From Tremendous Walkers to Spaghetti Western
If Season 3 was imagined to be Daryl and Carol’s epic voyage dwelling, “La Ofrenda” tacks onerous into style cosplay, abandoning the emotional ballast of homecoming for the spectacle of a stylized detour. The transatlantic intrigue that when linked France to America through Madam Genet’s super-walker experiments and CDC callbacks has been buried with Genet herself. As a replacement? A dusty village, suspicious locals, and Carol and Daryl taking part in cowboy in a Spaghetti Western pastiche. Cue the tumbleweeds and narrative whiplash.
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| “La Ofrenda” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: Óscar Jaenada as Fede. Picture Credit score: Manuel Fernandez-Valdes/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
Narrative Whiplash Is Actual
The issue isn’t simply the aesthetic shift; it’s that the present traded a compelling arc for a cinematic spaghetti western veneer most viewers could not acknowledge or care about. The stakes have shrunk. The strain’s gone smooth. Daryl’s emotional evolution has been sidelined in favor of moody standoffs and cultural confusion. To the viewers who’ve been driving shotgun because the CDC days, this episode may go away their neck sore and their persistence thinner than a ‘hollow one’s’ (aka walker’s) pores and skin.
Carol: From Strategist to Wandering Critic
Carol, as soon as the mastermind who conned Ash into flying her to France, now wanders off like a bored vacationer. Her skepticism of “La Ofrenda”—a lottery the place ladies are exchanged for village safety—lands with all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer. As an alternative of the decided survivor we noticed final season, we get the basic know-it-all American trope. Daryl, bless him, stays a real minimalist, grunts his manner via his scenes with a transparent message: “Fix boat. Go home.” Throughout the city’s celebration dinner, he tries to get Carol to cease speaking, however she’s too busy being a buttinsky to note.
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| “La Ofrenda” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon. Picture Credit score: Manuel Fernandez-Valdes/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Facet Characters, Facet Issues
Roberto and Justina are beautiful and sympathetic but not compelling sufficient to derail Carol and Daryl’s journey dwelling. Their dilemma looks like filler, not gasoline. Even the one second of actual battle—when Carol says, “If we hadn’t forced them back, they’d be free,” and Daryl responds, “No, they’d be dead.”—looks like a velocity bump on the highway to nowhere.
La Ofrenda: Civilized or Simply Misguided?
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| “La Ofrenda” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: Candela Saitta as Justina, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Hugo Arbués as Roberto. Picture Credit score: Manuel Fernandez-Valdes/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
La Ofrenda is the neighborhood’s lottery that exchanges its ladies for its continued safety. The follow is disturbing however not misconceived. In comparison with the randomness of everybody claiming “I’m Negan” on the Sanctuary, it’s nearly civilized. The showrunner takes care to ascertain that this follow hyperlinks again to medieval, aristocratic traditions. That is the form of layered and morally ambiguous storytelling that when outlined the most effective of the Strolling Lifeless. However right here, these particulars get buried beneath aspect plots and style confusion.
Romance by Numbers
The Paz and Elena romance tries so as to add emotional depth however finally ends up feeling like a checkbox train. Elena is basic lipstick, styled like a fragrance advert—soft-spoken, elegant, camera-ready. Paz will not be. She is rugged. She rides a horse, wrangles pigs and walkers. She’s trusted to protect the perimeter. Daryl’s line: “You do it all,” was meant as admiration, however it solely highlighted how cartoonish her characterization was. Paz and Elena’s dynamic leans unwittingly into lesbian stereotypes with out providing nuance or shock. It’s not unwelcome; it’s simply weak sauce.
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“La Ofrenda” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: |
Backside Line: Repair the Boat, Repair the Plot
The trustworthy are right here for Daryl and Carol’s return to America. That’s the draw. That’s the arc. Season 3 feels removed from it, although. “La Ofrenda” is a detour that doesn’t earn its mileage. The surroundings’s attractive, the performances are strong, however what do you consider story to this point? Is it getting misplaced in translation or am I lacking one thing?
Right here’s hoping somebody remembers to repair the boat earlier than the plot sinks with it—however that’s simply me. Let me know what you assume within the feedback.
General Score:
5/10
Lynette Jones
