Heading up river to the Nest, Daryl, Laurent and Azlan encounter some trouble that forces Daryl to remember just how he got to France.

A lot happens here and the vast majority of it is good, so let’s start with the single disappointing beat. Azlan’s death, especially in such an offhand manner, rankles. Hassam Ghancy’s fantastic and he has an instant, easy chemistry with Reedus especially that felt a lot like the core show presented in a new way. It also, especially with the characters we left behind last time, feels very weird to shuffle the deck again this fast.

That aside, this is the episode where we see how everything fits together. The flashbacks especially do two vitally important things for the entire Walking Dead universe. The first is establish that survivor nation states are worldwide and have begun to encroach on each other’s borders. We’ve seen, in previous episodes, how furious Genet is that the first ship they were able to make active in years has been all but destroyed and that sits the show in a fascinating piece of narrative soil. The sort of communities the second half of the core show explored are being subsumed into much larger ones. We know of at least three in America alone and Genet’s group in France shows this isn’t an isolated process. The world is rebuilding and not always for the better.

The second is it confirms that Walkers are now a resources. Doctor Lafleur (François Delaive) isn’t just experimenting on them, he’s successfully created at least one new variant judging by the Walker Daryl faces on the boat and later in the final scene. Whether he’s connected to the scientists whose research caused the outbreak in the first place isn’t clear. But Genet’s exploitation of his work for national gains is plain to see and, honestly, terrifying. Anne Charrier has been great all season and she cuts all the way loose here, giving a speech uniting her people around the warmest, cruellest campfire; hatred. The image of Daryl preparing to fight an enhanced Walker to the death while Genet’s people sing the national anthem in the seats around the arena is a highlight of the show so far. It also, along with the rest of the episode, focuses us back in on just who Daryl Dixon is.

Norman Reedus has been playing this role for over a decade but he’s phenomenal at finding new layers to it. David Zabel and Jason Richman’s script gives him a lot to work with this week too as Daryl’s relationship with Azlan and Laurent evolves through the lens of his final experiences in America. The flashbacks see him trading Walker hunting for ethanol, working in a group of hunters employed by Lafleur. Daryl knows something’s off but he also needs the fuel. So we watch as he defaults to his old, lone wolf, ways around the brash group of hunters and we see not only what that costs him but how it defines his relationship with Laurent.

There’s a casual dystopia to this that the franchise hasn’t done for a while and John Ales and Martin Martinez really help land these scenes as Huno and T.J.. Juno is an arrogant, ruthless hunter who wears his lack of care with the same pride as his trucker hat. T.J. is a young, sweet natured guy who wants to get back home but can’t go empty handed. Juno’s a survivor, T.J. is not and Daryl doesn’t see that in time.

The offhand brutality of both men’s fates sets the very dark tone for these scenes and it also tells us exactly why Daryl is like he is around Laurent. He’s screwed up, someone who shouldn’t have died has. He doesn’t know whether to push the kid away or hug him so he does both. Laurent for his part is so terrified of losing the last person he knows and likes that he cuts the rope holding their boat, marooning them in the countryside. When Daryl finds out he cooks off, and I’ve never seen Reedus handle a scene like this in all his years on the show. He’s MURDEROUS, exhausted and terrified and so completely sick of this unworldly child who he can’t quite bring himself to leave behind. He verbally tears Laurent apart, and then he sees what he’s done and immediately apologizes. It’s a fantastic scene, landed by Daniel Percival’s direction, script and performances and it shows just how far this unflappable survivor really has been pushed.

All of this collapses down to Daryl, in an arena, facing a chemically enraged Walker. Around him are the baying audience and the culmination of every other plot. Anna’s rescue of Daryl and Laurent has landed Quinn in prison, Izzy and Laurent are forced to watch Daryl fight, Codron gets his vengeance, and Genet and Lafleur finally get to see their work field tested. This is in addition to Isabelle contemplating suicide rather than reuniting with Quinn and, in one of the flashbacks, Carol! Melissa McBride makes a vocal cameo as Daryl makes brief radio contact and it’s clear all is not well at home. Carol is muted, cautious and as the call finishes says ‘…came back.’ with the name obscured. Whether this is Rick and Michonne, as has been speculated, remains to be seen but there are clear hints that this show and The Ones Who Live will be tying together. But that’s in the future, behind a super Walker and a crowd anxious for blood. Next week, we see how Daryl starts the journey there but this week, this crammed episode delivers him to the starting line in style. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart