Walking Dead's Daryl & Carol Episode Is A Bad Omen For The New Spinoff
Early signs for The Walking Dead's Daryl and Carol spinoff are less than encouraging. After The Walking Dead season 10's official finale in October 2020, an extra batch of episodes was announced to compensate for the delayed season 11. The second of these COVID-friendly offerings is set during The Walking Dead's huge season 9 time skip, following Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon during his lengthy quest to solve the disappearance of Rick Grimes. Titled "Find Me," the side-story features Reedus alongside Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier as the only two established Walking Dead characters.
Reedus and McBride are set to star in their own show when The Walking Dead comes to an end. The Walking Dead season 11 marks the final run of the main series, but will be followed by a horde of fresh projects including a Rick Grimes movie, a comedy and (potentially) more seasons of Fear The Walking Dead. The Daryl and Carol spinoff is the most intriguing prospect, however, and promises to continue the story of these two fan-favorite, long-serving characters. Unfortunately, their adventures haven't made the strongest start.
The Walking Dead season 10's "Find Me" is effectively a backdoor pilot for Daryl and Carol's upcoming spinoff, putting the pair front and center in the zombie apocalypse wilderness without any other familiar faces, nor any semblance of civilization. As such, the episode provides an early indication as to whether these two characters can sustain an entire show by themselves, but the result leaves cause for concern. By far the most interesting scenes in "Find Me" are between Daryl and the newcomer Leah (Lynn Collins), and the exchanges with Carol pale in comparison. If isolating Daryl and Carol barely holds interest for this single episode, stretching their partnership over an entire season doesn't feel like an attractive prospect.
Darol Dixon and Carol Peletier are both excellent characters, and their friendship has developed into one of the best in The Walking Dead... but only when other people are around for them to interact with. Daryl and Carol are both notoriously awkward communicators. From the very beginning, Daryl has been a man of few words that seldom expresses himself, even to close friends. Carol is more social, but still cut from the same "stoic badass" cloth. She has a habit of hiding her true intentions, and will often suppress traits that could be interpreted as weakness. Based on what The Walking Dead's latest episode, separating these two notoriously introverted characters means slow, terse conversations half-comprised of grunts and sideways glances.
Daryl and Carol's success in The Walking Dead came about due to how endearingly these two characters relate to each other, while the likes of Rick, Michonne and Ezekiel are more outgoing, hopeful and vocal. It's Daryl and Carol's camaraderie in the midst of these conflicting social personalities that makes them so interesting. But when taken away from the group, they're two sulky survivors struggling to share their feelings - not a natural recipe for good television. Rather than following Daryl and Carol on the road, The Walking Dead's upcoming spinoff will need to introduce a new survivors that can bring the best out of the two leads, providing a counter to the miserable outlook Daryl and Carol specialize in.