The Book of Carol creative team played with viewers' emotions in that shocking flashback!

AMC premiered the second season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, subtitled The Book of Carol, on September 29. This season marked the full return of Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, a role she has portrayed since 2010. After the conclusion of the main series, McBride took a much-deserved hiatus, but as the first episode proves, Carol is back in action!

Tread lightly as this article contains spoilers for episode 201 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol.

The first episode, titled "Le Gentillesse Des Étrangers" (English translation "Kindness of strangers"), took no time reminding viewers what a badass Carol is. She roughed up the men at the work camp, the same one Daryl worked at before being thrown on the ship bound for France until she got the needed answers. She also lies to her new friend Ash (Manish Dayal), a grieving father, about her daughter living in France to enlist his help to get to Daryl.

But one unexpected twist tore at the heartstrings of Carol's fans. After meeting Ash, he invites her to stay in his barn, and Carol experiences a flashback of her daughter Sophia (Madison Lintz) walking out of Hershel's (Scott Wilson) barn from season 2 of the main series. This was one scene many fans site as the scene when they knew The Walking Dead was no ordinary "zombie" show. Not only did Carol have to witness her daughter in reanimated form, but she also had to watch as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) had to put her down.

The Walking Dead began the series with the death of a child walker with the Teddy Bear girl that Rick encountered in the first scene. In season 2, the emotions ran high as Sophia was known and loved by viewers. Many knew she would never be found alive, but most didn't expect to see her as one of the walkers kept in Hershel's barn.

The creators of Daryl Dixon not only featured a flashback but recreated the scene with a new Sophia, who looked the spit of the original. Instead of Carol falling into Daryl's arms, as in season 2, she stood watching as Sophia advanced and touched her arm, a move improvised the day of the shoot. The episode was directed by Greg Nicotero, who was present when season 2 was filmed, and he shared some insight into this decision with Entertainment Weekly.

"“At one point, we did one of the takes, and as the girl got closer and closer, I said to myself: What's really interesting is in our new version, Rick isn't there to walk up and pull the trigger. So what happens if Rick's not there? Sophia keeps coming forward. And what does Carol really want? She wants to be able to touch her daughter again. She wants to be able to interact with her. So we did a version where this little Sophia touches Carol's arm, and she looks down as if it's almost like that's all she really needs. And then she's dramatically pulled out of that hallucination.”"

- Greg Nicotero - Director

Carol experienced a second emotional memory in the episode, brought about by a flower on Ash's table that looked awfully similar to the Cherokee Rose Daryl gave her in honor of Sophia in the season 2 episode "Cherokee Rose."

These memories are quite emotional but also give fuel to her voyage to reunite with Daryl who has been a vital part of her life for over a decade. Sophia is gone from this world but Daryl is still alive, as far as she knows, and she will do anything to get him back.

The second episode of Daryl Dixon - The Book of Carol, "Moulin Rouge," will premiere on AMC and AMC+ on October 6.

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