Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Daryl Dixon season 2, episode 4, “Le Paradis Pour Toi.”
For a decade and a half, the world of The Walking Dead has thrown viewers for a loop. Even now in the year of our lord 2024, the franchise continues to surprise viewers.
In the case of The Walking Dead spin-off Daryl Dixon, the series continues to find new and interesting ways to reinvent zombies. But an army of crazed zombies aside, Daryl Dixon Season 2 continues to double down on problematic territory that The Walking Dead fans viewers have been watching for years. This time, the crime was in the form of Isabelle, played by Clémence Poésy. The French actor is perhaps most known for her roles in Harry Potter and Tenet, but she was the beating heart of Daryl Dixon. This all came crashing down in Season 2, Episode 4 when she was inexplicably killed off just as Carol arrived on the scene.
After a season and a half of being the emotional center of the series, Isabelle dies disrespectfully with a stab to the gut. She fades away quietly, asking Daryl to take care of her nephew, Laurent. This death is not bookended in the episode, but instead almost a throwaway scene from which the remaining characters turn away quickly. Another example of The Walking Dead opting for shock value over story, fans were up in arms about this recent character departure.
Isabelle’s death didn’t just signify a sad departure for a beloved character. It once again showed The Walking Dead’s habit of sacrificing character at the altar of cheap thrills.
The Walking Dead isn’t doing anything new with Daryl Dixon
In the world of The Walking Dead, deaths are not just a likelihood but an eventuality. In the first decade of the series, there was no questioning this thesis. The spin-off follows the benchmarks of the comic such as the death of Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz). But there have also been changes that have hindered the brand. It is universally acknowledged that killing off Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) was one of the biggest missteps of the series.
Used as a plot device to get Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) to come to terms, this wound will never heal. Isabelle’s death is quite the same. Hours after she tells Daryl that she loves him, she gets stabbed in the stomach and dies quite quickly. Series regulars have been shot in the face, blown up, had bloody amputations, and still lived. Somehow Isabelle perishes almost immediately from a flesh wound. While she intersects with Carol in a heartwarming moment, her death is another example of killing off characters in the wrong way.
In her dying breath, she tells Daryl to continue on and keep Laurent safe. She is another plot device that pushes a character to a conclusion. The frustrating part about this moment is that Daryl needed no convincing. He had already insisted on Isabelle and Laurent coming with him to America. What seems obvious is that this choice was made simply because Carol had returned. Instead of uniting them in a family unit, Daryl Dixon seems content with killing off interesting and fleshed-out characters in favor of fan-favorites from the original series.
Daryl Dixon was a unique series unto itself because of its different locale and culture. But this death is returning it to more of the same shenanigans that fans have witnessed for years. As beautiful as it is to see Daryl reunite with Carol, there has to be more to this show than that. Daryl deserves happiness and any time he gets it, it is snatched away. (Rip Beth.) That isn’t to say that he can’t endure more heartache, but this man has been through so much, and he deserves a slice of happiness that others like Rick and Michonne (Danai Gurira) have held on to. Isabelle’s death is needless, and makes fans wonder if there is a point in caring about anything.
