Daryl Dixon Season 3 Review
By Sioph W. Leal
The next phase of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol’s (Melissa McBride) return to America has struggle after struggle that crosses different lands and seas and makes it much more difficult. The first two seasons had Daryl (then Carol) in France and now out of the Chunnel, they arrive briefly in England and think they have found a direct route home only for a storm to wash them up on a Spanish beach with another setback for their journey home.
Everything about the season's marketing makes it look to be Western inspired and there are times when it, occasionally, dips into it but the show is at its best when it's not tying itself up in trying to bolster Daryl up, but when the character drama is given room to breathe. Yes, it is still a zombie apocalypse but with little Walkers outside of some mini-hoards or used as security measures, Daryl Dixon has its strength not on the titular character but from the new faces and Carol.
In the village of Solaz, Daryl and Carol find refuge there while Carol heals from a wound and until the duo can find a way to fix the boat. The village does not accept guests but Antonio (Eduardo Noriega) offers room in his home for saving his son Rodrigo (Hugo Arbués) and secret girlfriend Justina (Candela Saitta). There, the world is revealed to them. It’s not as sinister as places we’ve seen in this world but there's a regression into the old world and a society based on favours to the royal family, the El Alcaza group, and inspiration from the legend of Saint George where a girl is chosen in a reaping and “given away” to the royal family for their protection and gifts for the past six years. Where this plot goes is not surprising but it is one of the most compelling of the series and keeps the show, and characters, focused on the plot and allows for development even in the under utilised ones.
Of course we have the familiar faces of Daryl and Carol being our guides to this new environment as they experience post-apocalyptic Spain after experiencing France and, very briefly, England. New couple Justina and Rodrigo could easily be the main characters without much input from the two familiar main characters. Their story is what sets the show in motion, a fateful meeting in a creek changes everything for Solaz, El Alcaza and even the other groups that we meet in the third season. The love story between them draws influence from the forbidden love of Shakespeare with feuds between their familial patriarchs stopping them being together and the threat of the reaping. They have an easy chemistry and a strong story that Carol draws hope from for the first time that she can ever remember. It’s simple but that’s why Carol wants to help them, they show her hope can happen and life can be lived and love found. They are the new love of the story and in this drama-filled season we encounter Paz (Alexandra Masangkay) and her love for future Queen Elena (Greta Fernández). Sadly, Paz is underutilised till the later part of the season but her presence is strong and has some of the best moments of the series that embargo forbids talking about but in the final episode she will cement herself as a force and have a place in every viewer's hearts and minds.
As for the main man himself, Daryl regresses this season and is, unfortunately, the weakest part. It quickly becomes tiring when every scene in all the episodes (until the finale, typically) is a variation of “don’t do anything to help” and “we fight for ourselves” despite multiple characters going out of their way to help him. There’s an infuriating moment that showcases this when Rodrigo, who has provided Daryl with everything he asked for and often impossible things, refuses to help more before Daryl agrees to his demands only for him to deny it right away citing his desire to only look out for himself and Carol in a roundabout way. Another character, vital to Daryl's way home, refuses to help unless he agrees to Rodrigo’s demands and echoes of what they stated earlier of “Americans are the worst kind of people” rings true- except for Carol. Where Daryl refuses to engage and just takes and takes like a leech, Carol immerses herself into the village, its people and the customs with empathy and wanting to connect. Daryl is the opposite of that, an apathetic grunt and mumble who eventually relents. It’s as if all the character progression over 11 seasons of the original series and the the previous 2 of this one have been for nothing, he’s the same and forgot the growth from his own series.
Daryl and Carol are more background characters in their own show, mostly Daryl. The plot moves around them and characters develop without their input for the most part and have little to no need for them and the story doesn’t need them much at all, it can strongly stand on its own. The weakest part of this fantastic season is Daryl and his almost standalone episode feels like a side quest and is so separate from everything with a thin reason why he goes off on a side mission. When he meets a group of lepers, it's clear this episode is to warm the viewer back up to him because he has, quite frankly, been an asshole all season and not connected with anyone. So the writing follows a playbook that seems to be a standard for the zombie genre: have him find a random child and connect with them. He does for an episode and it's until the end of this that we see Daryl actually care about what is going on. Of course, he is a fan favorite and writers fave and this is his show but it's quite grating when he gets credit near the season end for “all he’s done” when, out of the two of them, it's Carol who has been more involved.
While the show is first and foremost a zombie series, it's like the Walkers take a backseat. Their mini hoards, creative infected and ones with new skills and used as a weapon in a creative way by a second antagonist group (there’s three this season) Los Primitivos show their strength that's a signature of the universe but they aren’t really there. It works. The series focuses more on the drama elements and that is where the strengths are, tension and horror are created outside of the Walkers who feel like an afterthought.
Daryl Dixon’s third and penultimate series grows in strength and gives life to a franchise that could easily be dying with so many spin offs. The new country keeps things fresh and revitalizes the plot but not the titular character who regresses back into the reluctant jaded hero that quickly irritates and hinders any plot and makes it clear that there’s not much road left of his journey and it's struggling with him as the lead. Carol is the strength but it is the new cast Eduardo Noriega, Candela Saitta, Hugo Arbués and Alexandra Masangkay who give the series every strength. Out of the familiar faces it continues to be Carol’s growth and determination that centres the series, bringing things that we recognise from her presence but growing with the story instead of resisting it like Daryl. More drama than zombie, Daryl Dixon is revitalized with the third season.
Daryl Dixon Season 3 premiers on September 7th 2025 at 9pm, ET/PT on AMC and AMC+