“Looks like the future,” Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) says to Daryl (Norman Reedus) as they drive through Paris in the latest episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol, “Vouloir, C’est Pouvoir.” After the high emotions and climaxes of Episode 4, we spend much of this episode thinking about the future for the characters who have survived the cull so far.

Having lost the majority of the female cast in the previous two episodes (yes, we had noticed, AMC), we return to the surviving menfolk. Codron (Romain Levi), it appears, has survived the war at the Nest and makes his way to Fallou’s (Eriq Ebouaney) camp for refuge, recovery and reparation. Romain Levi conveys a great deal of heart and depth in his performance, which works wonderfully with Laurent’s blank-slate openness, as the pair connect through their shared guilt and faith. Their scenes together are oddly touching, and actually create a more interesting dynamic than Daryl and Laurent’s forced bond, despite existing only for this episode. It’s also interesting to see the season 1 villain realize what he wants to be and deal with his own past, a mature story choice of the kind The Walking Dead franchise has so often just skipped in favor of a quick death.

While Codron is tentatively accepted at Fallou’s camp, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl are still en route, and detour to meet up with Ash (Manish Dayal) at the race track. Carol is anxious about introducing the two men, given that Ash believes she came all this way to find her daughter, not her very capable man-friend. Carol tries to get in front of Daryl and grease the way, admitting she lied to Ash. This scene continues the light, comedy-tinged dialogue style that peppered Episode 4 so nicely. Daryl’s scoffing at the idea she might have told Ash he’s her brother is a lovely tie-back to the lie Carol told Codron, and also a subtle hint to viewers that it’s not how Daryl sees himself. As if to prove it, later in the episode when Carol waxes lyrical about Ash’s gentleness, Daryl’s incredulous “What, you got the hots for him or something?” suggests a jealousy that he frankly has no right to, but which fits into the “complicated” nature of their relationship Carol mentioned to Didi last week.

Carol and Daryl decide to find Ash when they discover he is not with the plane, though first they must return to Fallou and break the news to Laurent that Isabelle is dead. It’s clear that Laurent is struggling to shrug off the weight that has been placed on his shoulders by the Union of Hope. His dreamy smile when he talks about a chance at a normal life of going to school and riding a bike back at the Commonwealth is heart-breaking, especially when he refuses Daryl’s offer to return home with him. Even though Laurent’s world has crumbled, the destiny he’s had drummed into him doesn’t die easily.

Review: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon — The Book of Carol Episode 5, “Vouloir, C’est Pouvoir”

When Carol joins Daryl as he broods over Laurent’s refusal, we get my favorite scene of the episode. Though Daryl says he doesn’t want to talk about it, Carol says “Do you mind if I do?” and a massive shift occurs. Daryl has been begging Carol to talk to him about what she’s going through and feeling for years, and Carol has always been unable to do so. Seeing Carol start to talk more freely is a real sign that she is experiencing growth, and is finally beginning to process her traumas. It’s a change that’s beyond welcome, and a believable step forward for Carol, as opposed to the odd backward, out-of-character changes we’ve had to endure from Daryl during this season.

Carol correctly reads that Daryl is wallowing in guilt over Isabelle’s death and Laurent’s unhappiness, and is questioning every decision he has made. As Daryl says, “it’s a long list,” and you can’t help but wonder if his brief romance with Isabelle was one of those decisions he’s now rethinking, particularly given the previous scene when Laurent said that Isabelle told him she loved Daryl (why is a grown woman telling a 12-year-old who she was in love with?).

In order to locate Ash, Carol and Daryl look for information in the nightclub from season 1, the Demimonde, which singer Anna (Lukerya Ilyashenko) is now running. At first I didn’t like the idea of the show featuring a nightclub, but it makes absolute sense that this is what some people would want to return to after the apolcapyse (though I feel for the skin of those performers wearing all that 10-year-old expired make-up). This is the kind of “new setting” the showrunners have heralded for this show, and it works. Knowing Carol’s past as a controlled housewife, it’s very probable she’s never been inside such a den of iniquity, and McBride portrays her curiosity and bewilderment with delicate humour.

The dregs of Genet’s army are now propping up Anna’s bar, trading their goods and services, which leads Carol and Daryl back to the now deserted Maison Mere to try and find Ash. And find him they do. In a horrifically brief flashback we see Ash running from walkers in Genet’s compound, accidentally knocking himself unconscious as he takes refuge in a car. Why? How? Who knows? Carol and Daryl are predictably the perfect fighting duo, working in sync to fight the herd of walkers surrounding the car, but as always I’m more drawn to the comedy in these scenes, from the terrific Manish Dayal’s dopey, perturbed looks at Daryl, to the trio tiptoeing their way through the bodies after Daryl uses the super-walker serum to implode all the walkers that surrounded the car.

Also of note: as they explore Maison Mere, Carol finds herself in Genet’s abandoned office, and while locating the desk comes across the Dictaphone Daryl used when he landed in France to record his thoughts and a message to the world. Carol briefly listens to a few moments which confirm Daryl’s assertion that he had desperately fought to get home to her, before Daryl interrupts. It appears Daryl is unaware of what Carol was doing, and she seems to pocket the recorder. Is this something that will crop up in future episodes? What else did Daryl record on that device when he was alone and thought he was dying in this foreign land?

Daryl and Carol and Laurent and Ash

Ash’s safe retrieval means that the time has come for Carol to own up to her lie, and gently and sweetly encouraged by Daryl, she does. Ash’s response is understandably angry, though it’s tempered by the fact he knows that Carol has saved him from himself, and given him purpose. He also doesn’t ask the one question I’d be asking: why are you going to these lengths for your “friend”?

It’s telling that though I’ve watched the episode three times now, I keep forgetting that the climax exists: Losang (Joel de la Fuente) and his mix of Union of Hope and Pouvoir followers chase Laurent to the Demimonde, where Daryl and Codron work together to save the boy who has changed both their lives. The baddies are picked off one by one in the catacombs, and for those who enjoy such things, a drawn-out weapon-off between Losang and Daryl ensues, with Daryl finally ending the Buddist-gone-bad with a skull repeatedly smashed into his face. It’s a perfunctory pairing down of the characters as we head into the finale, though you have to wonder if killing two “Big Bads” in succession leaves the finale rudderless, particularly given the muted cliff-hanger which follows.

Daryl introduces Laurent (who has now agreed to go to the US) to Carol, Ash and the plane they hope to take them all home, and there’s a flashing neon sign over Laurent and Ash’s interactions that screams that Laurent has found his new (more willing) father. However, a still prickly Ash delivers the blow that the small plane cannot possibly carry all four of them across the Atlantic (we’re abiding by the laws of physics now, apparently) so someone — or someones — must stay behind. It wasn’t bad enough that it took four episodes to reunite Carol and Daryl; just one episode later we’re threatening to separate them again, which begs the question: are AMC actively trying to chase away the core audience?