In Maine, Daryl helps to capture walkers in exchange for fuel he needs to get home. He briefly makes contact with Carol, who tells him someone has come back. After Juno murders a young man whom Daryl was mentoring, an altercation between the two causes them to be put on the Pouvoir ship; the two work together to escape, but Juno is torn apart by one of Pouvoir's test subjects who displays enhanced abilities similar to multiple variants. In the present, Isabelle struggles to adjust to being with Quinn again, even considering killing him with a knife, and receives a hidden message from Sylvie, Fallou, and Emile.
Isabelle agrees to join a Pouvoir celebration with Quinn, only to have a jealous Anna betray them. Daryl, Laurent and Azlan continue their journey to the Nest, but Azlan is killed during a fight with several walkers. Before dying, he reveals that the Nest is at Mont-Saint-Michel, but Laurent cuts a rope and lets their boat float off, wishing to go to America with Daryl instead. The two and Quinn are captured by guerriers and Genet coerces Laurent into making a show of support at an event she holds, where Genet pits Daryl in a gladiator fight against one of her enhanced walkers, unaware that Sylvie, Fallou and Emile have infiltrated the event.
Finally, with the answer of how Daryl ended up in France and everything he faced until crossing paths with the boat group, we have revelations and twists that change the series' landscape. This is why the specialized critics are right about the quality of this episode. The episode begins exactly where the last one left off, showing Daryl taking the boy to the "Nest." All the protagonist's concern for Laurent about the place he is going, questioning his safety, shows that the character already has bonds with the boy and possibly, at some point in the last episode, he must have hesitated to return home. The fatherhood relationship that was developed during these five episodes was very well built.
The highlight of the episode is definitely the editing, which kept alternating between present and past all the time without losing its pace. The color saturation chosen to portray the United States was spot-on, and these technical aspects remain at the highest level throughout. During these flashbacks, answers are finally given on how Daryl crossed the ocean. Shortly after leaving Commonwealth, the character finds himself in need of fuel to continue his mission, which leads him to accept a job in exchange for gasoline.
Faced with this need for supplies, the script manages to further enhance Daryl's survival skills. The easy way he captures walkers to take the group's attention and shows why he has survived all these years of the apocalypse. Even after 11 seasons, it is impressive how the character still presents room for growth and should continue to be so from now on as it is one of the characteristics that David Zabel has shown, the constant desire to evolve his characters. In the present scenes, Daryl's relationship with Laurent and his conversation about important people he mentions, like Judith, RJ, Carol, Connie, Ezekiel, shows that the boy managed to break the shell that Daryl has. When talking about the children, the episode is touching because it brings a direct dialogue from the series narrative to reality. We see Daryl talk about the importance of returning home, focusing on the children, which is very common in the real world in times of war. This verisimilitude makes the character's desire to reunite with his family even greater.
The episode also works with Isabelle's plot, which yes, is more constrained, but still serves to unravel some points of the story, which should be relevant to the conclusion of the season. After it became a little hazy at the end of the last episode what the character would do from then on, here things become clearer. Since Quinn has some relation to Genet's group, Isabelle tried to persuade him in a way so that he could help in Laurent's crossing. Again, it is important to emphasize how this series works with characteristic and very individual traits of each character.
Before going to France, Daryl, in the middle of his mission still in the United States, gets a radio to communicate with Carol, which already gives a preview of the possible appearance of the character in the final episode. Dialogue goes back and forth, and Carol says that someone has returned, but the call fails, and Daryl cannot hear who. Certainly, the writers want to sharpen and lead the audience to think that it is Rick and Michonne, but it is very unlikely to be that due to the lack of excitement in which it was spoken. With the end of Fear the Walking Dead approaching, I believe it is more possible to be Morgan. Due to the confusion caused by the death of the young man who wanted to help in the mission, Daryl is taken on the boat to serve as food for the walkers. With a brilliant escape plan, we see the much-talked-about confusion on the ship caused by the American, which had been mentioned since the first episode. With a set of tense scenes and the most anticipated moment of this series, the protagonist finds himself facing the most dangerous variant we have seen so far in the entire universe, forcing the character to flee and leave the fight aside. At this moment, the camera work is very well directed to expose the dangers of the variant, making an allusion past and present of two exactly identical situations for the protagonist: having to face a dangerous walker to survive.
What holds the episode (and justifies my score not being a gigantic zero) is the concept of the variant zombie, which brings some kind of impulse to the story and because I always support ideas to elevate the undead that have gradually been discarded. I also like the relatively macabre atmosphere of Genet's lair (and the ship as well), with captured zombies, ideologically blind soldiers, and horror experiments. But it's little, very little for a penultimate episode of the season. Tying up the loose ends left in the last four episodes, the series brings a conclusion to the mystery and leaves a huge cliffhanger for the final episode, which promises to set the course that will likely be followed in the second season.
Isabelle agrees to join a Pouvoir celebration with Quinn, only to have a jealous Anna betray them. Daryl, Laurent and Azlan continue their journey to the Nest, but Azlan is killed during a fight with several walkers. Before dying, he reveals that the Nest is at Mont-Saint-Michel, but Laurent cuts a rope and lets their boat float off, wishing to go to America with Daryl instead. The two and Quinn are captured by guerriers and Genet coerces Laurent into making a show of support at an event she holds, where Genet pits Daryl in a gladiator fight against one of her enhanced walkers, unaware that Sylvie, Fallou and Emile have infiltrated the event.
Finally, with the answer of how Daryl ended up in France and everything he faced until crossing paths with the boat group, we have revelations and twists that change the series' landscape. This is why the specialized critics are right about the quality of this episode. The episode begins exactly where the last one left off, showing Daryl taking the boy to the "Nest." All the protagonist's concern for Laurent about the place he is going, questioning his safety, shows that the character already has bonds with the boy and possibly, at some point in the last episode, he must have hesitated to return home. The fatherhood relationship that was developed during these five episodes was very well built.
The highlight of the episode is definitely the editing, which kept alternating between present and past all the time without losing its pace. The color saturation chosen to portray the United States was spot-on, and these technical aspects remain at the highest level throughout. During these flashbacks, answers are finally given on how Daryl crossed the ocean. Shortly after leaving Commonwealth, the character finds himself in need of fuel to continue his mission, which leads him to accept a job in exchange for gasoline.
Faced with this need for supplies, the script manages to further enhance Daryl's survival skills. The easy way he captures walkers to take the group's attention and shows why he has survived all these years of the apocalypse. Even after 11 seasons, it is impressive how the character still presents room for growth and should continue to be so from now on as it is one of the characteristics that David Zabel has shown, the constant desire to evolve his characters. In the present scenes, Daryl's relationship with Laurent and his conversation about important people he mentions, like Judith, RJ, Carol, Connie, Ezekiel, shows that the boy managed to break the shell that Daryl has. When talking about the children, the episode is touching because it brings a direct dialogue from the series narrative to reality. We see Daryl talk about the importance of returning home, focusing on the children, which is very common in the real world in times of war. This verisimilitude makes the character's desire to reunite with his family even greater.
The episode also works with Isabelle's plot, which yes, is more constrained, but still serves to unravel some points of the story, which should be relevant to the conclusion of the season. After it became a little hazy at the end of the last episode what the character would do from then on, here things become clearer. Since Quinn has some relation to Genet's group, Isabelle tried to persuade him in a way so that he could help in Laurent's crossing. Again, it is important to emphasize how this series works with characteristic and very individual traits of each character.
Before going to France, Daryl, in the middle of his mission still in the United States, gets a radio to communicate with Carol, which already gives a preview of the possible appearance of the character in the final episode. Dialogue goes back and forth, and Carol says that someone has returned, but the call fails, and Daryl cannot hear who. Certainly, the writers want to sharpen and lead the audience to think that it is Rick and Michonne, but it is very unlikely to be that due to the lack of excitement in which it was spoken. With the end of Fear the Walking Dead approaching, I believe it is more possible to be Morgan. Due to the confusion caused by the death of the young man who wanted to help in the mission, Daryl is taken on the boat to serve as food for the walkers. With a brilliant escape plan, we see the much-talked-about confusion on the ship caused by the American, which had been mentioned since the first episode. With a set of tense scenes and the most anticipated moment of this series, the protagonist finds himself facing the most dangerous variant we have seen so far in the entire universe, forcing the character to flee and leave the fight aside. At this moment, the camera work is very well directed to expose the dangers of the variant, making an allusion past and present of two exactly identical situations for the protagonist: having to face a dangerous walker to survive.
What holds the episode (and justifies my score not being a gigantic zero) is the concept of the variant zombie, which brings some kind of impulse to the story and because I always support ideas to elevate the undead that have gradually been discarded. I also like the relatively macabre atmosphere of Genet's lair (and the ship as well), with captured zombies, ideologically blind soldiers, and horror experiments. But it's little, very little for a penultimate episode of the season. Tying up the loose ends left in the last four episodes, the series brings a conclusion to the mystery and leaves a huge cliffhanger for the final episode, which promises to set the course that will likely be followed in the second season.