Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 2 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
Alongside its penchant for brutal and gory sequences, The Walking Dead is known for creating dynamic and unique characters, and Sister Isabelle (Clémence Poésy) is no exception. Aside from the novelty of being a killer nun, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon‘s Isabelle has an intriguing backstory that elevates the complexity of her character. Although the original show does have an abundance of interesting origin stories, our favorite leather-jacket-clad biker (Norman Reedus) included, Isabelle’s transformation before and after the apocalypse sets her apart. In “Alouette,” Episode 2 of Daryl Dixon’s spinoff, we delve into how Isabelle used to and continues to escape her past as the rest of the misshaped gang escapes into nostalgic sitcoms on a small screen.
‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’ Explores Apocalypse Ground Zero
The episode opens with a sustained wide shot of a beautifully lit France. Isabelle stands in the forefront, gazing out at the city while a cascade of blue and pink lights haunt her in the background. She is your typical drug-addled party girl, deftly swiping bills and expensive trinkets from the party patrons while clearly being burdened by something deeper. As we find out how past Isabelle used to be, it makes sense why she doesn’t offer up much information about herself during her talks with Daryl. Her secretiveness and conservativeness could be a manifestation of shame or guilt about her past, and as such is overcompensated with piousness.
Living in ground zero of the apocalypse, she obviously had no idea about the events that would befall her. Following the horror of witnessing an entire crowd in a train being decimated by walkers and then being unable to tear her eyes away from one, she is saved by a familiar face: Quinn (Adam Nagaitis). They both hurriedly pack and pick up her sister, Lily (Faustine Koziel), before fleeing the city in a car. After discovering Lily is pregnant, Isabelle uses her sleight of hand for the better, steals Quinn’s car keys, and drives off from him before he can carry out his plan of abandoning Lily. It’s here that Isabelle’s protectiveness and resilience start to blossom. It’s the first step of her growth from shamelessly taking things that don’t belong to her to fiercely protecting the only family she has left.
Why Did Sister Isabelle Become a Nun?
While escaping, the two sisters come across an unnerving scene of an abandoned ambulance. Calling out for help, they were met with a flurry of walkers and managed to clamber back into the car with a mere bite on Lily’s forearm. (But we, of course, know that it was anything but mere.) When they found the Abbey of Saint Bernadette, they could finally afford a moment of respite before Lily started to burn up from the infection and go into labor. In a ghastly and distressing scene, Lily passes away in Isabelle’s arms, forcing the nuns and Father Père Jean (Hugo Dillon) to perform an emergency C-section. For a heart-breaking moment, Isabelle’s eyes light up with hope as Lily’s fingers twitch, but instantly darken as she hears her sister’s growls.
In the end, Isabelle is left walking away from the grisly scene with a baby Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) cradled protectively in her arms… the last remnant of her sister. Going from zero responsibilities to being responsible for a child, it makes sense that Isabelle fully embraced being a nun to ensure he had a safe and healthy environment to grow up in. Throughout these two slow-paced and character-centric Daryl Dixon episodes, Laurent has shown no indication of knowing that she is his aunt. Once again, her unsavory past could be a factor as to why she hides this fact, but there is also a sense of guilt that she couldn’t protect her sister. As such, while maintaining her distance, she raises and protects her nephew as a burdened killer nun.
Sister Isabelle’s Backstory Is One of the Best in The Walking Dead Universe
Isabelle’s character development just in her backstory embodies the notion of charcoal transforming into a diamond under pressure. In comparison, we usually see many characters dip in morality after the day of the outbreak, not don religious robes because of it. To be fair, Isabelle became a nun because of the circumstances that arose due to the apocalypse, but it was still the quintessential catalyst. As such, due to the harsh nature of survival, each member of the primary group in The Walking Dead often went through lapses of moral judgments, like Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) constant battle with ethics, Morgan Jones’ (Lennie James) extreme trauma responses or even young Carl Grimes’ (Chandler Riggs) decision to preemptively kill another kid. But overall, these characters that were relatively “good” in the pre-apocalyptic world tried to remain that way in the walker-infested one until a certain event incited their brutality.
On the other hand, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is a prime example of a relatively moral person turning evil. Once his loving wife passed away, the gym teacher turned into a brutal villain, leeching off of other communities and threatening them with violence to stay in line. We’ve also had the fair share of characters that were considered “bad” in the past, including Daryl’s older brother Merle (Michael Rooker), who consistently erred on the side of immorality until his last-second redemption arc. Even Daryl himself had originally planned to raid the camp in Season 1 of The Walking Dead with his brother until he gradually became more connected with the group. The idea of something becoming more in tune with their morals directly after the apocalypse is a strange one, but is completely in harmony with Isabelle’s character, making her backstory incredibly unique in this universe thus far.
Sister Isabelle Craves an Escape in ‘Daryl Dixon’
It’s also interesting to note that Isabelle’s backstory is intertwined into an episode that deals with escapism, a familiar concept in The Walking Dead universe. From Rick’s idyllic time as a farmer in the prison to Alpha and the Whisperers’ constant chanting about not facing reality, the notion of escapism is drenched in the tale of surviving in the original series. The second episode of Daryl’s spinoff explicitly delves into escapism as well, from the seemingly white lie Isabelle tells Laurent about the safety of their mule to the bigger one Daryl tells to the leader of the kids, Lou (Kim Higelin), about the likelihood their beloved Madame Dubois has of surviving with medicine. Although these seem more like an honesty issue, there’s a degree of escapism in the sense that they’re nudging the children towards a path that will help them escape the truth. (Ultimately, they had to face it head-on anyway.) It’s almost a metaphor for how Isabelle’s truth will eventually come to light, how everything she escaped from (in the past using drugs and theft, and now using religious garbs and secrecy) will eventually be uprooted.
We haven’t really had a character backstory that has tied into a major thematic concern this prominently and explicitly before. Escapism truly shrouds the entire character of Isabelle. This episode has enlightened many aspects of her, but there’s a sense some things are still hidden, particularly since we don’t know what she was trying to ignore when she drowned herself in partying. (And what about those scars?) It’s fitting that she is featured alongside Daryl, for both of them somehow everything has changed yet nothing has really changed. Daryl had an unpleasant and difficult past, which just continued on into the apocalypse, while Isabelle thrives in many forms of escapism, both then and now. As the season progresses, hopefully, we’ll learn more about this enigmatic character, whose backstory foreshadows an intriguing and exciting future for her character.
The Big Picture
- Isabelle’s backstory on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon reveals her transformation from a drug-addled party girl to a fiercely protective sister, shedding light on her complex character.
- In a universe where characters often struggle with morality after the outbreak, Isabelle’s decision to become a nun due to the apocalypse is unique and adds depth to her story.
- Isabelle’s backstory ties into the episode’s theme of escapism, highlighting how she has used various means to escape her past, making her an enigmatic and intriguing character.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
