Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol, Daryl never forgets his family while creating a new one

The second episode of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol showed the progression of Daryl's (Norman Reedus) love and affection for Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) and Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi). At the same time, he longs to be reunited with his American family.

Tread lightly as this article contains spoilers for episode 202, "Moulin Rouge," of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol.

Daryl has always been a lone wolf whose traumatic childhood has been carried into adulthood, making him feel unworthy of love. Even the unconditional love given to him by Carol, Rick, Judith, and the others has never fully healed him of that feeling of being worthy of anyone's affection. He had a short, rocky "relationship" with Leah (Lynn Collins), again showing him the true nature of people, even those who claim to love you. Will he find true love with Isabelle? And a son in Laurent?

The Episode Insider for "Moulin Rouge" sheds more light on the events that take place in the most recent installment.

Reedus states that Daryl's idea of home begins to take on a new meaning. He starts to care deeply for Laurent and Isabelle in the first season, and his connections begin to deepen in season 2. Examples include the family baseball game, Daryl's invite for Isabelle and Laurent to follow him back home, and that shared kiss.

All three actors felt the baseball scene was so much fun to film. Reedus added that the scene was written for them, but they could ad-lib, giving it a more natural feel. Reedus poked fun at Scigliuzzi as the script read that Laurent would knock the ball out of the park on the first swing, "Yeah, yeah, take 30." Scigliuzzi had never played American baseball but shared that his grandpa played for Italy. Reedus and Poesy shared that he actually became very good at it.

This scene was an idyllic family scene, one that meant a lot to Daryl who has taken Laurent under his wings to teach him the things the Next deems unnecessary for him to learn. He also continued to bond with Isabelle as she learns more of who he is under that gruff exterior.

Showrunner David Zabel shared that they weren't sure where Daryl and Isabelle's story would take them, but when the chemistry was right, they knew they had given a more visual realization of their relationship, which led to the kiss.

Isabelle accepts Daryl's offer to go with him after Laurent appears to have been kidnapped. She realizes the Nest isn't safe for any of them, and to protect her nephew, a promise she made to her sister during his birth, she must flee. This leads to the kiss, something Daryl doesn't give away freely.

On a humorous side, Reedus and Poesy share the reality of filming the scene. The day they filmed, the area was overrun with bugs and the wind wrecked havoc on the intimacy of the scene. Reedus described the bugs bouncing off their faces, his hair blowing in his face, as they try to film the romantic sunset kiss. He said she was a trooper and it was a fun scene to film and he was pleased with the end result.

Daryl's sexuality and realtionships are always a topic with his fans. Some long for him to find true love, but others believe he has found it with Carol or Connie (Lauren Ridloff). It will be interesting to see where things progress as the Daryl/Carol reunion is bound to happen now that she is in France, and the third season will see the story move to Spain.

Don't miss new episodes of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol, Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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