The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has kicked off its third and penultimate season, with the fourth set to be the series’ final installment. Ahead of the release, plenty of information was revealed about the season, most notably that it was shot in Spain. It was also revealed that British comedian and actor Stephen Merchant would star in an undisclosed role. That role was revealed in the first episode, “Costa da Morte” (Portuguese for “Coast of Death”), and it proves crucial to Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) and Carol’s (Melissa McBride) journey.
Daryl and Carol See No Signs of Life in England
AMC
Daryl and Carol don’t just know how to fight off vicious enemies. They’re both incredibly resourceful. Carol proved that in Season 2 when she came across Ash (Manish Dayal) and manipulated him into flying her in his plane to France so she could track down her best friend. This season, the pair does something similar with a man they meet named Julian, played by Merchant.
After successfully making their way through the Channel Tunnel, known as “The Chunnel,” which connects France and England, they find a desolate wasteland. They arrive and, surprisingly, don’t see a single soul. It’s completely quiet. They walk, wait, and prepare for a fight, but there’s no one around aside from walkers or, as some call them, “squid.” (It has to do with a Cockney rhyming word game, apparently).
Eventually, after fighting off a swarm of “squid,” the dynamic duo finds an abandoned “posh” building and takes shelter. They go way up top, where it should presumably be safer. Once they clear the room, it seems like a good spot to get a night or two’s rest until they figure out their next move. Up on the rooftop, however, they see that the city is filled with walkers, with nowhere to turn and no way to escape. For the first time, Daryl and Carol are resigning themselves to the possibility that this might be their last night on Earth. But someone has managed to navigate this challenging situation and has proved pivotal to their escape.
Julian Is England’s Presumed Sole Survivor
AMC
Daryl notices a light coming from a building far away and suspects that someone else might still be alive. This is confirmed when, in the middle of the night, he looks out the window and sees a man rappelling towards him on a makeshift zipline. The quirky Julian Chamberlain declares that he “comes in peace,” awkwardly trying to untie himself with hopes that this mysterious pair of Americans won’t kill him. In traveling to and from buildings in the air, Julian managed to avoid walkers for the most part and keep himself alive. Apparently, he’s the only one.
He claims to be the sole person left in England, saying he hasn’t seen another person in years. He notes that back when others were around, they sealed off the Chunnel to protect themselves from Europe, and things were manageable for a while. But much like in America, when people started going after one another and joined different tribes, all hell broke loose. With the Chunnel sealed up, there was no way for anyone to get in, which was great. However, there was also no way for anyone to escape.
At first, the pair is unsure about what to do with Julian. Their shared glares suggest that they are pondering whether they should just kill him. But he seems harmless. Actually, he’s clearly very lonely. When he mentions how he couldn’t “sail the boat alone” when his last friend died, however, their ears perk up. This guy could be their ticket to America, much like Ash was Carol’s ticket to France.
Daryl and Carol Play a Manipulative Game With Good Intentions
AMC
As the night goes on, they enjoy Julian’s company and continue to prod him with whiskey to subtly get more information. Daryl wants to get right to it, not one to mince words. But Carol, in her usual carefully calculated style, realizes they have to play a game. They need to be sweet and kind to manipulate Julian into getting what they want.
For his part, Julian is just happy to see other faces; it’s as if he’s planning their new lives together there, assuming they will stay, or at least being hopeful they will. His situation is reminiscent of Princess when the group came across her in the main series. He yearns for companionship, but also awkwardly doesn’t know how to go about it. It seems he might have been just as awkward, an outcast, before the apocalypse, too.
Daryl and Carol realize they need both Julian and his boat. Carol masterfully presents the idea of him coming to America with them, telling a little white lie that they know how to sail. That convinces Julian that it’s a good idea, and he gathers supplies and promises they’ll be able to get out. How? At 10 a.m., when he tells them to meet, Big Ben strikes. The loud bells attract all the walkers, giving them a brief window of opportunity to escape.
Julian has second thoughts when he realizes they don’t actually know how to sail. He declares that he always wanted to be a sailor, but couldn’t get through the Royal Navy college. Now, Carol and Daryl not only need to convince Julian to let them use his boat, but they also need to help him build his confidence. In a way, they’re like parental figures to this grown but under-confident man, encouraging him with “you can do it” statements and praise. It works.
The Journey Ends in Tragedy
AMC
While en route, the pair start to grow closer to Julian, recognizing that he is someone who would actually fit nicely into The Commonwealth. It appears they will happily keep Julian around once they arrive and welcome him into the community. But as revealed in the trailer ahead of the episode release, they don’t make it far. They end up shipwrecked in Spain, where the remainder of the season takes place. Sadly, tragedy strikes Julian in the process.
Julian predicts they should be able to make it to America in 11 to 17 days, which delights the pair. But the weather is unpredictable, and when a storm hits, they are in for the ride of their lives. They appear to be literally riding out the storm successfully until the sail gets stuck. The boom knocks Julian over, and it’s clear he has a serious head injury. They take him to the bottom of the boat as Carol continues to check on him, hoping he will get better. But they are left to weather the storm on their own, and Carol’s final look suggests she knows he isn’t going to be okay.
The boat crashes ashore in Spain, and both Daryl and Carol emerge, but she is seriously injured. They also can’t find Julian. He’s no longer in the boat, dead or alive. Carol walks out to the edge of the water, barely able to move and with blurred vision. She comes across a reanimated Julian who attacks her, growling as he seeks flesh. She tries to fight him off, but she’s weak. Luckily, Daryl arrives in the nick of time to knock him off her and plunge a knife into Julian’s head. Their British friend is gone. He has officially become a squid.
Stephen Merchant Nails the Serious Role in ‘Daryl Dixon’
BBC One
Julian is a more dramatic role for Merchant, who has most often played comedic roles, though he has more recently branched out to play more serious characters in Logan, Jojo Rabbit, and Four Lives. In this subdued yet serious role, he’s a lonely man who lacks self-confidence. But he also hasn’t lost his sense of humanity, even though he hasn’t interacted with other humans for years. He sees that Daryl and Carol can be friends and is trusting of them, likely feeling that risking his life on the waters is better than continuing to live in isolation. Merchant brings hints of his comedic styling to the role as well, with Julian’s self-deprecating humor and quirky jokes.
Julian is far more important to the journey than just helping Daryl and Carol get a bit further on their route to America. He has eye-opening conversations, describing his loneliness in life even before the apocalypse hit. He tells Daryl that he worked hard and saved every penny, hoping to be ready to find the love of his life. But once he was ready, there was no one left to find. “It’s better to have loved and lost,” he says, “than to have never loved before.” These words hit Daryl deeply, allowing him to relate to Julian in a way he likely never thought he could.
As the lone survivor in England, Julian proved that, despite being largely invisible in the world before, he carried a strength deeper than most, a resilience that helped him survive. He’s a lot like Daryl, even if the two had very different upbringings. His words and his tragic death will likely live with Daryl as he contemplates the idea of hope and about not just surviving, but having something, or someone, to survive for. Stream The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon on AMC+.
The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon official poster
3.5
/5
Release Date
October 1, 2023
Network
AMC
Showrunner
David Zabel
Writers
David Zabel, Angela Kang
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