All of Walker’s carnage can’t make up for a weak ending

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All of Walker’s carnage can’t make up for a weak ending

Editor’s Note: The recap below contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 3 Finale: Daryl Dixon.

After a strong opening episode of the third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixonwho found Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carole (Melissa McBride) in London, best friends crashed their boat on the coast of a small Spanish village. The rest of the season saw them trying to repair their vehicle, while getting drawn into the drama unfolding in Solaz del Mar as Guillermo (Gonzalo Bouza) El Alcázar’s forces are holding a lottery that will see one of the town’s women marry into their army. In the penultimate episode, “Controbando”, Daryl and Paz (Alexandra Masangkay) begin their journey to save Justina (Saitta Candle) and Elena (Greta Fernández), while Carol and Roberto (Hugo Arbuès) head to the lighthouse as Antonio (Eduardo Noriega) is left behind in his clash with Fede (Oscar Jaénada). In the finale, “Solaz de Mar”, Will Daryl and Carol be able to save their new friends and finally return home??

Antonio is taken prisoner by Fede

The episode begins at the statue by the sea, where people are dropping off gifts for their loved ones. Codron (Romain Levi) approaches and collects Laurent’s Rubik’s Cube. Meanwhile, Carol and Roberto go to Valentina’s house (Irina Bjorklund) lighthouse, where they wait for Antonio. Carol is worried because he stood up to Fede, and she should be, because his men have now beaten him, like the mayor of Solaz del Mar demands to know what Daryl Dixon is doing. At the lighthouse, Carol talks to Roberto about his father hiding the details of his mother’s death from him. He doesn’t even want to wait to see if his father comes back. Once Justina and Daryl return, he’s ready to leave, but Carol isn’t going to do that. She hatches a plan to sneak into Solaz del Mar by hiding in the back of a truck driven by Valentina’s men.

We first see Daryl with Paz on the outskirts of the city where Guillermo and El Alcazar are waiting for them. She remembers when Guillermo beat her the first time she got here. Paz then gave up, but not again. She’s going to get Elena back. Inside the El Alcazar compound, Guillermo confronts Elena about the way she was looking at Paz.. Sitting in front of a mirror, Justina watches Elena look down in fear. She asks him to get out of there, but Guillermo’s wife resigns herself to her fate. It is not possible to go home.

In Solaz del Mar, Marga (Yassmine Othman) confronts his son about Carol’s rumors that he fired Justina. Fede denies it. She says she believes him but she has to convince the others, who are getting more and more angry. As he talks to them in the streets, Carol and Valentina’s gunmen watch him from an alley. He blames the Americans for all the problems and calls Antonio a traitor. He was taken out with his hands tied behind his back and placed in a torture device as a warning.. The only way Fede can let him down is to tell him what he wants to know.

Daryl and Paz save Justina and Elena in a scene filled with walkers

Daryl and Paz are inside El Alcazar, where they are now wearing masks for a matching ceremony. There, the made-up marchers are attached to strings and pulled into a twisted puppet act to entertain the rich and powerful. Daryl and Paz wear their masks as they go around their tables and serve them. Music is played and the lottery “winners” are announced, including Justina and her friend. The matching ceremony has begun, as men hand over roses to any woman they wish to marry.. “This must be hard for you,” Guillermo said to his wife with a sneer. Justina lowers her hair so that a young man chooses her instead of her friend. Having spotted Daryl in his mask, she puts a knife in her sleeve, ready for what might come next.

Daryl goes backstage with the puppet walkers and frees them. The undead immediately begin to devour the rich, causing the survivors to flee. Daryl tells Paz to go get Elena while he goes after Justina, who is taken away by her future husband. Paz makes Elena and the lovers kiss, but there is no time to celebrate, as Elena’s young son enters the room. Now Paz knows why she had to come back, but Elena is ready for them both to leave. Before they can, Paz is attacked and taken to Guillermo, like years before. He puts a sword to his neck, ready to kill the woman who took his wife before killing her next, but he will not succeed, as Elena kills him with her knife. Meanwhile, Justina is in a room with the man who chose her. She pulls out the knife, demanding his vehicle, but he throws her to the ground. Daryl arrives just in time, slitting the man’s throat. The two escape, then go to save her friend.

At night, Carol and Valentina’s men shot Antoniobut Fede and his soldiers shoot at the group. Carol and Antonio manage to escape and Antonio tells Carol that she shouldn’t have come back, but that she did it for Roberto, for him, for us. Fede’s men begin knocking on the door of the house they are staying in, so they sneak out of a basement door into an underground tunnel and onto a side street. There are no Fede men there, but they have to take out several loose walkers.

Daryl does the same thing, carving up the living and the dead while El Alcazar burns. There’s nothing for Paz in Solaz, so this is where she and Elena will part ways with the rest.. She says goodbye to Daryl and Justina gets on Daryl’s motorcycle. When he tells her that she should go with them on the boat, she can only smile. It is now morning as they drive through the Spanish countryside. Justina can’t believe her uncle turned bad, but she sees the good in Daryl. Why did he do so much for them? Dixon doesn’t think he has a hopeful future with love, but he wants Roberto and Justina to have that chance.

Fede stops Daryl and Carol from returning home

Image via AMC

They return to the lighthouse and Justina runs up the steps, shouting Roberto’s name. Inside, however, men point guns at them, but Valentina is there, fighting back, giving Daryl a chance to kill them. Others took Roberto back to Solaz Del Mar. Valentina tells them that something is wrong with Carol, as she should be back with Antonio by now. Daryl immediately leaves to find his best friend. He better be quick, because now she finds herself like a prisoner being held with Antonio in front of Fede. Surprisingly, he releases them and tells them that they are free to leave Solaz.

Outside, Roberto is in the street, chained to two men killed by Valentina’s men. A crowd watches as Fede’s soldiers free a group of marchers. The Mayor watches with glee as Antonio and Carol struggle to loosen the restraints, but are unable to do so. They begin fighting with their fists and knives, but are saved by Daryl and his rifle, who takes out Fede’s men one on one. Justina walks down the street, her eyes only on her uncle on the balcony. She has nothing to do but be visible, as the townspeople can see her. Even Fede’s mother slaps him and her son gives up his fight.

Justina kisses Roberto and Fede’s remaining men leave on horseback. She tells the town that Daryl burned down El Alcazar and there is nothing left to fear.. Fede is now released, but Justina says they have to show him mercy. He will be imprisoned, but he will not be harmed. They will soon regret it.

At the boat, it’s almost time to leave for America. Daryl tells Carol that he spent his whole life running and fighting. He always feels like he has to go when he gets there. He’s afraid he’ll want to do it again once he gets home, so Carol tells him that maybe it’s finally safer to go home and stay instead. Later that night, Daryl is standing outside in the dark when Fede, freed by his worried mother, sneaks up behind Daryl with a rifle. He tells her that the Yankees are going to die here, but as he fires, Carol tackles him to the ground and her bullets hit the boat, setting it ablaze. Everyone manages to quickly subdue Fede, but the damage is done when the boat explodes.. They will not return home. From a distance, Codron sees the flames rising into the night.