The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book Of Carol Review: Season 2 Feels DOA

The first season of AMC's "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" brought up some intriguing questions. First, what was with the superpowered zombies, who had things like acid blood? Second, was Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi), the child who was raised by nuns, the Godsend that some people thought he was? And finally, would Daryl (Norman Reedus) make his position as Laurent's ally work even though he had to team up with religious folks to do it?

The second season is not only a mouthful, billed as "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol," but it also feels more like the ending of the two-part first season. At just six episodes per installment, perhaps it's inevitable that the show would feel that serialized. But this season seems designed to wrap up things from the first. In particular, Madame Genet (Anne Charrier) rears her head again and makes some dicey work for our protagonists; there are several deaths that end up seeming inevitable; and, of course, this time Carol's (Melissa McBride) along for the ride.

Yet there are things that are lost too. For one, the superpowered zombies is perhaps the most regrettable storyline that's mostly forgotten. There are nods to it in a couple episodes, but for the most part, outside of running instead of walking, these zombies aren't that special. It's a disappointing development, especially when the first season set that up as a big mystery. Instead the show seems driven this season by two threads: Carol's compulsive lying to get what she wants, and the battle over who will control Laurent's future.

The story picks back up where it ended: at Monte Saint-Michel, better known on the show as the Nest, where Laurent is being tutored by Losang (Joel de la Fuente) and Sylvie (Laika Blanc-Francard). Losang doesn't appreciate Daryl's disbelieving nature and fears that he will sway Laurent away from the church. At the same time, Carol is determined to get to Daryl in any way she can. And after learning that he likely took a boat to France, she convinces the only pilot in the area, Ash (Manish Dayal), to fly her there by telling him her daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) might be there waiting for her. Of course, Sophia died back in Season 2 of the main show, and despite it being Carol's most heartbreaking moment, she lies about it. However, Ash had a son who died in the zombie conflict so she reckons that he'll be sympathetic to her.

Not only is Carol right about Ash, she's right about the lies she tells everyone, including Codron (Romain Levi) and Genet. We've always known that Carol is willing to lie and manipulate, but seeing it illustrated so clearly is a lot. Though we know Carol is doing her best to get to Daryl in the most efficient way possible, her lies seem egregious, especially to Ash, and if Carol weren't such a beloved character we would have trouble liking her. Yet after 11 seasons of the original show, we do love her, and therefore she can get away with things other characters might not be able to. Still, the fact that her lying eventually leads to a reckoning is a good thing, and Carol even shows some character growth because of it.

At the same time, Daryl and Isabella (Clemence Poesy) are trying to get Laurent out of the Nest after a particularly upsetting turn of events. But they might not be able to do it with people like Losang there to thwart them. Still — Daryl is formidable. There's a reason that both he and Carol are the only ones who have been around since the beginning of "The Walking Dead." Despite all the death they've encountered, both of them have managed to persist, and in this series, they both show in spades why that's been the case.

"The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol" retains its uniqueness simply by being set in a ruined Paris. It seems grander than America by comparison. However, this season is not as exciting as the first, even with the addition of Carol. Too many times scenarios are too familiar, either because they feel like rehashes of last season or re-dos of something from another "Walking Dead" show. In addition, we often find ourselves in places that are too similar to places in other shows in the franchise. They may say it's an exotic locale but If we can't see the landscape beyond it, it's just another decaying tunnel.

Also, why is Carol's trauma from what happened to Sophia rearing its head now? And why isn't her adopted son Henry (Macsen Lintz) brought up at all? These questions aren't answered, even as Carol's reaction to what happened to Sophia becomes a major plotline on the show. Obviously the showrunners didn't have the opportunity to deal with this on "The Walking Dead" in as detailed a way because there were so many characters, but still, Carol's current obsession with Sophia and her complete and utter neglect of Henry seem less than organic to this storyline.

Then there's Daryl, the one whose show this ostensibly is, who has one of the least interesting stories this season. Even though Norman Reedus plans to play Daryl for longer than we thought, his character this season doesn't seem like someone who could carry a show for the long-haul. When he has the opportunity to, he doesn't bring up the death of his brother, Merle (Michael Rooker), or any of the other calamities he suffered on "The Walking Dead." Even the thing that made him so intriguing last season — the fact that he was siding with religious people when he wasn't one of them — is resolved in the first episode when it's established that he doesn't agree with what the Nest is doing with Laurent.

Other than this though, Daryl rarely makes a decision. Instead he backs up others in their decisions, making him a less interesting character by comparison. If anything, Daryl is there as muscle, and with Carol there, he wins even more than he did in the first season — over and over and over again. It gets boring. I'm not saying I want Daryl to die; I enjoy Reedus as the character. But he could run away from a fight once in a while. The next season of "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" is supposed to be set somewhere other than France, and hopefully, that will be enough to make this series more interesting.

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