#the eps of beth and daryl were GOOD and i loved them...

[scarisd3ad]

To the end and back | Daryl Dixon x fem!reader

Chapter twenty two - love you like oxygen

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Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

Warnings - regular twd warnings, mentions of wanting children, and pregnancy

'Say the word' 

s3 ep 5

so many people have died because of this not only Lori but carol, and T too. I hand the baby to Carl after he asks, "Can-can I hold her?" I nod as I wipe my eyes. I hand the baby over to Carl before tumbling back into Daryl's arms. Daryl strokes small circles into my back, trying to soothe me. I killed her. I promised I would keep her alive. I squeeze my eyes closed tightly as I try to stop the tears from falling, but I can't. They won't stop. They just keep coming. They roll down my cheeks and into my mouth. The familiar salty taste comforts me.

Rick is hysterical. He had fallen to the ground in a fit of sobs. "Oh god, Lori, Lori." he muttered as tears ran down his cheeks. We walk over to him; Daryl kneels down to the ground, waving his hand in front of Rick's face. "Rick, you with me? Rick?" it's like Rick isn't there in his body. He's somewhere else, staring off into space. "Let me see the baby." Hershel says. Carl begins to walk towards Hershel. "What are we goin' to feed it? we got anything a baby can eat?" Daryl asks. Hershel pushes the jacket wrapped around the baby away so he can get a good look at her. "The good news is she looks healthy. but she needs formula, and soon, or she won't survive."

"Nope. No way. Not her, we ain't losin' nobody else. I'm goin' for a run." Daryl declares as he puts his crossbow around his neck, letting it hang off his back. "I'll back you up." I propose. I know what formula to get and what to not. Letting Daryl go by himself is a big mistake. He doesn't seem like the man who would know what formula to get for a baby.

"I'll go too." Glenn says.

"Okay, think where we're goin'." Daryl says, then adds, "Beth." motioning for her to follow him. I kneel in front of Casey, who is now holding on tightly to my hand. "you're going to stay here with Maggie, okay? stay with Maggie." Casey shakes her head, and my brows furrow up. "I don't want you to go." she cries out, "Oh- case honey, I've gotta. y'know Daryl and Glenn aren't gonna know what to get. I've got to help them to make sure the baby stays healthy." a tear falls down her cheek as she wraps her tiny arms around my neck in a hug "what if the walkers come again?" she mumbles into my shoulder. I push her off me and cup her face in my hands. "Case that's not going to happen. Okay?" she nods reluctantly as she wipes her cheeks. "Good girl, be good for Maggie while we're gone."

"you two get the fence. Too many pile up; we got ourselves a problem," Daryl shouts as I stand up. "Glenn, y/n. vamanos!" just as we're about to leave, Rick stands up quickly before walking over to the axe he had dropped earlier. He picks it up and quickly runs up into the cellblock."Rick!"

"Get the gate!" Daryl shouts. We all stay put, staring at the door to the cell block. Lori didn't want Rick to see her body; she didn't even want him to shoot her if she turned. I doubt he wants to see what's left behind of her body; we left that door open to the room we left Lori in. I'm sure walkers have already gotten to her. "Come on, we're losin' light!" Daryl shouts, which makes Glenn and I scurry over to him.

"there's a Piggly wiggly on 85." Glenn says breathlessly as he tries catching up to Daryl. "no, the baby sections been cleared. Lori asked me and Mag to keep an eye out. I haven't had much luck." I say. "Is there any place that hasn't been completely looted?" Daryl asks. There wasn't much anywhere; most grocery stores were picked clean within the first few weeks, and most people took anything salvageable, like food and water, when they left their houses. We all stop, turning back towards Daryl. "We saw signs for a shopping center just north of here." Glenn says as I open the back door of Glenn and Maggie's car. "Yeah, but there's too much debris on the road. A car will never get through that." Most roads are covered with cars and bodies, especially in towns like this. "I can take one of ya." It's better for me to go than Glenn; having two clueless men on a mission to get baby formula is a tragedy waiting to happen. "I'll go."

"No, y/n, after everything you've been through today, I'll go." Glenn says as he walks towards me. Glenn can be stupid, and Daryl can be just as stupid at times, so it's better if I go because I know if I let them go without me, they will somehow bring back the wrong thing. I place one hand on Glenn's cheek, smiling softly at him. He smiles, thinking I will be obedient and let him go, but by now, he should know I'm never compliant. "Glenn, you're sweet, but I can't let you go; I don't need you two bringing back the wrong thing." his smile quickly falls, and his face screws up in confusion. "what do you mean?" I roll my eyes and begin to walk towards Daryl's motorcycle. "I mean, you're stupid." he scoffs. Glenn follows me as I get on the back of Daryl's bike.

 I love Glenn to death, but he's a moron, especially regarding things he knows nothing about, and I'm sure babies are one of them. "You won't be calling me stupid the next time I save your goddamn life!" I wrap my arms around Daryl's waist, and Daryl takes off.

"Just because you've saved my life doesn't mean you're not a fucking moron!" I watch as Glenn sticks his hand up and flips me off. I can feel Daryl's chest vibrate as he chuckles, "You're an asshole."

I shrug, "it's tough love." sometimes you've got to be brutally honest to men so they understand what you're saying. 

-

I love riding Daryl's motorcycle, the wind in my hair, and feeling Daryl's heartbeat. It's all just so intimate. I've got my eyes squeezed shut mainly to prevent anything from getting in my eyes, but it also makes me focus more on Daryl. Closing my eyes, shutting everything out, but the soft drum of his heartbeat it makes me feel better. He makes me feel better.

I love it when I'm only able to hear him, not the walkers, not the others, just him, his breathing, his heart, his voice. I feel the bike turn and then come to an abrupt stop. I open my eyes to see a strip mall-like place.

There are about 5 stores, one being a baby supply store. Most of the stores look like they've been picked through already, shattered glass and empty shelves. This must be the place Glenn was talking about. "Saw a daycare bout a mile away from here. Can try that place if there's nothin' here."

I get off of the bike, and we walk up to the baby supply store. The grass is growing through the cracks in the pavement, and broken glass covers the ground. Daryl pushes open the front door, making the bell at the top of the door ring.

dingg

"shh." he brings his fingers up to his lip as he sneaks into the store. The entire store is covered in a thick layer of dust. I take a deep breath before following Daryl in. It's dark, and I can hardly see anything in the store except for the silhouette of shelves and dust particles. "Stay here." Daryl whispers as he ventures further into the dimly lit store. He walks the entire store before returning to me. "clear." he whispers. We walk further into the store, this time together. The shelves that used to be filled with diapers and wipes are empty; the same goes for the formula. There's a rack of baby clothes. They look like they haven't been touched in months. Daryl doesn't look at any before stuffing pink clothing into his bag.

I assume he'd be fine picking out clothes, so I venture off. I wondered what was in the other stores. Most of the signs were either nonexistent or had faded with time. I walk back outside; I squint as my eyes adjust to the light. I walk down the pavement, pretending everything's normal and the world didn't end. The windows to a jewelry store are smashed open. From the outside, I can tell there's not much, but I still walk in stepping over the smashed window as I pulled my gun out of my bag. Most of the store was easy to see; unlike the baby store, there weren't shelves, just display cases that looked more like tables. This place was also covered in dust.

Most of the display cases were smashed open. I don't understand why someone felt the need to steal jewelry when the world was ending. It's not like gold would help you now. It didn't make you rich like it used to. I stopped in front of a display case yet to be smashed. It was filled with gold and silver necklaces with letters carved into them. The pendant attached to them is shaped like a circle with the initials etched deep into the metal. There was an A, D, M, J, and T, all being doubled in a gold and silver version.

I had friends in the old world who wore necklaces with their boyfriends' initials carved in them. I don't know what they, initially, were made for, but I knew my friends wore them like a branding. Like how the deep scared burns in a horse would signify that it had an owner, they we're owned by the man with the initial, and no man should ever step near them. I didn't want to wear a D because Daryl owned me. I wanted to because he knew me better than anyone else. He was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and I wanted to show it.

"Hey! Why'd you walk off? You shou-" I don't bother to look back at him, already knowing he's coming my way, when I hear his boot-clad footsteps. "What are you lookin' at?" he asks once I can feel his breath against my neck. He's peering over my shoulder. "oh...you want one? It's not your-"

"I know. It's yours." he stops talking. I think I broke him. I turn around, brows knitted together in a tight furrow. "Dar-" his lips capture mine in a heated kiss. It's so out of character for him. With him, kisses are saved for the moments when no one's watching up in the perch, when everyone's asleep, or when either of us almost died.

Pulling away, he takes the knife he keeps in his pocket and smashes the case open. "Get it." he whispers before turning around and walking towards the front of the store. I smile and roll my eyes as I stick my hand into the case, avoiding the broken shards of glass. I take the silver one and quickly run back towards the front where Daryl is. "Can you put it on for me?" I ask. He nods and holds out his hand. I place the silver necklace in his hand and turn around. I take my hair and pull it to the side.

He places the necklace around my neck before gently clasping it together. I let my hair fall back into place before turning back around. the necklace settles above the valley between my breasts. "does it look good?" I ask, my head cocking to the side innocently.

"Beautiful." he whispers.

-

We pull up in front of an old daycare. The yard area is filled with playground equipment that is almost hidden by the overgrown grass. I can almost hear the sound of young kids playing, the sweet giggles, and screams associated with a playground like this.

We both get off the bike and walk up to the gate. I open the gate, letting Daryl walk in. I peer into a window before taking the butt of my gun and smashing the glass. I step in, knocking over some toys displayed on a little shelf as I do so. The room I just stepped into is very obviously the baby room. There are cribs lining the walls and tiny handprints with the children's names written on top. Thinking about what might have happened to those children is sad, but I try not to think about it. I walk over to a sink that has a cabinet underneath. I open it up and kneel down in front of it. There are a pack of bottles and a lot of diapers. I open my bag up and stuff the bottles and diapers inside. I hear the sound of someone stepping inside the room the same way I did. I know it, Daryl, because of the familiar grunts.

There's nothing else in this room, so we walk into a long hallway. It's dark, like really dark. I hate the dark. It seems like something is trying to creep up behind you in the dark. Daryl shines his flashlight down the hallway. There is the faint sound of rattling in the room to my right. Daryl, who had gone farther down than I had, turned around and walked back toward me with his flashlight in his mouth.

The room the rattling is coming from is a kitchen. Thankfully, the door has a bottom and top half that close separately so we can peer in without fully being in danger. Daryl slowly reaches into the room and opens the bottom half of the door, making sure nothing is inside before signaling for me to come in. I walk in. The sound is coming from the pantry. I slowly walk towards it. I quickly open the door to see a possum. It hisses at me before Daryl shoots it with an arrow. It squeals in pain before becoming limp. "Hello, dinner." Daryl says, his voice being muffled by the flashlight in his mouth. I make a fake gagging sound while exploring the tiny kitchen area. "I'm not putting that in my bag." I mutter.

Even though we've been doing this whole eating possum, squirrels, and owls thing for almost a year now, I will never get used to it. I still think it's disgusting. I open a pair of cabinets to be greeted with two cans of baby formula. It's like we've just won the goddamn lottery that'll last us at least a few weeks. I stuff them in my bag before moving to the next room.

The next room is a pre-k-like room with the alphabet covering the top of the walls and posters of the 123s and days of the week. Everything is neatly organized, like the workers expected to return the next day for work. There are notes on the teacher's table signifying that one student needed to bring a new change of clothes and another needing to take his blanket home on Friday. I wonder where they are, if they're still alive or if they're long gone. "ya think Case would like this?" I turn to see Daryl holding up a stuffed bear. My heart melts every time he acts like he's her father. There's just something so attractive about men who are good with children. "yeah." I say as I stick my hand out, gesturing for him to hand it to me. He gives it to me, and I stuff it into my bag. I kneel down in front of a little basket filled to the brim with toys.

"Do you- do you ever want kids?" I ask randomly. I don't know why I ask; I guess I just want to know. He grunts, "We have Case." I sigh as I stuff a few more toys into my bag. I don't like calling Casey our child because she had two loving parents who loved her until the end of their lives, parents she remembers and is still grieving. There are several times she's woken up in the middle of the night sobbing, "Momma, momma." every time she does that, my heart aches. Not because I'm jealous but because I feel the same way; sometimes, I feel myself yearning for my mother, who is most likely dead. I want my mom to cradle me in her lap like she used to and comfort me, and I know Casey feels the same way.

"no, like kids of our own." I whisper. I hear him sigh before muttering, "It's not safe." 

- 

When we return back to the prison, it's night. The sun had set a good few hours ago, and the sky is pitch black. When we run back into the cellblock, the only thing that can be heard is the baby sobbing loudly. Daryl runs over to her and scoops her up out of Carl's arms. I pull the formula and bottles out of my bag and quickly make her a bottle.

The baby quiets down for a few seconds once she's in Daryl's arms but quickly starts up her loud sobs. I quickly hand him the bottle. "c'mon, c'mon." he coos as he props the bottle up to the baby's mouth. I've never ever wanted a man to be the father of every one of my children more than I do now. He's so naturally good with her it's astonishing. When I first saw Daryl Dixon, with his muscles, tattoos, and tough guy attitude, I never thought he'd be good with kids, but somehow, he is.

The way his face softens when the baby latches onto the bottle, the way he's so effortlessly good with her, oh god, it makes my heart burst with affection. The way he rocks back and forth with a tiny smile on his lips as he feeds the baby makes me want a baby. A baby with his bright blue eyes and my nose, a baby with his stupid personality, a baby with equal parts of him and I, but I'm scared of getting pregnant after what happened to Lori. I don't want to leave Daryl to take care of a newborn by himself, even though I know everyone would help him. "She got a name yet?" Daryl asks Carl. "Mm, not yet. But I was thinkin' maybe Sophia, then there's Carol, too, and..." Carl sighs, thinking, "Andrea, Amy, Jacqui, Patricia...or Lori. I don't know." Carl is such a thoughtful boy, so empathetic. Thinking of everyone who's died for us to be here right now, trying to find a way to honor everyone.

Carl turns around and sighs; there's no way to honor everyone, especially by naming the baby cause she's only one person and can't have 5 million names. "Yeah...you like that? little ass-kicker." Daryl smiles as he looks up at all of us. "right? that's a good name, right?" I feel a tiny head rest against the side of my leg. I look down to see Casey leaning against me with tired eyes as she looks up at Daryl. I bend over and pick her up, letting her legs wrap around my hip, and her head lean onto my shoulder. She was a tiny 5-year-old, maybe 30 pounds at most, still small enough to pick up and not feel like I was carrying a bag of bricks. "Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that sweetheart?"

-

It's time for bed; I carried Casey up to the perch and laid her down. No help from Daryl because he was busy taking care of the baby. I'm stroking her hair, pushing the pieces of baby hair back as she talks to me. "Daryl's not gonna give me a hug g'night?" she asks, her voice laced with sleepiness. "he's taking care of the baby." I whisper; she grumbles, something I didn't catch, but I know she's upset. "But he got you something while we were out." I say, her eyes fly open "What?" I reach over and pull the teddy bear out of my bag. She gasps as I show it to her. Her little eyes widen as she makes grabby hands for it. "Daryl got it?" she asks, brows furrowed and head cocked to the side like she's mentally saying, 'Daryl got me a teddy bear?!' "Yep, just for you." she smiles as she hugs the bear to her body.

We both hear the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the steps, paired with the sound of the familiar grunts associated with Daryl Dixon. "Speak of the devil." I say with a giggle. She giggles as he appears at the top of the steps, brows furrowed in a tight knot. "wha'?" he mutters. Casey laughs excitedly as she leaps up, dropping the bear before sprinting over to him. She wraps her arms around his knees, embracing him as she giggles. he looks over to me, brows furrowed as he mouths, "What's wrong with her?" I laugh as he looks back down at her, his face softening as he kneels down in front of her. She wraps her arms around his neck, and he cupped the back of her head as he hugged her tightly. "Thank you," Casey mumbles before pulling away, grinning up at him, and running back over to her 'bed.'

"Goodnight, bug." I whisper as I press my lips against her forehead. "Night, y/n." she whispers as her eyes slowly close. When she finally falls asleep, I look up to see Daryl sitting with his back pressed against the railings of the perch. He smiles as I get up and walk over to him.

I sit down next to him and lean my head against his shoulder. We've ended all our nights like this since we got here to the prison, quietly whispering to each other while everyone else sleeps. "You got the baby down?" I whisper. He nods. "You're good with her." he's so good with her, and she seems to like him a lot. He grunts as he shrugs. "Dunno never done it before, so dun' know what I'm doin'." he's still doing good, taking over while Rick is doing whatever he's doing. "I'm gonna go to sleep. Don't stay up late alrigh'?" I nod as I watch him get up and walk over to the trio of mattresses we had pulled up here. He lays down and pulls the blankets over his body, letting out quiet, displeased grunts as the blankets don't fit over his body the way he wants."I'm gonna go see if Glenn's still awake," I lie as I quickly stand up and run down the stairs. 

I'm not going to see Glenn like I said; I'm going to see the baby. I don't know why, but I want to make sure she's alright and breathing. I guess since I killed Rick's wife, I at least have to make sure the baby stays alive. She's in a box in the recreational area someone had found that is being cushioned by a few baby blankets. She doesn't even stir as I pick her up. She doesn't look like anyone right now. She looks like a baby, so we really can't dictate if the baby is truly Rick's yet, but her eyes are neither Lori's nor Rick's but almost a spitting image of Shane's same brown color and everything.

She cuddles up into me as I cradle her in my arms. I have this dream that everything goes back to normal; we're not living in a prison but in a town. Daryl and I have a house we live in with Casey and our daughter, whom I've mentally named Lacy. Lacy Sophia Dixon. We don't have to worry about keeping people alive or getting bit. Everything is normal, or what normal used to be. I desperately want to live in that world. Every morning, I wake up grieving the daughter I had in my dream, but I know, I just know I'll have her one day. We'll have the town, we'll have the house, and we'll have that baby.

"What are you doing?" I snap out of my daydream and quickly turn my head to see Glenn's brows furrow as he leans against the barred walls that separate the cell block from this room. "Holding the baby," I whisper. She's just the baby (or little ass-kicker to Daryl) until Rick or Carl comes up with a name for her. Glenn walks further into the room and sits at one of the tables. I follow and sit across from him, still cradling the baby. "Nice necklace," he whispers as he props his elbows onto the table. I look down, remembering the silver necklace that now hung from my neck. "Yeah? Got it earlier." I whisper as I slowly rock the baby in my arms. He nods as he raises his eyebrows. "you two are getting serious, huh?"

"Yeah-yeah, I guess..um, can I ask you something?" he nods, muttering, "Sure." "Is it weird that after watching Daryl take care of her, it made me want a-" I watch as his face contorts in disgust. "a baby." I finish as he makes a fake gagging sound, which I think is pretty hypocritical after we caught him and Maggie up in the guard tower earlier. "It just made me-" he cuts me off, "horny?" I roll my eyes; why does everything with men have to be about sex? But I guess everything about having a baby is sex as well. It's weird the most innocent things are created by the least innocent thing possible. "no, it just made me realize that he's it for me. Maggie doesn't do things that make you realize she's it for you?" I ask, brows furrowed together. "All the time," he whispers as his cheeks turn a light shade of pink. Daryl is it for me. I don't think anyone else out there could make me as happy as he does. If we're ever able to settle down, I want a family with him, and I don't think there is anyone else that could make me feel like that.

Taglist

@rivversin @soul4death @furiousheartpoetry @silicone-bonez @nezukos-number1fan @your-shifting-gurl @maziejay08 @oi-itse @rhaenryawhore @kimbunnysstuff @blipblopper @ramielll @ilyhannah @daryldixonnn @delicatebearpandaopera @crypticmushroom

#fanfics #x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x fem!reader #daryl dixon twd #daryl dixon x female reader #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x f!reader #the walking dead #the walking dead season 3 #the walking dead x reader #glenn rhee #judith grimes #Carl grimes #rick grimes #glenn rhee x reader #fem!reader #female!reader

[twdmusicboxmystery]

11x24: Rest in Peace - First Thoughts

How did everyone like the series finale? I really enjoyed it. There were definitely things that were different than expected. A few things that brought me to tears. But overall, I really did enjoy the way they ended things.

Also, apologies but I don’t have many screenshots yet. Blame it not being able to watch it early. So, my pictures may be a bit random here. 

Mostly, we were right about the little things we predicted, but it’s also true that we didn’t see Beth.

I’m not gonna lie: that sucks. I really thought we’d see her in a coda or something. BUT did you catch the line? The one that clearly suggests Daryl will find love on his adventures? We’ll get to that in a minute.

The other thing is that she went to the after show, but wasn’t really featured on it much. Which also sucks. BUT I’m kind of reading into that a little bit. We saw her and Norman interviewing together on the red carpet, which is kinda huge. (Did anyone else wonder if they coordinated outfits?) It’s almost like they wanted us to notice her, but didn’t want to draw much attention to her, so they didn’t bring her up on stage.

Remember when they did a big show like this pre-S8 for the 100th episode celebration? During that show, Emily and Scott Wilson came up on stage. So, what I will say is that when they DID feature her in the after show, Beth didn’t show up in any episodes after that. So maybe the fact that they didn’t feature means that she will?

I get that that may feel like I’m reaching, but take it or leave it. I get that not seeing her is disappointing, but I’m just not ready to give up yet. We have SO much evidence that her story is entangled with Rick’s and with the CRM, and they really didn’t get to that at all in this episode.

That was actually another thing that surprised me. I really thought we’d see some hint of the CRM in this episode. Okay, as I’m typing that, I realize we did see the helicopter during the Rick and Michonne bit at the end. But that’s not what I mean.

I really thought the CRM would show up at the CW or the gates of Alexandria so Daryl and co would actually be aware of them. But that didn’t happen. And all that means is that it’s still coming. And if Beth is with the CRM, then she’s still coming.

We have so many loose ends to tie up. We still don’t know who Legs is from Red Machete. Still haven’t see the missing 17 days. Too many things we haven’t seen, and SOOO many coming spinoffs in which we might see them. So again, I’m not ready to give up.

The other thing is that AK has said several times that they really didn’t want to do TOO much to kick us into the spinoffs. Obviously with Daryl leaving at the end, they’re setting it up. But AK said they really wanted to tie it up neatly and have a good ending for the flagship show. I’ll admit I was skeptical about whether they’d actually do that or not. Simply because they had SO much to cover for the final episode. But…they did it.

And what Angela said might explain why we didn’t see Beth. They just wanted the final episode to stand on its own and not to have something like Beth showing up steal the thunder of all the other actors and characters we’re saying goodbye to. And while OBVIOUSLY I would have preferred to see her, I do understand that sentiment.

As I said, this is just going to be a short post, commiserating with you all about the disappointment of not seeing Beth. And also to tell you I’m not giving up. She’ll show up somewhere in the CRM storyline, and as AMC keeps taglining their promos, the end is just the beginning. We have tons of places and opportunities for her to show, and I personally can’t wait for the CRM storyline. It’s epic all by itself because it’s something that’s been set up since S1, Ep 1. And I believe Beth will return as we finally get to it.

All that said, this episode still had tons of symbolism and foreshadow. I’ll get to that in the coming week. I’m also going to go back, probably to the bonus episodes of S10, and show you the template they set up there, and how we’re just entering it. Diverged showed Daryl and Carol parting ways, and the finale episode is the beginning of that, as Daryl heads off on his own on the motorcycle.

But there was SO MUCH Beth symbolism that came after they parted ways. Which just shows that Beth comes after this.

Okay, but let’s get to that pesky line of Judith’s that I mentioned above. When he’s leaving, he promises to find Rick and Michonne and bring them home. Then Judith says that he deserves a happy ending too. Best line of the entire episode imho. (Well, maybe it’s neck and neck with the Little Asskicker/Big Asskicker line. That one totally melted my heart, too.)

Guys, talking about his happy ending is CLEARLY a reference to his love life and him finally finding his soulmate. And remember that back before S5 began, Gimple gave an interview with Larry King, in which King asked if Daryl would find love in the apocalypse, and Gimple assured him that Daryl would.

Now, I suppose we have to admit that Judith’s line doesn’t prove it will be Beth, but come on. We all know it will be. They set things up too heavily for it to be anyone else.

So, my point is that this is the writers telling us that on Daryl’s adventures after he leaves Alexandria, he’s going to find his true love. And until and unless they clearly show that being with someone else (not gonna happen) I’m waiting for Bethyl a little longer.

How about you?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[theteasetwrites]

Hi Abbi! I just watched a new episode (for me) of TWD and I uh, feel like I need to talk about it with somebody, so I decided to send you this ask. Hope that's okay! ^^

Okay, so... I watched 10x18 - Find Me - aaaand... I didn't like it. And I don't like Leah. The whole story between them was so... rushed and for me, it felt like it was forced. They kind of just threw a random woman in Daryl's life and were like: Okay, they are together now. And I was like: Nope, that's not how it works, is it? It felt weird watching this. Wrong, somehow? I don't know if it's just me, but I think they didn't have a great dynamic. I just couldn't picture Daryl and Leah together. The only person I could imagine Daryl being romantically involved with is Connie. She's wonderful (and luckily still alive!). Connie is without a doubt my favourite female character - besides Tara. I think she and Daryl would make a great couple. They have a great dynamic. Anyways... I am not a fan of Leah and certainly not of that episode. The only good thing about this was Dog - and Daryl calling Rick his brother. That was cute.

Hi! Sorry it took me a little while to answer this, I wanted to answer it coherently and with some thought.

So yeah, the dreaded Leah ep. Yes, very rushed and forced for sure. It just goes to show that they don't really care about giving Daryl a good love story that takes over one episode to get to. And yeah, they have no chemistry whatsoever really. The only characters I think Daryl really has good chemistry with are Connie, Aaron, and Rick. The Beth thing is just awkward for me and Carol is blah. Throwing in Leah was just such a slap in the face to the character and everyone who roots for him.

I totally agree with you about Connie. She is awesome and I think her and Daryl have some wonderful chemistry. It's so sweet how they interact, and I would love seeing them together. I honestly have no idea what the writers are going to do for them, but considering that we are coming up on the final episode and they still haven't had any romantic moments, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't let it happen. Which sucks because I would much rather have Daryl be with Connie than that rando French lady he's going to be hanging with in the spin-off, but that's a whole other rant lol.

And yes, Dog and Rick forever.

#abbi speaks

[collecting-stories]

The Break - ep. 03 - Georgia

Summary: Hershel and Annette find out that Maggie has been dating Glenn behind their backs.

A/N: I took a lot of liberty with Hershel the first time I wrote this so I wanted to align him more with his character when he was first introduced.

Georgia Masterlist | The Walking Dead Masterlist

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“Annette you gotta talk to him! Please!” Maggie begged, standing in the kitchen as Annette prepared dinner for the family.  

“Margaret. What your father says is law in this house, you know that as well as anyone. And he’s told you how many times that you are not permitted to date unless-”

“I know!” Maggie groaned. “Unless you both approve of the boy. But that was never gonna happen. Ya’ll wouldn’t let me date Glenn and I knew that!”

“Well I’m sorry you felt like that but going behind our backs was deceitful and wrong. You can use this time to reflect on your decisions and whether what you did, lying to your family, was pleasing to God.”

Maggie groaned, slamming her hand on the counter and then rushing out of the house, toward the barn. Anytime she had gotten into an argument with her dad and stepmom before she always went to the barn for some fresh air and clarity.  

Beth had come home Friday night from a playdate with a friend to tell her dad two very important things. One, that she had seen you with ‘someone’ outside the diner when she was leaving with her friend’s family and two, that Maggie was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully for you the someone Beth saw was no one she recognized but the instant Hershel and Annette heard that Maggie wasn’t exactly where she said she would be on the night she said she’d be there they had looked through her room and her cellphone log.  

And when she came home that night after her date they were waiting at the dining room table, Hershel with his stern pastoral face on and Annette looking unnecessarily near tears.  

“It’s not like you’re hanging out with Daryl Dixon.” You’d told Maggie later that night on the phone as she cursed both her parents out of existence over the entire ordeal.  

“I tried to reason with Annette and she won’t even talk to him for me. Told me he’s doing the right thing for everybody. Just cause Glenn isn’t Baptist.”

“And cause he’s Korean.”

“It ain’t like that.” Maggie argued. On more than one occasion you and Glenn both had told Maggie that her parents were walking the line of racism pretty thoroughly. They did the thing all churches looking for new members did, masking their doctrine with a welcome sign for all creeds and cultures and backgrounds and people. And it was fine if the majority white church had some Hispanic, black, or Asian patrons. All were welcome. But all were not welcome to date Reverend Greene’s daughter.  

“It’s like that.” You replied. “You can be friends with whoever you want Maggie but they aren’t about to let you date someone who isn’t white and Baptist and from a family they’ve known since the creation of the earth.”  

“Will you call Glenn for me? Tell him what happened?” Maggie requested, “I’m trying to talk some sense into daddy but I’m grounded expect for church and school. They said not even youth group!”

“I’ll call him.”  

“I really love him, ya know? I know we’re in high school but I really think he’s the one.” Maggie admitted.  

“I’ll talk to him, don’t worry.”

-

Nothing came of Maggie begging Annette to talk to Hershel. She was insistent that Maggie listen to her father and abide by his rules and his rules were that she wasn’t permitted to date a boy that didn’t go to the church. The ‘what if he did’ argument got her nowhere either, Hershel simply reminded her that he didn’t and he would never and even if Glenn started to now out of the blue they would all know why and it wouldn’t be earnest.  

When Beth told them, over the dinner table the first official night of Maggie’s grounding, that she had been on the phone with you, all her phone privileges went out the window too. She would go to school, pick up Beth and Sean, come home, do homework, and go to bed. On Saturdays she would help around the farm and on Sundays she would go to church and that was the end of it. There would be no social life. Even a few of her teachers had been informed that she was not to speak to Glenn Rhee.  

“You know what I hate about small towns?” Maggie questioned, sitting on the swings beside you. The playground was fenced in, right beside the addition that had been added to the church some 30 years prior so that people could send their kids to a Baptist preschool. It was through church donation and preschool tuition that the playground had been kept up but it was still outdated compared to an actual schoolyard.

“No.” You replied, positive that she would tell you.

“That everybody just knows everything! And listens to everything daddy says! All week we were pulled apart, Mrs. Frasier told everybody that we weren’t allowed near each other!”  

“I know. We go to the same school Mags.”

“But it ain’t fair! He’s not God, why’s he get a say in my personal life?” Maggie questioned.  

“Just think, soon we’ll be in college. Then we can hang out with whoever we want.” You replied.  

“I don’t think being in college will make your parents okay with the idea of you spending time with Daryl Dixon.” Maggie said, grinning, “where do they think your car is anyway?”

“At Dale’s. I told them Dale always comes by the diner and I knew he would give me a good deal. I just left out the part where it’s at Daryl’s house.” You laughed. “Speaking of, I kind of told him I’d stop by today.”

“Now?” Maggie asked. “This is the only social life I get all week.”

“Did you ask Annette if you could go dress shopping with me tomorrow after school?” You asked. “It’s the only day I have off. I switched shifts with Lori, she has another date.”

“Oh my god!” Maggie stood up from the swing suddenly. “Oh my god!”

“What?”

“Oh my god, I didn’t tell you!”

“Tell me what?”

“Daddy said I’m not allowed to go to the dance.”

“What?” You paled at the information. The only thing that wasn’t making the entire experience of going to the dance completely awful was the knowledge that Maggie and Glenn would be enduring it with you. But if they weren’t...if Maggie wasn’t going...then you would be sitting there in a hideous dress listening to Aiden bullshit with his football buddies.  

“They both said, no dance.” Maggie said, dropping back onto the swing.  

“I can’t believe it. Do you think they’ll change their minds?”

“If I can find a time machine and make them forget that Glenn and I are dating.”  

-

Daryl was already working on your car when you showed up in his driveway. The cold weather had you in a white long-sleeved turtleneck and a nice skirt, tights keeping your legs warm. Your parents were one step away from becoming crazy fundamentalists but thankfully they only made you wear dresses and skirts on Sundays. You came into the car port where Daryl was, waving at him when he looked up from the car.

“Hey, hope it’s okay I stopped by.” You said, coming over to stand beside him.

“Yeah, ‘s fine.”  

“Patricia won’t let me work on Sundays and Maggie is only allowed to hang out during church so...” you trailed off as you sat down in the lawn chair. You’d brought your backpack with you to church with the intention of going to Daryl’s afterward.

“So ya figured ya’d come antagonize me?” He asked, the hint of a grin.  

“I’ll be quiet as a mouse, promise!” You replied. “I brought homework anyway.”

While Daryl got back to work on your car you pulled out your history homework, balancing the textbook and notebook on your lap and wedging the pencil case between your thigh and the lawn chair. For the most part you focused on your notes for the Atlantic Revolution while Daryl worked though every few paragraphs you would look up. You found that you liked watching him, it was almost calming in the way he worked on a car but you didn’t want to make him uncomfortable and you knew how weird it would seem if he caught you staring. There wasn’t much else to see from where you were sitting.  

Behind your Jeep was Daryl’s truck and parked on the sidewalk outfront was a rust bucket of an old sedan that you guessed belonged to his father. It hadn’t been there on Halloween but it had been there the last time you stopped by. The backyard, from what you could see, looked as messy as the carport.  

“Do you have any water?” You asked, standing up and putting your books on the chair.  

“Thought ya were gonna be quiet as a mouse?” Daryl sassed.

“I am, I swear.”

“There’s water in the fridge.” He waved his hand over toward the refrigerator the sat beside the steps.  

The fridge was closer to the back of the carport and gave you a better glimpse into his yard. There was a pop-up camper parked in overgrown grass and a shed in the far corner by the chain link fence. A picnic table sat in front of the camper along with a small grill.  

“That’s cute.”

“What’s cute?” Daryl asked, saying the word like it was an insult.

“The camper...I like how it’s all set up.” You said, “my family goes to this Baptist camp every year and there’s this family that has a camper like that. They put string lights on theirs.”  

“I ain’t putting string lights on my camper.” He said.  

“It’d be so cute.”

“Yer not so good at being quiet are ya?”  

"Sorry.” You grabbed the bottle of water from the fridge and went back to your seat. “I’ll be quiet.  I promise.”

“Ya keep promising.” He pointed out.

You sat down and held your books up as evidence that you were getting back to work. As you resumed studying Daryl went back to working on the car, glancing up every once in a while, to make sure you were alright. Or so he convinced himself that was why. He thought you looked pretty, not that he didn’t always think that, and he couldn’t figure out why you kept coming around. He thought maybe you didn’t trust him with your car but then you weren’t hovering and you didn’t seem too worried about what he was doing to the car while you were there.  

“Ya know ya don’t gotta come around every time I work on the car.” Daryl mentioned.

“I like hanging out with you.” You shrugged, looking up from your notebook.  

“Well I ain’t here ta babysit ya.”  

“I could give you an extra $5 an hour?” You teased, “and snack allowance. I prefer goldfish.”

“Ya always like this?”

“Like what?”  

“A pain in the ass.” He deadpanned.  

You pouted, “fine, I won’t come by next time. I’ll go hang out with Glenn or something...Reverend Greene found out him and Maggie were dating and now she’s grounded until she’s like thirty.”

“That the Chinese kid?”

“He’s Korean.”

“Ain’t surprised the Greene’s wouldn’t want him around they’re daughter.” Daryl replied.

“You don’t even know Glenn. He’s so nice-”

“Hey, I ain’t saying anything against the kid. Just saying, they’re old school. Most people ‘round here are.”

“It isn’t an excuse.”

“I ain’t disagreeing with ya, I’m just saying...they ain’t gonna change their mind.”  

“Well anyway, I can go hang out with Glenn, so I don’t bother you.” You said, back on the topic from earlier. That you were a nuisance, which was the exact opposite of the effect you wanted to have on him.  

Daryl rolled his eyes at you, “I didn’t mean ya had ta go. Just meant, if yer worried ‘bout the car I know what I’m doing.”  

“I’m not worried about the car.”

“What?”

“I’m not worried. You said you could fix it and I trust that you can.” You replied.

“Than why ya hanging around?”

“Its not the goldfish.”

“I’m being serious.” Daryl said, leaning against the Jeep.  

“I like hanging out with you.”  

Daryl didn’t say anything else, just turned back to look at the car before you could see the blush on his cheeks. He scrunched his nose and bit at his thumb as he focused on the engine and tried not to think about what you just said. He wasn’t completely friendless in the world. He had Rick, and occasionally Rick’s friend Michonne came around from the police academy, but he’d never had someone outright say that they liked his company. Especially not a someone like you.  

-

taglist: @hopesxxhigh @coffeebooksandfandom @jodiereedus22 @tehfabbooty @thecaptainsgingersnap @of-storms-and-sadness @alwaysadreamingoptimist @bucky-barnes-babies @ly--canthrope @daryldixonandfrogs @jaycc7983 @easnuppa @imaginecrushes @tonystarkismyboy @watchmeaspire @cbarter @onemorebeautifulnightmare @qrangr  @twdeadfanfic @gigilame @sabertooth-potato @enrapturedbythemoon @harpersmariano @cathwritestragediesnotsins

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon au #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x you #daryl x you #daryl x reader #daryl imagine #daryl fanfic #daryl fanfiction #daryl fic #the walking dead au #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead fic #the walking dead imagine #twd imagine #twd fanfic #twd fanfiction #twd fic #twd au #collecting stories imagine #georgia series

[ikkleosu]

What do you think now in terms of Caryl actually happening? Seems to be looking a WHOLE lot better now!!

I have several asks basically asking the same thing so forgive for just lumping it all together in this answer. Also forgive me, for I am about to ramble.

Let me say that i am so so so certain Caryl is happening.

Now unlike some folks (with music box in their name) I FREELY admit that despite the fact I am ALWAYS RIGHT, sometimes I have been totally wrong.

I was totally sure Caryl was happening in season 5, and I was totally sure it was happening in the run up so season 8. Obviously I was wrong on both counts.

The rest of the time I was mostly speculating how it could happen if they were to do it at that point.

Now I have always (well since season 5) believe Caryl would happen eventually. Even when I stopped watching in s8/9 I still believed it would happen eventually. But by then I thought Carzekiel was a real, genuine ship, and Caryl would only happen as a last ditch attempt to save ratings - 3 show runners down the line!

And then the spoilers for 8x16 came out and my ears pricked up. Carol was leaving Zeke, and Daryl was implicated in the divorce! (LOL) Suddenly things got really interesting, but I still wasn't sure Caryl was on the cards in the immediate future.

Once the movie was announced I was fairly settled that Caryl would only happen in the movie, as a ratings grabber (because as much as I love Andrew Licoln, he isn't enough to sell a movie. Walking Dead fans who have walked away would expect a TWD movie to have Rick and Michonne and Daryl and Carol. They just would).

Now up until about a month or so ago I STILL believed that (and part of me does still think actual canon might only happen on the big screen). But what has changed in the last few weeks is that I am certain THIS SEASON is setting up Caryl - either to fully go canon in this season, or to NEARLY go canon, then go canon in the movie.

(By nearly go canon, I mean Daryl and Carol's feelings for each other are made explicit. There are on screen conversations about their feelings. Their reasons for not being together will be detailed, and they will have shippus interuptus a la the Consumed bed moment that stops them from taking the last step)

My mind being changed has happened bit by bit, and a large part of it has been thanks to Norman "threesome with Beth and Carol" Reedus! I KNOW?!

Suddenly his answers on Caryl were mature and interesting. Talking about the complicated nature of their relationship and waxing about aspects of Caryl. Like, who is he?

My assumption was Norman suddenly didn't just get media training. He could answer differently because he knew differently. He had something different to say because something different was happening.

And platonic relationships are rarely "complicated".

A huge part is the quotes I put in my "join the dots" post. The fact that Angela said this season would deal with Daryl's love life, and said she has asked Norman his opinion on how it would go. Then Norman said they have had talks, then explicitly said he has had talks with Angel's and some things he suggested went into ep 1, then he confirmed it was things in the Caryl scenes.

To me, that is definitive proof that the relationship he and AK were talking about was Caryl.

And let me divert and explain here why I got it wrong in the past...

It took me like 6 years to realise that Scott Gimple puts stuff into the show that seems significant but isn't AT ALL. He plants scenes and symbolism and Easter Eggs that amount to fuck all. They are pointless, meaningless stuff he puts in for his seeming own amusement. If he's asked about it, he will say yes I will say that will come up again BUT IT NEVER WILL!

From the jasper stone to Daryl's therapy book to Daryl's sudden deep relationship with every red shirt going - all of it was meaningless drivel. Hey remember the dead bodies with signs on them? Remember the weird deserted camps? Remember the Cherokee walkers? Remember the clocks and flowers and tomatoes and beer bottles and the colour green? MEANINGLESS!

I spent so many hours dissecting and analysing, connecting stories that seemed to fit brilliantly together. And I tend to think I was giving it more thought than Gimple was.

I thought Caryl would happen because things like the water jug flirtation and Consumed and the Dwight parallels and the Cherokee rose on the wall and... you get the point. But none of them meant anything other than Gimple thinking he was clever and throwing carylers random bones to keep us going. Which, to his credit, worked largely.

But I believe Angela Kang. Angela "I wrote Still, the worst written episode ever" Kang is not like that. Doesnt work like, and knows exactly what she's doing.

I dont say that lightly. It is only looking back at s9 with hindsight do I see what she was doing.

She had Carol repeatedly reject Ezekiel's proposal; she had Daryl have a conversation with Aaron about what a good father Daryl would be; she had Carol and Daryl show their connection and Carol show she wanted space from Ezekiel in a scene she wrote notes on saying Daryl was jealous of Zeke; she had Carol change her mind about Zeke only after she saw Daryl lose and go punch happy, whilst Zeke is a caring father to Henry. She made sure Carol never said "I love you" to Zeke on screen. She showed that while Daryl goes into the wild, Carol always knows where he us and lies to her husband to go visit him. She showed that Carol felt that Zeke had enough influence on Henry, and now she wanted Daryl to be the male influence on his life, in an episode filled with romance tropes and a morning after scene that was clearly meant to emulate a morning after scene. And then AK played her first hand - when Henry dies, it is Daryl who Carol seeks. And Zeke sees Daryl as a direct and present danger to his marriage and threatens him off. And then Carol leaves Zeke, and goes back to ASZ with Daryl.

I mean, holy crap! She set it all up so subtly that so many people didn't see it coming. And I still believe there are other parts of s9 that are set up to come into play this season.

And then with each spoiler I began to get more faith. Ep 1 was so much better than I expected, with Daryl taking Carol on a date, making a bracelet (something else I was wrong on. I totally thought that was wishful thinking), and not only being comfortable with the idea of running away together, but when he realised he couldn't do that, telling Carol HE NEEDS HER!

Again this is new ground, Daryl hasn't talked like that.

And then, after all that came the dream spoiler. I loved it, it seemed big, but the people leaking it played it down to ridiculous levels.

They made it seem like it was a throwaway scene, a Gimple-esque nod to the shippers. But as I have said, what actually happened was HUGE. This scene is the entire point of the Carol taking speed pills story (in this ep). It is telling us WHY she is afraid to sleep.

And it confirmed every single thing. The dialogue in the extended version confirms it is a good dream. The ring takes away ANY ambiguity (unless you are a desperate ABCer who has decided to pretend it's Ezekiel's ring, when it visibly, clearly isn't) that Daryl is just a roommate. And the fact the dream is 80/20 Daryl to Henry, shows this dream issue is NOT just about her missing Henry. If it was , the dream could have just featured Henry, or Henry and Zeke. It didn't. It heavily featured Daryl as Carol's dream husband, then followed it up by a scene showing us how utterly she loves and needs him.

I always believed in eventual canon. After Ghosts, I believe canon is on the cards very soon. And that we just saw on screen confirmation that Carol is IN LOVE with Daryl.

Put a fork in me I'm done.

#caryl #twd spoilers #Dear god it's long

[riosnecktattoo]

Ship History Meme!

Embrace your past and get to know your friends fandom origins!

Rules: Post gifs of your fabdoms/ships starting with your most current hyperfixation and work backwards. (Bonus points if you share any stories about how or when you got into that ship! But not necessary!!) Then tag anyone whose fandom history you'd like to learn about!

Tagged by the awesome @taraknowless ❤️

1. Beth/Rio - Good Girls

Absolute shocker!

I actually owe it all to @hopelikethesun who I've been following for such a long time. When S2 started she was the only person I followed posting about it. I saw a few gifs and thought 'eh, he's not that hot' LOL and then a 2x04 gifset popped up and I went ummm excuse you? Then I felt the 'I want to watch this' urge. Thought it would be casual. It was not. This ship is flames and controls my life.

2. Karen & Frank - Daredevil S2/The Punisher

I deadass can't with Kastle. Seeing this violent angry but loving man fall apart about his soft badass fave lady constantly? Him tearing down an entire building to keep her safe? That's love mf. Absolutely beautifuly acted by Jon & Deb. I'm still gutted about Marvel stopping their shows. They were holding off till S3 to make these two fuck. But they still made it canon that they love eachother so I was thrilled. But I deserved my kiss. The almost kiss in the Elevator before forehead touching will always be iconic.

3. Carol & Daryl - The Walking Dead

When I say I used to think it wasn't possible I could ship anything more than these two? I mean it. The ship of Dreams.

I watched the show up until S8? Then I couldn't take it anymore. I had waited 8 fuckin years for Caryl and was tired of being baited. As much as I still do love them and check in, tptb are cowards and won't make it romantic explicitly. They'll just keep stringing fans along for views cause they know it's so popular.

And rightfully so. It's the most beautiful relationship. I remember watching S5 thinking 'this is my year! Caryl will be canon!' I fuckin baked Caryl cookies and put quotes on them! I was THAT much of a Caryl saddo! But they are on S10 and it's still not gone further than implication. It makes me so mad.

4. Jaime & Brienne - Game of Thrones

I have a lot of GoT ships, but Braime really is That Bitch™

I had loved them from the books, then NCW and Gwen are just far too perfect for these roles. They are ridiculousy adorable and beautiful and everything good about love. They put so much work in to understanding eachother. Jaime becomes a better man for her. They fight to the death for the other. They are just amazing.

The show absolutely destroyed them in the end, but fuck em, the books won't be ending that way. The show did an amazing job until those last few eps. Forever salty. Braime 4eva.

5. Sawyer & Kate - LOST

MY FIRST SHIP EVER! THE BEST SHOW EVER! This show made me the fangirl I am today. 11 year old Tay was born when this show aired.

If you didn't ship Skate, you were wrong. Jate was the most sauceless garbage ever and I'm still fuckin fuming about it.

It's not like Sawyer and Kate were the main ship for 5/6 of seasons? 🙃

They were fuckin beautiful and broken and had the most insane chemistry. That first kiss? Flamesssssss. Cage sex? Flamesssssss.

My first EVER fanfic was Skate! And I read it on my family computer! And it was filthy! And I minimised it thinking it was gone! It wasn't! My Dad found it! He read it to see what his 12yr old was up to! I've literally never been so embarrassed! 🙃

The day the finale aired I was wearing a SKATE FOR LIFE T-Shirt I had printed. I baked a LOST Cake. I baked cookies and wrote quotes on them. I dressed up as Charlie. I still have a Lost shelf in my bedroom.

This is who I am.

(Plz don't ask me for pictures of these things cause they do exist but I'm so tragic I just keep them to laugh at that lil nerd)

I'm taggin @medievalraven and @sothischickshe cause u gotta have some good ships in your repertoire! 😊

#This was pure jokes #I have so many more ships #But these are the definers of my life #Personal

[ansheofthevalley]

7, 11 and 16 for the salty asks!!

7. Is there anything I used to like but can’t stand now?

TWD as a whole

Man, I loved TWD. I was so invested on that show, on those characters. When Lori died and Carl had to shoot her? Man, that fucked me up. When the Governor killed Hershel in front of Maggie and Beth? U G H. The second half of S4 when they’re all divided into groups and find each other in Terminus? Talk about relief. Daryl and Beth? THE FEELS, NONNY. THE FEEEEEEELS. When they reach Alexandria, after being through hell? Again, talk about relief. Like I said, I was super invested on the show. But from S6 onwards, it just went downhill. Somewhere during S8 I stopped watching because I didn’t see the point in watching a badly written show that was way past its prime when I could be doing other things, things that brought me some kind of joy. I didn’t even watch when Carl got bit and died. That’s when the show jumped the shark, IMO. Then losing Rick and Maggie? Nah. I’ll stick to the comics. 

When I was a part of the TWD fandom, I was a huge believer in the “Beth survived the gunshot” theory (AKA Team Delusional/Defiance - I still see you, fam!). I read a lot of metas, I even wrote some of my own in my old blog. But seeing how all those very specific clues were there but there was no real resolution... IDK. I didn’t give up per se; I like to think she’s out there kicking walker ass with a crossbow, looking like a total badass with those scars. But far away from the Atlanta group, since the show (as far as S8) was a complete mess. 

I never felt so cheated in my life as I did with TWD (that is until GOT S8, lmao)

11. Is there an unpopular character you like love that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Sansa Stark and Beth Greene

They’re both hated because the fandom thinks them weak. They’re both hated because they think them useless. They’re either too dumb and girly or too bossy. They’re either reliant on other people (which makes them a liability) or they’re suddenly too strong for their own good. They either cry too much or they’re stoic. They’re either stupid for believing or they’re stupid for not having hope. They’re either too weak or not strong enough. They stand up to the male fave and call them on their bullshit, but ofc nobody can do that, especially stupid girls like Sansa and Beth.

At least one of them got a happy(ish) ending.

I gravitate towards those type of characters. The ones that fandom likes to shit on just for existing. So I claim them as my faves and swear to protect them. I guess it’s in my nature. 

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

The two last seasons of GOT

Apart from the writing, which I think we can all agree that is the one thing that needs changing the most, I’d make them a 10-episode season each. Have more time to properly develop the story without rushing it. 

But if we’re talking about the writing exclusively:

Season 7

The Winterhell plot. Don’t show Littlefinger do The Creep™ around Winterfell. The plot is about the Starklings working together, so let’s show that. Let the audience know that Littlefinger is fucking clueless about what’s coming for him.

The Dany-Cersei war. Give Cersei more to do than just drink wine and look at KL from her window. She’s Tywin’s daughter, FFS. Show her scheming and double-crossing people. Have Lannister forces take Dragonstone the minute Daenerys heads north. 

Bran. Let him have emotions, y’know, since he’s still a person. Show the conflict of having to live with the world’s past in your mind while still being a young man that defends his family fiercely.

Show Jon to be a player, be manipulative, in other words, make Pol!Jon a lil bit more obvious, for the people in the back. Also, give him his POV.

Make Dany feel more torn about the political conflict and the supernatural conflict, and not make it a line in the final episode of the season.

Season 8

Again, give Jon his POV.

Make RLJ about Jon, not Daenerys.

Show how RLJ changes different dynamics, not just J/onerys.

Show Sansa bonding with someone, anyone (her sister, Theon, Jon, Gilly) instead of her talking to the Hound about her abuse.

Have the Battle of Winterfell have more emotional impact.

Jon doesn’t ride Rhaegal.

Show the reactions of Arya and Sansa to RLJ.

Show the Starklings doing something else than fight.

Again, give Cersei more to do than just drink wine and look out of her window. Definitely don’t make her sleep with Euron.

Mention the burning of the food and the Tarlys.

People (Varys, Tyrion, Cersei) find out about what happened to Littlefinger.

Show that the North as a whole has legitimate reasons not to want Daenerys as their Queen.

Show Dany sharing some moments with Missandei and Greyworm, not just Jon.

Not kill Missandei (especially like that).

Have Arya use her faceless man abilities.

Let people (by people I mean northern lords and the like) find out about RLJ.

Have Dany and co. flee Winterfell in anger after people find out about RLJ.

Have Dany burn both Tyrion and Varys.

Cersei-Sansa reunion.

Sansa tries to raise her banners (and the Vale’s and the Riverland’s) against both Cersei and Daenerys.

Euron dies after killing Rhaegal.

Bran tells Jon about what Dany might do in KL, so Jon leaves to find her in time.

Jon finds Dany but she imprisons him under the charge of high treason.

Ep 5 plays out exactly the same, only that Missandei witnesses it all and from then on questions her loyalty towards Dany.

The massacre of KL is bigger. There’s a lot more losses.

Have Arya kill Dany instead of Jon.

Dragonpit meeting in which the lords and ladies of the different kingdoms declare the 7K to be independent again, the way they were before Aegon’s conquest.

Jon is liberated by the northern forces with the help of Missandei.

Missandei goes back to Naath, trying to find peace after seeing so much bloodshed and thirst for power.

The Starks go back to Winterfell. Sansa is named QITN as the oldest legitimate daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. Jon and Bran are her closest advisors. Arya decides to go west of Westeros.

Send me a salty ask

#twd #the walking dead #Beth Greene #Team Delusional #Team Defiance #got #game of thrones #Sansa Stark #got s7 #got s8 #as you can see it's not like i have *some* ideas as to how we could change things #y´know... to make it make sense #anon #asks #salty asks #my thoughts #twd and got: the two biggest letdowns of my life

[codakilled]

beths dynamics are so important to me... when will u all indulge me in the dynamics canon started and then abandoned....

#the eps of beth and daryl were GOOD and i loved them... #i wish we saw post grady beth and daryl interactions it would've been so INTERESTING #and beth and noah... the POTENTIAL #ooc.

[wolfwhiteflowers]

ep 6-ish filming spoilers/spec. *twd comic spoilers

I rambled a lot. I also mentioned. SDCC news, Kang articles, Skybound(s9 promo pic) 

It’s a messy post. I wrote it like journal. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

There’s filming spoilers of Eugene up on the water tower and his foot got stuck..and I guess got outta there. Also maybe a lady there..the casted lady there. Alpha? ..a crew member? idk. He’s up in the water tower similar to comic-Gabe’s uh death. 

Well in the comics, Gabe went up there to look out for any signs of a herd during/ later-ish in the Whisperer war. He’s very new to being a solider and cowardly-like...like Eugene is but not tv-Gabe (oh, also tv-Gabe is partially blind too). So, comic-Gabe saw the huge ass heard coming, freaked out and went down the ladder, his foot got caught in bottom of the ladder. And then a whisperer killed him before Gabe could warn others about the herd and whisperers that are coming to ASZ. 

I’m gonna think it’s not a remixed of that scene. What about the radio (comic Eugene)? Idk anymore.

Ep 6 sounds like a big Eugene episode or he got a lot of outside action stuff in this ep.

-thoughts-I’m thinking of the moment they introduced Georgie in s8 which the lady is similar to Pamela from the Commonwealth. I’m starting to think that TWD writers shouldn’t introduced Georgie or someone that’s similar to this Commonwealth arc in s8. So Idk in s9 the spoilers sound like stuff all from after the time jump and Whisperer War arc. Everything seems rushed. Maybe they’re remixing these plots. Some plots in other seasons were there earlier than the comic storyline. Who knows. But if Eugene has a radio and contacting Stephanie. It’s like different from the comics. The radio plot from Eguene and going to Ohio to find Stephanie -Commonwealth -Michonne’s daughter, Elodie. It was all a mystery. So meeting Georgie ruins the mystery.

-JDM’s haircut! Dang idk anymore! Seems like a lot cast members got groomed lol So, another time-jump? 

-So I guess another Lintz kid will be in TWD or Matt will be teen-Henry! Maybe Henry won’t die(braces). I’m glad.. cos I think that’s important part of Carol’s story, imo.  But Idk for sure who he play as.

-ok so recently TSDF are saying that there will be a time jump based on what i just mentioned. 5 years or so jump based on Matt Lintz possible playing at teen-Henry. Matt is like 5 years older than his bro.

This timejump, I’m like NO. Blah I don’t like it. Is it in ep 6?

 Also ... based on the Skybound tweet, I don’t feel sure about TSDF, it seems like they’re rushing to announce a spoiler, again. I don’t think they got enough info yet..but yeah a lot of cast members are groomed..so I guess time jump is happening. I was like ok with it at first but ...later in the week, I noticed there’s no spoilers on characters grieving on Rick (leaving or dead) and no heads on pikes scene. Idk what’s going on storywise.

-(repeating the same thing) Skybound/TWD tweet. lol “don’t believe what u hear.” Idk what it is about but if it’s about the spoiler on the spoilery script pic, then ???? lol First, TSDF were saying WTF. They’re pretty sure Rick Dies in ep Five.

my comment on the thread.

I'm curious. Did you guys got more info or sources that Rick died in ep 5? Or you guys speculated over on the spoilery script pic?

What if Rick gone missing (like tv-Heath)? It's something that I kind of hope for in the show with AL wanting to leave. I was hoping Rick would go missing and then Michonne and Judith go on a boat to idk Commonwealth after s9.

We don't know much on why AL is leaving and why AMC is keeping a secret and all that. We just have to wait and see.

I hope you guys will get more info soon.

I mainly just want to know how Rick leaves the show. Does he die or go missing? And what about the Grimes fam.? And when?

I guess I was right? TSDF are saying some kind of craziness happening with Rick’s departure like a dumpster-gate. BUT, AL supposedly? got one episode left to film and the news is that he will exit TWD. So ...Rick is still leaving, right? :( I hope he doesn’t die. Back on rollercoaster ride..on hoping for the TWD AU to be good.

-I’m guessing Rick won’t even see this new windmill built. I don’t understand this windmill being built way later. Rick isn’t like “old man Rick” no cane, no windmill, blah.

-The time jump=

...well TSDF may be wrong about all this. Maybe Oceanside is dead or not focused anymore. Young Henry is missing like comic - Elodie or dead. New Lintz teen boy may be playing as a different character. Negan is groomed because from the comics he got groomed..so yeah. 

----if TSDF is right, ...

I get it now(Beth). I guess. Reason why s8 finale didn’t tease or set up for the timejump in s9 because it’s not the big time jump they wanna mention or tease about. Finale still sucked and didn’t excite me for next season. If ep 6 - time jump will happen (5 years) then I guess first 5 ish episodes are about Rick with a hair cut and yeah he’s gone. Maybe Gimple’s plan of s9 is in these 5 episodes and ep 6 is all Angela Kang’s ideas.

I’m so lost on the play of time. Maybe s9A is like FTWD’s recent half season. Idk. 9A goes half of the story is one year later and the other half is 5 years later. Or 1-5 episodes are one year later. 6-8 and on are five years later? Idk 

It’s really bad for Caryl. Idk much on storywise and filming spoilers, but I don’t think whisperers/Alpha does their thing before ep 6. So after the ep 6./5 years time jump, that means Carol ...I guess is in a romantic relationship with Zeke  in Kingdom for 5 or so years. Daryl still single cos wtf idk.. writers don’t say he’s asexual, gay, or whatever from the start. 

Like we already know but yeah really bad for Grimes family. They don’t show characters grieving over him? Michonne ofc is gonna be sad and wtf alone(?) for 5 years. Depressing. ehhh s9 is such crap for Michonne’s story. If Rick doesn’t die but gone missing or taken into the helicopter, then it reminds me of the soapy show Jane the Virgin (spoilers!!!........) where Michael “dies” and a year later he came back fine but had lost his memories and that’s why he didn’t come back earlier. Anyways, with that theory, it still wouldn’t work well with that 5 year time jump (and more). Like if maybe Michonne and Judith went a boat and found Rick after 6 years. That’s nice...? Depressing tho...uh? Then the end for TWD? lol

-5 years is a lot. TWD s1-8 was like 2 years. So...everyone and everything is so different.

---

omg those articles from Kang. sorry but she’s just being like any other showrunner trying to sell her show yada yada. Daryl will have romance? she’s like sure. But remember skybound said nope on s9.  Girl power?She’s like yas.  Skybound said nothing much new with Michonne and Carol. Ofc, it’s not gonna be good plots for the ladies./ It’s all depressing and idk the show doesn’t show them interact anyways.

WTF 

-... when AL finished his filming, I was like uh what to look forward to in the spoilers? sigh. yeah. It’s what it is. S9 is just awful. :\

-I don’t know what Carol is gonna do. MMB is a ninja, people can’t spot her during filming. It’s sad..I don’t know (s9)Carol anymore actually. I wish Carol was single and just idk. I want to know what Carol is like after the war and living in Kingdom (and why live there or show Carol telling TF that’s she’s living there and they still bond with her.) I don’t what Carol is like after 5 years either. I don’t know anything about Carol rn. ...I don’t think there’s much on Carol with Rick/TF. :(

---

SDCC.

ok but first, omg i just wanna see the cast interactions only. I love this lil group. (they’re like my ‘twd players’ and also it’s shippy like. Caryl, Richonne...and used to be-Gleggie)They’re main cast members and they’re like originals of the show plus JDM. But questions and answers..oh boy it’s gonna be awkward and crazy. 

eta. I heard that LC won’t be at the TWD panel. Maybe she will be at the con somewhere else? I’m not sure and it’s probably from her contract with ABC. Anyways, that’s sad...TWD fans won’t see LC at the panel for the last time.

 I realized that we’re gonna learn a lot about s9. Like confirmation on what’s gonna happen in the story. It’s gonna be crazy. They may be like Caryl is always just friends.duuuuh.durrrr.  TWD is not Rick’s story. durrr. Maybe, Rick (and Maggie) isn’t gonna diiiiiee ;) ep 5, he dies. SIGH.

I heard AL is gonna announce that’s he’s leaving the show. That’s nice, imo. I like to know if the actor will leave or not that kind of stuff. I don’t want this big surprise death or whatever.  Idk. whatever AL  want to or will do. I just want writers/AMC to treat their fans with respect. 

-------------------------

So um ..I just feel that s9 is actually crappy. It’s all AU to me in the first place, and that even as AU-onscreen, it still sucks. :\ So yeah give me fanarts and fic pls.

 I hope the actors and others have fun at SDCC. I hope s9 isn’t that bad but well I don’t think so. (not planning to watch it either so.) 

I’m still waiting what s9A will be like and does Rick dies or not. 

#*twd #*twd s9h #twd spoilers #tfd twd #caryl

[bravevulnerability]

k listen I know you don't write twd but I saw you write that Gleggie fic and I'm desperate here because I'm in the castle fandom and don't even know how to begin looking in the twd fandom for fic. plus I trust you as a writer so idk if you've seen the latest ep yet or if you ship Daryl and Carol, but can you maybe **consider** writing something tiny about them if you do at all? thx in advance if you do :*

A/N: As you mentioned, I don’t write The Walking Dead regularly and writing characters I’m less familiar is a bit intimidating, but I do think Daryl and Carol have an incredible dynamic that is compelling to write. I hope the piece below will suffice. :)

This is set immediately after Daryl leaves Carol’s place.

-

“You could stay, you know.”

He pauses on the edge of the porch, his heart drumming loud in his chest, through his ears. Heavy from the last few weeks, the last few days, hours. From lying to her.

He never fathomed he’d lie to her.

“With me,” she clarifies, the sound of her swallowing soft, uncertain, yet affirming all at once. “You could stay here, at least for tonight.”

“They want me back there. At the Kingdom, for safety.”

“They probably want me back there for the same reasons,” she counters and he catches the end of her shrug as he turns to see her still standing there, waiting. “But it can be safe here too. I mean, the two of us? C’mon, dream team.”

A grunt of laughter breaches his lips, a sound that’s grown almost foreign over time, but of course, it’s her to revive it. It’s always been her.

“Okay,” he murmurs, retracing his steps back to the doorway, pausing for a heartbeat when she drifts to the side to offer him room to enter, but doesn’t move.

Sometimes he wants to be blunt, ask her what they are, what she wants, what she wants from him. But, if he’s being honest with himself, he’s scared of the answer and he thinks she is too.

He and Carol… they’re damaged goods, broken people beat down by those who were supposed to love them, two people who didn’t even consider rebuilding until the rest of the world had fallen apart. There was something unhealthy in that, he’s sure, but something beautiful too.

He told her once that they weren’t ashes.

No, not ashes, no longer even embers. What he felt for her right now were flames.

They were twin flames that could burn so brightly together.

-

It’s not cold outside yet. The air outside still stifling throughout the day, muggy with only a slight chill in the nights, but they still sit in front of the fire together, the warmth of the flames radiating onto the bare skin of his arms, illuminating the tiny hairs that stand straight for her.

She’s cold against him, her shoulder sealed to his, knees crossed, bumping his when she shifts. A casual position for them, but different this time. Meaning more than it should.

“Did you ever consider saying goodbye?”

He doesn’t know where the question comes from, only that it needs out, has needed out since he learned that she left by her own free will. Partially, he’s glad she was gone, glad she was safe, but fuck, he’d missed her.

Glenn’s brutal murder, Abraham’s final gurgle of words, had not been the only torturous thoughts, nightmares, that had haunted him in that god forsaken prison cell of a room. If Carol had been present in that circle… who knows what Negan would have done, if his choice would have been different. Who knows how much self-control he would have maintained over himself at the sight of her in danger.

“I don’t know,” she sighs out, her voice barely above a whisper, so tired.

They’re both so tired.

“You should head to bed. I’ll keep watch,” he assures her, nudging her shoulder, encouraging her up from the floor, but she shakes her head.

“I should have told you.” He trains his eyes on the dance of flames, feels that fragile place in his chest quivering. “The group… they’re my family, our family, but you… you’re more Daryl. It’s why losing you scares me the most.”

He pulls his knees to his chest. “You already know it’s the same.”

“No, it’s not,” she counters softly. “You… you could keep going, if I-”

“Stop it,” he snaps, standing a little too quickly to make it stop, make her stop, because he can’t - he can’t even think it. “You ain’t-”

“You could keep going without me, I couldn’t. I can’t lose someone else,” she argues, her words wet and shaking. “But definitely not you. You - god, you’ve been - I love you, Daryl. You know I do. In a way that would ruin me. Just like it did with Sophia.”

And the mention of her daughter, the girl they’d searched so hard for so long ago, invested so much hope in… it breaks him - slices his heart in half right down the middle.

“Stop,” he rasps, scrubbing at his eyes and heading for the door, slashing his hipbone on the table, adding to the mosaic of cuts and bruises that have barely even started to heal across his body.

The hard, familiar curl of her hand at his shoulder has him jerking to a stop before he can even reach the entryway and ending up in the embrace of her arms in seconds, succumbing to the need for it, breaking apart in the safe haven she provides.

And he cries, buries the broken sounds in the curve of her neck, until his chest is empty and the only thing that resonates is the beat of her heart pounding in rhythm with his, shaking them both.

-

They lie side by side in the twin size bed in the sole bedroom of the house she’s adopted and for hours, they talk, about everything and nothing, their hands occasionally flirting, fingers twining, palms meeting. And it slowly begins to ease the brutalized parts of him she doesn’t know about, the new scars that were so viciously added, so deeply cut.

Of course, she picks up on it rather quickly.

“Things aren’t really fine, are they?”

He takes in a breath through his nose, feels her hand squeeze his, and closes his eyes.

“No.”

He doesn’t have to look to know she’s nodding, the pillow they’re sharing moving ever so slightly.

“You don’t have to tell me. Not right now.”

“I don’t wanna lose you either,” he admits, the greatest fear of it all. Because she’s wrong.

He couldn’t survive that too. Losing Meryl was a kind of trauma he hadn’t been prepared for, but had come back from, losing Beth was… agony, but Carol? No, he didn’t have it in him for that too. He thinks she often forgets that between the two of them, there isn’t one stronger than the other.

They were mirror images, different enough to hold each other up where the other needed, but they were both at their breaking points now more than ever, just trying to survive, and she was one of the only reasons he had left to keep going. Even when they were apart, even when he had no idea where she was, he always knew she was alive. He felt it, just as strongly as he feels the connection between him now as they lie beside each other. Without that… he doesn’t want to feel what it’s like to lose one of the only lifelines he has left.

“You won’t,” she murmurs, bringing their intertwined hands to rest atop her chest, the knot of their fingers rising and falling with her every breath. “I didn’t say goodbye because I won’t. Not to you - I won’t say goodbye to you.”

“That mean you’re done leaving?”

“You’re here,” she shrugs against him. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“But you can’t stay here. This… hiding ain’t you.”

Their hands rise with a slow inhale, fall with the breath that rushes from her parted lips.

“I know. But I was losing what was left of me, fighting, killing, I needed… to breathe for a little while again,” she admits, turning her head on the pillow, and he does too, reads her eyes in the darkness, the sliver of the moon and starlight bleeding through the window.

“Breathing better now?”

The corner of her mouth twitches. “Yeah.”

“Good,” he mumbles, closing his eyes as he shifts on his side, doesn’t think as he maneuvers his arms around her, the two of them tangling - an effortless mess in the moonlight. “Because I wasn’t leaving without you.”

Her lashes tickle the line of his throat and he props his chin atop her head, opens his eyes before the darkness can draw him back to the empty cell, his body curled in on itself, music blaring through his ears, numbing his senses, everything aching-

“Daryl,” she calls softly, one of her hands unfurling at his back, her fingertips grazing the first scars to adorn his body at the kiss of his father’s belt. “I’m with you.”

He doesn’t want to sleep; he’s so desperately exhausted, but far more afraid of what dreams could come for him in the dark, of what he could wake up to. Or without. But throughout the night, he remains tied to her, holding on and being held, anchored. She keeps him out of the trenches of darkness and in the illumination of her flames.

#the walking dead fanfiction #carol peletier #daryl dixon #the walking dead #twd #prompt #anon #mine #i actually just caught up on the last two episodes last night #and these are two fantastic characters #that i probably butchered in this attempt of a ficlet #so sorry! #not castle

[twdmusicboxmystery]

I just read some interesting rumors about how Carol will be back for the spinoff in Season 2. And it's looking like there will be a season 2. And idk I feel like many details keep changing for the spinoff that on top of it all, I'm no longer feeling very hopeful Beth will return :( It feels like there hasn't been a concrete plan, which makes me anxious overall lol. I just wish the show would premiere soon, so I could get a sense of the story's trajectory!! Why is everything so hard to determine with this spinoff. I'd lovee any Team Family interaction but I'm guessing it'll mostly be Daryl for season 1, with any interactions from other known characters appearing in the final season 1 episodes/leading up to season 2. Just hope it gets here sooner rather than later!

I haven't been able to find these rumors of Carol or Season 2. Would you send me the URL for where you read them? I'd love to read more.

I wouldn't mind if there was a season 2, though things seem to be heading more toward a re-convergence of all the characters eventually, what with Fear ending. But we'll just have to see. I can see them extending any of the spinoffs for a season or 2, the way they did with TWB. Doing the various spinoffs allows them to focus in on various character stories without cluttering up the main narrative for all.

Plus, it gives them the ability to put out shows almost year round, which is also good, both for us and for them. (Let's not forget that Tales of the Walking Dead is still in play.)

I understand your concern, and to each their own, but the fact that they are being so secretive about everything tells me we're in for some big reveals from these spinoffs. I mean, by now, most of the GA is on board with the CRM. They understand that more CRM storyline is coming. So, why are the showrunners being so secretive? Why not show us that the CRM will be a large part of the plot line?

Unless there are big reveals they don't want us to know about yet.

And France? There were signs for it, but only very subtle ones that were only picked up by very observant viewers *coughs* TD *coughs* but in the grand scheme of things, between D.C. and Ohio and the CRM, France is a REALLY random choice. The only reason to do that is for something that's been planned for a long time and that they're looping back to.

The only obvious answer is that Jenner mentioned France in episode 1. But think about that. Really think about it. Jenner randomly made a passing reference to the French in ep 1. Eleven season later, they're taking Daryl to France. Morales disappeared in S1. They brought him back briefly (albeit only to kill him off) in S8. Beth's body disappeared mysteriously after the most weirdo and nonsensical sequence in the entire series, and yet people persist in saying it's too long for them to still be bringing her back.

All I can say is, I strongly disagree. And the evidence really is on my side here.

Anyway, at this point, I'm truly down for whatever format they put the show in. If they want to do multiple season of the Daryl spinoff, I'm here for it. If they want to only do one and funnel him back to a more central show with all the other characters, I'm here for that, too.

I'm just sitting here waiting for whatever goodness Gimple is going to bring me. Xoxo! ❄️💖

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Emily’s Second Appearance on TTD This Season

Okay, I've been saying that I would talk about Emily's appearance on TTD last Sunday. Not really any massive TD smoking guns that we can point to, but I am side, eyeing a few things.

Of course, we hoped we might actually see Beth in ep 16 and perhaps that's why Emily was on TTD, but that was not the case. It doesn't change the fact, though, that this is the second time in a single season she's appeared there. I'm going to show you that a lot of the questions she was asked seemed to be trying to remind us of Beth in some way. So, I still think that she was purposely put on to remind us of Beth and Beth’s arcs.

I'll just go over the questions that she was asked directly, and the suspicious things she said.

The first question they asked her was which sibling pair in the show reminded her of Beth and Maggie. She said it was Max and Mercer because they have very different mentalities and very different approaches to things. Yet, they always have each other's backs.

I was thinking that Eugene and Max are parallels to Beth and Daryl. But really, because of symbols I’ve pointed out, so are Mercer and Princess. So, it’s interesting that she chose them as her answer.

The next question was more suspicious. Chris asked her what she thought of the different romances that are blooming and show right now. By that, he meant Max/Eugene and Princess/Mercer. Again, perhaps it seems to be an innocuous question, but it’s very interesting to me. They asked her and only her about the relationships. Emily basically just said she thought it was great and, "I always love a good romance." Hmmm. A hint for the future, perhaps?

Then they also asked her if Beth would be surprised at Daryl being a parent. Again, I have to laugh at this and just sort of side-eye it. I suppose it makes sense to ask her, since neither of the other two actor’s characters were around when Beth was on. But it's not like everybody doesn’t know who Daryl is. I mean, he basically became a parent back in S9/10 to Lydia. So why haven't they asked this before, or of any other guest?

Emily replied that she thought yes, Beth would be surprised, because when Beth knew him, he was such a loner. He's had a lot of growth and now has a family and is actually responsible for other people, including children. So again, I feel like this is a foreshadow of the future. They not only wanted to remind us of Beth and Daryl's relationship and where Daryl was with his character back in S4, but I'm kind of thinking we’ll actually get to see Beth be surprised at Daryl's current role in Rick's family.

They also asked her what she would want to see in the Maggie/Negan spinoff. She didn't have a particular answer for this, but just said that she wasn't sure, and she wanted to know how Maggie and Negan would end up going off together. I think that's a question most of the fandom has. If we’re abiding by the same theme of them foreshadowing things or suggesting things, this is them very much entangling her with the Maggie/Negan spinoff.

They asked her why she thought Lance offered Leah a job. Emily said there was really known better than Leah in Lance’s mind because she is so hell bent on revenge and she thought Lance would recruit Leah into his army.

Then Chris asked for her reaction to Zeke starting a secret hospital. Emily basically just said that it was great and fun and really noble. The reason this one jumped out at me is because of the hospital setting. Even though there's not a lot that’s TD about this question, and Emily's answer wasn't terribly suspicious, I felt like the purposely asked her question with the word ‘hospital’ in it.

Like, “Emily…hospital?”

They’ve been doing throwbacks to earlier TTD episodes, which means they just show clips from past years on the show. For last night’s, they used an episode that Josh McDermitt (Eugene) and Stephen Yeun (Glenn) were on from S4/2014. If I really wanted to go deep, I might say both of those (Glenn and Eugene) are both proxies Beth, but we will go there. Mostly I was just suspicious that they did a throwback to S4.

Low key head canon: Norman is on TTD next week. Here's hoping they do a throwback to the TTD after Still that he and Emily were on.

The other reason the throwback is kind of suspicious is that in it, the guest from the crowd asked what each character’s apocalypse catchphrase would be. It was funny it to watch the actors try to come up with things. But then once they had shown the throwback scene, Chris asked Emily, Paolo Lazzaro, and Ian Anthony Dale what their catchphrases would be.

So, this is what seems very contrived to me. Not in a bad way; just in a planned way. It's obvious they knew this question was coming because they all had catchphrases ready to go. They were very character specific and very fun. But you can see that if this question was specifically asked, then that throwback scene was purposely used so they could ask it.

Emily said that she used Finding Nemo as an inspiration (ocean theme; fish theme; someone who's lost and must be found again and reunite with their family) and instead of, "keep on swimming,” which is in Finding Nemo, she said, "keep on singing."

Yes, it's a classic Beth line. So, once again, it's probably not suspicious to most of the fandom. But…doesn't saying that as her catchphrase suggested Beth did keep on singing?  👀

In the next question she was asked as if she would be willing to steal information for Eugene, as he asked Max to do. Emily said, "Yes. For the greater good." She then went on to say she wished that they could all just find some peace and not have trouble for a while. But now we have her being associated with stealing secret information from a bigger organization to help TF. (Something we kind of already think Beth will do with the CRM in order to help TF.) And then she said, "for the greater good." Which is a Grady theme.

Finally, they asked her for her reaction to Leah going after Maggie (what they showed in the sneak peek for ep 16). Emily said that's exactly what she thought Lance was going to do, but that Maggie is tough and will put up a major fight. And when asked who would win between Maggie and Leah, she said, “Maggie, hands down.”

So again, I think that she was put in this episode to remind us of Beth in many ways and perhaps foreshadow what will happen with Beth when she returns to the show.

Anyone notice anything I missed?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[twdmusicboxmystery]

I see that Daryl wants something romantic with Connie but can't quite open up to her. It's like he's still ashamed of his past and who he is. No one understands him like Beth does. And he doesn't find in anyone the same sense of peace he finds with Beth. It seems to me that Daryl fell in love with Leah because she looked like Beth. The show runners thought we'd notice this resemblance, but when that didn't happen, they increased the resemblance even more

"No one understands him life Beth does." Totally agree.

Totally agree with everything you said here. Long before now, in previous seasons, he's had plenty of chances to open up to Connie. Like when he took her hand in the woods when they were looking for Kelly. Or that time they talked as he was getting on his bike.

And, he did open up to her a little. That's why they're good friends.

But I think the missing element here is that Daryl never opens himself completely, in a visceral, raw way, on his own. He's definitely come a long way, emotionally, since S1, but he still doesn't do that on his own. Either because he still doesn't know how or he just isn't comfortable.

Despite the relationship, we never saw him do that with Leah and he certainly hasn't done it with anyone else.

With Beth, she got in his face and FORCED him to face his emotions. No one else has ever done that. That's the only reason he opened up to her and also the reason he gravitated toward her. She's the only one who ever challenged him that deeply and on such an emotionally intimate level.

So yeah. I'm with ya. No one else has done this. No one else will. It's all about the Beth-love. 😁 Really love your final observation about Leah's resemblance to Beth as well. Word.

I'll talk more about this this coming week with ep 11x12, but my fellow theorists and I have been discussing the Wizard of Oz theme around Eugene a lot. And, you know, Dorothy had red hair.

So, this may be thematic, rather than literal, but you could argue that, if Daryl is remembering some things from his time with Leah in correctly (it was a dream world, of sorts, rather than reality), in conjunction with what you said, maybe he saw someone who looked like Beth (blond hair) but because he wasn't living in reality, he saw red hair. (Dorothy). And that's because he believes Beth is dead, and he'll never be able to have the relationship he wanted. Hence, he saw her differently.

Just an idea we've been batting around. Very interesting observations, Nonny! Thanks a ton for sharing them with us. 🍀💓

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[twdmusicboxmystery]

How Scars MIGHT Relate to Leah and Daryl

Okay Everyone, this is a post that I wrote like 6-7 months ago. It was after we learned about Leah and 10x18, but before the episode actually aired. It was really just conjecture on my part. Me, trying to connect patterns and similarities I was seeing.

Why didn’t I post it back then? Because we decided we thought Leah was a hallucination, and at that point, I thought this less likely to pan out.

What I’ll say now is that, if she IS real, this may still be true. And if she isn’t, this pattern may hold but it might be about some other character, other than her. 

Even if it turns out to be completely untrue, just see this as patterns I’m seeing that may come into play in the future. And I wanted to post this today, before ep 1 airs and ep 2 shows up on AMC+.

Also, someone sent me this yesterday:

Norman saying there’s some double agent stuff going on DOES suggest she might be a villain. It’s hard to interpret exactly what he meant by that, but this is one possibility. So here’s what I wrote to my fellow theorists several months back:

Here’s what I have to say about Scars, and I’m still grappling for how best to frame this, so I’m sorry if it meanders a bit. And honestly, it’s nothing super ground-breaking. It’s a lot of what we’ve already talked about concerning Leah, and it comes from what you found about the “masks” lines in the Michonne/Zeke convo, as well as between Daryl and Michonne in Scars. I’m really just giving more evidence for this and predicting a future storyline. You know, like I do. ;D

And one thing I will say is that, while I WANT to tie this to Leah because both her storyline and Jocelyn’s happened during the 6 year time jump, I’m not 100% sure this even has to do with Leah. It might, but it also might not. So, I think this is a coming storyline one way or the other. But it may have to do with Leah or may be completely independent of her. No way to tell, yet.

So, in both conversations (both between Michonne and Zeke and Michonne and Daryl on the swings) they talk about people wearing figurative masks. Daryl specifically talks about someone who has so much evil in their hearts that they actually lie about who they are and present themselves in one way, as one type of person, when really they’re the opposite. 

We see this theme played out all through Scars, because obviously Jocelyn did that. But now that I’m alert to it, I’m seeing it a lot. Even in 10x17, the Sniper fell under this theme. Mostly literally in his case because he was wearing camouflage (a kind of mask) to hide out and kill people. But figuratively, that’s kinda what Jocelyn did, too.

Okay, so let me start at the beginning. I’ve watched Scars twice now and I’m thinking more and more that the thing with Jocelyn happened BEFORE Leah. Now that we know Daryl’s story spans 5 of the 6 years, I think Leah must happen after Jocelyn. Michonne is big and pregnant, so Scars can’t be more than 6 mos after Rick disappeared. 

Michonne asking Daryl if he’s okay being alone definitely hints at the Leah storyline (another reason to link Leah and Jocelyn). But I think it’s a jumping off point for his story. Because he tells Michonne he’s okay being alone, and in that moment, I think he really is. Or at least he really believes he is. The story with Leah will be him realizing he really doesn’t want to be alone. Romantically or otherwise. Which pushes him back toward TF when Carol comes knocking with Henry.

But let’s get to the good stuff.

After Jocelyn shows up, she tells Michonne that some of her kids aren’t with her and she wants to go get them. Jocelyn is hurt and Michonne’s about to pop, so neither of them go. But this is interesting. The three people who go to get her kids in the one building are Gabriel, Aaron, and Eugene.

It was Eugene that really caught my eye. I started going, “hmm. What could this foreshadow?” And I don’t know the answer in detail, but I think it may foreshadow his entanglement with Beth’s return in some way. And of course Aaron and Gabe are both major proxies for Beth, with Gabe being the resident Sirius character. So yeah, kind of side-eyeing that.

The next thing is that we see two hand-drawn posters detailing, through pictures, how to skin and drain both a deer and a rabbit. These are things Jocelyn has obviously made to teach the kids to survive. And I know we noticed them before, with the deer and rabbit being big Beth symbols. But I’m seeing a much bigger theme, having watched the episode several times.

The poster of the deer shows the deer strung up by its legs (head pointed down, I assume). Then, after they bring all the kids to Alexandria, we see several deer strung up this way, and Michonne comments that Jocelyn’s kids are amazing hunters. So, we learn that two of them, Winnie, the blond, and Linus, one of the boys, killed the deer and even prepared them for everyone at Alexandria.

But here’s where it gets more interesting. When Jocelyn captures Daryl and Michonne, she strings them up over pipes in exactly the way the deer being slaughtered are strung up. And of course she brands them like animals. So, in a way, they’re meant to be the deer that she’s going to slaughter.

And I’m not even sure exactly what to make of that where the deer symbol is concerned. I thought about how killing the deer does keep people from the danger of starving to death, so it fits with Deer = Tractor = getting rid of the threat, as I discussed HERE. But I also wonder if deer is synonymous with captivity in some way.

Then there’s the rabbit. I have less to say about it except that the biggest place we saw rabbits were around Lizzie and Mica. And the poster specifically lays out how to kill a rabbit, which is what Lizzie did to Mica. And I think it works here because we’re dealing with evil kids. Like Lizzie. (I will have more to say about the rabbit theory next week. We’ll see them in a big way in 11x01.)

This is where I’m going to link it to the good twin vs evil twin theme. Remember I talked about this with Noah’s twin brothers and of course Lizzie and Mica, even though they aren’t twins. I don’t think we have to have twins or even siblings for this theme, though it’s common for them to do it with siblings like Lizzie/Mica and even Daryl/Merle. Back in S4, there was Pete and his brother as well.

It occurred to me that we have a representation of it here, with Michonne/Judith on one side and Jocelyn/Winnie on the other. Sorry to go racial, but even the ethnicities match up. Michonne, a black woman with a Caucasian daughter (Judith) who isn’t biologically hers (good). And Jocelyn, a black woman with a Caucasian daughter (Winnie) who isn’t biologically hers (evil). See what I mean?

One scene that really jumps out at me is when Michonne and Jocelyn talk in the kitchen. Jocelyn goes out of her way to REALLY earn Michonne’s trust in that scene. Michonne even says, “I’m so glad you’re here,” so she’s obviously fully trusting and loving having her friend around. This is the biggest place where we see Jocelyn’s “mask.”

Then, when Michonne and Daryl are on the swings, Michonne says, “she was a friend. Like, a real one.” She talks about how they’d been through a lot together before, like heartbreak, losing parents, etc. And then she says, “I wanted it to be that way again. I believed her. I let my guard down. I should have known. Should have sensed something.”

Okay, so many ways I could go with that. First of all, it’s REALLY close to what Carol said about Lizzie. “I should have seen it. It was already there.” So, another link to Lizzie/Mica.

But I was also thinking that I can see Daryl thinking this about Leah. Like, he wanted to believe that she would stay with him, that he could love her, but it was all just a mask.

Okay, that may feel like it came out of left field, but it’s essentially where I’m going with this. Let me keep going and I’ll circle back.

When Scars first aired, I said I thought Jocelyn was an anti-Beth parallel. I don’t think many people agreed with me, but I believe that more than ever. And @wdway​’s X/Chevron stuff actually backs it up. My biggest reasoning, originally, was just all the child/baby stuff around Beth. I can see her doing something similar to this—raising an army of mini-Daryls—but of course she would be good and raise them with good values. Jocelyn will be a foil to her.

Watching it again, there are SO many Beth symbols around this Jocelyn story. There’s the deer and rabbit, which I’ve mentioned. At one point, Gabriel is telling a story to all of Jocelyn’s kids, and he covers one of his eyes, showcasing only his Sirius eye. We have Eugene going to find the kids. And of course, the X-shaped brands in Michonne and Daryl’s backs, which is where the Chevron stuff comes in.

So, one way or the other, I feel like this is a foreshadow of something to do with Beth and/or her return.

Then, at the end, I paid close attention to what Michonne says to Judith, and I picked up on a few things that had never registered for me before. Remember that, in this episode, they juxtapose these Jocelyn flashbacks with Daryl coming to Alexandria with Lydia and Henry, and Michonne doesn’t want them to stay, but Judith does, etc. And at the end, Judith takes off on her bicycle and Michonne has to go find her.

So, at the end, they’re sitting on the rock together and Michonne is telling Judith about the Jocelyn situation. She says that when Judith came out of the trailer, it “was like you were looking right at me and didn’t know it was me. I thought you’d changed, or that I’d lost you.” (Emphasis mine.)

Think about that. It’s a really odd thing to say about a two- or three-year-old kid. Like she thought Judith had turned evil or something. And I think plot-wise, she means that she thought Judith would think differently of her because she’d just killed all these kids. Michonne had a lot of guilt about that. But it’s a really odd wording, and kind of hearkens back to the mask symbol. People wearing masks, appearing to be something they aren’t.

We’ve also discussed extensively the idea of Beth’s memory loss: (X, X.) Maybe her seeing Carol but not knowing who she is, or Daryl seeing or hearing Beth but not believing it’s really her. It just sort of plays into the whole hallucination theme obliquely.

Judith then says that Michonne just didn’t look like herself because of all the blood, but after a moment, she saw it was her. So, more masks. And Michonne was kind of right. At first, Judith really didn’t recognize her, or at least thought she looked like someone else. More of the same theme.

But that bicycle is a big deal. It’s showcased obviously in the episode, and bikes almost always represent kidnapping or captivity. We saw them around Glenn in S1 when he was taken by the Vatos gang. We saw one outside the Claimer house when Rick got away. I feel like this foreshadows Judith being kidnapped. She already was once by Jocelyn. But Michonne sees that bike in the present-day scenes, which makes them a foreshadow, not a callback.

So, I’ll be the first to admit that this is mostly speculation and at least half head canon, but I’m really wondering if Leah and Beth will be the good and evil to one another. (This is obviously going to be the case in terms of a good/healthy vs unhealthy romantic relationships. And if Leah is a hallucination, and Beth will obviously be real, you can already see how they’re doing this with Beth and Leah.)

Leah is wearing a mask when Daryl is with her. And once again, she may not be totally evil like Jocelyn was. But she may be misrepresenting herself in some way. Toxic at the least, evil at the most. But maybe the reason she’s practically wearing Beth’s clothes is that she’s a foil or anti-parallel to Beth.

And you see what I mean about how, if Leah turns out to be a hallucination, clearly this won’t apply to her in a literal way.

I still think there’s a good chance she’s a hallucination, but I think this still applies. It wouldn’t be literal or physical if that’s the case, but she’s still the “bad” relationship as opposed to the good one Daryl will have with Beth. We all talked extensively about how unhealthy the relationship was right after 10x18 aired. How Leah gave him an ultimatum, didn’t seem to want to meet his family, etc. So, you can see that, real or not, the relationships will be juxtaposed, with one being good and the other, bad.

The other thing want to mention is that it’s interesting that they did this story (Scars) with Michonne instead of Daryl. It makes me think that something about Michonne and Rick’s reunion story might follow this template as well.

We’ve discussed how Leah might be part of the New Mexico symbolism, and I’ve had people message me that they’re afraid that when Daryl and Carol take off together for the spinoff, he’ll be looking for Leah. Now, I obviously don’t think he would be looking for her in a romantic/looking-for-Beth sort of way, but it’s possible that she may be involved.

And like I said at the beginning, I think there’s a good chance of parallels between Leah and Jocelyn, because they both happened during the 6-year time jump, and then there’s all the other ties like, “are you okay being alone,” the mask theme, and that Carol knew about her/the acorn conversation.

I’m actually thinking this less and less, now. I really don’t think the New Mexico symbolism will be fulfilled until the spinoff, and we already know Leah will be in s11. So, I suppose if she survives S11 (and depending on whether she’s real or not) she COULD still be involved, but the timelines just don’t seem to match up to me. At least, not right now. This may change depending on what S11 brings us.

So, total conjecture here, but I’m really wondering if Leah (or if not her, someone else Jocelyn foreshadowed) will kidnap Judith, and that’s why Daryl and Carol leave to go after her. It would fit with the TWB template for Daryl and Carol (Felix and Huck on TWB) to be following Judith (Hope and Iris on TWB). If so, Daryl might really might be following Leah to New Mexico, but not out some romantic inclination, but rather because she took the kids.

Another possibility, of course, is that Leah is real, but Daryl was drugged or is just remembering things wrong. If that ends up being the case, then this could still happen. But again, we’ll just have to wait and see.

So yeah. Let’s just say I have plenty of head canons filed away in which Beth kicks some evil Leah butt. I would enjoy that very much. :D Granted, it probably won’t play out quite that neatly for us, but that’s what head canons are for, right?

And as I said, I can’t be sure this has to do with Leah. It’s possible this storyline is completely independent of Leah, and she’ll be something else entirely. But I think something like this will happen either way. And I’m sure I’ll recognize it as fulfillment when it does.

Any thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Suspicious Questions in the Cast Trivia Battle

Hey everyone! So, just before Christmas, someone sent me something about a TWD Cast Trivia video. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but quickly located it on YouTube and watched it. So, let me first give you some background for what this was.

Emily had participated it, so I was hoping her appearance could be another “weird” thing we could see as a TD-themed appearance. Strictly speaking, it didn’t entirely work out that way. But that doesn’t mean I was disappointed, either. It was just different than I expected.

Why couldn’t we call her appearance a TD thing? Because both Sonequa Martin-Green (deceased character) and Andrew Lincoln (alive, but not currently on the show) were there. So it’s not like Emily was the only deceased or “just gone” character who participated.

And before anyone rushes off to watch this (I’ll drop the URL at the bottom) let me say that I honestly didn’t love this. The reason they did it (and this is probably why it wasn’t widely publicized) was to support two local Georgia politicians who were trying to get elected to the senate the first week of January. Obviously, I don’t know anything about these guys or their politics. It wasn’t that that bothered me. But rather that every two minutes they did a political plug and it felt more like a political rally disguised as a zoom call (which I suppose it was supposed to be) than a TWD thing. That’s all.

So, Emily’s video appearance at the end was a plug for people to vote for the politicians they were supporting. And the actors proclaimed their love for Georgia and being able to work in Georgia and why this senate race is so important. Yada, yada. Like I said, I don’t judge them for it, but I found myself yawning because I don’t live in GA and obviously don’t have a stake in their local politics.

However. There is a silver lining.

The trivia questions. My jaw dropped open at some of the questions they asked. Most if not all of them had ties to TD in some way. And some of them were so obscure, ONLY a TDer would recognize them.

So, the first questions were just goofy things where they asked everyone to imitate iconic things. The first was to imitate Rick saying Carl’s name. The second was to imitate Shane saying, “Let me tell you something.” And the third was just to imitate Daryl grunting. Lol. All good fun.

Then they got to more trivia-like questions and this is where it got really good.

First question: who dropped the key to Merle’s handcuffs down the drainpipe? Answer of course was T-Dog. Honestly, I didn’t right away read into this as being TD. If anything, I just thought it was interesting that it concerned T-Dog, given all the weirdo stuff that’s happened lately about he and Emily being in the bonus episodes.

But given all the other questions they asked, I’m definitely side-eyeing it. We could see it as the beginning of a sequence where a character (Merle) disappeared and then reappeared several seasons later, alive and well. Of course there’s the key angle (Key Theory). And then the Emily/IronE thing.

Second question: What number did Shane wear on his necklace. (!!!) I can’t believe they actually asked that. Has everyone read @frangipanilove​’s Shane/22 theory. If you haven’t, do so HERE. But the point is, if you were ever skeptical about that theory, this just proved that it’s something they want us to pay attention to.  

Third question: I don’t remember how they asked it, but something about a grain Georgia exports. The answer was sorghum. Not a huge TD symbol, but given that grain can be turned into alcohol, and we saw it heavily in S6 around Denise….

Fourth question: What are Rick’s favorite statues at the airport doing? (This is a reference to the ones he discussed with Clara in 4x01.) The answer: playing leap-frog. (Frog = resurrection symbol.)

Fifth question: In what Atlanta hospital did Beth become a prisoner. Danai got it right.

Sixth question: Where, on his body, did the Termites start eating Bob? Again, not super TD, but of course Bob was a Beth proxy (X) and the fact that they focused on his missing leg is important, I think. (X)

Seventh question: What animal did Enid eat before she got to Alexandria. Answer: A turtle. (Turtle Symbolism.)

See how much TD stuff they included?

They asked what song Negan made Carl sing (You Are My Sunshine). Heaven knows TD had a heyday with that.

And there were a few that were kind of meh. What was the name of the woman at Alexandria who wanted a pasta machine (Ms. Nedermyer). And what did Deanna Monroe do before the apocalypse (congresswoman).

And there were other goofy ones about who would die first in other series (like Seinfield, the Simpsons, etc.)

Others I wrote down:

What trio saved Glenn and Tara in S4? (Abraham, Eugene, Rosita).

Whose house did Morgan stay in in ep 1? (I didn’t write down the answer, but no one knew it.)

Who was Eugene’s fake boss that he talked about? (T. Brooks Elison). I’m not going to go into this one too much here, but we (especially @wdway​) have been finding a RIDICULOUS amount of symbolism around Eugene, especially in past seasons. We didn’t always catch it before, but knowing what we know now, to go back and see the symbolism in those early episodes is jaw-dropping.

What tissue sample did Jenner accidentally destroy? (TS-19).

What fake name did the Gov give Tara and her sister originally. (Brian Heriot – side-eying that one, too. X.)

Then they did one where YNB would say a title and the actors had to say whether it was a real title or not. We can definitely read into some of these titles, but not all. The ones she named that were real were This Sorrowful Life, Dead or Alive Or, First Time Again, Twice as Far, A Certain Doom. The fake titles she gave were Beginnings End, You are Welcome, Gun Shy, Walker in the Well, A memory of Mercy, and The Grimiest Day Indeed. Lol.

In terms of the real ones, This Sorrowful Life was the ep where Merle died. Not only is he a character that disappeared and then returned to Daryl’s life, but Daryl and Beth discussed him in Still. Dead or Alive Or suggests resurrection. First Time Again and Twice as Far suggest a return or redo. And A Certain Doom was the CB issue where Andrea died.

Even the fake ones sort of imply something. Beginnings End sounds like Alpha and Omega. GUN shy. Walker in the Well is obviously supposed to be about the well walker in S2, but it also evokes water. Mercy was a title in S8, but I think a memory of mercy could apply to Beth. You get the idea.

So that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. I didn’t love all the political stuff, but the questions definitely felt purposefully TD to me. Thoughts? (Watch the video below.)

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x13: What We Become - First Thoughts

Holy symbolism and a half! This episode was amazing! Kind of freaking out over here. Okay, where to start?

This was such a beautiful episode. Especially in a Richonne sort of way. I really loved it. It was a crazy psychological episode for sure, but I thought it was gorgeous! The way they tied things together and did flashbacks to the very early episodes with Michonne. It was just utterly moving and compelling.

***As always, spoilers abound below. Don’t read until you’ve watched! ***

So, Virgil was a researcher in a medical lab on the island. There’s a lot of virus and Cure and medical stuff. In fact, the place Michonne goes into with him at the beginning to kill his family (who are walkers) was pretty much a replay of the golf club. It had the Grady lighting and it looked like a medical place. Not so much like a hospital as like the retirement that the Governor went into in 4×06. But it was still medical and then they went into a room and they were people hanging from the ceiling, just like at the golf club.

And that’s probably where we got the most fascinating symbol—to me anyway—of the entire episode. We saw a shoe on the floor. So, my first thought of course was lost shoe symbolism. 

And the people hanging were obviously Virgil’s family, so he fell to his knees and was crying. It was very difficult scene. But then he did something really interesting.

He picked up the shoe and put it back on the walker.

In all the seasons that we’ve had lost shoe symbolism, we’ve never seen someone pick the shoe up and put it back on its original owner. And that made me rethink the symbolism just a little bit. I still think it points to the death fake out. But I think it’s specifically represents the separation of the people involved. Putting the shoe back on probably represents the reunion. So, Virgil was reunited with his family, even if they were dead. And Michonne finds Rick’s shoes, which means she’s about to be reunited with him.

You could even think about it from a Disney standpoint. I’m thinking about the end of Cinderella when the prince puts her lost shoe back on her foot. Could this Lost shoe symbolism have been a Cinderella template all along? Crazy.

Oh, by the way, Virgil picks white flowers to give his dead wife. I am 99% sure they aren’t Cherokee roses. They almost look more like lilies. But when he picks them, he’s still telling Michelle that his wife is alive, and it turns out, much like Sophia, that his wife is a walker. So even if they aren’t actually Cherokee roses, I think the symbolism is the same.

The Apple Symbol – this episode made me totally rethink it.

Michonne eats an apple and then finds out that Virgil has poisoned her. What he gave her, Jimmyweed, apparently, gives her the trippy hallucinations where she didn’t save Andrea and becomes one of Negan’s minions. So, we literally have an example of a poisoned apple. Since we’ve compared the Snow White template to Beth, maybe that’s not very shocking, but I can’t help but think that every single apple has represented a poison apple in some way. 

And I think maybe the poison apple just represents losing one’s family. I was thinking that I didn’t understand why we saw so many apples around Maggie in season seven, since she obviously didn’t die or anything. But she just lost Glenn. So maybe just as the poison apple divided Snow White from her prince and her friends, the dwarves, the apples that we see in TWD are always about being separated from the ones you love. And that’s why they’re “poisoned” apples. (I went back and watched 7x08 finally, and it confirmed this. I’ll talk about it in more detail later in the week.)

The Michonne stuff, while not particularly TD, was totally crazy. Did everyone notice that, in her hallucination, it was here that killed Glenn, at the Savior compound? And I loved that she and Rick came face to face. And Daryl killed her. After all the history between the characters in this show, it just strikes a major chord.

Also, in the hallucination, after Daryl shoots her, the camera focuses on Rick’s boot as he steps on her. A direct foreshadow of her finding his boots. I also had the thought that this is why we saw so much closeness and banter between her and Daryl in ep 1. Of course we already know they’re close, but they were also setting up this hallucination in a big way.

But the biggest take away here is that Michonne’s decision to help Andrea is what set her life on a positive path. I’ve talked about this before, but they like to say, especially on TTD, that if Negan had been the hero of the show, rather than Rick, to begin with, he’d be the good guy. And you all know I don’t buy into that. No one has been 100% behind Rick when he makes morally questionable decisions. We still love him, but don’t condone his occasional brutality, per se. And he’s certainly never beat someone’s head in with a bat in order to enslave people. It’s all about the choices they make.

By making the chose to show Andrea mercy (we definitely had the mercy theme in this episode) it led Michonne to where she met Rick and Carl, who became her family. She met her soulmate, adopted Carl and Judith as children, and eventually had another baby with Rick. But that all stemmed for that one choice to help and show mercy. I love themes like this!

One of the most powerful moments of this episode was near the end, when it flashes back to Rick staring at her through the prison fence in episode 3×02 and you hear Carl saying, “dad, should we help her?“ So powerful!

Oh, by the way, in hallucination when Daryl shot her,  he had both wings on his vest. I about screamed. But it actually makes sense because that would have been back during All Out War, before he lost one of his wings. 

But it also shows that the loss of the wing was very intentional and they took the time to put it back on his vest for this hallucination.

They talked a lot about heaven and hell and staring up at the stars. This was Michonne’s hell, being evil and not having ever acquired her family (Rick, Carl, Judith, RJ).

When encouraging Michonne to go find Rick, Judith said, “what if he’s trying to come home to, but no one will help him?” (Emphasis mine.) Talk about a home reference. And Michonne heads north to look for Rick. So we have a home and north star symbolism.

Michonne also says that she will try the walkie every morning for as long as she can. Just like Rick and Morgan’s arrangement in S1. Obviously, just like with Morgan, at some point Michonne will move out of radio distance, and she’ll be gone for a while. But I maintain that Rick and Michonne will have a reunion with their kids, just as Rick and Morgan did.

At the very end, she sees a huge group moving north with horses. I couldn’t help but wonder if that will end up tying into Fear the Walking Dead somehow. Or possibly the Highwaymen, who also rode horses.

I have a ton more to say about this. SO many great details and symbols, but I’ll go into them more tomorrow. How did everyone else like the episode?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl