Summary
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon delivers another banger in Season 3. “Limbo” is a side quest, largely, but one of an unnecessarily distinguished vintage.
Sorry, but what is going on here? The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon returned for Season 3 with seemingly no idea what it was doing, and then it just got inexplicably good without warning, and continues that trend in Episode 5, “Limbo”. Aptly titled since most of it comprises what is essentially a side quest while Daryl moves from Galicia to Barcelona in the hopes of getting Justina back from El Alcazar, it’s nonetheless a superbly cool instalment that really leans into the Spanish setting and the growing mythic idea of Daryl as a kind of noble knight errant – or, perhaps more appropriately, an Old West gunslinger – who rides into town, sorts out everyone’s problems, and rides off into the sunset.
Despite Roberto having rushed off to save Justina himself, he didn’t get very far before he was strung up and left for dead by El Alcazar’s convoy. He survives, but his rescue heralds worrying news about the precise nature of Justina’s departure, which turns out to be less self-sacrifice and more Fede being willing to give up his niece rather than his power and his perceived safety. This leaves Daryl to go after Justina alone while Carol plays double agent back in Solaz, and the idea of sailing off to America seems very far away.
But if the show is going to continue being this fun, I’m not sure anyone will mind. Daryl’s trip into the desert begins eerily enough when he encounters a man with his eyes gouged out begging for water, and it only gets nastier from there. As it turns out, the desert is patrolled by a train full of bandits pulled along by a mini-horde of walkers, led down the tracks by a Pied Piper-style musician on horseback. It’s a fun concept, and the goons aboard, dubbed the Buzzards, are a fun one-off enemy faction for Daryl to contend with, since they immediately try to ambush him and end up wrecking his motorcycle.
Left wandering through the desert, Daryl almost succumbs to dehydration until he’s rescued by a peaceful community of lepers living out of the ruins of an old Civil War fort. They, too, have been victims of the Buzzards, who have stolen their water and left them for dead. Initially, Daryl is quite happy to chug his way through their reserves, but he’s quickly swayed by the gentle people and their nature, and agrees to help them retrieve the water. I’ve made frequent mention of Daryl’s new demeanour not really suiting him a great deal this season, and here is where he begins to soften, which needed to happen eventually. It also turns Daryl Dixon Season 3, Episode 5 into The Magnificent Seven for a bit, which is fair enough.
All of this is great stuff, honestly. It isn’t just that it’s satisfying to see Daryl murder a bunch of uncomplicatedly awful baddies, but the whole thing is impressively staged from top to bottom, from the defence of the fort that sees everyone coming together under Daryl’s instruction to fight back while he picks off the Buzzards with his four remaining rifle bullets – while a cute little girl counts them off in the sand – to the subsequent hijack of the train itself, with Daryl jumping on the roof, freeing the horde, and fighting his way through the carriages. There’s even a little moment during his climactic battle with the Buzzards’ leader, Chofo, where they both take a respectful breather before resuming their fight.
I’m reminded here that there’s still a surprising amount of mileage in wacky zombie-related ideas, which this franchise can often forget. It even feels distinctly Spanish in a way that’s kind of hard to properly articulate. But more importantly, it’s underpinned by simplistic but really effective moral stakes. We immediately root for Amaia and her community, just as Daryl does, and the satisfaction in their salvation also pulls double-duty as important character work for Daryl, who was losing his faith in the everyday people who seem to need his help so frequently. Speaking of which, he now just needs to push on and get to Justina.
The only downside of all this is that it leaves the goings-on back in Solaz feeling a little short-changed. There’s a bit of tension to be found in Carol trying to blag her way around Fede’s suspicions, especially since I’m not at all sure he’s buying it, but all this stuff is definitely secondary to the Daryl shenanigans. It is Fede’s suspicions that we close with, though, since we have to wonder what he might do to Roberto in order to keep his secret, especially now that he has reason to believe Carol is misleading him. I can see Antonio perhaps paying the price for this, with Carol’s offer of a better life in America reading more like a death sentence. While Daryl’s away, the danger may well be at home.
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