Our thoughts on the opening 11 minutes of AMC’s Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride-starring The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.

Even though the series premiere of AMC’s Norman Reedus (Daryl) and Melissa McBride (Carol)-starring The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol doesn’t hit until the end of the month, AMC Networks showed that they were feeling our pain by releasing the opening 11 minutes to the season. If we’re being honest, we were expecting a recap and opening credits to eat up most of the time, but we were painfully wrong. There’s a lot going on in a very short period of time, with some intriguing storyline threads already in play that will be fascinating to watch play out over the course of the season. With that in mind, we have some real-time thoughts on the opening to S02E01: “La gentillesse des étrangers” (“The Kindness of Strangers,” written by Shannon Goss) – so consider the “MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!” sign on and an image spoiler buffer in play…

Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol Opening 11 Minutes

Things kick off with Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) facing down a whole lot of walkers, which gets the better of him—until we see that it’s part of a training program that Daryl has been working with him on (as Daryl shares) for the past two weeks.

“Home is whoever the people you love are.” – Laurent, a quote told to him while he was at the school during the previous season and one that will have about ten tons more meaning this season.

From there, we shift to a meeting with Losang (Joel de la Fuente), where Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and Sylvie (Laïka Blanc-Francard) learn that Fallou (Eriq Ebouaney) and Emile (Tristan Zanchi) were taken by Pouvoir. Along with concerns for their well-being, there is also fear that they could be used to find the Union of Hope’s base of operations.

Sylvie wants action taken now to save them, but Losang urges patience before their next move. That’s when Daryl enters, making it clear that they don’t have time to wait. Simply put, Genet (Anne Charrier) will have them killed as soon as they are no longer of service to Pouvoir. Unfortunately, Losang still sides with caution and adjourns the meeting – except for Daryl.

One-on-one, Daryl and Losang make their positions clear on how they should be proceeding – tough to tell if Losang appreciates Daryl being a “Devil’s Advocate” or not – leaning towards the “or not.”

Well, this really is getting interesting. After what vibed as a passive-aggressive exchange between the two over how much longer Daryl plans on staying, the topic shifts to Laurent. It seems that Losang isn’t liking Daryl’s training, feeling that Laurent is destined for bigger things and that the training and the walker-killing are impacting his ability to be empathetic. And that part about wanting Daryl to “find his place” was pretty much Losang saying that “his place” didn’t involve Laurent – and probably not the Union of Hope, either.

Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC

The action shifts to a one-on-one between Daryl and Isabelle, with Daryl sharing what Losang said to him regarding Laurent. Isabelle has an interesting take in that she sees it as maybe Losang saying that Laurent needs something more from Daryl than just training. But Daryl’s thinking “big picture,” telling Isabelle that he keeps thinking about those he left behind (and wondering if they’re thinking about him) and not vibing that this is where he should be.

SIDE NOTE: While I don’t necessarily buy into Daryl and Carol being romantically involved, I’m not vibing anything between Daryl and Isabelle other than friends who’ve been through some serious shit – bonded by trauma.

Meanwhile… badass Carol is on a badass motorcycle. And guess where she’s ended up? Yup – right at the place where Daryl’s journey suddenly went international. Serious points to McBride for showing how Carol kept it together even after that “asshole” comment said about him. But after seeing Daryl’s crossbow (and with an additional “piece of shit” comment as inspiration), Carol shifts into “Carol Mode,” and the next thing we know, noses are being broken, and answers are being given.

THE WALKING DEAD: DARL DIXON – THE BOOK OF CAROL (Photo Credit: Emmanuel Guimier/AMC)

“Certifiable.” – Carol, with a fantastic response on a number of levels. Also, serious bonus points for what Carol did with Mick, the original owner of the motorcycle. Kinda’ curious to know if they went to save him or not…

Finally, Carol makes her way to where the boat that originally took Daryl was docked – with Carol facing a major obstacle in her mission to find Daryl. How will she overcome it? We’ll find out beginning September 29th…