The Strolling Useless Daryl Dixon – Limbo– Evaluation: Daryl Dixon: Grace in Grit

The episode opens with Daryl, Carol, and Antonio arriving simply in time to kill two males who’ve suspended Roberto above a horde of walkers. As soon as rescued, Roberto gasps a confession—Justina was taken once more. Carol’s repeated “Again?” doesn’t land—it detonates, blowing open the secrets and techniques Fede tried to bury. The reality unravels: Justina demanded Fede cease La Ofrenda, or she would inform everybody in Solaz del Mar that he cheated to maintain her from being chosen. As a substitute of defending her, Fede despatched her away. 

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Eduardo Noriega as Antonio, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

Daryl and Carol conflict over whether or not to pursue El Alcazar’s convoy to retrieve Justina. Carol’s not at full energy, so Daryl rides off alone towards Barcelona, whereas Antonio and Carol escort Roberto to the folks healers—or “witches,” as Paz calls them. Fede suspects Carol and Antonio are mendacity about who harm Roberto. He’s proper. They’re overlaying for Daryl and shopping for time for Roberto to get well.

From the second Roberto dangles above a sea of walkers, suspended in limbo between life and loss of life, the symbolism is evident: that is the catalyst for Fede’s reckoning. His betrayal of Justina—selecting self-preservation over safety—units your entire episode in movement. Although he’s not confronted instantly, the lies informed and the implications unfolding round him mark him as a person already judged.

Spaghetti Western, Anybody?

Then the episode shifts arduous. “Limbo” turns into a dust-swept, morally charged triumph—an episode that lastly delivers on the promise of mythic storytelling with a spaghetti Western soul, as Daryl, now within the excessive desert, turns into the lone anti-hero.

The showrunner nails the Western homage: Daryl in a dirty poncho, his silence punctuated by bike engines, gunfire, and groaning walkers. Shut-ups of his eyes above a bandana mirror the bandit’s gaze. Lengthy digicam pictures of a walker-powered practice and Daryl using alone into Spain’s mist evoke Sergio Leone-level grandeur.

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

The violence is stylized however coherent—lastly. Daryl meets a person with gouged eyes begging for water. He offers it to him. The person drinks greedily, then laughs: “The bone crushers (vultures) are coming.” The vultures echo Jadis’s scavenger gang. They too had been watchers. Jadis stated of them: “We take. We do not bother.” The scavengers and vultures exist on the edges—watching, ready, calculating. They don’t trigger loss of life; they arrive after. Metaphorically, they’re the sentence, not the decision.

Daryl finds sanctuary amongst Mateo and the Lepers—folks residing in limbo, not fairly lifeless, not fairly alive. He’s given water, then instantly asks for extra—a superb echo of the sooner scene with the person with no eyes. It’s at this second that Daryl learns that the city’s water was stolen by the identical bandits who took his bike. The group can survive for 4 extra days…except Daryl chooses to assist. 

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Luis Bondia as Mateo. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

Rosa, the kid who watches Daryl at evening, turns into the episode’s emotional compass. Her gaze forces him to behave. Mateo believes in Daryl; Amaia doesn’t. Amaia lives among the many lepers, and her ethical authority is unshakable. However she has doubts, saying: “I think you leave us to die,” as she tosses Daryl the automobile keys. Her doubt reverberates.

Daryl research an outdated map. Is he planning his escape to Barcelona or the leper group’s salvation? Time passes. Stress builds. Then Daryl leads the bandits into city for one of many season’s most thrilling sequences. Rosa marks every shot within the grime—her counting turns into a ticking clock. The juxtaposition of childlike innocence and lethal precision is narratively wealthy.

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Pictured: Nansi Nsue as Amaia. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

Reckoning and Redemption

The ultimate duel is pure Western catharsis. Daryl stands ramrod straight because the bandit screams—racing towards him on a motorbike. The extensive shot of the bandit’s loss of life is satisfying, although I half-hoped for a decapitation. Nonetheless, Daryl is the final man standing.

Manufacturing-wise, “Limbo” is off the charts. Walkers pulling a practice? A grotesque, surreal metaphor worthy of Leone. The practice combat? Brutal, human, and refreshingly grounded. Each males pausing mid-combat to catch their breath—lastly, realism in style TV.

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, India Soria as Rosa. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC@2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

Narratively, the episode is tight: a transparent arc, emotional stakes, and two reprisals that deepen the story. Daryl’s allegiance to Justina and the lepers doesn’t ask for applause. It’s the type of readability that surfaces when justice outweighs consolation—the identical ethical intuition that made Rick and Morgan unforgettable within the pilot, now honed by communal stakes and desert grit.

Not The whole lot Lands—and But… 

The budding relationship between Carol and Antonio lands awkwardly. Carol inviting Antonio to Ohio feels wildly untimely, particularly in an episode in any other case grounded in grit and restraint. And Carol’s line to Valentina—“Has anyone told you that you’re a horny old woman?”—was a tonal misfire. It undercut the episode’s emotional weight with pointless cringe. The present doesn’t want pressured flirtation or low cost laughs when it’s already working at mythic scale.

“Limbo” – THE WALKING DEAD DARYL DIXON, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier. Picture Credit score: Carla Oset/AMC @2025 AMC Inc. All Rights Reserved

And but, “Limbo” isn’t merely good tv. It’s cinematic mythmaking. The viewers’ cup runneth over.

Did “Limbo” lastly ship the mythic tone this season has been reaching for? Do you suppose anybody from Solaz del Mar shall be on that boat again to America with Carol and Daryl? Let me know within the feedback.

Total Score: 10/10