The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 6 spoilers follow – including the ending.
The Walking Dead's latest spinoff sped by faster than Daryl himself racing down the roads of Maine in search of some good hair conditioner, and now here we are, six episodes in, with one whopper of a final episode.
It's not going to be the last episode ever though, thankfully. Even before The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon began, AMC already had the common sense to renew Daryl's first solo venture for season two. And it's just as well, because to end it now after that finale would be more grotesque than any disgusting horde.
So what are you waiting for? Rev up your hogs and join us as we break down exactly what happened in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode six.
How does Daryl fare against the super zombies?
Yep, we said "Super Zombies". How else would you describe walkers who have been scientifically enhanced with acid skin or a metallic skull? The chemical that's being injected into them via darts at the start of this episode could very well have its roots in the CRM's experiments from World Beyond, but we don't know how far their reach extends globally just yet.
But anyway, the episode itself kicks off with Daryl holding his own against these zombies for the cruel entertainment of Madame's forces who wish to test out their new experiments. Quinn is dragged out soon after and the pair are handcuffed together before more walkers are thrown their way.
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With each kill they make, Daryl and Quinn are greeted by more and more cheers from the crowd. Angered by these results, the ringleader orders the guards to shoot them down — "The point was to win people to our cause!" — but then an ally in the crowd saves Daryl with gunfire of his own, bringing chaos to the arena.
How does Daryl escape?
With his axe, Daryl frees himself and Quinn, but they then realise Quinn was infected during the attack. Knowing he's going to snuff it anyway, Quinn sacrifices himself by running into the guards. But before he goes, he asks Daryl to pass on one final message to Isabelle, who he once loved and still does.
With the kind of sheer luck you only see on TV, Daryl then bumps into his allies who help him rescue Laurent and Isabelle. But then they're discovered by the guards and suddenly, Isabelle is attacked by Quinn, who's now a zombie. Daryl, separated from them by bars, urges Laurent to kill his father, Quinn, in order to save Isabelle.
Things get a bit hairy there for a minute, but then Laurent goes through with it.
"It wasn't him anymore and he was never my father," says Laurent afterwards in typically creepy fashion.
On the road, Isabelle tells Daryl how much Laurent has grown since meeting him, which reminds Daryl that he has a message for her from dear old Quinn. Isabelle tells him then that she was afraid of Daryl at first because of "something in his eyes".
"I could tell that you were dangerous, but that you could get us all where we needed to go."
Isabelle confesses that she lied about Laurent drawing a prophetic picture of Daryl washing up on the beach. Daryl doesn't mind, even if we're a bit disappointed that Laurent's potentially supernatural gifts might be bogus.
There's no time to deal with that though because some of the soldiers from earlier catch up to the group. Isabelle is stabbed, not fatally, and then they're all about to be shot when Laurent tells the gunman "God loves you". And with that, he turns around and kills all the other soldiers, saving our loveable trio.
Did Laurent manipulate the man using hitherto unseen biblical powers of persuasion? Or was the guy going to betray his fellow soldiers anyway? We're supposed to believe the latter for the most part, but you never know!
What happens at The Nest?
Eventually, the gang finally arrive at The Nest, and it turns out that their destination all along was actually Mont-Saint-Michel, a famous tidal island off the coast of Normandy.
Everyone's ecstatic to see them and with that, Daryl's completed his mission. Laurent is now surrounded by a religious community that can help him grow, and potentially save humanity. Baulk at that prophecy all you like, but no-one thought zombies existed either, so anything's technically possible in this franchise.
At dinner, Daryl says "Santé," so he's basically French now. And despite assuming the place would be "more Amish," he's looking pretty comfortable there these days. Has Daryl changed his mind about returning to the States?
The community have prepared a boat for him in gratitude. It will leave in two days, but Daryl will have to walk up to the North coast to catch it at dawn.
"There are people here hoping you will stay," Isabelle tells him. "We need you here, now."
Daryl's torn, but he has "family waiting back home," so he tries to slip out later without saying goodbye. Isabelle catches Daryl in the act though, and reads him to filth in the process:
"You told me you left the Commonwealth to find something… What about Laurent? Gonna leave without saying goodbye? Abandon him like your father did to you? I think you care about him and it scares you. You think you're escaping history by doing this. You're not. You're repeating it."
It's a tense farewell, one which will likely feed into season two, but for now, Daryl silently says goodbye to a sleeping Laurent and then heads off up the coast.
Does Daryl take his ride home?
Before reaching his final destination, Daryl stops off at an old cemetery to pay respect to his grandfather, who died fighting in France during World War II. No words are spoken, but by visiting William T Dixon at rest, you just know Daryl's thinking about what Isabelle said about history and how his attempts to stop it repeating itself can actually make things worse.
Anyway, Daryl heads off to catch his boat which signals him in the distance. Everything's going well, so that's nice. Roll credits.
But wait, a bunch of walkers suddenly appear, rising out of the tall, windswept grass. It's eerie AF, but even as their numbers increase, Daryl doesn't seem too worried. Instead, he just whacks out his trusty mace and bashes a few skulls in as he heads to the boat.
Easy, right? But there's a catch. Just as Daryl gets close to the boat, he suddenly hears Laurent calling his name. Yep, the precocious child wanted to get his goodbye in still, or maybe even persuade Daryl to stay, so he left The Nest and put himself in mortal danger.
It's kind of sweet, except the walkers Daryl didn't kill are now crowding around Laurent, which means he has a big choice to make and not much time to make it.
Will Daryl stay and save Laurent? Or will he jump on the boat and get back to his family? Given what we know about Daryl, not to mention that season two is being filmed in France, it's safe to assume that Daryl will miss his ride and run back to Laurent.
Who pops up at the end?
That's not all though. Before the credits roll, we're suddenly introduced to a new biker dude who's giving off some major Daryl vibes. That bike he's riding sure does look familiar...
A car drives up behind the unnamed biker and tries to chase him off the road. The man shoots his rifle at the vehicle which swings round in front of him. And who should get out but Carol "Mother" Peletier herself?
"The hell you want, lady?" the guy shouts. Clearly, he doesn't know who he's messing with.
"I don't want any trouble," says Carol. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Daryl."
The guy seems confused, but yep, that bike he's riding is actually Daryl's, which he apparently "found." With a gun, the stupid man then decides to rob Carol, forcing her to open the boot of her car. Of course, Carol being Carol, she pulls out a wrench and hits him over the head with it.
And then the guy wakes up in said boot, tied up. Frightened, the man reveals to Carol that he traded with some "dudes" for the bike.
"If you're lying, I won't be back," she says, and with that, Carol closes the boot before driving off to find Daryl.
So they still found another way to sneak Carol in properly before season one came to an end. Admittedly, she's only been in the US-based sections of the show for now, which makes sense given McBride said she couldn't film in Europe due to logistical reasons.
But now, with Carol's mission to find Daryl rolling out on screen, it looks like McBride is likely to play a bigger role – and that means The Walking Dead's best besties are now back on track for a reunion in season two. But don't expect things to go easy. It is still the apocalypse, you know?
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon airs on AMC in the US. A UK broadcaster has yet to be announced.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
