Apart from the very first few episodes1 I never watched The Walking Dead or any of its various spin-offs. Apparently, the general consensus is that the show lost its edge after the first two or three seasons and none of the spin-offs were much better.
I was in the mood for some zombie apocalypse survival entertainment and came across Daryl Dixon, TWD's latest spin-off based on one of the original show's most beloved protagonists. While avoiding spoilers, I read that people were raving about it. The show scored a respectable 82% on the Rotten Tomatoes "tomatometer", a 87% audience score, and a 7.9 IMDB rating. Neat! After digesting a couple of articles bringing me up to speed on what needs to be known before jumping in2, I gave it a shot.
Norman Reedus plays Norman Reedus3 in this France-themed spin-off. The story is the same story as always: Tough guy takes little special kid across the country while killing zombies and humans. Tough guy also wants to go home. Yawn. There's nothing novel about this show. The French backdrop is nice, but that's it. I was not impressed by any of the characters nor the actors that portrayed them. The French Claire Danes4 lacks any kind of charisma. That Timothée Chalamet-wannabe5 kid was kind of annoying. Characters have zero depth, which doesn't matter, because they are portrayed in a way that you immediately know what kind of person someone is. The evil guys look evil, the good guys look "good".
The real "fun" are the zombies, which seem like just a small nuisance in the grand scheme of things. They are ridiculous. Slow and harmless. They are very ugly, so that's one thing they have going for them. They don't really matter, though. One Daryl Dixon vs 50 zombies? Pas de problème! Just pinch them in their forehead one by one. Zombies are pictured as these disgusting, evil creatures, but they're tame kitties. There's no sense of urgency when they come across one. Zombie-attack? Wait, let me finish my croissant first. Is all of TWD this stupid? It's like getting attacked by a snail.
It may not sound like it, but I really wanted to like this show. I was hoping for something that could bridge the gap until the next season of The Last of Us, but this was not it. TLOU is so much better, it doesn't even feel right to compare the two. Why do I still give it 2.5 stars? It's somewhat entertaining and I like the general premise, even though you've seen it all before and it brings nothing new to the table. Many people seem to like it. Maybe I was just expecting too much? If you like zombie stuff, give it a try; it's only six episodes.
1 which were pretty good, as far as I can remember
2 which really isn't all that much
3 aka Daryl Dixon
4 Clémence Poésy
5 Louis Puech Scigliuzzi