S01.E01: L'ame Perdue

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 09.10.23. The first 10 minutes of the episode are now available on AMC+.

Quote

Following his departure from The Commonwealth, Daryl Dixon washes ashore in France, raising the ire of a splintered but growing autocratic movement centered in Paris and endangering a young boy at the heart of a benevolent religious movement.

 

[OoohMaggie]

well well well, I have to say I rather enjoyed that 😱,  the trailer at the end looks good as well, I think I need to lay down in a dark room for a while 🙄

[kevvoi]

That was actually a really good start. I didn't think they had it in them after so many years. Scenery was beautiful - I liked the nice touch of walkers wandering the lower levels of the aqueduct, but it seemed like not enough walkers were around southern France as Daryl should have been seeing a lot more.

I guess they won't be hiding themselves in zombie guts during this show. Wonder whether they will actually give us some reason as to why the walkers are so weird in France.

[nodorothyparker]

 

I was just coming to post this promo art and note that the show is now streaming on AMC+ despite earlier sounding like they wouldn't be doing that.  We're on day 2 of torrential rain and flooding where I'm at, so I may break my earlier rule against watching a WD episode early.

 

 

[maystone]

I really liked it, too, and I wasn't expecting that. The scenery is lovely; it's certainly more cinematic than any of the other shows in TWDU. I didn't catch the visual of the walkers on the aqueduct; I'll have to look again.

This has a much-more adult feel to it, even if there is a child as the centerpiece. Perhaps because they're not drawing from a comic this time. I loved the bathtub scene edging into sensual. The bad guys aren't caricatures - or at least not yet.

The burner coming out from under the table gave me the wiggins. Maybe the show is going to be scary/creepy again?

I loved the nuns. I'm happy with the little traveling band we ended up with, and I'm also looking forward to the rest of the season.

[Brown44]

Let's be honest the NY show and the France show they always wanted to do, but after the debacle of "World Beyond" they knew they couldn't do these shows without popular characters from the OG show leading them. People wouldn't watch or care if you didn't have them starring in the show.

[Straycat80]

I liked this as well. I’m a little confused about why Daryl is there and what he’s looking for. I’m going to have to watch some parts again, I think I missed something.  But the scenery was cool. And I hope they explain about the burner walkers. 

[maystone]

1 hour ago, Straycat80 said:

I liked this as well. I’m a little confused about why Daryl is there and what he’s looking for. I’m going to have to watch some parts again, I think I missed something.  But the scenery was cool. And I hope they explain about the burner walkers. 

He had one line where he said, "I met some bad people. They put me on a boat. That didn't end well." It sounds like he got hijacked and then tried to start a mutiny onboard - at least according to that last scene.

[theredhead77]

Add me to the "liked it" list. I like Daryl as a character so it was going to take a lot for me to dislike the show.

I thought they said there were multiple kinds of walkers, including the new "burner" type. That was creepy. Were they doused in acid? An experiment gone wrong?

I'm looking forward to next week!

[iMonrey]

This was . . . not bad? Color me shocked. I don't think I've been this engaged by TWDverse since . . . a long time ago. It was certainly better than Dead City, I didn't make it past the first episode of that dumpster fire, but that's just me.

I especially liked the first 30 minutes or so, it felt more like old school Walking Dead, a smaller story with fewer characters. I'm a bit disappointed they had to bring in some quasi-paramilitary bad guys, it seems like such a lazy fallback in this franchise. The face tattoo on the main Baddie was especially overkill. I'm willing to concede it might be realistic that some homegrown militia would take power under these circumstances but it feels way more American and it's been done too many times.

I can't help but see the parallels to "The Last of Us" but frankly even a ripoff of that show is preferable to more Negan garbage IMO. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed this whole thing doesn't go down the toilet.

[borealis]

Well hot damn, Daryl had a bath. Givin' the fans what they want!

[Brown44]

After one episode and I like this better than "Dead City". I'm intrigued to see where this teenage Jesus story is going. 

[Boofish]

1 hour ago, borealis said:

Well hot damn, Daryl had a bath. Givin' the fans what they want!

If memory serves, that was his second bath in 11 years. First being at the CDC. I'm sure he took baths at the Commonwealth but "pic or it didn't happen." I'm mad at myself for not remembering but Daryl also had a long no smile no laughing period. From Season 2 (again at CDC) until MAYBE season 9. 

I liked it. I like Daryl. I'm locked in. Full disclosure, I have Walking Dead Stockholm Syndrome. I would watch a spin off with Bertie from Hilltop 😂

[Ms Lark]

I like it! I couldn't get on board with Dead City. Love Maggie, can't stand Negan...ugh. At any rate, so far so good. I'm in, unless it goes south.

Shame they had to kill the nuns, but I saw that coming. Everywhere Darryl goes, disaster follows. At least Clement Poésy adds an element of refinement. As the "savior of mankind" Laurent doesn't seem to be terribly bright for his age. "Bless his heart." Hopefully, the nuns taught him how to read! We'll see where all this goes.

[OoohMaggie]

9 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

And I hope they explain about the burner walkers. 

There's a link to a brief description here with further links in the article

 

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/140300-spoilers-speculation-why-is-daryl-in-france/page/2/

Edited September 11, 2023 by OoohMaggie

[OoohMaggie]

9 hours ago, maystone said:

I'm happy with the little traveling band we ended up with,

I fear sidekick Nun is not long for this world.

It seems as though they may have found a brat even more annoying than Coral or Judith..............we shall see 🤔

If Daryl & Co don't get a ride in a 2CV i'll be deeply disappointed, it doesn't seem that long ago everyone was on a horse and cart.

Im loving the old weapons, they certainly make for an interesting head shot, how Daryl left that Thompson on the wall i'll never know 😱

After seeing this, it makes me wonder what they could have done with DC, if they  had killed Negan in the first episode obviously.

I'm also kind of glad, even though I loved the character, that Carol didn't make it over. I think it would have been too much and things will be a lot better concentrating on him, for now at least.

 

 

[nodorothyparker]

Brief thoughts: This was overall ... better than I was expecting, given the premise and that it centers Daryl, who I've never found all that compelling on his own. It's almost like the spinoffs starring characters from the mothership are so far proving much better and more interesting than anything the mothership had managed in years as it got increasingly tired and bogged down with its 5000 characters.

The show has a real cinematic quality that I think we lost pretty early on in the franchise between CGI and circling the same trees over and over.

Daryl seems way less nonplussed than I think most Americans would be to suddenly wash up ashore in France. It sounds like from what little he said that he does have a fair idea how he got there that we're going to have to watch unfold. Still, I think most Americans if they suddenly started seeing signs in French or kilometers would be thinking Quebec, not Marseille, and would be visibly reacting a bit more to realizing oh hey, I crossed not just the entire Atlantic but ended up in the freaking Mediterranean.

Wherever they go, they're still the same remnants of Rick's wrecking crew. A near entire convent of nuns even with a cool medieval weapons room couldn't survive contact. Hopefully the singing nun won't be the next red shirt.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Some good stuff, and some not so good stuff. Overall, I liked it. I think this show, and Dead City, are a big upturn for this franchise, which has given us mostly crap for the last 5 years or so. (And the final season of Fear is still coming.) This episode was mostly set up, so I'm interested to see where it's going. 

Random points:

• Filming and scenery were great. Great shots of Daryl crossing the French countryside. 
• Acid zombies were cool. 
• Should be interesting to get some background on how this started, and maybe a potential cure. 
• Telling Daryl's story in flashback could be cool. 
• Norman Reedus is an actor of limited range, so they had Daryl stick to his grunting and let the other actors do the emotion part. 
• They've tended to make Daryl a superhero in the past, so it was realistic to see his get his ass kicked by the obviously trained tattoo-face. 
• Tattoo-face is a generic "you killed my brother" baddie. Of course we'll be seeing him chasing our gang on the road trip. 
• Evil scientist/general lady are also fairly generic. 
• Special kid and Daryl as the chosen messenger? I rolled my eyes at this. 

The potential is there, let's see if they live up to it. 

[Boofish]

Those nuns are dead because little Gerard DeparDONT couldn't follow a simple instruction to stay quiet and apple girl's lie to save her own hide. Le'Negan and his merry men knew those nuns were there and they had been surviving quietly for 11 years. They would all be dead including that kid if it weren't for Daryl.

[Mr. Sparkle]

31 minutes ago, Boofish said:

Le'Negan

Sir or Madam, I applaud you. 

But yeah, TWD does go to that "kid does something stupid" well quite a bit. 

[OoohMaggie]

On 9/11/2023 at 1:26 PM, Superclam said:

The potential is there, let's see if they live up to it. 

As far as I can make out, as well as the new show runner, apart from the last two episodes which are directed by Nicotero, all six episodes appear to have been written, produced and directed by people who have not previously worked on TWD.

That's gotta inspire hope!

Edited September 12, 2023 by OoohMaggie

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

This was overall ... better than I was expecting, given the premise and that it centers Daryl, who I've never found all that compelling on his own. It's almost like the spinoffs starring characters from the mothership are so far proving much better and more interesting than anything the mothership had managed in years as it got increasingly tired and bogged down with its 5000 characters.

Yeah, I've always been more or less indifferent to Daryl. So I wasn't super jazzed about watching this and was pleasantly surprised by it. I don't necessarily think Daryl himself is the make or break for this story. It's the story itself and the way it's been told so far that I've found engaging. 

I'm not even annoyed by the teen so far either, which is something that's been a chronic problem with this franchise historically. 

I'm cautious in my optimism, however, given this franchise's track record. My concern is that the things I liked about this episode will give way to tropes this franchise tends to fall back on over and over again, and I already see hints of that in this episode and in the promo spots. Basically I want a smaller story, which speaks to your comment about the mothership betting bogged down with its 5000 characters and multiple communities. 

I wish the franchise would go back to its roots in telling slimmer characters stories.

[Brown44]

6 hours ago, Superclam said:

Special kid and Daryl as the chosen messenger? I rolled my eyes at this

Clearly the writer's are fans of comic's so they have Daryl play the Wolverine role in the X-men comic's where Wolvie takes a young mutant under his wing (Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, Rogue in the movies). Daryl with Judith, Lydia now teenage Jesus.

[cdnalor]

As soon as they mentioned bringing the "golden child" cross country to save humanity, I immediately thought of "The Last of Us" and that this show is trying to piggyback on the other's success.  Eh, whatever.

As long as Daryl was getting a free bath, they couldn't have thrown in a haircut?  Really sick of the stringy hair.  I'd even settle for a manbun.

The change of venue is welcome and of course the scenery promises to be gorgeous, so hurrah for that!  And so clever that a history of gun control means that they're reduced to medieval weapons and flintlocks.  Still, French military weapons must still be available so we'll probably be seeing some of those eventually.

I'll be looking forward to see what the story is with the new acid zombies.  Must be all that rich French food going rancid once they turn.

[seacliffsal]

Okay, I really can't believe that I'm going to write this, but...I really enjoyed this episode (even the annoying teen).  I am still in shock as I write this.  This harkens back to the early (and best) seasons for me.  Of course, they killed the most interesting character-the old man who lived during WWII and has survived this far into zombie world.

I think the woman who lied about who killed the two men (and really, who wouldn't have lied?) was necessary for the set-up of good (Daryl) vs. evil (tattoo face).  

I would have liked a second episode in the abbey as I thought it was original and clever and loved the fact that the nuns had weapon-training.  Maybe Daryl could have been more seriously injured?  Oh well, at least two of the nuns will be on the road trip.

However, I was surprised that in the opening credits it stated that the show was based on characters created by Robert Kirkman et al., when, in reality, Daryl was never a part of the origen story/comics.  Where is the credit for Daramont who created the 'universe' which featured Daryl and set up an amazing concept/story that diminished as others took over.

For now, I am here (and totally not embarrassed about it [for the first time in a long time').

[KeithJ]

On 9/11/2023 at 4:09 AM, OoohMaggie said:

I fear sidekick Nun is not long for this world.

She’s actually fourth billed in the main credits so I think she’ll be sticking around.

[rmontro]

I also enjoyed it, although how much better could this have been with Carol in it?  Oh well, it wasn't to be.  I'm at the point though, where I'm practically rolling my eyes whenever the villains show up on these shows, they're so boring and interchangeable and unnecessarily evil.  I suppose you have to have them, but I'm just over it.

That aside, the only other thing that bugged me is the way the nuns called the kid the "new messiah".  I know they've formed a religion melded out of a bunch of different ones, but I find it very difficult to believe that any devout people formed out of Christianity or Catholicism would ever label someone a messiah.  Jesus Christ was/is the messiah for those groups, and to say otherwise would be blasphemy of the highest order. 

[iMonrey]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:37 PM, cdnalor said:

I'll be looking forward to see what the story is with the new acid zombies.  Must be all that rich French food going rancid once they turn.

LOL. I'm assuming the French government tried some sort of experiment to eradicate the zombies, like some sort of poison gas or radiation or something, which resulted in the acid zombies. 

12 hours ago, rmontro said:

I'm at the point though, where I'm practically rolling my eyes whenever the villains show up on these shows, they're so boring and interchangeable and unnecessarily evil.  I suppose you have to have them, but I'm just over it.

Ugh, same. It was the main drawback in this episode for me. Sure, I guess you need a villain, but do they have to be such cartoon characters? Really? A face tattoo? About as subtle as a sledgehammer.

I'd prefer a villain that's more shades of gray, like maybe Maribelle. Someone that's just looking out for their own welfare that gets in the way. I'm sick to death of these cult leaders and paramilitary leaders and evil communities run by crazy people.

[rmontro]

26 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'd prefer a villain that's more shades of gray, like maybe Maribelle.

I'll give them half credit for the guy being motivated by Daryl killing his brother.  But he killed the old French man before that, just out of cruelty.  And how do these guys automatically know when someone is lying to them?  Lazy and annoying.

[Crashcourse]

I tried.  Nope.

[gutbuster]

I was frustrated that here we are, even later into this apocalypse, and there are still kids who grew up in this mess who are still unable to stay put. That entire sequence was irritating. That was clearly not the first time those guys had shown up there, so why did that kid not know better to stay where he was told. And why did he wait until he heard noises outside the door to lock it. I swear that was the loudest lock. It reverberated.

Anyway, I think it was that kid's fault all the nuns were slaughtered and I wish we could have one Walking Dead show that doesn't center around a precocious tween with an annoying Character Trait that somehow gets to screw around, essentially call the shots and tell the adults what to do, do whatever they want putting everyone in danger, and then get coddled afterwards.

I will say that seeing the nuns get blown away like that was an effective 'holy shit" moment for me. No pun intended. It was an effectively upsetting visual for me. I'm not religious, but I don't watch many things where nuns are likely to get mowed down so maybe it was just exceptionally jarring.

Agree about cliche Bad Guy #345. I'm bored of the motive of seeking revenge for the killer of a family member, who was actively going around harassing/beating/killing people. And the bad guy seeking revenge is also harassing/beating/killing people. He's over there whining about his brother when he just murdered that old guy in front of someone who clearly cared about him and vice versa.  I suppose its realistic but it really kills any interest in the villain for me when their motives are so absurdly juvenile and stupid.

I don't think this show needed a Bad Guy anyway. They said there were different kinds of walkers, and so far they seem more dangerous than the ones in the states. Couldn't the show have just been about carting the brat across France, avoiding the variety of walkers, figuring out how Daryl is going to get home, maybe making friends with the nuns, admiring the scenery, avoiding unsavory people but not a specific Villain, etc. I think the change of scenery so far is working better for me than it did in Dead City. Almost everything is different for Daryl, and us as viewers, which at least has a chance at keeping things interesting. 

I kind of can't believe they didn't have Daryl giving that chick the side eye when she started talking to him in over the top "American". I feel like that should have been a bit of a red flag for him. 

I complained a lot here but I did still actually enjoy this. I liked how they tried to put us (non-French speakers) in Daryl's shoes and didn't have subtitles whenever people were speaking French around him, but then had subtitles when people were speaking French apart from him. Maybe that was a coincidence, but if it was intentional I liked it.

I don't normally care about the walker-of-the week or walker gore in general, but I found the burner ones so refreshing. The burning brought back the urgency to not have them touch you or get to close. Its nice to be curious again while watching this -Why are they like that, what happened to them to make them like that, etc. I liked the effect of their veins bubbling. 

 

[iMonrey]

On 9/14/2023 at 5:28 PM, gutbuster said:

I don't think this show needed a Bad Guy anyway. They said there were different kinds of walkers, and so far they seem more dangerous than the ones in the states. Couldn't the show have just been about carting the brat across France, avoiding the variety of walkers, figuring out how Daryl is going to get home, maybe making friends with the nuns, admiring the scenery, avoiding unsavory people but not a specific Villain, etc.

Agreed. I think this speaks to the fact that TWD doesn't have anything new to say. They keep falling back on the same tiresome formula of Big Bad Villain that has to be taken out by The Heroes. It's (one of the reasons) why I checked out of Dead City after one episode.

[Nashville]

On 9/14/2023 at 5:28 PM, gutbuster said:

I was frustrated that here we are, even later into this apocalypse, and there are still kids who grew up in this mess who are still unable to stay put.

[tennisgurl]

Color me shocked, I actually liked this a lot. By the end of TWD I was so over this franchise that I waited ages to even finish the show and while I love Maggie I cant stand Negan so I never tried with Dead City, but damn it this one is pulling me back in. 

This already feels a bit more like early Walking Dead, much more cinematic and atmospheric than it became, and the new setting feels refreshing. I have always liked Daryl, even when the show wasn't sure what to do with him, so I'm happy to have him back, especially because, in what is the most shocking twist so far, someone actually got him to take a bath!

I like this new cast, especially the main nun, and even the kid isn't annoying yet. I also like that we have moved to France, the place where the disease seemed to start. Is that why the Walkers here are extra weird?

The gang really does just bring chaos with them everywhere don't they?  

[millennium]

When you're dying of thirst, even crappy left-over backwash in the bottom of a plastic bottle tastes good, apparently.

Maybe having had our standards reduced to sub-human levels over TWD's twelve-year run explains the positive reaction to this middling episode (I too suffer from the delusion that it was okay). 

Or maybe France is the reason.   I think it's axiomatic that the quality of any show is elevated when filmed in France.   I remember watching Highlander: The Series -- every season half the episodes were filmed in Vancouver, the other half in Paris.   The Paris episodes were almost always better.

I thought the architecture was the star of this show.  The aqueduct survived the fall of the Roman empire AND the zombie apocalypse.   That's workmanship.

 

[heisenberg]

I liked it very much.  Daryl moved up his acting and it is quite good.  My main language is french (From Quebec) and I enjoy the quality that the show offers.  No need for subtitles the french actors are also very good and I do care about most of them.