Tales of the Walking Dead Davon, timeline and Easter Egg

Tales of the Walking Dead’s most recent episode, “Davon,” has been met with mixed reviews. Some viewers loved the horror elements, others enjoyed the excellent murder mystery, while others felt it didn’t fit in The Walking Dead universe. This is expected in an anthology series as each story is standalone and will have its own theme. Season 1 of Tales of TWD has featured comedy, an intriguing new backstory to a familiar character, a trippy deja vu story, and some horror elements with the final two episodes, one a noir-ish story and the finale episode a supernatural thriller.

“Davon” has confused some with the community in which the title character, portrayed by The Boys Jessie T. Usher, has found himself. He is rescued by sisters Amanda (Embeth Davidtz) and Nora (Loan Chabanol) and taken to the town of Madawaska, Maine. This city is located near the Canadian border and is the center of French Acadian heritage, which is why everyone speaks French. But why are they dressed as if it is centuries earlier?

There is no explanation for this other than this is probably how they lived before the outbreak. It appears to be an almost cultish community with a mob mentality to come against an outsider without discovering the facts. It doesn’t appear this is quite the mystery it is being made out to be.

UPDATE: According to an interview with AMC.com, Davidtz has stated that the cast was told by director Michael Stratezemis that this episode takes place about 15 years after the beginning of the outbreak.

"When talking to Loan [Chabanol], who played Nora, I said to her, “What did Michael [Satrazemis] say? When the heck was this? When did this happen?” And she said she thinks it’s around 15 years after the entire apocalypse happened. I loved the way that Michael put us in those strange clothes that could have been from the Inquisition times. He said basically they’re leftover cloth scraps that they use to make things. You’re in a fairly modern sort of house, it was built in the ’90’s or something, but then the characters are wearing these strange, non-period placing clothing. So, it felt like with their clothing and even with their language, there’s this almost medieval quality to it, so it could have taken place at any time. I also felt like with their secretive world that adheres to this pack mentality, there’s something even more alarming about it all because it feels ancient and yet feels like “oh it could be today” as well."

Tales of the Walking Dead episode 5

Another interesting element to this episode is the brief, blink, and you miss it, Easter egg.

At one point, Davon holds a family photo and a card with the letters PPP. Eagle-eyed fans saw this and remember it is a throwback to The Walking Dead episode “Swear” from season 6. Tara (Alanna Masterson) finds the same type of card after discovering Heath (Corey Hawkins) is gone.

From TWD showrunner Angela Kang, Fans would later learn that Heath was traded to the Civic Republic Military (CRM) by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh). Was the PPP card something Jadis left as a calling card of sorts when she took people to trade? Or did the CRM, in general, use this?

Whatever the case may be, Davon possesses one of these cards. He tells the sisters that he is headed to Montreal, but the reason is never disclosed. Many have wondered if this has something to do with Heath, but it most likely means that Davon has also lost someone to the CRM and, for whatever reason, believes they could be in Montreal. Could this be a clue to wear Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was taken?

In an interview with CBR, Usher was asked about this card and if he understood just how big of an Easter egg this was.

"Oh yeah, I was aware. It is one of those “blink, and you miss it” moments, but it was a moment that Michael (Satrazemis, director) made sure we emphasized so that for those who knew would be watching close enough, they’d be able to catch it. It’s something that Davon keeps with him throughout and is very precious to him. He only has a few things, and that card with the “PPP” on it was one of those things that we made sure made it into the episode. So yeah, I was aware. I was not aware of how big of an Easter egg it would be, but yeah, I knew that there was something to it."

Does this mean viewers could see Davon again in TWDU? Usher says he isn’t 100% sure, but you never know.

It was an excellent episode with fantastic filmography that lent itself to the noir-ish effect. It was such a layered story that required viewers’ full attention with impressive performances by Usher, Davidtz, Chabanol and Gage Monroe, who portrayed Arnaud.  Yet, another great addition to The Walking Dead universe.

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