The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2, Episode 6, “Au Revoir Les Enfants,” which premiered Sunday, Nov. 3 on AMC.

For all The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has stumbled over in Season 2, the show knows how to do exciting action. Granted, Daryl Dixon and Carol Peletier have morphed into cliché comic book heroes that are protected by calcified plot armor. But the series never fails to surprise fans with creative ways of providing the illusion of death, even if it doesn’t exist for the titular characters. If only some of that innovation was used to keep the rest of the cast — rather than picking them off one by one.

The Daryl Dixon Season 2 finale picks up right where Season 2, Episode 5 left off — only there’s a big disagreement between Carol and Daryl about the plane situation. Since the plane can only carry three people, either Daryl and Carol has to stay behind. Viewers who keep up with behind-the-scenes news can easily predict that both will decide to stay, so that Season 3 in Spain is possible. Jacinta and Anna Valery team up to stop the plane from taking off, hoping to fulfill the prophecy once and for all. The rest of the episode plays out like a disjointed epilogue to reaffirm the show’s mantra: Carol and Daryl always survive.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Adds a New Twist to the Undead

The Walkers Get a New Look in the Season 2 Finale

The Walking Dead has been hit or miss when it tries to make its walkers even more dangerous and surprising. Sometimes, it adds a thrilling element that gives the franchise an edge after being around for so long. But other times, walker variants can be almost too ridiculous. They contradict the lore that established walkers are a product of nature. The Daryl Dixon Season 2 finale’s new type of walkers lean toward the bright side of changing the walkers in every spinoff. The glow-in-the-dark walkers aren’t designed by humans to fight fire with fire or gain power out of fear. They’re simply nature redirecting its course.

The group’s Scottish guides explain that the walkers glow in the dark because of bioluminescence, similar to how fireflies are able to produce their own light. The firefly reference is a nice callback to Isabelle Carriere’s final words that she can “see the fireflies,” as her last wish was to go to America and escape France’s war. Since some fungi are able to naturally emit light, and the walkers are smothered in it, the science behind this phenomenon gets a pass. But the next level of danger the group crosses needs more investigation.

The Walking Dead prides itself on realism, with walkers being the only extraordinary sensation to occur in this world. Given this, there’s a reason to nitpick some of the other science Daryl Dixon is throwing out. The group of survivors come across piles of bat droppings — also known as guano — in the Channel Tunnel. They soon begin turning on each other because they inhale the spores from the guano, which they claim causes hallucinations. This technically isn’t untrue: breathing in guano spores can cause histoplasmosis.

But hallucination symptoms are only presented in a severe form of the disease known as central nervous system (CNS) histoplasmosis. In the short amount of time the survivors spend in the cave, there’s a small chance that they developed such a life-threatening form of histoplasmosis. In the grand scheme of the story, it seems like a small thing to fuss over. But it’s baffling that Daryl and Carol easily walk away with no health problems — especially considering CNS histoplasmosis has to be treated with modern medicine, which neither of them have access to.

Daryl Dixon Season 2 Misses Its Chance for a Good Ending

The Finale Doesn’t Give Daryl and Laurent Proper Closure

Daryl Dixon has had a difficult time defeating the allegations that it’s a The Last of Us ripoff, and the Season 2 finale doesn’t help. The first season wasn’t off to a good start by centering its story on a grumpy man growing close to a child believed to be immune. Between two apocalyptic shows, some elements are bound to overlap — but the finale really shoots itself in the foot. Not only with the guano spores (which are nearly identical to The Last of Us‘ fungal spores) but the conclusion to Daryl and Laurent’s relationship.

The last heartfelt moment they have together is singing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones while Laurent plays the guitar, similar to how Joel and Ellie bond over music in The Last of Us. Music easily opens up someone’s soul and helps people verbally express their feelings. But Daryl has never expressed an interest in singing or playing the guitar, nor is he a person comfortable enough to publicly do either.

In general, the conclusion to Daryl and Laurent’s relationship is rather anticlimactic. Their story ends when Laurent and the underrated Ash leaving for America in the middle of the episode, while Daryl and Carol still have their feet on the ground. As much as Daryl promises that he and Laurent will see each other again, his lack of interest in Laurent’s well-being after the fact suggests otherwise. After 12 episodes of pushing that Daryl has found a new family with Laurent, the finale doesn’t deliver.

Once Laurent is out of sight, it’s as if he never existed, and Daryl is back to only caring for his family in America. The source of this problem is embedded in the episode’s odd structure. The first half is dedicated to Daryl and Carol fighting Jacinta to protect Laurent, while the second half is spent in the Channel Tunnel heading to England. Daryl and Laurent’s goodbye would’ve been more impactful if it had been the last scene of the season.

The Season 2 Finale Shuts One Door and Opens Another

Daryl Dixon Says Goodbye to France by Getting Rid of Everyone Else

When it was announced that Daryl Dixon Season 3 is set in Spain, there wasn’t any indication that this meant the end of the show’s French characters. But apparently, it’s silly to think that people aren’t beholden to their home country or are privileged enough to travel alongside Daryl and Carol. After Isabelle’s death in Season 2, Episode 4, the status quo of Daryl Dixon shifted. Its new era doesn’t involve France or any recollection of it. Over the course of the Season 2 finale, Jacinta and Anna die, Ash and Laurent go to America, Fallou stays behind and Codron just gets lost in the Channel Tunnel. Codron’s unclear status gives him a bigger chance to reappear in Season 3, but nobody should gamble on that. There’s literally nobody left but Daryl and Carol, looking back on the disaster they’ve left behind.

By shutting out all of these characters from exploring new opportunities in a different environment, Daryl Dixon builds a predictable cycle. Every couple of seasons, the series will probably move to another country and leave any trace of the old one behind. Just when Codron and Fallou start to show shades of a personality, they get sent away. It’s also not fair for cultures to get washed down and cycled through, as if they’re disposable. Hopefully Spain and its survivors won’t just be background noise to jazz up the series. But it’s very hard to be positive after the Season 2 finale burns everything to the ground. When Daryl hallucinates Isabelle to finally receive closure, she tells him to “bet on hope.” The audience has been betting that Daryl Dixon will improve for a long time — but it hasn’t happened yet.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 is available to stream on AMC+ and Netflix. A third season is in development.