men eventually come out and force Roberto to leave, and now Daryl and Carol can only watch and wonder what part they played. Inside his house, Fede is hurting over his niece choosing to leave.
Daryl tells Antonio that once the boat is fixed, they’ll be leaving in about a week. When he leaves, Carol apologizes to Antonio for the trouble they have caused, but he won’t accept it because the trouble was already there before them. Outside, Roberto is sullen, so Daryl tries to lift his spirits by getting him to help. It doesn’t work, though, because now the young man has no desire to leave with them if Justina isn’t there too.
Many of the townspeople come together to help assemble the boat, including Roberto and Antonio. Father and son speak about what happened, with Antonio not understanding why he wants to be with Justina and move to America so badly. Antonio warns him not to do anything certain because Fede is certainly watching. Meanwhile, Carol tells Daryl that Justina leaving is all her fault because she put the idea in her head. Daryl tells her to “let that shit go,” but his friend is in awe over how in love the young couple is. Daryl says it’s a mistake to fight for everyone else when they should be fighting for themselves, but Carol cares too much. Helping other people is the whole point to her. She can’t get to Daryl, who says there is nothing they can do. When he storms off, we know this is about more than Justina and Roberto. It’s all taking him back to Isabella and Laurent.
The Village Is Attacked by New Enemies in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Episode 4
Valentina (Irina Björklund) tells Carol that she has lived alone in the lighthouse for a decade because she’s not good with people and preferred life on the sea. But she also knows that the world is hard and people need companionship as she glances back and forth between Daryl and Carol. A young man named Cooper helps Daryl learn how to tie knots. Valentina wants him to come with them because he’s good on a boat and, as an American too, he’s been wanting to get home for a while. Daryl tells her they’ll be fine without them, but Carol wants both Cooper and Valentina to come. She’s not up for that because this is her home. Valentina makes a comment about Daryl and Carol being boyfriend and girlfriend, only to be shocked to learn that they have never hooked up.
While Roberto’s working on the boat, Fede approaches. He’s not there because he’s in any trouble, but because he wants to tell his niece’s boyfriend that he’s sorry Justina is gone. Fede tried to stop her, but her mind was made up, and there was no changing it. As they talk, Cooper speaks to Daryl about coming to America with them, which now seems possible. Alas, hope quickly dies, as an arrow from out of nowhere pierces Cooper’s chest. Men wearing Viking-like helmets and furs attack, but their arrows are no match for the guns our heroes carry. In the aftermath, a reanimated Cooper sits up before Daryl quickly puts him out of his misery.
Meanwhile, Paz (Alexandra Masangka) is looking at an old photo of her with Elana (Greta Fernández) when she sees trucks carrying the same men approaching. Warning bells are set off and arms taken up as the village’s people hunker down and prepare to fight. On hearing this, Valentina tells Daryl and Carol that Solaz del Mar is under attack. They begin to make the trek back, and Daryl makes sure Carol knows not to do anything stupid. They’ll check on Roberto, but then they’re leaving these people to fight for themselves.
No One Can Stop Roberto in ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Episode 4
In the town streets, the fight is well underway, but Solaz del Mar is ready as they let loose their horde of caged walkers to attack the invaders. Daryl and Carol load up on guns and raise their body count, too, but no one can stop the speeding Jeep that smashes through the gates and lets the enemies inside. Still, Solaz del Mar has the weapons advantage and is able to stay in control. Daryl and Paz head off to check on Roberto, with the latter saving him when he is outnumbered. Eventually, the good guys win, although Fede nearly doesn’t make it when he’s stabbed in the chest.
It’s nighttime now, but it’s too quiet for Daryl. He’s right to be concerned, because just moments later, a flaming ball falls from the sky. Inside it are burning walkers who shamble forward and attack their victims despite being covered in fire. More vehicles enter the gates, and it looks like Solaz del Mar is done for, but the village still has plenty of people who now break out the major artillery. There’s nothing more badass than Daryl Dixon with a machine gun, shooting down flaming zombies. After the victory, the winners mourn their dead, and Roberto is angry. They’ve given their women away to El Alcazar, but where were they to protect them? Fede argues that they would have all died if not for El Alcazar’s weapons.
The two look as if they’re about to come to blows until Darry enters with a prisoner. He’s tied to a chair, and Fede questions him in front of everyone. The captor’s people are a group of primitives who are everywhere and nowhere. There could be tens of them or millions, and they serve no one. They know of El Alcazar and want to destroy everything just to burn it all down. As this is happening, in comes news that someone is escaping in a car. Daryl speeds off after them, his rifle drawn, only to come face to face with Roberto, who is determined to rescue his love and races past him.
Fede is upset with everyone that he now has to risk his people to go after Roberto. Antonio volunteers to search, but when Fede mocks his weakness, Carol says she will go with him. In a quiet moment, Antonio tells Carol she doesn’t have to help, but she can’t turn down helping someone with a child. He asks her if she has any, and Carol says, “No, not anymore.” There is nothing to add to such a statement for either of them. Outside, Daryl thinks they should let Roberto go, because if they bring him back, he’ll leave again. Still, unable to let Carol and Antonio go alone, Daryl joins them. The trio heads out into the wilderness as another shot at night shows us Justina with Guillermo’s men as she heads to a horse. She’s thinking of taking it until she sees a shadow approaching.
The townspeople want to hang their captor, but Fede tells them that killing does not justify killing. He’ll be punished in a way that befits him and makes his friends afraid to ever come back. The man is taken into the center of the village for frontier justice where he is forced to fight a swarm of the dead while still chained. His screams are his last words. The episode then ends with the trio finding Roberto’s crashed Jeep. They can’t find him, but a flash of images shows that he was attacked. Where did Roberto go?
- 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
- The walkers are terrifying again in the scenes they’re a part of.
- Daryl and Carol’s disagreement about helping others creates intriguing conflict.
- Fighting for Solaz del Mar still feels like it shouldn’t matter for Daryl and Carol.
- There is no advancement in storyline with the human villains.
