Who would have thought that the third season of David Zabel’s Daryl Dixon would boast such baffling depths? The Daryl-centric The Walking Dead spin-off is usually pretty good at making the most of its fiercely foreign settings. But there’s something unprecedentedly spooky about the terrain between Galicia and Barcelona in the third season. Between the witches and the ominous vultures of the desert, hope and despair have a strange, almost mutual game of high stakes going in the 5th episode of Daryl Dixon season 3.
Spoiler Alert
Did Fede hand Justina over to El Alcazar?
If it wasn’t for Daryl and Carol, Antonio would’ve had a much harder time locating his son. Roberto didn’t fathom the true extent of the danger he was signing up for when he took to the road looking for Justina. He did find her. But a lot of bad things have gone down between their reunion and Roberto’s current, devastating condition. El Alcazar’s goons clearly don’t have the softness to go easy on a young boy. They’ve even made a game out of feeding him to the Walkers as he hangs above a hungry horde, all battered and unconscious. And again, if it wasn’t for Daryl shooting them dead from afar, Antonio would’ve lost his son. His generosity has given him a gift that he can never pay them back for. Roberto’s near-death, but at least he’s still breathing. With Dona Marga’s expertise and the new medicines from El Alcazar, they have a chance at saving him if they take him back to Solaz. But what Roberto has told them makes going back really complicated, and maybe even dangerous. When Roberto’s truck neared El Alcazar’s convoy, he grabbed Justina and they drove away together. That’s how he knows that the truth is far from the sob story Fede’s contrived. Roberto was right. Justina didn’t sacrifice herself. I guess Fede will choose power over love any day. So when Justina confronted her about all the times he saved her from La Ofrenda, and threatened to disclose it to everyone, Fede chose his mayorship over his niece. He sent Justina away because he didn’t want to give her what she wanted. Justina only wanted one thing from Fede in exchange for keeping his secret to herself–she wanted her uncle to stop La Ofrenda. But Fede didn’t want to lose the gifts he gets when he gives a daughter away to the monsters masquerading as the Spanish monarchy. El Alcazar caught up to Roberto and Justina before they could get far. When their truck flipped, their convoy took Justina away and tormented Roberto to no end. Now that they know Fede’s secret, it’s not exactly safe for Roberto or any of them to go back to Solaz. But Daryl’s got a pretty believable lie up his sleeve. They’re going to tell Fede that Roberto was hurt by the Bandidos. That should be easy enough a lie for someone as proficient as Carol to sell. Carol’s done taking orders from Daryl about how to proceed with all this. She cares about these people. And while that doesn’t change their plan to sail to America, Carol doesn’t want to leave Justina at the mercy of El Alcazar. But Daryl’s far from a selfish guy himself. All it takes for him to get on board and volunteer to follow El Alcazar’s convoy to Barcelona is Carol putting her foot down. With the promise to bring Justina back, Daryl leaves for Barcelona on his motorcycle.
Who helps Daryl in the desert?
Daryl trusted just the right person for the job when he asked Carol to take care of what they’ll say to Fede. She does go with the Bandidos story at first. It’s not too unbelievable a lie considering they were just attacked by the Primitivos. So when Fede figures that it could’ve been them, Carol improvises and lets him believe what he wants to. Fede is pretty talkative about his history with Antonio for a change. There’s almost this sense that he wants Antonio to worry that he’ll say something that he shouldn’t. But Fede’s anecdote about his cousin frequenting Antonio’s house to eat the desserts that his wife Maria used to bake makes him nostalgic, if anything. What stands out in that story the most is Maria, and especially the way Fede talks about her. Could it be that the fight between Fede and Antonio was over Maria? Antonio can’t care about all that now. He needs to make sure that Fede goes easy on Roberto. But I doubt that Fede would be too harsh on Roberto after all the effort Dona Marga is putting into getting him better. It’s a rather odd experience for Carol to see the witches at work with their trippy chants and their qurimada. But nothing’s spookier than the man Daryl runs into out in the scorched desert. When a feeble man with his eyes gouged out begs him for water, he wants to help the poor guy lost in the desert. The vultures screeching above them probably took his eyes, and thirst and hunger must’ve taken his sanity. But there’s something ominous about his cries, naming a certain bone crusher that Daryl will meet on the road. That can’t be a good thing, right? But it’s not like you even need supernatural threats when there are vicious people all around. There’s this really unique train that Daryl spots. It’s dragged by a horde that’s following a singing cowboy. Now that’s neat! But the people inside are not really friendly. In fact, they’re awful enough to grin at the thought of killing Daryl and taking his motorcycle when they see him. Thankfully, killing Daryl proves difficult even for the best of their riders. But the clash makes a mess of his motorcycle. Even if Daryl had supplies, crossing that desert on foot would’ve been nearly impossible. It makes sense that he’d be terribly dehydrated within a day of his walk to Barcelona. If it wasn’t for the nice people who find him and take him to their home, Daryl probably wouldn’t have made it. He can’t immediately put his finger on what’s wrong with Mateo’s face when he follows him in a daze. All he can think about is water as he walks by people who seem to have the same deformity as Mateo. But not everyone in that town is like that. Their leader, Amaia, doesn’t have leprosy like Mateo and the majority of their community. The people who came after Daryl and stole his motorcycle took their water too. And Daryl’s too kind to exploit the kind of people who give him water even though they don’t have much to spare anymore. What Amaia wants from Daryl in exchange for giving him their truck is the water that the Buzzards, the people of the train, stole from them. It’s an odd job for Daryl to take on. But he needs the truck if he really wants to go to Barcelona. And he’s not the kind of person who’d take their truck and leave them to die of thirst. They have no reason to trust Daryl. He could easily drive off and not look back. But these are some of the nicest people that Daryl has ever met. They get him everything he needs to gear up against the Buzzards. And when he’s exhausted from all the work, a little girl even offers him her little bottle of water. The world they live in is hardly ideal. So it’s a big deal for them to be accepted by someone “normal” like Daryl. He’s seen how Amaia is unaffected by the disease even though she lives in close quarters with them and even touches them. So he has no reason to doubt her when she tells him that it’s safe to touch them in moderation. They may not get the exact meaning of the word Daryl says when they ask him what they think about them, but the word, depeysant, means a lot to Daryl. It’s not necessarily translatable, so Daryl doesn’t even try. But he reassures them that it’s a good thing. He wants them to know that he thinks that they’re good people. That’s the Daryl we know and adore. It’s taken him a while to be this comfortable with opening his heart to people. But he hasn’t stopped making the effort to be vulnerable ever since Laurent and Isabelle. They changed him for the better. And the world’s better for it.
Will Fede Hurt Roberto?
This week’s episode of Daryl Dixon is intentionally blurry with the timelines, as though it’s trying to emulate the foggy state of mind that Daryl is trying to work through. He’s far from his 100%. So he’s lucky that the Buzzards make it easy for him by coming after his truck in their motorcycles. He leads them straight to the town of the people he’s befriended, betting on their quickness since they’ve survived this far without weapons or muscles. Amaia didn’t want to have faith in Daryl. But that was only because she didn’t want to get her friends’ hopes up based on the promises of a stranger. When the Buzzards wind up in their town following Daryl’s truck, the people put on a rather fun exhibition of their wit and unity. What else do you really need when you’re fighting braindead goons driven by empty rage? Even the ones Daryl takes care of die because of one simple reason, there’s not much going on upstairs when it comes to the Buzzards. But that’s not the case with Chofo, the quirky leader of the Buzzards with a pet iguana whose favorite snack is human eyes. But you can chalk that up to how much Chofo loves his little Lola. The last thing Chofo expected was for a single man to take down all his security. Even the cowboy Piper dies a nauseating death when Daryl releases the horde that was pulling the train. I hope Chofo’s girlfriend has it in her to make it out of there. Chofo certainly seems to know how to take care of a rabid horde in a very small space. It’s a sweet thing really–there’s a mutual understanding between Daryl and Chofo when their backs are against each other–first they take care of the zombies, and then they fight. Daryl doesn’t want to mess around after seeing how well he handled the Walkers. The same tub that we saw Chofo getting freaky in ends up being his graveyard when Daryl holds his head underwater and drowns him. Not a bad way to die for a cool antagonist. I just hope he hasn’t spoiled the survival skills out of Lola. She’s gonna need to find her own food from now on.
On Daryl’s end, there’s a happy outcome when he delivers on the promises he made to the people who saved him. All they wanted was their water back, and now they can even use the supplies they’ll find on the train. It’s funny how a grumpy guy like Daryl is always popular with children. This time, the little girl who gave him water wants him to have her bottle to go. It’s her way of thanking Daryl for saving them. Amaia and her friends don’t usually meet good people, let alone someone who’d put his own life in danger to save theirs. I bet that reaffirms Daryl’s faith in the journey he’s going on. Good things are scarce in the world he’s trying to live in. Daryl gets why Carol thinks it’s important to save what Justina and Roberto have. I don’t think his journey to Barcelona will be easy. But Daryl’s Justina’s best shot at coming back home. Speaking of home, things are not looking great in Solaz. Fede was already a little suspicious about Daryl’s absence. Carol told him that he’s checking on the boat and staying at the beach. But I don’t think Fede bought it. Not that that matters.
In the ending of Daryl Dixon episode 5, Dona Marga finds Justina’s necklace in Roberto’s hand. She really should’ve been more subtle about it. But she trusts Fede too much for her own good. She probably thinks that Fede doesn’t know about El Alcazar’s real face. But after finding out that Roberto was with Justina, Fede has to figure out how to keep the truth from his mother. Dona Marga would never forgive Fede if she found out that he gave Justina away to hide his secret. Is Fede wacky enough to actually hurt Roberto and dig a deeper hole for himself? For Antonio’s sake, I hope not. Right now, Fede’s priority is the missing American. He now has reasons to believe that Carol lied about Daryl’s whereabouts. He’s sent Sergio to check the boat. If Carol and Antonio don’t find a way to stop Fede, a lot of good people are going to get hurt. Antonio may not want to leave Solaz, but if push comes to shove, he may have to choose Ohio over the place he calls home.
