#towl 1x4

[locke-esque-monster]

After episode 4, I finally understand why Danai Gurira had Andrew Lincoln watch Bridgerton to prepare for TOWL (and it wasn't for the scenes of classic romance and sex like I expected).

Because I have never seen anything so Daphne/Simon-coded as Michonne fighting to push through all the walls of Rick's trauma to get of the real heart of why he's trying to stop them from being happy and calling all the shots in their relationship.

(And okay - it was still probably a little for the sex scenes.)

#towl spoilers #towl #towl 1x4 #the ones who live #twd towl #twd the ones who live #michonne grimes #michonne #rick grimes #bridgerton #bridgerton season 1 #daphne bridgerton #simon basset #danai gurira #andrew lincoln

[impala-dreamer]

And the Emmy goes to.... Andy Lincoln!

#andy lincoln #twd towl #1x4 #im not crying you are

[frangipanilove]

Full Circle Apple Symbolism; Rick's "Resurrection" in TOWL

From TWD 10x13 What We Become to TOWL 1x6 The Last Time

Apple symbolism was always tied to Rick and Michonne specifically, but in a more general sense, it tells a story about reunion, rebirth and resurrection.

In TWD 10x13 What We Become, Michonne went with Virgil to his island, because he insisted there were weapons to be found there, and Michonne needed weapons for the Whisperers war.

Once there, things took a turn. There were no weapons, and Virgil wasn't in a great place, psychologically speaking. He was confused and traumatized after the loss of his wife and children. He trapped Michonne in a room, and poisoned her by mixing Jimsonweed into her tea.

My favorite way to decipher symbolism in TWDU is through etymology. Almost everything in TWDU has multiple layers of symbolism, and an etymology search is helpful in most cases. This one was no exception; the name Jimsonweed is ultimately derived from a Hindi name which translates to "thorn apple".

Yup. Jimsonweed is ultimately an apple reference. In fact, "Jimsonweed" goes under the name "thorn apple" in many languages, my own included.

The first apple reference of the episode came as we watched Virgil pick the hallucinogenic plant immediately after the opening credits. There would be more to come later...

Michonne did not have a pleasant reaction to the drug. She hallucinated herself in a series of alternate existences, such as being one of the Saviors, and not being around her real family. After the drugs wore off, she overpowered Virgil, and scolded him for putting her in a drugged out state where she experienced having temporarily lost her family:

Then she asked him about his hallucinations:

And this is where we start to touch on the true meaning behind the symbolism around apples. Because, unlike Michonne, Virgil experienced that the hallucinogenic thorn apple brought his family back to him:

"What do you see when you're tripping anyway?"

"Lisa with that damn camera pointed at everyone.

My babies.

Bobby and me lying on the roof of that Annex, looking up at the stars."

It brought his family back.

Virgil wasn't primarily evil, he was broken from the trauma of losing his family.

There's a parallel with Rick there. Where Rick survived in the CRM by meeting up with his loved ones in his dreams, Virgil got to be with his family by taking hallucinogenic herbs. They both found ways to stay close to their loved ones through an altered state, Rick through his dreams, Virgil through the thorn apple tea.

On a surface level, it's clear that Michonne had a bad trip from the thorn apple, and that she was shook by what she experienced as a temporary loss of her family. She was rightfully angry about having been drugged. Virgil, more confused and traumatized than evil, explained that he had wanted to help her because he could tell she was in pain over having lost loved ones, much like himself.

Michonne was not impressed, but at the very least she didn't kill him.

However, under the surface, the apple symbolism heralds "reunion, rebirth and resurrection", something which she was about to discover:

Virgil took her to a boat marked with the numbers 672, in which she found Rick's boots and an Apple iPhone with etchings of herself and Judith. It was the same boat we later saw in 11x24 Rest In Peace, when we saw Rick throw his backpack onboard, before being recaptured.

This is the first "proof of life" both we, the audience, and Michonne got from Rick, and it was the apple symbolism that led us here. Because, apple symbolism is about reunion, resurrection and rebirth.

As we know, finding the Apple iPhone and his boots was what convinced her Rick could be alive, it was what encouraged her to leave to search for Rick.

We recently watched her succeed at finding him in TOWL, but not without some resistance from a deeply traumatized Rick.

In TOWL 1x4 What We, which is the episode where Rick fully "came back", the episode where he finally broke free and chose "life" with Michonne over staying "dead" in the CRM, we learned that he had initially gotten through the days in the CRM by meeting up with Carl in his dreams.

Then that had stopped, Carl had stopped coming to him in his dreams.

Michonne had gotten an iPhone with an etching of Carl, and implored Rick to do what Carl would have wanted him to do, which led to a psychological breakthrough for Rick.

This was Rick's true "resurrection", this was when he fully "surrendered" to Michonne, to his family, to "life". It was the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture that truly made Michonne able to reach through to him, through all the layers of trauma and isolation accumulated over time.

On a symbolic level, the apple symbolism and the Apple iPhones were what facilitated this reunion between Rick and Michonne. He had survived in the CRM by "being dead", then the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture "brought him back to life".

This symbolized Rick's "resurrection", this was the true purpose of the apple symbolism all along. Apple symbolism is about "reunion, resurrection and rebirth"!

Similarly, it was the Apple iPhone Michonne found in the boat on Virgil's island that made her believe that Rick could truly be alive, it was the Apple iPhone that convinced her he was out there, that made her go out searching for him.

Apple symbolism as something that heralds reunion, resurrection and rebirth had started with Virgil picking the white thorne apple flower in 10x13 What We Become, and was fulfilled with Rick's "resurrection" in TOWL 1x4 What We.

In 1x6 The Last Time, we see Rick utilize this new insight during Major General Beale's Echelon briefing:

"He brought me back".

The Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought him back. Back to Michonne, back to his family, back to himself, back to life.

Just like how the thorn apple tea brought Virgil's family back to him, the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought Rick back to his family.

Then finally, we see the apple symbolism fulfilled one last time:

We see Michonne holding the Apple iPhone she originally found on Virgil's island, the one that convinced her that Rick could be alive, the one that prompted her to go out searching for him. We see this phone, with etchings of herself and Judith just as the apple symbolism comes full circle:

The final reunion, resurrection and rebirth!

#twd towl #the ones who live #rick and michonne #michonne grimes #rick grimes #twd #the walking dead #richonne #team delusional #michonne

[my-mt-heart]

As utterly beautiful the Richonne renuion was, amd they deserved it don't get me wrong...It's just their love making scene is EXACTLY what I imagined it what it would like for Carol and Daryl. I mean exactly, from the fear, the overwhelming emotions to the point of tears, the hesitation and finally letting 12 years of burning lust and desire break threw all the barriers and they would ravage on another. We have for years talked about when they have sex the scars they both have would be kissed, we talked about Daryl being afraid to the point of trembling like he couldn't believe she was real and finally in his arms..If they do go Canon I hate to see a copy cat scene smh 😞🥺 Maybe they could play it like two fumbling teenagers, unsure, nervous and giggly...laughing and setting the mood light only for it to turn into passion later?! 🤔 I dunno...I hate to even talk shit about the The Ones Who Live 1x4 cause man was it powerful and beautiful. Danaii outdid herself writing and direction 2 the episode,no one knows the characters better then her and Andy..They our both powerhouse actors, see the charactersto go from enemies to lovers and face so many obstacles and just falling deeper in love is so beautiful, but to also show how hard it can be and things aren't always what we expect them to be. But despite the setback and heartbreak you keep fughting for ezch other. ANYWAY COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC 🤦🏻‍♀️MY ENTIRE POINT WAS, Where you also kinda sad about the Richonne lovemaking scene? With it being pretty much being exactly like thousands of caryl fanfic, and was what we all expected when they are finally intimate that's how it be?

To be honest, I've been staying away from all the towl discourse due to how quickly it turns into a ship war where everybody is trying to invalidate everybody else. I'll say this though (and nothing further unless or until it ever feels safe again to discuss). To me, apples are apples and oranges are oranges. Richonne is Richonne and Caryl is Caryl. They have completely different histories and I'd expect there to be plenty of nuance even if they both hit the same story beats at times.

For Caryl, there's a lot of trauma that goes hand in hand with their sex lives. We can infer that Daryl has guarded himself for a lot of his adult life and Carol has had to survive, serve, or maintain control, but sex with each other would be an entirely new experience for them because it would be about expressing how deeply they love each other and how completely they trust each other. I think Daryl would be hellbent on making it good for Carol and she would allow herself to be vulnerable/taken care of. We wouldn't see her leave in a hurry afterward like she did with other partners. She'd stay in his arms. Fumbling like teenagers maybe would've made sense in S3 of the flagship show, but their relationship is far too mature for that now.

I'll do a more in-depth post on sex where I can just focus on Caryl without making any comparisons, but hopefully this answers your question for now.

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #daryl dixon #norman reedus #the book of carol #twd caryl

[frangipanilove]

Pharmakon; Fighting Fire With Fire

...or should I say "fighting wildfire with fire"...

(Part one, read part two here, and part three here)

...in that the virus responsible for the zombie apocalypse is called "wildfire"...

In TOWL 1x3 Bye, we hear the term "pharmakon" used in TWDU for the first time. As Major General Beale explains, "it's an ancient Greek word, meaning both poison and the cure".

In the next episode 1x4 What We, we see Rick and Michonne escape in that yellow hybrid truck, loaded up with cans of ethanol in the back, making it an electric/bio-ethanol hybrid:

We know from season 4 of FTWD that "ethanol" symbolizes "the antidote", or simply a "cure"...

I went into great detail on that here.

What is the connection between the ethanol and Major General Beale's pharmakon?

TOWL 1x4 What We had so many callbacks to TWD 4x12 Still and 4x13 Alone, we all were stunned. Quick question, where would the ethanol (which, according to Morgan Jones, is just a fancy word for alchohol) in the back of Richonne's truck have been produced?

In a still. It would have been produced in a still. Ethanol is produced through a process of fermentation and destillation.

In a still.

Hence all the references to TWD 4x12 Still and the moonshine shack, a shack where ethanol was produced and consumed.

In the series pilot, 1x1 Days Gone Bye, we are introduced to the physical laws of the TWDU.

We follow Rick, who wakes up from a three week coma in the hospital. The world has ended, and he doesn't know anything about what happend, how it happened, or why. He doesn't know what a walker is, and he doesn't know how to neutralize one. Neither do we, the audience. Morgan becomes the charachter who introduces us to the rules:

He checks Ricks temperature and finds it to be "cool enough", meaning he's willing to believe Rick on that he's not been bitten, he's simply been shot.

Pleased by this, he then goes on to explain to Rick, and us, the audience, how the virus works:

"The fever burns you out. But after a while, you come back"

He later elaborates on how relentless the fever was to his wife:

"Her skin gave off a heat like a furnace".... meaning the fever burns like fire...

It's the fever that kills. It burns you up. Then you come back.

(also, read about Sirius symbolism here)

In 5x1 No Sanctuary, we hear Eugene explain the scientific basis behind his alledged cure for the virus. Of course, Eugene wasn't a scientist, and he was never going to find a cure for the virus. However, he was knowledgeable, well read, and able to put together a plausible lie:

Fighting fire with fire. A poison and a cure. Pharmakon.

In TD, we were many who at one point believed in the bite/cure theory, that Beth got bit right before she was taken by the Grady car in 4x13 Alone, and that the treatment she was subjected to involved experimental medical testing, somehow resulting in her surviving the bite without developing an infection/fever. The jury is still out on that one, but in FTWD season 7 we did see a representation of the bite/cure theory that was suspiciously close to our old theories:

Alicia at one point got bit, and proceeded to amputate her arm. As we know, this has so far been the only way a person can survive the bite; by cutting off the affected limb immediately, before the infection has the chance to spread. This is how Hershel survived getting bit in season 3, this is how Lydia survived after her walker bite in season 11.

Alicia, by her own account, wasn't quick enough. The infection spread, and she developed the fever. Of course that's not something anyone can verify, theoretically she could have cut off her arm quick enough, and the following infection could have been a reaction to the amputation itself rather than the virus. However, the assumption given by TPTB is that she wasn't quick enough, and that's also her own belief.

According to Morgan's rules from 1x1, that should have been the end for her. There's no surviving that. She developed the fever...

...and fought it for months...

...way longer than anyone else we've seen in TWDU so far. In 1x6 TS-19, Dr. Jenner explained that the longest time between bite and reanimation at that point was 8 hours. Alicia went months without reanimating...

In 7x15 Amina, we watch her struggle with the fever. She's closer to dying than ever before. She has dreams of herself as a walker, she has hallucinations, she thinks she's talking to a little girl, who in reality is a representation of herself. Alicia is preparing to die in this episode, but the girl, who is Alicia herself, explains that she was once bit, and she survived just fine.

The girl brings up an excellent point:

This is a fair question. This is the role fever normally plays in infections. Fever raises the body's temperature in an attempt to burn the infection out. Fighting fire with fire. But as we know from Morgan's commentary in TWD 1x1, this fever is different:

"Bites kill you. The fever burns you out. Then after a while, you come back".

And Alicia is well aware:

...but the girl, who is a hallucination of herself as a young girl, insists that's she's going to survive.

Throughout the episode we watch Alicia's struggle to avoid giving up. The episode is packed with symbolism we already know and love, such as bird symbolism and stairwells as representations of metaphorical passages between the realms. At one point she's in a stairwell, trying to reach the top of Strand's Tower. She says she's not going to make it, then the girl replies over radio that she will. She then sees a bird, which guides her through the burning tower.

By following the bird, we see Alicia reach the top of the tower. We later see her wake up, her fewer gone, the bird by her side.

She's the first person in TWDU to get bit, develop fever... and then subsequently recover from the fever.

She's the first person to survive a bite and the following infection! That is, if she really was too late with amputating her arm, as she believes herself. If she really was infected, she represents something completely new in TWDU, a complete shift, a paradigm shift, away from the old rules that Morgan laid out in 1x1. The end of the beginning, and the beinning of the end?

A cure?

Last but not least, Alicia's confirms that the bite/cure theory that TD were discussing after Slabtown, could be real. Hypothetically, it could still be what happened to Beth in season 4-5.

What set Alicia's case apart from others we've seen bitten in TWDU, that potentially allowed her to survive the bite, infection and fever, was that she had been exposed to high doses of radiation around the time of her getting the bite. This is where the potential "cure" part of the bite/cure theory comes into play. And this is where "radiation" ties into the pharmakon/"fighting fire with fire" framework.

And this is also where things get interesting for TD, because Beth would have had access to radiation therapy at Grady, in fact, there was a whole storyline about an oncologist, Dr. Trevitt, who Dawn desperately wanted to have saved. Oncologists deal with radiation therapy. And to make matters even more interesting, he had previously worked at St. Ignatius Hospital, and as I explained here, the name "Ignatius" is derived from the latin word for "ignite", which refers to "ignite/spark a fire"...

...fighting fire with fire...

Radiation goes under the "fire" symbolism, because electromagnetic radiation, in the form of everything from UV rays from the sun, to X-rays as well as other types of radiation used in radiation therapy, has the potential to burn your skin. When you get a sun burn, that's the UV rays from the sun burning your skin.

In fact, we saw this theme revisited in the last season of FTWD:

(Thanks @wdway for these screenshots)

We learn that June, inspired by watching Alicia survive for as long as she did after her bite, started experimenting with treating walker bites with radiation therapy. She didn't have massive success, and the patients experienced burns from their treatment and eventually died, but we did see her treat Dwight and Sherry's son Finch after he was bitten. And while he ultimately didn't survive, they were able to extend his life with one week, likely due to the radiation therapy. So while a full cure might be a way ahead, Finch's response to the radiation therapy could be concidered legitimate medical progress.

And as a fun fact, I will mention that after we saw Rick survive his little death fake-out back in 7x12 Say Yes, when he survived by hiding in the yellow carnival ride car which I discussed here, we did see this:

No, I'm not talking about the infamously bad CGI deer, I'm talking about the ER sign behind it. ER for Electromagnetic Radiation? As in radiation therapy? In a death fake-out scene?

If it turns out that radiation therapy in some way, shape or form could help treat walker bites, or potentially create some kind of cure/vaccine/immunity, that would be fighting fire with fire, or should I say fighting wildfire with fire. It's a poison and a cure. It's pharmakon.

Ok, so back to the ethanol. How does it tie in with the radiation, how could it represent a cure, and what does it have to do with Beth and TD?

Well, one clue came in TWD 10x16 A Certain Doom. The Whisperers war was at its height, and Whisperers had surrounded Team Family, who were sheltering in a place called the Tower (interestingly the same location as the one used for Grady Memorial back in season 5) with thousands of walkers.

In order to escape and survive, Team Family mounted loudspeakers on to a wagon, and blasted music to draw the walkers away. The song they went for was an interesting choice; Talking Heads with Burning Down The House:

...whose lyrics include this line: "fighting fire with fire"...

Keep in mind, the walkers in TWDU are what they are because of a virus specifically called "wildfire", they're a threath to humanity because of the wildfire virus...

If that's not a representation of "fighting fire with fire", I don't know what is...

And how do we tie ethanol to the symbolism around "fighting fire with fire" and "burning down the house"?

Because of TWD 4x12 Still, in which houses were definitely, decidedly burned down...

Burning down the house. Fighting fire with fire... And how did they set the house on fire again?

Ethanol. They used ethanol. Moonshine.

Which is why it's so darned interesting that TOWL 1x4, with all the references to TWD 4x12 Still, ended with Richonne escaping in a yellow electric/bio-ethanol hybrid truck, supplied with cans of ethanol in the back. Ethanol, which would have had to have been produced in a still, and is famous for burning really well, even well enough to burn down houses.

And let's again appreciate Daryl's immediate response after learning the truth about the wildfire virus back in TWD 1x6 TS-19:

It's like he knew... He couldn't have known that ethanol/alcohol would be involved in a cure all the way back then, but I have a sneaking suspicion TPTB knew a thing or two about it...

I recently wrote about the resurrection symbolism from the sorghum barn from TWD 6x10 The Next World. In that episode, we saw Eugene endorse sorghum as though it was a miracle grain, and maybe it is, because sorghum can be used to manufactor ethanol.

In TOWL 1x1 Days, we saw a similar type of entusiasm over a different grain, millet, when we learned that Okafor was growing millet in his study/appartment, and was constantly on the look-out for the perfect strain of millet. Millet can also be used to produce ethanol.

In TWD season 9, we saw Daryl oversee an ethanol production plant at the Sanctuary. They made it from corn, which they grew on the premises. As the Sanctuary was a factory rather than fertile agricultural land, the crops weren't exactly thriving, and the ethanol production was at the center of many of the conflicts in 9A.

Nevertheless, we saw Daryl convert bikes and cars to run on bio-ethanol. His current bike, which we saw Carol drive in the sneak peak for DDTBOC (which apparantly needs work on its transmission), runs on bio-ethanol. We saw Maggie, chief of food production at Hilltop, trade produce for bio-ethanol.

It was used as fuel, and now we've come full circle with that, in that we saw the yellow electric/bio-ethanol hybrid truck in TOWL 1x4 What We.

This is already a massive post, so I'm saving the rest for part two.

#team delusional #bethyl #daryl dixon #beth greene #team defiance #the walking dead #twd #twd towl #daryl x beth #beth x daryl #ftwd

[frangipanilove]

XH6-S781, A Licence Plate of Reunion and Resurrection:

An attempt at a licence plate masterpost

Many of us believe Beth somehow survived a walker horde after Coda because she was put in the trunk of a car. I certainly do. I’ve always thought of Officer Lichari’s Dodge Magnum as the most likely candidate.

Notice the license plate on Lichari’s Dodge Magnum; XH6-S781, we’ll run into it quite a few times in this post.

The whole idea of her being left in the trunk of a car seems plausible for many reasons, but mostly because it was foreshadowed in 4x12 Still, and we had a callback in 5x10 Them.

When she was kidnapped in 4x13 Alone, it was by this car:

Notice anything interesting about the license plate?

Yup, it’s identical to the one on Officer Lichari’s Dodge Magnum. It’s a different car though, this is a Cadillac Coupe DeVille. But it’s the same license plate.

In 4x15 Us, we see Daryl with the Claimers. He quite literally met up with them after he had been running all night, trying to catch up to the car that took Beth.

In Us, Daryl and the Claimers come across an abandoned garage and decide to stay the night. Daryl first approaches a yellow Lincoln Continental (same brand of car as the one from Still, where Beth and Daryl spent the night in the trunk, hiding from a massive walker horde).

However, he forgets to claim it, and ends up sleeping on the floor between the Lincoln Continental and a blue Ford truck.

If you remember in this post from last year, and also this one, I argue that the license plate of the car Daryl and Carol use to pursue Officer Lichari’s Dodge Magnum, is a direct reference to the Lincoln Continental from Still, the one where Beth and Daryl spent the night in the trunk, the one that (possibly) foreshadowed Beth being left in the trunk of a car after Coda.

Here's the blue Ford truck:

Notice anything interesting about the license plate?

Yup, same one. The XH6-S781 again.

Yesterday I wrote about the red fire engine, Engine 82, that Abraham, Eugene and the rest of Team Washington found after their church bus had collapsed in 5x5 Self Help. This was back when Eugene’s strategy for survival revolved around pretending to be a scientist, sitting on crucial inside information making him capable of stopping the virus and returning the world to normal. Of course he wasn’t a scientist with inside information, he was merely a smart guy with exceptional lying skills. He was starting to have cold feet about actually reaching Washington, and decided to sabotage the church bus by pouring broken glass into the fuel tank. The church bus crashed, almost killed them all, and subsequently caught on fire.

Notice anything about the license plate? Seen it before, perhaps?

In 3x10 Home, we see Daryl and Merle argue their way through the woods. Daryl wants to go home, which is what they eventually end up doing. But not before encountering a family in distress on a bridge over the Yellow Jacket Creek. Merle’s first instinct is to leave them to be walker feed, then to loot them, but Daryl stands up to his brother and helps the family take out the walkers. He then sends them on their way, with all their posessions intact.

Remember in yesterday’s post, where I explained that bridges, along with stairs, ladders and elevators, are metaphorical “passages” between the “realms”, through which the characters can travel? These metaphorical passages can foreshadow "death", but they're also what allows for "resurrection".

Rick “died” on a bridge. He spent a long time in the “death” realm, in the “underworld, but he has now chosen to return to the "realm of the living" with Michonne, as we witnessed in TOWL 1x4 What We.

On the bridge over Yellow Jacket Creek, we see a Jeep Cherokee (read about why Jeep Cherokees are resurrection symbolism tied to the Cherokee Rose here).

Notice anything interesting about the license plate?

You guessed it. XH6-S781 again.

In a literal sense, the name Yellow Jacket Creek refers to a yellow piece of clothing, typically worn around the upper body (or trunk, if you will…) And who do we know who favors upper body garments in the color yellow?

Why does all these cars have the same license plate? And, why is it that these cars with this particular licence plate all seem to be tied to situations that somehow all revolve around Beth, directly or indirectly?

Obviously, she was directly affected by the car that took her in Alone. She was literally in it. Probably in the trunk.

The car Daryl and Carol saw in 5x2 was Officer Lichari’s Dodge Magnum. Daryl and Carol were following that car SPECIFICALLY to find Beth.

The church bus breaking down in 5x5 Self Help, was what ultimately led team Abraham and Team Washington to find Engine 82, and we saw it right at the center of events in the final moments of 5x8 Coda, as Daryl carried Beth's seemingly lifeless body out of Grady Memorial.

The blue Ford truck from 4x15 Us is interesting because of a conflict between Claimer Len and Daryl. At its core, it revolves around a rabbit, which is 100% a reference to Beth, and I’ve written about why that is in this post from a while back. Initially, Len referred to the rabbit as “cottontail”. The Latin word “Coda” quite literally means “tail”. The rabbit represents Beth, and during the night, Len attempts to frame Daryl for theft, by placing his half of the rabbit in Daryl’s bag. The next morning, he accuses Daryl of stealing it.

The plan backfires, and the Claimers proceed to beat Len to death. Daryl gets the rabbit. The two halves of the rabbit are reunited.

The Jeep Cherokee on the bridge over Yellow Jacket Creek is resurrection symbolism in that it’s a reference to the Cherokee Rose symbolism (here), and there was a Jeep Cherokee at Grady, we see it in the closing shot with a grief stricken Team Family and the red Engine 82. Engine 82 is right up front, the Jeep Cherokee sits in the bottom left corner.

Where does this particular license plate, the XH6-S781 come from, and what does it mean, specifically? Why does it show up in situations that in various ways are directly or indirectly related to Beth?

Here's my hypothesis:

Here's a shot from season 1. We see Carol's yellow Jeep Cherokee (because of couse its yellow. It's the reason they put a Jeep cherokee on the bridge over Yellow Jacket Creek. It has the same kind of dirty, yellow hue as Beth's polo. It's most likely the reason Beth was given a yellow polo in the first place) .

And we see a church van…

...namely a white Dodge Ram Van, with the words Holy Cross Lutheran Church written on it.

And there's a cross.

Notice anything interesting about the Licence plate?

Yes. It's that one again. Good old XH6-S781. The original one.

So much to adress here. First, it's a Dodge Ram Van.

Remember that Lichari's Dodge Magnum, which very well could be the actual car they put Beth in, a car that was at the center of everything during 5x7 Crossed and 5x8 Coda, has an identical licence plate. And in Coda, they were very careful to zoom in on the Dodge logo, a ram. We were supposed to take notice. We were supposed to notice the ram.

Then there's the text. Holy Cross Lutheran Church. As someone who's been trying to explain the three/tree/trunk symbolism for years, how a car and a trunk symbolizes the tomb of Christ, where "death" turns into "resurrection" after approximately three days...remember the number three in the inside of the trunk from the Lincoln Continental from Still...

The Dodge Ram Van is the origin of the three/tree/trunk symbolism. The original trunk.

The cross on the side of the car.

This is why TPTB chose to put crosses on the Grady cars. They were all callbacks to this one, the original Vehicle of Trunk Resurrection!

The church bus from Father Gabriel's church in 5x5 Self Help? A callback to this van. Both white, both church vehicles, both with identical licence plates.

Follow me on a journey of Reunion and Resurrection, from 1x3 Tell It To The Frogs:

First, Glenn's Dodge Charger rolls into camp. Yes, it is significant that it's a Dodge, and it's significant that it's red, because Red Is The Living Color. We see the white Dodge Ram Van in the background as he exits the car and is greeted by the others.

Then, we get our first real reunion, between Andrea and her sister Amy, right in front of the church bus:

Then, Morales reunites with his family, again, right next to the church bus:

Then, it's time for the big one, the Resurrection of Rick, the original Christ figure, the original Sirius figure:

The church bus is in the center of the shot the whole time.

So, the answer to the question of why the licence plate with XH6-S781 keeps popping up in situations related to Beth...

...is because the resurrection symbolism we constantly see around Beth was introduced around Rick already back in season 1. Rick and Beth always have been two sides to the same coin. The white Dodge Ram Van with the XH6-S781 was the original vehicle of Reunion and Resurrection. When the licence plate has appeared on several other vehicles over the years, all in situations related to Beth, it is because of the resurrection symbolism it provides.

We've now seen Rick "resurrect" and reunite with his family twice.

The symbolism suggests the same will happen to Beth.

#bethyl #team delusional #twd #the walking dead #team defiance #daryl x beth #beth greene #daryl dixon

[frangipanilove]

More Pharmakon: Why Alcohol/Ethanol Is Sirius Symbolism

This time illustrated by Denise and the Danville Bridge Whiskey in TWD 6x14 Twice As Far

We learned about "pharmakon" in TOWL 1x3 Bye, when Major General Beale explained how it was an ancient Greek word, meaning "a poison and a cure". We saw cans of ethanol in the back of Richonne's yellow escape car in TOWL 1x4 What We, and I've since explored, in a series of posts, the connections between pharmakon, ethanol/alcohol and fire, and how they all tie into the Sirius symbolism we've seen around Beth and Rick for years.

Read about how FTWD season 4 established the ethanol=cure symbolism here. Read the "Fighting Fire With Fire" posts on how the ethanol, fire and pharmakon symbolism all ties together here, here and here.

We learned in TWD 4x12 Still, that Beth would come to be deeply connected to the symbolism around alcohol/ethanol. And we learned as far back as in 1x6 TS-19 that Daryl wasn't exactly opposed to it either.

Resurrection symbolism in TWDU is about "fire", and Beth has always been all about fire, she's a fire starter, she’s quite literally an arsonist, she’s a Light Bringer:

As we remember from Still, Beth established a direct connection between alcohol/ethanol and the eh... issues relating to eye sight. And in 6x14 Twice As Far, we watched Denise become intextricably linked to the same symbolism, when she was killed by Dwight, who shot an arrow through her eye:

The issues surrounding eye sight are of course tied to the Sirius symbolism from 4x13 Alone, when Beth and Daryl were visited by a "celestial being", a one-eyed dog, representing Sirius the Dog Star, or in the words of poet Robert Frost, the "heavenly beast with a star in its eye":

As I explained in the "Fighting Fire With Fire" posts, fire/Sirius symbolism is connected to the alcohol/ethanol symbolism.

In 6x13 Twice As Far, we saw this connection illustrated by the tragic death of Denise. She was shot through the eye with an arrow, marking her as a Sirius character in a nod to the one-eyed dog from Alone, which is ultimately a clue to Sirius the Dog Star.

Denise's death affected Daryl deeply, and in what to me is one of the most heartbreaking scenes of the entire franchise, we saw Daryl, numb with pain, bury Denise, his angel wings laying on the grass next to him.

A few notes on this tragic tableau: the angel wings on Daryl's vest represent the bird symbolism (wings=birds because, well, birds have wings, for the most part). The Danville Bridge Whiskey is a reference to the notion of bridges, elevators, ladders and stairwells as metaphorical "passages" through which the characters can pass between “the realms”.

I wrote about this symbolism after TOWL 1x4 What We.

Of course, for TD, the most notable exemples of the bird symbolism came in the form of a painting, the Blue Heron, seen around both Beth and Rick:

I've written many posts on bird symbolism, here's a selection: (X) (X) (X) (X)

And just as a reminder, after TWD 10x11 Morningstar, one of the wings on Daryl's vest is now blue, further cementing the wings as blue bird symbolism:

We also saw Daryl empty a miniature bottle of Danville Bridge Whiskey, which they had found earlier that day:

It might be worth remembering that Denise had specifically rejected Rosita’s offer to drink the whiskey, claiming alcohol was her parents thing, which is why it wasn’t hers:

While that’s an admirable position in real life, one can suspect the symbolism of TWDU works according to a different logic. It might seem as though Denise's refusal to drink the Danville Bridge Whiskey is what, at least on a symbolic level, sealed her fate.

If FTWD season 4 is to be believed, drinking alcohol/ethanol is the "antidote" to "death" in TWDU, it represents the "cure", the pharmakon:

And we saw that theme revisited in TOWL 1x4 What We, when Rick and Michonne escaped in an electric/bio-ethanol hybrid truck, with cans of ethanol in the back seat:

Sadly, it seems like Denise, by refusing the offer of a drink, set herself up for a tragic outcome in 6x14 Twice As Far.

Beth, on the other hand, spent the entire episode of 4x12 Still searching for booze:

In Denise’s case, there was therefore no “resurrection” involved. The arrow pierced her brain stem, and she was sadly dead, in the most permanent sense.

In contrast, we’ve seen how this symbolism has allowed Rick to recently “resurrect” in TOWL. The symbolism doesn't guarantee resurrection, but it allows for it. Remember, death and resurrection are two sides to the same story. Resurrection symbolism will be found around both "deaths" and "resurrections". The metaphorical "passages" between the realms are ever present, regardless of whether a character "chooses" to utilize them or not.

Rick “died” on a bridge, and he “resurrected” in TOWL, in an episode where we saw him choose life with Michonne and his family, over remaining “dead” in the CRM.

And as @bethgreeneprevails pointed out here, “echelon” as in the "echelon briefing", refers to "the rung of a ladder", indicating that the echelon briefing we kept hearing about in TOWL, would eventually be heavily tied up in resurrection symbolism. That's a post for another day, but it's a super interesting observation worth mentioning.

In episode TWD 8x2, the episode that had been foreshadowed by Noah's T-shirt with the stylized heron, we saw the Blue Heron painting around Rick. It was the same painting we had seen behind Beth in Still, and the bird symbolism of the heron foreshadowed his resurrection.

In the same episode, we also saw Rick and Daryl climb through elevator shafts, illustrating the presence of the aforementioned metaphorical "passages", allowing characters such as Rick (and Beth) to move "between the realms", from the "realm of the living" to the "realm of the dead". And sometimes, such as in Rick's case, they allow him to go back again, to "return" to the realm of the living, as we recently saw in TOWL.

For TD, this is of course interesting because we saw an elevator shaft feature prominently in TWD 5x4 Slabtown:

Again, we see that Beth is consistently surrounded by the same type of resurrection symbolism we see around Rick, a man who has now "died" and "resurrected" twice.

I also recently wrote about the bridge/elevator/ladder/stairwell symbolism in relation to Alicia from FTWD, who, as the first person ever in TWDU, was "cured" from the infection and subsequent fever she suffered following her walker bite in season 6. Her "transition" from someone with one foot in the grave, to someone who was competely healed, happened in a stairwell, one of these metaphorical "passages" between the realms.

In Denise’s case, there wasn't ever going to be a resurrection. Maybe drinking the Danville Bridge Whiskey instead of rejecting it could have changed that. But we see from the symbolism present at her burial that the ritual of “death” and burial in TWDU is always accompanied by an abundance of resurrection symbolism. Death and resurrection are two sides to the same story. The presence of the whiskey tells us that resurrection symbolism is always afoot in TWDU, but in this case, the character in question “rejected” it. It serves as a counterpoint to Beth’s intense hunt for alcohol/ethanol back in 4x12 Still, an episode named after the apparatus used in the production of alcohol/ethanol.

The "bridge" in Danville Bridge Whiskey refers to the "death and resurrection" symbolism we saw around Rick's "death" in TWD 9x5 The Bridge. It’s the same symbolism that has allowed him to die and resurrect twice now. It represents one of the metaphorical “passages” through which selected characters can travel between the “realms”, along with elevators, ladders and stairwells.

The “whiskey” in Danville Bridge Whiskey is an ethanol reference, which in turn plays into the symbolism around pharmakon and "fighting fire with fire".

And fire symbolism is Sirius symbolism. It refers to Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star on the night sky, that returns one morning before dawn, after having been gone for some time. The word "Sirius" comes from Greek and translates to "glowing, scorching".

In other words, fire!

Fire born from ethanol/alcohol, as illustrated below by Beth and Daryl in 4x12 Still:

Beth has been at the center of this symbolism ever since the one-eyed dog visited in 4x13 Alone.

And as Denise was buried as a one-eyed Sirius character, the Danville Bridge Whiskey was there to remind us that "death" in TWDU is never far removed from "resurrection”.

#team delusional #bethyl #daryl dixon #beth greene #the walking dead #twd #twd towl #twd the ones who live #ftwd #beth x daryl #daryl x beth #team defiance

[frangipanilove]

Bluebird Symbolism in TOWL 1X4 And Its Relation To The Numbers "10" and "2"

I’ve written a bunch of posts on bluebird symbolism before, particularly during TWDDD, that show was full of these bluebird references. Go read those posts (for exemple here, here, here or here) for more in-depth analysis of the symbolism, but long story short, the bluebird symbolism was the reason we really could tell for sure that Rick and Beth are two sides to the same coin as far as resurrection symbolism goes. We all remember the Blue Heron painting behind Beth in Still, as she and Daryl emerged out from the labyrinth of death that was the golf club. “We made it!” she exclaimed, effectively foreshadowing her future fate.

Then, through foreshadowing provided by Noah’s t-shirt, (with a stylized blue heron) we see, in TWD 8x2 The Damned, another Blue Heron painting, this time behind Rick!

We didn’t know it at the time, but we later learned that Andrew Lincoln would be taking a break from the franchise, and his character Rick would be “just gone” for the unforeseeable future. But, we also knew he would eventually return, as the OG Sirius character he is. And that’s interesting for TD, because Beth and Rick are paralleled so closely when it comes to the resurrection symbolism they’re surrounded with.

In TOWL 1x4 What We, we see this tapestry fairly early in the episode.

The birds are peacocks, and peacocks are definitely blue birds.

@angelthefirst1 posted an excellent post on elevators and the 10 - 2 symbolism this morning, and I wanted to piggyback off of that because of how it ties neatly into the bluebird symbolism and the numbers 10 and 2.

Elevators, much like bridges, ladders, stairs etc, are metaphorical passages through which the characters can move between the "realms". These liminal spaces are what allows characters like Beth and Rick to return to the realm of the living, after having stayed in the "death realm", the "underworld" for an extended period of time. And we saw that in Still, when Beth and Daryl moved through what a Gimple described as “the nine circles of hell” at the golf club, before they returned to the "realm of the living".

We also saw this theme of "passages", liminal spaces between the realms, around the second blue heron painting, the one from TWD 8x2 The Damned. We specifically saw Rick and Daryl move up through the elevator shaft in order to reach the floor where the Blue Heron painting was.

We first see Daryl opening the elevator shaft from the inside, he then gets up and subsequently helps Rick up into the corridor.

The elevator shaft is the metaphorical passage that foreshadows Rick's journey to the "death realm", but it is also, as seen in TOWL 1x4, what allows him to return to the realm of the living. And as @angelthefirst1 pointed out, him doing so was accompanied by a voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2”.

And this is where it gets really interesting.

Because yes, it is a reference to the Slabtown clock, the “Get Well Soon” clock. We all have our different takes on that. It can be interpreted in several interesting ways. I believe one of the main purposes of the clock was to call back to the red fire engine we first saw in 5x5 Self Help. That fire engine, Engine 82, was present at the heartbreaking last shot of Coda, when Daryl carried Beth’s seemingly lifeless body out of Grady. I'll explain why below.

Remember, ladders, like elevators, stairwells and bridges, are metaphorical passages through which characters can move between the realms. Take Rick for instance, his death was foreshadowed by the elevator shaft and the blue heron painting from 8x2 The Damned. Then he “died” on a bridge.

We were specifically shown a ladder in 5x7 Crossed, Maggie used it to provide shade for Eugene after Abraham had knocked him unconscious. The ladder literally helped him “wake up” from an unconscious state.

It’s no coincidence that the fire engine from season 5 specifically was a number “82”, pointing towards episode 8x2. Episode 8x2 The Damned specifically foreshadows Rick's "death" and "resurrection".

It’s no coincidence that it was Noah’s t-shirt, with the stylized heron, that foreshadowed Rick’s “death” and “resurrection”, and that the t-shirt specifically pointed us to episode 8x2.

It's no coincidence that we see Engine 82, complete with a ladder, front and center as Daryl carries Beth out of Grady. Engine 82, with the ladder, foreshadows her resurrection.

And it’s no coincidence that in TOWL 1x4, we see another representation of a blue bird, this time a peacock, right before Rick metaphorically “returns” to the realm of the living, to Michonne, to the life he knew. Because those blue birds herald resurrection.

(Obviously Rick hasn't physically returned to his previous life and his family yet, but he experienced a psychological breakthrough, where he chose Michonne, he cose his family and he chose "the realm of the living". He chose to reject the CRM, where he had learned "to be dead" as he explained to Michonne in the episode)

So finally, let me return to the voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2” from TOWL 1x4. We know the Slabtown clock can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, and like I said above, I believe it's a callback to Engine 82 from 5x5 Self Help. I'm getting to that in a minute, first let's briefly explore some of the other potential interpretations, because of course, they're interconnected.

I’ve described a few ways of interpreting it in previous posts, one way to interpret it is to break down for example the “2” into “one one” which is a reference to the “one one” on Noah’s t-shirt.

You can also read it as a reference to episode 10x11 (read 10 - one one), which was called “Morningstar”, an obvious reference to the Venus/Sirius symbolism (read more here).

Interestingly, 10x11 Morningstar is the episode where Daryl got his upgraded vest, and in this article on how Daryl got new wings, I found this part particularly interesting:

Cailey Fleming, who plays Judith, explains how she restored the tattered wings so that Daryl now finally has TWO wings again, dotted with TEN stars.

See how that’s another representation of the numbers “10” and “2”? In an episode foreshadowed by the Slabtown clock, if you read it as 10 - one one? An episode literally named Morningstar, which is a Sirius/Venus reference?

And see how one of the wings are now blue? That’s another representation of bluebird symbolism!

In TOWL 1x4 we see Michonnes scar, and she tells the story on how she and Daryl got branded. Daryl's scars interestingly form a constellation along with other scars that reasonably be interpreted as the Roman numerals X II, which translates into 10 and 2. Or if you read it as 10 - one one, you could say it points to episode 10x11 Morningstar.

To recap, in TOWL, we see michonnes scar, an X, in an episode where we also see two peacocks, two blue birds. See how that conceptually shares similarities with the scars on Daryl's back, that forms a X II, pointing to an episode where he gets a revamped vest with TEN stars and TWO wings, one of them blue? See how the 10 2 symbolism and the bluebird symbolism keep popping up together?

In TOWL, the voice repeating the numbers 10 and 2 is tied to the elevator, and remember, elevators = passages between the realms. And the same goes for ladders. Now let me remind you of Engine 82, last seen as Daryl carried Beth's lifeless body out from Grady, and why I believe the Slabtown clock is a callback to it.

I mentioned above that one of my favorite ways to interpret the 10 and the 2 and the Slabtown clock is that it serves as a callback to episode 5x5 Self Help, where Abraham, Eugene and the rest of Team Washington found Engine 82. And when they did, it was backed up to a building marked with this particular number:

That's right, Engine 82 was first seen backed up to a building marked 102! A direct reference to the Slabtown clock, and directly foreshadowing Beth's "death" and "resurrection".

Imo, the voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2” in TOWL 1x4 were referring to the building where we first saw the fire engine, back in 5x5, well before Beth “died”. The “102” on the building foreshadowed the Slabtown clock, the Slabtown clock was a callback to the 102 on the building where we first saw the fire engine.

Engine 82 represents the presence of metaphorical “passages" between the realms, such as elevators, stairs, ladders and bridges, through which the characters can travel unhindered between the realms. They are what foreshadows "death", but also what allows for "resurrection".

Depending on how you choose to read the numbers on the Slabtown clock, you could also argue that they point to episode 2x2, which is when we first meet Beth, or 2x10, which is 18 Miles Out, the episode where she initially attempts suicide, but eventually decides she wants to live (again, foreshadowing her surviving).

Like I mentioned, it could also refer to the “one one” on Noah’s t-shirt with the stylized heron, and it could refer to episode 10x11 (read 10 - one one) which is called Morningstar (straight up Venus/Sirius symbolism).

Or, like I’ve described above, it could be a reference to the building where we first saw the fire engine, Ladder 82, in which “ladder” is one of the metaphorical passages which allows characters like Rick and Beth to undergo a “death and resurrection” arc.

No matter how you chose to interpret the numbers “10” and “2”, it’s safe to say they indicate “resurrection” for anyone associated with them. Particularly when they’re accompanied with the presence of blue birds!

(Side note, Ladder 82 is noticably very red, and it was backed up against a red door on the building marked with the number 102. I call it “red controls the gates” symbolism, illustrated by the red fire engine backed up against a red door. I've been tracking this symbolism for a long time, and have several posts on it. If you want to explore the symbolism surrounding the color red, read this and this)

#bethyl #team delusional #the walking dead #towl #twd towl #beth greene #daryl dixon #daryl x beth #beth x daryl

[frangipanilove]

Stick Shift; The Nemesis of Southern Alpha Males Everywhere

(@bethgreeneprevails, you asked, here’s my take)

We’ve now watched two of the most capable Southern gentlemen in the apocalypse fail to drive stick three times, on two continents, over the course of a decade. First Daryl, in TWD 6x14 Twice As Far, then Daryl again, in TWDDD 1x6 Coming Home, and now, Rick in TOWL 1X4 What We.

Why is it that these otherwise resourceful men struggle so much with changing gears on manual cars?

To be fair, Rick is missing one arm, which complicates driving stick considerably. You kind of need both hands. Having said that, he does have a rad prosthetic arm that seems pretty functional for any other purpose, so I don’t really see the problem. He had no issues flying a helicopter, for reference. But yeah, I’ll allow it I guess.

But what’s Daryl’s excuse?

There isn’t one, because of course, it’s all symbolism. Nobody believes Daryl can’t drive stick.

I wrote about this perplexing symbolism back in October (here), when Daryl demonstrated a puzzling lack of driving skills, accompanied by Sylvie’s questions about his love life.

It was obvious that the scene was a callback to the scene in TWD 6X14 Twice As Far, in which Denise schooled Daryl in the art of not disengaging too soon:

The TLDR of it all is that the heavy focus on gears is a callback to the music box, famous for “coming back to life” after Daryl cures it from a bad case of “grit in the gearbox”. See, Daryl knows a thing or two about gears after all! Like we all knew he would.

Read my post from October for more on these observations. But the bottom line here, is that Rick and Michonne’s yellow (as in the color of Beth’s t-shirt from Still) escape car is a direct reference to the music box, which is 100% a Beth reference.

Through the scene from TWDDD 1x6, where Daryl is being questioned about his love life, we also know there are romantic undertones to the symbolism. And in case you're not convinced of the romantic undertones, for your concideration; here's a pic of Rick and Michonne illustrating my point by making out like teenagers in the front seat of their car:

#bethyl #team delusional #daryl dixon #beth greene #twd #twd towl #towl #beth x daryl #daryl x beth #the walking dead

[frangipanilove]

"The Antidote Is Ethanol" …or more specifically, it is "Beer; The Goddam Staff Of Life"...

As promised, here’s a more thorough discussion on the symbolism around ethanol. This is an updated version of this post, and I first wrote about ethanol after FTWD 4x16 aired back in 2019, read that post here.

In TOWL 1x4 "What We", we saw Rick and Michonne escape in a yellow car loaded with ethanol. I knew the symbolism was the same that had been explored back in season 4 of FTWD, and I knew the ethanol in the back of Richonne's car represented a sort of "cure" or "resolution", it represented a way to restore and rebuild society.

In FTWD 4x16 "I Lose Myself", we saw Martha, the villain of the season, try to kill Morgan and company by poisoning their water with antifreeze:

Antifreeze will in some cases contain methanol, and the antidote to methanol poisoning is simply "ethanol", which, according to Morgan Jones, is just a fancy word for alcohol:

I’ve always said that the spin-offs of TWDU provide an excellent insight into how the symbolism is meant to be interpreted, because where symbolism can be intentionally vague and ambiguous on the main show, the spin-offs function as literal blueprints on how to interpret it. And basically the entire back half of season 4 of FTWD was all about ethanol, or more specifically, beer…

I feel pretty certain that "beer" was the single most uttered word of the entire season…

You get the picture. Season 4B of FTWD was the Season of the Beer! The entire back half revolved around the many excellent properties of beer. And after some time, we started to see what TPTB were trying to communicate with all these beer references. It became clear that they were using it as a metaphor for restoring and rebuilding society:

Basically, beer is the...

There you go. It's the goddam staff of life!

It's a diet staple! A prerequisite for living.

It represents life and the living. And it is resurrection symbolism.

In short, the season was all about Morgan and company deciding their purpose in life was to help others. The villain of the season, Martha, did not agree with this approach. She believed helping others made them week, and her solution was to kill everyone so they could be strong in death rather than weak in life. These are themes we see everywhere in TWDU, strong versus weak, life versus death. Martha represented death, and everything she said and did was associated with death and dying.

When she poisoned their water with antifreeze containing methanol, that in itself was a reference to a scene from TWD 4x4 Indifference, where we saw Bob and Daryl come across some walkers in a gas station. They had comitted suicide by drinking antifreeze, so "antifreeze" and "methanol" was already established as symbolism representing death all the way back in TWD season 4, which incidently is the season when Beth had her very first "ethanol" drink ever...

In fact, I dare say the entire storyline of Beth suddenly craving alcohol (ethanol) for the first time ever was specifically written to provide a counter point to the death symbolism around the antifreeze/methanol introduced in 4x4 Indifference. And that's why they had her reference the side-effects of bad moonshine (containing methanol) in 4x12 Still, such as blindness (and death). Her newfound enthusiasm over alcohol (ethanol) was meant as a contrast to the death symbolism around antifreeze/methanol from 4x4.

Because, the opposite/antidote to all of Martha's death and destruction, was "ethanol".

And for TD, this is massively interesting, because we all vividly remember this scene from 4x12 Still:

What Beth is referring to here, is that moonshine can contain methanol when it's not produced under optimally controlled circumstances, and it can certainly make you go blind (a well known side effect of methanol poisoning), that is if it doesn't kill you first. And much like bad moonshine, antifreeze sometimes contains methanol.

Methanol represents death, but the antidote is ethanol, which obviously represents life. Beth referenced the methanol/antifreeze/death symbolism, before she drank the literal antidote, ethanol/alcohol. That's some solid resurrection symbolism if you ask me. Beth knew what was good for her. She needed a drink, a real drink, one with ethanol, and she went out and got it. Girl knows how to stay alive!

We've seen how beer represents resurrection before, such as in TWD 2x4 Cherokee Rose. The Cherokee Rose is a resurrection symbol, and in 2x4 Daryl paired it with an empty beer bottle, meant to give Carol hope and strenght. However, the resurrection symbolism of it didn't apply to Sophia, it was reserved for a different "lost" girl, which I discussed in more detail here.

We also saw it in FTWD 4x13 Blackjack, when Luciana meets the badly injured trucker Polar Bear. His last dying wish is a cold beer, and Luciana manages to find him one. As a token of gratitude, he gifts her his notebooks, in which he has details on where he has left ample supplies along the roads, supplies that will help countless people survive. After he is dead, Luciana buries him and places a beer bottle on his grave.

The beer bottle is in this case synonomous with the cross (representing resurrection) that are typically used on grave markers. The beer bottle on Polar Bear's grave is also synonomous with the Cherokee Rose Daryl placed on Carol's empty grave back in season 3, also outlined in the post I linked to above.

So yeah! The ethanol in Rick and Michonne's yellow truck comes with a rich context in TWDU, and it most certainly represents "the antidote", or a "cure" if you will.

Cheers!

(Side note: The symbolism around "beer" is also closely linked to Beth through the North Star/Polaris/Compass/navigation theme, and by extension the “bear” symbolism (through Ursa Major and Ursa Minor/Great Bear and Little Bear) which I have discussed in many posts through the years, such as here, here, here and here)

#team delusional #daryl dixon #bethyl #team defiance #beth greene #the walking dead #beth x daryl #twd towl #ftwd #twd

[frangipanilove]

Sirius Symbolism in TOWL (and a few words on the Apple/iPhone symbolism)

(…and also, a convoluted “Coda” reference…)

Now that TOWL is finished, I want to say a few words on how the symbolism we know and love consistently continues to be used in TWDU. TOWL was a show predominantly about Rick and Michonne, and revolved mostly around their story and their resolution. The exceptions were episodes 1x4 and 1x5, which I’ve talked about other places, (and also here and here).

The Sirius symbolism is very much still in play, we saw evidence of that already in episode 1x1 Days. I’ve talked about Sirius symbolism and how it’s synonymous with fire (because Sirius means scorching/glowing) in multiple posts over the years, for example here.

In 1x1 Days, Rick is flying the helicopter with Okafor, then decides to tell a story from his childhood. One night, at seven years old, he wakes in the middle of the night because he’s thirsty. He goes to get a drink of water, then discovers the farm is on fire, and his father is badly burnt. His father tells him not to worry, the fire will help promote next year’s harvest. His father says it may look like the end of the world, but in reality it’s the beginning of something new, something better.

That’s the essence of the Sirius symbolism. It means rebirth, resurrection and…

...reunion!

Because immediately after Rick tells his story, the helicopter is hit, and goes down in flames:

And what happens next is basically what the Sirius symbolism is all about…

…reunion with loved ones:

Remember that the Sirius symbolism was introduced into TWDU as far back as in TWD 1x1 Days Gone Bye. “Seriously” were among the first words spoken, chronologically speaking, in a flashback from before the outbreak, from before Rick’s car accident that landed him in a coma, the coma we saw him wake up/resurrect from in 1x1 Days Gone Bye (read more here).

(the word "serious" in TWDU is used as code for Sirius due to phonetical similarities)

And if anyone still wonders what this whole Sirius thing is all about, Rick actually articulated it eloquently in 1x6:

...sometimes things have to burn to come back.

This comment, from 1x6 The Ones Who Live, was in reference to his story from 1x1 Days, in which he told the story about the fire, then crashed, then immediately reunited with Michonne. This time, in 1x6, is was foreshadowing his return/resurrection/reunion with Judith and RJ.

And on that note, I want to touch on the Apple symbolism some, because it’s tied right into the Sirius symbolism. Remember we first saw the Apple iPhone in 10x13 What We Become, when Michonne found his boots and a Apple iPhone in an old abandoned boat, marked with the numbers 762, on Virgil’s island. This was the first “proof of life” from Rick, and it was what convinced her he could still be alive. It was what prompted her to go out searching for him.

In the coda of the TWD series finale, 11x24 Rest In Peace, the symbolism around the boots and the Apple iPhone was partially fulfilled when we saw how the boots and the iPhone ended up in the boat marked with 762. We saw Rick Grimes, clearly alive, trying to escape the CRM, leaving his backpack with the boots and phone on the boat, before he was recaptured.

Apple symbolism was always closely tied to Richonne, but we did also see it around Daryl in TWDDD a whole lot, which is promising. Read more here.

And, we eventually saw the apple symbolism completely fulfilled in the last few scenes, when Rick and Michonne, after having neutralized the CRM, returned to Judith and RJ in a CRM helicopter. We first see Michonne holding the Apple iPhone, the one first seen in 10x13...

...then, the reunion happens...

Rick Grimes, The Brave Man, is "resurrected", "reborn" and reunited with his family.

And we do know it’s tied to the Sirius and "fire" symbolism because watch this scene from TOWL 1x3 Bye:

“…sometimes things have to burn to bring things back…”

Rick, upon deciding he no longer can remain hopeful of ever getting back to his loved ones, burns the iPhones, thinking he has to let go. But as we know, the symbolism isn't about letting go, it's about rebirth, resurrection and reunion...

Sometimes things have to burn in order to came back...

Once he burns the Apple iPhones, he (or rather, TPTB) activates the Sirius symbolism, and a "reunion" is subsequently lined up in his near future.

That's Sirius symbolism. And it was fulfilled in an episode called The Ones Who Live...

This is some A+ foreshadowing by using Sirius symbolismon the part of TPTB. And this is the type of symbolism we see around Beth constantly! She's among "The Ones Who Live".

Finally, a few words on the coda.

Which coda, you ask?

Well there wasn’t really one, I’m just trying to be cute with word plays. There was, however, a small nod to Cotton Tail, the rabbit from TWD 4x15 Us, an episode in which Daryl almost killed Len Claimer because he indirectly offended Beth, or so to speak. Read more on that here. Long story short, the rabbit from 4x15 Us 100% represented Beth, and in particular, the part that Daryl got, “the ass end”, represented 5x8 Coda, because “the ass end” of “Cotton Tail” is a reference to the Latin word “Coda”, which literally translates to “tail”. Len specifically described Daryl as someone who had lost himself "a piece of tail". This was directly after he had lost Beth. Beth is the piece of tail. Beth is Cotton Tail.

We didn’t get a coda per se in TOWL 1x6, but in a roundabout way, I’d say we still got one:

Cotton Tail!

Sure, maybe that makes me delusional, but then again, I am TD, so why not? I embrace it!

#bethyl #team delusional #daryl dixon #beth greene #team defiance #the walking dead #twd towl #twd #daryl x beth #beth x daryl

[frangipanilove]

More Gearbox Trouble For TWDDD Season 2?

I wanted to bring back these two posts (here and here) because of @sophiasmommy23-blog excellent new observation from this post, about Carol’s alleged transmission problems, from the sneak peak of TWDDD season 2, The Book Of Carol.

I missed it completely, but thankfully, others were more observant. Awesome catch, @sophiasmommy23-blog, I absolutely love it!

Obviously, there's no way to know if this becomes something of significance or not. But it's certainly an interesting little piece of dialogue, concidering we've had these outright bizarre references to gear stuff and thangs in the past:

Daryl Dixon struggling with stick shift? I call bullshit!

My hypothesis is that the mentions of "gears" are related to the "grit in the gearbox" of the music box from back in 5x10 Them:

...and when Sylvie asked him about his love life back in TWDDD 1x6 Coming Home...

...he demonstatively changed gears... upon which, the car immediately malfunctioned...

As we know, the music box represented Beth, and it did "come alive"... after having its gears fixed...

It's almost like fixing broken gears leads to great things, like reunions, resurrections and what not...

And more recently, we saw Rick struggle with the stick shift of the suspiciously colored escape car in TOWL 1x4 What We...

In Rick's defence, he's missing one hand, which does somewhat complicate driving stick... but still...

Thankfully Michonne is a competent driver, stick or otherwise, and is able to operate their yellow escape vehicle to perfection. But not before sharing a passionate kiss with her man...

And a couple of episodes later, Rick was reunited with his family, after nearly a decade away...

Who knows what will become of this, it might be nothing. But I thought it was a great observation, and I'll take advantage of any opportunity to speculate...

#bethyl #team delusional #team defiance #beth x daryl #beth greene #daryl dixon #daryl x beth

[frangipanilove]

Jeep Cherokees, Cherokee Roses. Mustangs And The "Yellow" Symbolism

I've spent the past week immersed in seasons worth of licence plates, and what sparked it was Rick and Michonne's yellow getaway vehicle from TOWL 1x4 What We. I think all TD'ers collectively wanted to tie it to Beth's yellow polo from Still, myself included.

My hypothesis is that the yellow symbolism we see around Beth, exemplified by her yellow polo, was introduced in TWD 1x3 Tell It To The Frogs, and whe first saw it represented by Carol's yellow Jeep Cherokee.

In this post, I talked about the scene from 1x3 TITTF where we see a collection of cars parked around the survivor's campsite. The colors, licence plates and/or brands of these cars are steeped in symbolism, and we'll come across them several times in the seasons to come. This has been a consistent thing on the show, and recent exemples include Carol's blue Ford Mustang from TWDDD 1x6, as well as the aforementioned yellow escape vehicle from TOWL 1x4 .

I've always interpreted the symbolism around the Jeep Cherokee, and by extension the Cherokee Rose, as having to do with themes of strength and hope, and it's tied to the "lost girl" symbolism. I wrote about it some in this post from many years ao, but because of the introductoon of Rick and Michonne's yellow car in TOWL, I thought it was time for an update.

And after having written this post on symbolism around the Slabtown clock and the numbers "2" and "10", @wdway casually let me know me something that blew my mind; TWD episode 2x4, Cherokee Rose, was actually series number 10, meaning it was the 10th episode of the show. I had not concidered that angle before, and that little detail had serious implications, because it ment that 2x4 Cherokee Rose was actually implicated in the symbolism around the Slabtown clock. And that made everything click into place.

So! Let's start with episode 2x4 (series number 10) Cherokee Rose. Now remember, this symbolism didn't start there, it was introduced in 1x3 TITTF. But it was in 2x4 Cherokee Rose they truly explored it for the first time.

Right off the bat, the episode starts with a "resurrection". Carl, who had been accidentally shot by Otis and nearly died a few episodes prior, woke up from coma. The first words of dialoue in the episode is Hershel's "The fever's down", then we see Carl wake up directly after. Resurrection symbolism detected, to put it mildly! The "theme" of the episode has been established. Cherokee Rose is about "resurrection".

Later we see see them strategize over how to best search for Sophia. They establish Carol's yellow Jeep Cherokee as HQ, Maggie brings a map over the area and spreads it over the hood of the car.

Hershel refers to Sophia as a lost girl. I've always said that the Jeep Cherokee/Cherokee Rose symbolism is about "lost girls symbolism", and Hershel confirms that.

We then get to the actual flower, which is what on a surface level gives the episode its name. Daryl is out searching for Sophia. He comes across an abandoned house, and upon investigation discovers someone has been sheltering there. We don't learn if that was actually Sophia, I don't know if we ever find out. But that's not the point. The whole idea behind the scene is that this gives Daryl hope that she's out there. We later learn that Daryl was lost in the woods himself as a child. He was gone for 9 days, and still managed to survive just fine. So he knows it's not impossible, and finding evidence of someone using this house as shelter makes him hopeful they'll find Sophia alive.

This point is further driven home by him discovering a Cherokee Rose growing outside:

The Cherokee Rose represents hope, as he explains to Carol when he returns to Hershel's farm. He tells the story of the Trail of Tears, about how Cherokee Roses started growing where the tears of the Cherokee mothers had fallen. It is a story about hope and strenght in the face of devestating loss.

Seeing the Cherokee outside the abandoned house gave Daryl hope. He now wishes to convey some of that hope to Carol, by giving her the flower of stength and hope.

He places the rose in a beer bottle, which is interesting for several reasons. For starters, we get a representation of the beer/bear symbolism, which ultimately points to Ursa Major/Big Dipper/Polaris/North Star symbolism, which I've talked about ad nauseum in the past.

It's also a representation of a Vessel Of Hope And Faith... a post I wrote last year, which deals with themes of "resurrection" and how they're related to themes of "rebirth".

Interestingly, we see how they're related in 2x4 Cherokee Rose when...

...Lori discovers she's pregnant! If that's not "rebirth" symbolism I don't know what is.

Then, we see this:

It's the yellow Ford Mustang we first see in 2x1 What Lies Ahead, the one with the LC6M187 licence plate I wrote about here. The key here is that Ford Mustangs are named after a type of wild horses called mustangs. A Ford Mustang is a car, but it's also a horse reference. Keep this in mind until later.

It has the exact same color as Carol's Jeep Cherokee, and also as Beth's yellow polo, plus that of Rick and Michonnes escape vehicle from TOWL 1x4.

The yellow Ford Mustang from 2x1 would have provided Sophia with everything she needed to survive. They left ample supplies for her, and a note saying they were goin to come by everyday. Had she managed to return to the highway, she would have survived. The yellow Ford Mustang would have saved her.

It didn't play out like that for Sophia. She never returned to the highway. She eventually emerged, as a walker, from Hershel's barn.

The resurrection symbolism we see in this episode, the Jeep Cherokee, the Cherokee Rose, the yellow Ford Mustang; it remains unfulfilled.

The symbolism was never about Sophia, it is reserved for someone else. It is reserved for another lost girl, someone last seen in a yellow polo the exact same shade as Carol's Jeep Cherokee and the yellow Ford Mustang, same as Rick and Michonne's escape vehicle.

And we get a reference to this in TWDDD 1x6, where Carol shows up in a blue Ford Mustang, with licence plates that point to episode 5x2, the episode in which she and Daryl followed Officer Lichari's car to Atlanta. In 5x2, they were driving a car with the same licence plate as the one on the yellow Ford Mustang; LC6M187.

Returning to the resurrection symbolism around the Cherokee Rose for a minute.

In 3x4 Killer Within, we see Carol and T-Dog being chased by walkers at the prison. T-Dog is bit, and eventually sacrifices himself so that Carol can live.

When Rick, Daryl and Glenn eventually finds T-Dog's body, there's no trace of Carol, except for her red scarf that she dropped in the commotion. They realise that Carol is probably devoured by walkers. Naturally, this saddens Daryl. Graves are made for their fallen friends, and Daryl later visits Carol's makeshift grave and places a Cherokee Rose on it in her honour.

Read that again. He places a Cherokee Rose on an EMPTY GRAVE, effectively marking her grave as a scene of an impending resurrection.

And sure enough, Carol wasn't dead. She was later found in the tombs of the prison, dehydrated but otherwise fine.

Again, we see that the Cherokee Rose is a symbol of resurrection.

In 3x10, we see the intersection between the yellow symbolism and the Jeep Cherokee/Cherokee Rose symbolism in that there's a Jeep Cherokee on the Bridge over Yellow Jacket Creek. We know it's not just some random Jeep Cherokee because it has this licence plate:

The XH6-S781. I've written about why that's significant here. And the name Yellow Jacket Creek refers, at least in a literal sense, to a piece of clothing traditionally worn on the upper body (read "trunk")...

I'm taking a small detour now to revisit season 4 episode 6 Live Bait to investigate another interesting representation of the yellow vehicle symbolism. The Governor, who now calls himself Brian, comes across Tara and her family, and forms a bond with them. They need him to go get oxygen tanks for Tara's father who is very ill. They send him to a nearby hospital to scavange what they need, and in the corridor he stumbles upon this gal:

That is one suspiciously colored wheelchair, and I'm just gonna say it; a wheelchair fits the decription of "vehicle", at least for symbolism purposes. We're here looking at another representation of the yellow vehicle symbolism. And how do we know this one is included in the series of other yellow resurrection vehicles?

Because of her stigmata:

She has stigmata wounds on her feet.

Remember we later saw Rick around this same symbolism, in 7x10 New Best Friends, when he got his own stigmata wounds:

Rick is the OG Christ figure on this show, the original Sirius figure, the original Light Bringer.

And then of course, we reach episode 12, the glory that is Still:

We see her trademark yellow polo for the first time, and we see her around all kinds of resurrection symbolism that's been thoroughly explained in countless other post, both by myself and others.

Season five came with disappointments. Beth was "killed" in 5x8 Coda, and we saw a devestated Team Family struggle to process it in 5x10 Them. At one point they come across some abandoned cars on the road. Maggie opens the trunk of one, and find inside a walker that's an obvious reference to Beth, and an obvious callback to the scene from Still that foreshadowed it:

And perhaps more importantly, at least in the context of this post, we see Maggie open the trunk using a key with a yellow seahorse keychain attatched:

The seahorse has the same shade of yellow as everything else I've discussed in this post. It's part of the "yellow" symbolism that was introduced in 1x3 TITTF by Carol's Jeep Cherokee. And in this case, we specifically see the "yellow" symbolism "unlock" a trunk where a walker resembling Beth is hidden inside. It opens the trunk, it's basically resurrection symbolism in that it represents a way out of a closed "tomb". And it's shaped like a "3", suggesting the presence of symbolism around the number three, such as for exemple "resurrection after three days"...

And it’s a horse reference. It might be a seahorse, but it’s a horse reference nonetheless.

Then we move on to perhaps one of the most bizarre exemples of this symbolism, though it's only bizarre on the surface. on a symbolism level it makes perfect sense. In 5x15 Try we see Daryl deep in his depression. He's avoiding human interaction, and seems to drift away from the society he lives in and the people that love him. Aaron catches on to this and tries to help him. They run into each other while hunting, and together they discover Buttons The Horse. Aaron explains that he's been trying to catch him for some time. The scene that ensues is one that has been analyzed to death by TD ever since it aired. I'm not doing a full analyzis of the scene here, I'll simply skip straight to the bizarre detail that ties it directly to everything I've discussed in this post and my other posts about cars and licence plates.

We see a walker, hidden underneath the rotting carcass of a dead ram, grab Aaron's foot.

A walker under a dead ram! That's... uh... different. That's outright bizarre!

That's symbolism, is what it is.

I've talked about Officer Lichari's Dodge Magnum here (and other places). It shares the same licence plate as T-Dog's Dodge Van from 1x3 TITTF. The reason it's relevant in relation to the Buttons scene from 5x15 Try, is that the Dodge Magnum is absolutely instrumental in my TD theories, I theorize that it could potentially be the actual car Beth was left in after Coda. And the Dodge logo is a ram!

TPTB went out of their way to relay this fact to us in 5x7 Crossed:

They needed us to know it so bad, they zoomed in on it. And it sits right underneath the big white cross.

And when Aaron bizarrely was grabbed by a walker under a ram, it was a convoluted reference to Officer Lichari's Dodge Magnum. You can even see inside the carcass, like, inside the "trunk" of the ram. That's a "Trunk Resurrection" reference if I ever saw one...

The other interesting part of the scene is of course Buttons The Horse itself. Like I said, I won't do the full analysis of the scene. But in my opinion, any horse reference is a reference to the symbolism around the Ford Mustangs on the show, in particular the yellow Ford Mustang from 2x1 What Lies Ahead. And don't forget the yellow seahorse keychain. I believe Buttons The Horse is significant on many levels, but under the surface it's definetely a reference to the symbolism around Ford Mustangs.

And to stay on the subject on horses and Mustangs, we did see Carol show up in a blue Ford Mustang in TWDDD 1x6. Because Carol is so inextricably linked to all the symbolism I've discussed in this post, I'm side-eying that heavily.

We also saw Negan's wife Lucille's green(e) Ford Mustang in 10x22 Here's Negan. It's also related to Beth because you could argue quite confidently that it was foreshadowed by the Slabtown clock, the "Get Well Soon" clock from 4x5. I talked about it here. The bottom line, I believe the horse/Mustang symbolism is about resurrection. I've explained the resurrection symbolism around the yellow Ford Mustan from 2x1, but there's also this:

Yup, in 6x16 Last day On Earth, Morgan randomly stumbled upon a sign with "You Are Alive" next to a horse in the middle of a field. Bizarre, until you accept it as symbolism. Horse symbolism is resurrection symbolism.

I’m aware that might seem like a controversial statement, seeing as most horses on the show seem to predictably die in the most horrific ways. While that is true, the resurrection symbolism is still there, underneath the surface.

Now, a few words on the Cherokee Rose from 6x6 Always Accountable.

That's another episode so filled with symbolism that it deserves a post on it's own, but for the purposes of this post I'll simply remind everyone that we did see a Cherokee Rose flower, and we did get a referance to the Sweet Water beer. Remember back in 2x4 Cherokee rose, Daryl placed the rose in a beer bottle from Sweet Water, and how that's a reference to the North Star symbolism? This time we get a reference to matches from Sweet Water. We can tie Beth to symbolism around matches in a number of ways. She's a Sirius figure (Sirius means "scorching, glowing"), she's a Light Bringer.

Everyone talked about the Cherokee Rose when the episode aired. I was the only nerd that was obsessed with the Jeep Cherokee. Which Jeep Cherokee, you ask?

The one Sasha and Abraham had a conversation next to, about being "left behind".

Abraham firmly believed Daryl had abandoned them, while Sasha assured him Daryl would "come back", that he would "return". Abraham wondered how they would find him. Sasha replied "He's a tracker. He'll find us".

And he did.

It is significant that we get this particlar type of dialogue next to a Jeep Cherokee in an episode that also includes a rare appearance of the Cherokee Rose flower.

Lastly, I want to mention the carnival ride car from 7x12 Say Yes! At this point Tumblr forbids me to upload more pictures because I’ve exceeded the 30 image limit per post, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one. In 7x12 Say Yes, Michonne and Rick are out searching for weapons ahead of All Out War, and come across an abandoned Carnival. At one point, Rick appears to be overwhelmed by walkers, and from Michonne’s point of view, it appears as though he’s been killed. We then see the infamous CGI deer that set the fandom on fire, before it’s revealed that Rick did in fact survive, by hiding in a carnival ride car that’s covered by a yellow tarp the exact same color as Carol’s Jeep Cherokee, the Ford Mustang from 2x1, Beth’s yellow polo, and all the other exemples of yellow symbolism I’ve mentioned in this post. It would have been lovely to insert a convincing pic here, just to illustrate the similarities and really drive the point home, but Tumblr says no.

It was a classic death fake out, involving yellow symbolism, vehicle symbolism (in that carnival ride cars are called “cars”) and “resurrection”.

I'll leave it at that for now.

My point with all of this and my other posts about the licence plates, the Dodge cars, the Mustangs and the Jeep Cherokees, is to demonstrate that they're all interconnected, and that they all intersect with the "yellow" symbolism, which Beth is right in the center of, due to her yellow polo.

#team delusional #bethyl #team defiance #daryl dixon #beth greene #the walking dead #beth x daryl #twd #daryl x beth