The Tribeca Film Festival screened the first episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol. And it was an incredible first episode of season 2! The hit series is part of The Walking Dead universe and has a stored history with fans. Especially with Carol and Daryl.

The actual series doesn’t premiere until September but fans (and journalists who are…also fans) were given a chance to see Melissa McBride’s return to the series as Carol Peletier. Instantly, we see how she is searching for her friend, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). To not give anything away about the premiere episode, I will say that the tone feels very much what you’d expect from both of these characters.

Carol (who is still back in America) is right where we left her as she searches for where Daryl could be split with Daryl, who is back in France. Coming off of a show like The Ones Who Live that instantly gave fans satisfaction, it seems as if The Book of Carol is providing us with a bit more of a slow burn (story structure wise).

The thing that really worked with the first episode is that it gave us Carol back in action. While there was some Daryl and we saw a bit of how the back and forth of the season could shape up, the first episode really leaned heavily into the return of McBride to the franchise. Which is, arguably, what fans want out of The Book of Carol but seeing her still searching for Daryl and making that the only goal she really has is what warmed fans to Daryl and Carol’s relationship in the first place.

A key part of what has made many of us excited about these spin-off shows is the ability to put two core characters from The Walking Dead together and it’s nice finally having Carol and Daryl in the same show again.

How we’ve missed Daryl and Carol

(AMC)

The Walking Dead: Dead City and The Ones Who Live had two pairings in them that either expanded on an already rich history (like that of Maggie and Negan) or reunited a husband and his wife (with Rick Grimes and Michonne). Daryl Dixon threw Daryl across the ocean and left him completely alone and as a fish out of water.

Folding Carol into the mix brings a familiarity that season 1 didn’t have. Which isn’t a knock on the first season, it was brilliant, but it does show how much fans love these two characters that they were doubly as excited for the second season. And the first episode felt a bit like we were back in the old days. Carol and Daryl weren’t together but they were both there, working towards something and trying to get back to one another by doing whatever they had to.

It feels like pulling teeth to know that I have to wait months for the second episode now. That first really worked to bring us back to Carol and set up where the rest of the season could potentially go and it got me extremely excited for what The Book of Carol has to offer. I just…want more now.