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

No relationship means more to The Walking Dead fans than the one between Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride). With Daryl arguably the most loved character in the original series, it was no surprise that he got his own spin-off, simply called The Walking Dead: <em>Daryl Dixon</em>. After being in France away from everyone he knows in the first season, Carol returned in Season 2’s The Book of Carol. The besties fought through both living and undead villains, but as the season came to an end, young Laurent (Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) and Ash (Manish Dayal) were flying back to America, while Daryl and Carol had to find a different way back. Daryl Dixon‘s Season 3 premiere, “Costa da Morte” (Portuguese for “Coast of Death”), sees our two heroes leaving France behind and ending up in London, England. It’s there that they meet a man named Julian, played by Stephen Merchant. It leads to one of the best Walking Dead episodes in years.

Daryl and Carol End up in an Abandoned London in the Season 3 Premiere

The episode opens with a quote from R.M. Rilke: “I have my dead and I have let them go.” That’s what Daryl and Carol are both still trying to do as they walk along the coast of England. Making their way through the countryside, Carol holds on tight to a can of hot dogs that she’s saving for a special occasion. The friends walk and talk about what they lost. “All we do is run and fight,” Daryl says. “That ain’t no way to live.”

They arrive in a decimated London at the Westminster Checkpoint, but with no one around, they go right through. There are the snarls of a few walkers here and there, but it’s nothing worrisome until a swarm of them emerges. Daryl and Carol fight back and flee to an old apartment building, where they manage to seal themselves inside. Working their way up several flights of stairs, they enter a posh apartment where the previous owner hangs reanimated from a chandelier. Rummaging for supplies is interrupted by a smaller group of walkers, which are easily killed.

Carol and Daryl go outside on the apartment balcony, where hundreds of walkers now line the streets. They won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Two days later, they’re still there and surrounded, using binoculars to search the street. Not able to stay much longer, they decide to make a run for it at dawn. Carol considers eating the can of hot dogs, seeing as how it could be their last meal, but before she can open them, a light shines through the room from outside. Is someone signaling them? Daryl signals back with a piece of glass just in case another living human is out there.

Daryl and Carol Head for Home on Julian’s Boat

They are awoken in the night by the sound of footsteps and banging on the roof. When the noise moves to the balcony, they throw open the door, ready to kill, and find a very tall and awkward man standing there wearing a bicycle helmet and a rappelling rope. “I come in peace,” says a nervous Julian Chamberlain (Merchant). As an act of peace, he shows two rabbits that he brought for Daryl and Carol to eat. The trio sits down for dinner, where Julian says that he is the last person in England, as far as he knows. He hadn’t seen anyone in years until now.

Julian recalls how society broke down after the outbreak, and with the city sealed off, it meant doom for everyone who lived inside. He could have left London, but what would be the point? “I couldn’t sail the boat alone.” That immediately gets Daryl and Carol’s attention. Carol tells Julian about America and how he could go there with them, but he thinks they could also stay in London. Daryl, being too forward, asks where the boat is, but Julian dismisses it, smiling and happy that he has met people to share the world with. Carol tells him that they have friends waiting for them at home. “It could be your home too. Don’t you want somebody to miss you?”

Julian asks if they know how to sail, to which they quickly lie and say yes. It takes just a few seconds for an excited Julian to agree to their plan. He’ll go home, get his supplies, and come back in the morning. The next day, Julian sets off the bells at Big Ben, drawing the walkers away from the apartment building before he shows up with food and supplies. He quickly figures out that Daryl and Carol aren’t sailors, which really sucks because he’s not much of one either. Julian always wanted to be but flunked out at the Royal Naval College. “One wrong decision gets you killed.” He seems like a good man, but Julian has no self-confidence. He’s ready to forget about the boat so Daryl talks him up. Everyone who passed at the Royal Naval College is probably dead yet here Julian is still alive. They’ll follow him and be all right. That gets Julian moving, and the three head off for the Thames, where the sailboat is docked.

Out on the open sea, Julian struggles to read his maps. Long navigation confuses him sending him spiraling into despair again. They’re lost but according to his calculations they’re somehow still on the right course and should be in America in about two weeks. The new friends are excited but it’s not as fun at night as Daryl thinks about his brother when they were kids. Meanwhile, Carol talks about letting go of her daughter back at the tunnel in France. She’s excited about moving forward and seeing what comes next. Daryl is struggling with the loss of Isabelle but he’s truly happy for Carol.

‘Daryl Dixon’ Season 3 Moves the Action to Spain

The next day, Julian talks about the days before the outbreak when he worked and saved money hoping to find someone to share his life with but after the walkers came there was no one left to find. Daryl tells Julian that maybe he’ll find someone in America. However before they can get that far ahead they need to think about those storm clouds coming in. The group struggles to take in the sails as wind and rain batter them later that night leading to Julian getting knocked down and severely concussed. With their captain out of commission Daryl and Carol do their best. Thinking this might be the end Carol says “I’m glad I found you.” Daryl won’t hear that because they’re going home.

Unfortunately that won’t be anytime soon as the next morning reveals that the sailboat has crashed onto a beach. Both Daryl and Carol have been thrown onto the sand and knocked unconscious but they find each other when they come to. Carol is worse for wear busted open and confused. Meanwhile Julian is nowhere in sight. Carol finds him standing on the beach looking out at the water. When he turns around, Julian is gone leaving only a walker behind. A weakened Carol struggles to fight when he attacks but Daryl arrives in time to kill him. Out of respect they then give his body to the water.

That night Daryl discovers that Carol has a piece of metal in her back that needs to come out now because she’s burning up with fever. After cutting out the obstruction Daryl is on the beach when he notices men carrying torches knowing they’re bad news with those animal skulls they’re wearing on their heads Daryl rushes back to Carol whose fever is making her near delirious. It takes some effort but he’s able to keep her quiet while strange men leave.

The next morning Daryl and Carol pack up stumble off into the woods finding a sign on trail that reads Costa de la Muerte. They’re in Spain having not gotten far at all. The friends follow sound of river encountering walkers in nets hanging from trees quickly moving on coming to small shelter where they rest again for night while Daryl patches up Carol’s wound. Carol talks about how Daryl hides his feelings so he opens up about how he was ready to give up at tunnel in France when he saw ghost of Isabelle it got him fighting again. He tells Carol that they can never give up because “we got hot dogs to eat,” she says.

In morning Daryl hunts for food near river when vehicle approaches he hides behind tree watching military jeep drive past when he retreatsto shelter,Carol is gone and Daryl can’t find her anywhere.