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galadrieljones · 8 days

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Family Units and Foreshadowing in "Too Far Gone" (TD)

I'm not entirely sure what is happening, symbolically, in episode 4.8 "Too Far Gone," but looking back on it now, it is providing a lot of very interesting foreshadowing for the remainder of the series. What happens in 4.8 essentially symbolizes a massive schism in the prior established "family unit," ie: the patriarch, Hershel Greene, is beheaded, and all of his children, devoid of home and purpose, scatter to the wind, forming smaller, separate family units. The "way" in which they scatter is important, as is everything in Scott Gimple's first season as showrunner, and that's what I want to talk about today.

The family units we see escaping the prison foreshadow in many ways the formation of similar units and dynamics going forward, mostly. That "mostly" is important. Here are the groups, exactly as they leave the prison:

Maggie, Sasha, and Bob

Tyreese, Judith, Lizzy, and Mica

Daryl and Beth

Rick and Carl

Michonne

Glenn and Tara

Carol is not at the prison during the showdown with the Governor or when it falls. She has been driven away and exiled by Rick. Though she will quickly converge with Tyreese and the girls, it's important that, at the time of the prison's fall, she is not there.

(Note that in this post, I'm ONLY going to discuss the original main characters who lived at the prison with Rick, under Hershel's guidance, and who lost their home in 4.8. I will not NOT be discussing the new characters who show up between 4.8 and 5.8, ie: Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, or Father Gabriel. I also won't really be discussing Tara, as even though she groups immediately with Glenn, she is not a part of the original family unit.)

We know that Gimple had very specific plans and choices for these groupings, or what I'm referring to as family units. In terms of the situations they encounter, symbolically, let's see what happened and what's still going on, with particular attention to the characters that we know are still alive:

Maggie: Maggie tries to leave Bob and Sasha continuously during her search for Glenn after the prison falls. She searches for Glenn to the detriment of whatever connections she has left, and not once does she consider that her sister may also still be alive. She has a hard time relying on other people and doesn't want anyone else to feel responsible for her burden. Maggie's tendency to isolate herself from and even actively fight those who want to help, and her persistence at going it alone has only worsened over the seasons. Further, and perhaps most importantly, Maggie and Glenn each have a difficult time existing independently of one another in 4b. Maggie refuses to accept that Glenn could possibly be dead, and her lack of acceptance of the current situation, though it is romantic in some sense, foreshadows her current lack of acceptance and ability to move on. The entire fact that they're separated at all is foreshadowing for Maggie's entire future arc. She gets lucky in 4b, finding Glenn again, but she knows now that this is no longer a possibility, as she watched him die, and so her inability to move on, to move forward with her life and to let go of the past has become perhaps her most glaring flaw.

Judith: Judith was just an infant in 4b; however, her situation, basically right up until the final moments of The Ones Who Live 1.6, has stayed almost exactly the same. Raised by surrogates, with surrogate siblings, missing mother, missing father, setting down, then uprooted again and again and again. AND YET, she is somehow immune to mortal danger. Everyone around her is basically willing to die for her. Even when she IS in danger, she is saved and saved again, sometimes without even knowing it. A blessed and well-loved child.

Rick: In "Too Far Gone," Carl saves Rick's life. When the two escape together, Rick is horribly injured and seems to "die." He is dreaming. Carl as Rick's savior, and Rick as the sort of sleeper king is a theme that crops up in both AOW and again in TOWL, when we learn that it was Rick's dreams of Carl that kept him sane and alive for so long while held captive by the CRM. Carl's encounter with the dead canary in "After," I believe, foreshadows his death. The dead canary is a nod to the old adage "a canary in a coal mine," meant to warn coal miners of the deadly presence of carbon monoxide. Carl's death in season 8 is a grave warning for Rick. Losing his dreams of Carl while at the CRM is also one of the main precursors to Rick's most suicidal moments.

Michonne: Michonne escapes the prison alone, because Michonne, though she is a romantic, maternal character, defaults to an intense, very guarded form of safetyism when she loses someone she loves. She shuts down, eschews socialization and all alliances. We see this pattern repeat itself after Rick dies in season 9, and she cuts off Alexandria from both Hilltop and the Kingdom as a means of staying safe. She also initially eschews socialization after she leaves Alexandria and begins her search for Rick, once again, alone. But every single time, Michonne comes around at the behest of her children. After the prison, Michonne finds Rick by tracking Carl in the final scene of 4.9 "After." She then finds Rick again in The Ones Who Live, but only after she decides it's finally time to return home. Michonne, from the first time she shows up at the prison with the basket of formula, is the eternal mother character.

Carol: Carol being outside the fray during the confrontation with the Governor, and seeming to come in from the cold at the perfect moment, is hugely formative for her characterization. Carol finds Lizzy, Mica, and Judith just in time in "Inmates." She also shows up at Terminus just in time in "No Sanctuary." After 4.4 "Indifference," Carol continuously tries to leave the family unit, but it's precisely her tendency toward the fray that often presents her with opportunities to help. In fact, it's precisely because Carol is trying to leave at the end of "Strangers" that Daryl sees the Grady car go by and is able to grab a lead on Beth. Carol also leaves at the end of season 6, which causes her to miss the second major confrontation of the series, with Negan, but it also drives Morgan and Rick to the Kingdom, where they are able to find help with their ensuing war. Carol has come a long way since these old and toxic tendencies toward self-preservation; however, we see now, once again, how she leaves home to go searching for Daryl. She still communicates as a kind of lone wolf, much more so than Daryl does, which is who I will be talking about next.

Daryl: Why have I saved Daryl for last? Well, because of all the characters who are still certainly left from the fall of the prison in season 4, Daryl's characterization has been the least intuitive in terms of how it relates to his prison escape scenario. Though Daryl fights most of the battle alone at the prison, in the end, he is found by Beth. Daryl is rarely found. In fact, he's never found. Usually, it's him doing the finding, which is why I believe that his core desire as a character is, actually, to be found again, ie: I belong with you. Find Me, calling back to the original story he tells to Andrea in "Bloodletting" about the time he got lost in the woods as the child. This has yet to take place.

"Find Me" is actually a great episode to look at in terms of how Daryl's character has unfolded over the course of many seasons. "Find Me" communicates Daryl in a similar time in his life to what happened after the fall of the prison. He's lost a major member of his family, blames himself, and has lost his home because of it. He is wandering around, searching for some sign of Rick, with zero luck at all. HOWEVER, in "Find Me," Daryl is alone. This lasts, of course, until he finds Leah, a poor replacement for Beth, even though, as we learn in season 11, she does kind of look like her. After the Commonwealth situation, Daryl leaves home, once again, alone. Many people thought that he was going to leave with Carol; however, he didn't.

Daryl has never had sustained sexual tension with another character since Beth, and if we count Leah, we should consider that main themes communicated in "Find Me" are confusion, disorientation, and memory loss. The episode also lacks the innocence and Edenic beauty of "Still" and "Alone." It is not about finding love or some light in the darkness. It's entirely about loss.

This could be traced back to season 4, in which Daryl does lose Beth. However, the exact circumstances for him running away from the burning prison with Beth and going on a sacred quest for her at a country club, then going to the backcountry moonshine shack, ending in a screaming match and a physical embrace, a warm, tipsy conversation on the porch, and literally lighting the past on fire does not track with any future situation he goes on to encounter. What I'm saying is, whatever all that was foreshadowing, it hasn't happened yet. The warmth, intimacy, and innocence has been gone from Daryl's life since he lost Beth in "Alone."

To use Norman's own words, there was a "taste" of romance "in the air" from the moment they escaped together, for as long as they were together on the road, and even when they part. The rabbit and the strawberries in the aptly titled "Us," keep the feeling of love and possession and the romantic tension alive between them.

I often think of "Alone" as a love episode. Sasha and Bob, who more obviously kindle a romance and kiss on the train tracks, while Maggie and Glenn search for each other with desperate abandon, are obvious foils for Beth and Daryl. It would not make sense to create an entire episode surrounding finding, losing, and searching for love, and to have only one of those stories be about platonic love. It makes sense because they are all different stories of romantic love.

(For the record, I don't acknowledge people who argue that Bethyl is platonic, or sibling-coded. I don't care how loud they are. There is zero evidence for that sort of dynamic in the actual show, while the evidence to the contrary, re: holding hands using the soulmate grip, Daryl's bridal carry, how he looks at her while he lies in the coffin, his confession, her confused and subtle "Oh"...regardless of how it might make some people feel, is overwhelmingly obvious. Sorry, haters.)

Anyway, on a more "meta" note: Season 4 ends with Beth off-screen, in another dimension. She is out of sight, and nobody knows whether she's dead or alive. Meanwhile, in "A," Rick reunites with his family, and they are at the precipice of a war with the Termites, a group that seems to, in many ways, foreshadow the CRM. This looks a lot like what's going on now, or what's just happened. Daryl is alone, about to reunite with Carol. Rick just reunited with his family. Major General Beale, a nice Gareth proxy, has been defeated.

Many speculated at the time of 4.16's release that Beth might have been taken by the Termites, just as we all speculate now that Beth may be, somehow, with CRM. I believe this means there's something much more complicated going on in season 5, in terms of the Termites, Grady, and their possible connection to the CRM. Since many TDers do actually believe that Grady was a covert research initiative started or at least sustained by the CRM, the foreshadowing, which holds that, while all this other stuff is going on with Rick's group, Beth is somewhere hidden over the rainbow, feels very much in waiting.

So much of season 4b-5a has been rehashed and repeated over the years and was most recently repeated via Rick and Michonne's reunion in TOWL, that it's bizarre to also look back and say, Hey, how the hell does Daryl fit into all this? Daryl, who actually isn't alone in 4b? Daryl, who actually finds and chooses potential for a relationship? Daryl has, over the course of the series, made friends with compatible women. I am talking about Denise, Connie, Leah, Isabelle. However, not a single one has ever maintained sustained romantic or sexual tension with Daryl. Not one has yet to change his mind about the goodness of people. Each of them, he either leaves or loses, and even if he decides to stay (re: in France), it's due to obligation and inertia, not choice. Daryl has not once consciously chosen to settle down or to make a. home, specifically with a woman, since Beth. He has never run away with a woman into a time of innocence and tabula rasa, starting over for the sake of moving forward, finding peace, and burning the past. He has never found peace. He has never let go of the past.

All of this is to predict that he will, of course. He will get his happy ending, which we've basically been told is the thesis for his spin-off, amidst a flurry of hints that this is related to finding a wife and having a family of his own. Not Rick's family. His own family. And when Carol arrives, fresh from her latest escape attempt, and self-destructing via whatever it is she's running from, she will help him get there, just as he will help her find her faith again. So much like what happens in "Consumed" and, to an inverse degree, "Find Me." In both episodes, it's Carol's attempt and desire to run away which drives Daryl to the mysterious location of a missing blond with whom he once shared a dalliance in the woods.

#the walking dead #bethyl #team delusional #beth is alive #beth is coming #beth greene lives

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guardian-angel12 · 14 days

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i feel like we’re all rowing along in our little Bethyl boat, shamelessly raising our middle fingers at the Caryl cruise-ship as we pass by.

#Bethyl #beth greene #team delusional #the walking dead #beth greene lives #team defiance #daryl dixon

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angelthefirst1 · 3 months

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Umm...

So...♾️♾️♾️

I just realised that the last episode of The Ones Who Live will air on RESURRECTION Sunday 🧐😵✝️

That is not a coincidence!

They could have picked any day to release the last episode, but chose that day!

The end (episode 6) of Rick's story beginning again (TOWL season 1 ) is on the same day that Christ's resurrection is being remembered...

The beginning is the end ♾️

When Rick is revealed at the beginning of the season, he is called Christ...

Christ, is that him? Michonne nods yes...

Is it a play on words? Yes.

But it's also an eclipsed/hidden but very deliberate way to mark Rick as Christ.

The last episode will air on Resurrection Sunday. Fulfilling the beginning and end.

Beth and Rick's stories are intertwined often reversed, so this is intriguing to me!

I'm truly starting to think that this is the year we get Beth. Too many things are lining up including the fact that Beth (in real time) has been gone 10 years, while Rick (in show time) has been missing 10 years.

10.10 get well soon.

Do I think we will see Beth or a clue to Beth in episode 6 of TOWL?

Maybe...it's actually very possible due to resurrection Sunday.

Maybe we get a hidden coda, like Morgan, but this time the mask stays on.

Who knows... I'm excited to see, but what I'm more interested in is this beginning end pattern because what comes next (after TOWL ends) in TWD universe will be another resurrection.

Enter The Book of Carol.

I pine for Summer ☀️

The last episode (episode 6) of TOWL, airing on RESURRECTION SUNDAY, is called The Last Time...

Emily released a song called Last Chance not long after she finished on (ended) TWD.

Many who heard the song Last Chance thought it sounded like Emily was writing it about Daryl and Beth, and she was.

Emily's very first album (first = beginning) was released just after she left (ended) The Walking Dead, and Last Chance (which really indicates both Beginning and end) was a single on it. So, could the episode "The Last Time" be the signal for Beth's return or beginning?

It's all starting to line up.

The album, the song "Last Chance," is off, is called This Is War.

In the comics, Andrea wakes from a gun shot to the head during the war with the Governor.

The bullet just gazes her but knocks her unconscious. I am convinced Emily was referencing this war in the title of her album.

No doubt, the end of season 1 of Rick and Michonne's story will also lead to a declaration of This Is War with the CRM. I guess we will wait and see for that one, but we know war is building.

Now Rick wasn't the only one marked as Christ, in fact he was the second or "last" one marked as Christ in TOWL Gone.

The first one to be marked as Christ is...

The sister that was left behind aka a representation of Beth.

Beth was marked as Christ here first (at the beginning of Gone) in the timeline, while Rick was marked as Christ last (near the end of Gone).

We see Rick on-screen before he gets marked as Christ, but Beth gets marked as Christ before we see her.

The time to finally see her again has to be close. Very close.

I also want to add one other extremely unusual thing I discovered, and it's in relation to the X eclipse that is coming up a week and one day after resurrection Sunday on April 8th.

For those who don't know, there will be a solar eclipse on April 8th in the US, and it's been nicknamed the X eclipse, because the path that the eclipse will take, makes an X in conjunction with the path of the last solar eclipse of 2017.

How is this related to Beth and Daryl?

Well, remember the episode "Find Me" with Leah?

And the solar eclipse they look at together, while Leah all but repeats Beth's line of "Don't you think that's beautiful?"

The eclipse in "Find Me" is the twin eclipse related to the upcoming eclipse the week after resurrection Sunday.

Leah was a shadow of Beth, I would now even be bold enough to say she was a blocked or eclipsed version of Beth.

Eclipse means an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination.

In other words, the light or reality is hidden from view.

Well... I spent some time figuring out the timeline of this moment where we see the solar eclipse with Leah and Daryl.

And I'm not kidding you. They are looking at a solar eclipse in 2017.

Most commentators on TWD timeline place Rick's disappearance and being taken by the CRM at the 2013 mark.

The episode "Find Me" actually gives us a good calendar to work by in finding out how much time passes from when Rick goes missing up until this eclipse that Daryl and Leah look at.

First, we see Carol say to Daryl...

It's been 2 years of Daryl looking for Rick.

OK, so Rick went missing at the 2013 mark, and now it's 2015 (two years later)

We then see additional time jumps marked, adding up to 2.5 years...

Placing us in 2017!

Leah and Daryl's story was a shadow of finding Beth.

I've talked a bit about how 10's and X's are symbols of Beth's return, so this is an interesting, albeit odd addition to the X symbolism.

10.10 get well soon flipped ♾️ is 01.01 which represents the beginning and end.

Jesus said

‭‭Revelation 22.13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

He also said

Revelation 22.12

Look, I am coming SOON!

X is 10 in Roman numerals, obviously, and we are also coming up to the ten year mark from when Beth "dies."

The current walking dead timeline for Daryl Dixon season 1 places us somewhere in 2023, so a question I have is...will we, at some stage in the future, see Daryl and Beth looking at the X eclipse of 2024 in a fulfillment of the 2017 eclipse...

Emily also wore this hat and posted a caption with it, "Don't F with me today Zombies".

She posted this back when filming was taking place for season 5, but we never saw the footage reported on from that time.

The crown on the hat is made up of X's that make diamonds, and it combined makes the upside-down pyramids, all of which are related to Beth and Sirius returning.

Make of that what you will.

I'm working on a future post to lay out how both Consumed and Find me are road maps to her return.

Both those episodes focused heavily on Daryl and Carol off together.

She is coming soon... Beth means house of, and she's marked as Christ.

House of Christ.

#team delusional #team defiance #team beth lives #bethyl #beth greene #beth is alive #beth is coming #beth greene lives #td #beth x daryl

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twdmusicboxmystery · 2 months

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Gifts for Team Delusional on Easter!

Okay so maybe Beth didn't show up in the finale of TOWL (spoiler) but thanks to Emilion Fqs, who attended the French comicon, took some videos, and shared them with us, we still have a LOT of hints to Beth's imminent return.

Like, this is downright ridiculous! 😱

youtube

@wdway

@galadrieljones

@angelthefirst1

@bethgreeneprevails

@frangipanilove

#team delusional #bethyl #team defiance #beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theories #td #Youtube

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bookqueenrules · 21 days

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DD Season 2 Places Where Filming Occurred: Update to November 2023 post.

I originally did a post in early November of 2023 with filming spoilers up to that point. Link. Some of my speculations have already been confirmed. Here are some additional tidbits I collected. I did not have the time to research these in much depth. I would love it if someone does!

Chapel Saint Aubert in Mont St. Michael

A chapel may be a good spot for a resurrection.

Shipwrecked boat on St. Malo Beach. Filmed summer 2023 and November 2023.

Hoverport Tunnel: I think this one is most important for TDers.

The tunnel was filmed in November and December. The actor who plays Losang posted about it here:

So, at first, I thought this might be the Carol/Daryl reunion spot, but it's awful late in the season for that. Carol, Daryl, and Cordon were seen filming at this tunnel location. It was under tight security and closed to the public. Here are some more shots of the tunnel and some behind the scenes pictures of what is in part of the tunnel.

The outside:

Some of the final scenes were filmed here and not on location:

A few things about the tunnel. It is an old Hoverport Channel Tunnel connecting France to England. However, that doesn't mean that is how it will be used in DD. Also, just because the tunnel shoot was the last location, doesn't NECESSARILY mean that it will be where the season ends. I do think it will be very important, and it's something they tried to keep more under the radar than the rest of the location shoots. The tracks through the tunnel are obviously hugely symbolic in TWDU as places where characters choose a path that will lead to their salvation or their destruction. They also remind me of Daryl in Alone sitting next to the tracks and not choosing which way to go until the Claimers arrive. Even though Beth may not appear in the tunnel, I have a feeling it will an important location on the way to a Beth/Daryl and Beth/Carol reunion.

I know many people are saying this will be how season 2 ends:

That might very well be the case, but filming continued at the tunnel location AFTER these scenes were filmed. As we know from TOWL, they often film MULTIPLE endings especially if there is an important reveal at the end.

Thoughts?

#team delusional #bethyl #team defiance #beth greene lives #twd daryl and beth #beth is alive #beth greene #beth is coming

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sophiasmommy23-blog · 2 months

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Another clip

This one is from the France one. She talks about Still.

youtube

#team delusional #beth greene #beth is alive #beth greene lives #beth is coming #td theories #team defiance #twd #daryl dixon #emily kinney #Youtube

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auroraroseane · 2 months

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Ummmm.

Can we talk about how we saw the portraits in this last episode and then EK posted this on her story?

#team delusional #beth greene lives #team defiance #beth greene

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hearts-keep-going · 6 days

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Me if these writers turn out to be competent and Beth Greene is ever revealed to be alive:

#bethyl #beth greene #beth greene deserved better #beth greene lives #I’ve wanted this for YEARS #the show that shall not be named #team delusional

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brokentofuthinks · 6 months

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✨A day in the Dixon Household (AI)✨

#bethyl #team delusional #beth greene #daryl x beth #team defiance #daryl dixon #beth is coming #twd daryl dixon #beth greene lives #ai generated #brokentofuposts

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drewmoll03 · 1 month

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I was on IG and the bethyl hug picture popped up so I clicked on it. And it was from this TWD fanpage, but the official TWD page follows them!! That screams suspicious to me, it pretty much was posted the same day they posted the "Choose who you'd bring back" thing. For reference, this picture was posted 2 hrs before.

So many little crumbs lately 😅

#bethyl #team delusional #beth and daryl #beth greene #beth is alive #td #beth is coming #team defiance #beth greene lives #beth lives

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galadrieljones · 1 month

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Daryl's Arrows: Symbolism, Pt. 3 (When the arrows are all gone.)

Part One | Part Two

In parts one and two of this series, I have gone through Daryl's character evolution during his time with Beth, and in the wake of her absence, via the changing color and quality of his arrows. So far, I've looked at how his arrows have evolved from green/white (Beth arrows) to faded red/white ("inverted" Beth arrows), and when I left off my previous post, he had just had his crossbow stolen by Dwight, leaving him in a major period of limbo and with his faith in the goodness of people and his spiritual connection to Beth and her protective force in his life greatly diminished.

This post was originally supposed to cover much more information; however, there is more to cover here than I realized!! Thank you for your patience.

"The Next World": Eclipse

In 6.10 "The Next World," Daryl is notably without his crossbow. Losing the crossbow for Daryl is a bit like losing a limb. From the audience perspective, we have a hard time envisioning him without it. That said, do keep in mind that in the current moment, Daryl is also WITHOUT his crossbow (in France). I will get to this, but to do that, we need to look at what happens, and what it means when Daryl DOESN'T have his arrows, particularly when they've been taken from him.

In "The Next World," Daryl's first major episode post-"Always Accountable," we begin to see many important changes in Daryl and, perhaps most significantly, how Daryl will soon serve as a mirror for Rick, who is on a dark course, albeit completely unaware. It's notable that in "The Next World," Daryl and Rick are frequently placed parallel to one another in the shot, re: the shot above, and these below:

These shots communicate a sort of "eclipse." Daryl and Rick are dynamically opposed to one another quite often post-"Coda." Up until now, Daryl has been an attenuating force for Rick, but not anymore. Now, he's right on Rick's level. He holds little trust in strangers and seems disinterested in looking for new people to bring back to ASZ, a direct reversal of his attitude in "Conquer" and "Always Accountable." For us, as we were with him during the events of "Always Accountable," this change may not come as a surprise, but for Rick, who hasn't been out on the road with Daryl for a while, the change is new, and it seems to stop him in his tracks.

It's funny, and this is excellent characterization, because Rick is perhaps not able to see how he, himself, has changed, until he begins to see the same change manifesting in his lonely and recently distant best friend. Especially as Rick gets closer to consummating his relationship with Michonne, he notices Daryl distancing himself even more completely, and in "The Next World," we can see how he's trying to correct that. He wants Daryl to be how he used to be, and he wants them to be like they were.

"The Next World": Beth Proxies

Daryl's motivations in the episode are mostly on auto-pilot, in terms of how they relate to Rick's. The one thing that does seem to motivate him personally has nothing to do with Rick. It's an errand for Denise.

"The Next World," much like "Still," begins with a quest. Denise asks Daryl if, while he's on his run, he could keep his eye out for a drink: orange soda. The soda is for Tara. Denise becomes flustered when asking Daryl for help, and Daryl plays it down comically. This little moment between them, and how she regards him with embarrassment, and the fact that she asks him specifically, even though she is clearly nervous about it, and how he meets her babbling concern with a kind of casual confusion, communicates the beginning of their little bond, a bond that will prove very meaningful for Daryl in episodes to come, and which provides some small amount of purpose for him that day.

Denise, with whom Daryl shares a special friendship in season 6, serves as our next Beth proxy. The one thing about Denise that is extremely pertinent given Daryl's current circumstances in France is the way in which tptb use characterizing factors to defuse any romantic inclination from the relationship. Denise is a lesbian, in a relationship with Tara. In a similar dynamic, Isabelle, Daryl's Beth proxy in France, is a nun. Both women are unavailable to Daryl and this neuters romantic potential in the eyes of the audience (or, I mean, it's supposed to) and foils the fact that Beth, who was neither a lesbian nor a nun and who was perhaps the most romantically available female on the show at the time, was his first and perhaps only romantic interest of ANY significance. And after she's gone, every single meaningful relationship he has (barring Connie, who I'll talk about later, and who holds other parallels to Beth) is a blond woman with a ponytail. Weird!

Of course, Jesus is another major Beth proxy who shows up in "The Next World." Aside from his name, when we first meet Jesus, he is wearing a face mask, in a moment that will later be echoed by Daryl's jarring encounter with a very blond Leah in "Rendition."

I will discuss more on these Beth proxies in the future, but for now, let's finish discussing "The Next World."

"The Next World": Confrontation

In some ways, the title of this episode "The Next World" is indicative of a major change taking place. Dialogue with Jesus implies that they already live in "the next world," ie: they have already descended into unknown territory, they just don't know it. Jesus also serves as the catalyst of much of the plot to come.

In this episode, the main tension between Daryl and Rick, who are constantly paralleled visually with one another, revolves around Daryl's recent, growing indifference toward human life, and Rick's rapid noticing of such and desire to correct it. In this episode, we see some major development with Rick and his sense of self-awareness as he begins to realize that perhaps he hasn't been there for Daryl as much as he should have, and in this, Daryl has begun to slip from his grasp. It's possible Rick has only just now begun to realize how much damage Beth's loss has caused for Daryl, and also how much his actions actually affect those around him, particularly Daryl, his second in command, who codes strongly as his younger brother, and for whom Rick was once arguably a role model.

Just after the climax of the episode, while Rick and Daryl watch their bounty sink to the bottom of the river, Jesus lie unconscious in the grass, and Daryl is prepared to just leave him there for walker bait. But Rick challenges him. Daryl softens somewhat, but ultimately remains unconvinced that he should care.

Later, in the car on the way home, Rick address the issue further in a conversation that is not well discussed. Here, Rick openly acknowledges that Daryl, along with Michonne and Glenn, did attenuate his flippancy toward human life when they first arrived at Alexandria. Now, Rick is trying to do the same thing for Daryl.

The conversation in the car, which is, at first, filmed through the windshield, which is reflective, obscuring some amount of the shot, is greatly oblique, meaning, it's not on the nose. It comes to the point in a way that is indirect and even off-topic. This is a product of Daryl and Rick's communication style, which is surly. It's a beautiful scene, which finishes later on in the episode just as they arrive back at the ASZ. Daryl tells Rick that he thinks what he said before, after what happened with Reg and Pete, that they shouldn't be going out to bring in new people anymore, that he was right. But Rick disagrees now. He says, "No, I was wrong. You were right."

Ultimately, I believe this scene does make a difference for Daryl, if only because it communicates to him that Rick sees him, that he agrees with him, and that he actually isn't alone, no matter how alone he feels; however, it's unclear at this point if Rick is too late, or if Rick's influence is simply no longer as important to Daryl as it used to be. Remember that Daryl's only moments of intentional motivation in the episode, beyond simply going along for the ride, are related to Denise. Remember, too, that Daryl gave up his search for Rick in "Alone," to be with Beth. This was a clean break, and just because she went away, that doesn't mean the feelings that caused him to make that choice went away. These are the beginnings of Daryl becoming his own man, and the protagonist of his own story, coming out of Rick's shadow and casting his own. Of course, getting there is going to be a long, violent, and lonely road.

In the end, whatever effect this exchange with Rick might impart on Daryl is latent or else it never comes to fruition, because Rick is, unfortunately, and in all of his hubris, about to step into a trap of epic proportion, and Daryl, who is floating without an anchor, and whose loyalty may have been temporarily boosted during this trip, follows him right to it. We can already see how the nature of Daryl's choices has changed since the events of "Always Accountable," and how they are much more pessimistic and lacking in trust in people and the outside world. Daryl is about to undergo an enormous test of faith.

"The Next World": Carl

Something that's super interesting, too, in this episode, is the B story, which involves an undercurrent of familial tension and backstory, revolving around Carl. While out in the woods, Carl and Enid discover Deana's walker, but for reasons that Enid doesn't understand, Carl refuses to kill her. Instead, he lures Deana closer to the walls where her son Spencer waits, so that he can put her to rest. Later in the night, Carl has an argument with Michonne, who saw him out there and misunderstood his intentions. Michonne asks Carl why he didn't just kill Deana, and Carl tells her that he couldn't kill Deana, because it should be someone who loved her to do it. He says that Michonne wouldn't understand, referencing his final moments with Lori. Carl also says that would do it for Michonne, which affects her deeply.

During the entire conversation, Carl is holding Judith in a visual callback to Beth, and I believe that Carl's arc in this episode is informed by the missing 17 days, and the fact that Beth never received a burial, and that most of them believe her walker still to be out there, somewhere. I believe that much of the psychology running through seasons 5 and 6 are related to Beth's loss and the clearly traumatic events of the missing 17 days, which we still have never seen or learned about. This is an important time as well to remember that in this episode, re: main thesis of this post, Daryl does NOT have his crossbow, and he doesn't have it now either, in France. I believe that Daryl is undergoing a similar, albeit more direct, even dramatic test of faith in Daryl Dixon, in which he is once again, a fish out of water, a ship lost at sea.

I want to point out, too, that immediately after cutting away from Daryl and Rick in the car is this little moment with Carl showing Judith how to find the North Star.

If you remember from my last post, I discussed Daryl without Beth as a ship without an anchor. Another way to discuss Daryl's current state is to call him a wanderer who has lost sight of the North Star. In this little scene we get a beautiful glimpse at how Carl, the bearer of the "resurrection" music box in "Them" is carrying Beth's torch and lighting the way in her absence. Taking care of Judith, helping people reunite with their loved ones, arguing for what he believes in, even when others disagree. This is important, because later, after Daryl has made the full scope of his descent, it will be Carl's death that brings him back into the light. That is for a future post, but in this episode we can see how Carl's character, along with Beth, informs the character Laurent in the spin-off.

Beth's Knife

I want to point out that even though Daryl doesn't have his crossbow or his arrows during this liminal stretch of season 6, that doesn't mean that he has lost his connection with Beth completely. Daryl continues to carry Beth's knife, given to him by Carol in "Them," on his left hip, all through "The Next World," as well as during the next episode "Knots Untie," which is the episode when they visit Hilltop. He doesn't take it off until the episode "Not Tomorrow Yet," which is the episode in which he and Rick lead a team to ambush the Saviors at the Satellite Station. Though Norman has informed fans casually that Daryl still has it, we have not seen Beth's knife since "Knots Untie." Why does he take it off?

If you'll recall, it's actually Daryl who offers to take out the Saviors at Hilltop, in exchange for food and supplies. He kicks into gear after Jesus tells them about how Negan, in an effort of intimidation, killed a sixteen-year-old boy. Once again: Why do innocent people always have to die? Here, Daryl thinks he sees a way to finally right this wrong. Episodes 6.10-6.14, during which Daryl does not have his crossbow, are filled with seminole choices that Daryl makes, all of which inform the man he will become in seasons 7-9. He keeps making the wrong choices, but as an audience, it's easy to feel mislead, as most of the rest of the characters are right there with him. Even Glenn goes on the Satellite Station mission. This is enough to make it seem like what they're doing is right thing. Of course, it's not, but it communicates the mass psychological damage with which the team is currently coping.

At this point in the story, after what happened at the prison and the fallout with Beth, they are all desperate to establish a home with food security and safe walls, and they are willing to do almost anything to make that a reality. Maggie's pregnancy, referenced in "Knots Untie," which ends with the group passing around her sonogram in the RV, is also a motivating factor. I also believe that the Saviors are, at this point, a scapegoat, for the enemy they couldn't kill back at the prison, ie: someone they CAN kill as a way of dealing with Beth's senseless loss as well as the losses of Hershel and the prison, and the grisly deaths of Tyreese and Noah that followed almost immediately after. Going after the Saviors is especially meaningful for Daryl, as he is still harboring vengeful feelings toward Dwight, who took his crossbow, and with it, his faith in the goodness of people.

When Daryl takes off Beth's knife in "Not Tomorrow Yet," I believe we can interpret this two ways: First, he takes it off because he doesn't want her memory to be mixed up in deeds he knows for certain would disappoint her. For the same reason, he sometimes wears his hair like a mask, Daryl, well-aware of what's going on, is hiding from her disapproval. Of course, this shows that, even as his actions speak volumes, Daryl has not forgotten about Beth. But he knows he may need to repress her for a while, and this is something we will deal with directly in the season 7 episode "New Best Friends."

Second, Beth’s knife, given to him by Carol in “Them,” is a Browning Hunter knife with a fixed blade and a handle made from the antler of a stag.

A stag, or a buck, is a male deer, and I would like to now consider the powerful ramifications of this, as, not long after Carol returns this knife to Daryl, he encounters a dead doe, or female deer, in the woods. We have a lone stag (Daryl), and his dead doe (Beth). The fact that Beth carried the stag knife at all is, in my estimation, given Daryl’s visual devastation in this scene, crushingly romantic. The antler provides him with further protection in the wake of his missing crossbow, similar to the symbolic function of his white arrows.

The knife stays behind to protect him for much of his period without the crossbow in season 6, like a last line of defense; however, when he takes it off, this foreshadows grave trials, which he will have to undergo while greatly exposed to pain and suffering, with no weapons or spiritual protection at all.

I think it’s important that all of Daryl’s weapons have been touched and wielded by Beth at some point. His main knife, which he used in “Still,” her stag knife, and also his crossbow. This is very important as there is not another character for whom this is true, and because it sets her up as his spiritual protector very early on. Further, as a warrior, Daryl’s weapons are greatly important to his functioning in the world, and as I said before, his crossbow is almost like a fifth limb. Beth’s possession of his weapons during their time together communicates her claim or possession over him. This is foiled by his encounter with the Claimers who seem to point out to Daryl that there is nothing in this world worth anything anymore that hasn’t already been claimed.

You will see, too, in my next post, how this period also comes with the absence of not just Beth’s knife and the crossbow, but Daryl’s angel vest as well. All of this inventory is a part of Daryl and his blessed disposition, per Beth’s “Still” prophecy that he’s going to be the Last Man Standing, and which we first see fully examined in “Consumed.” Without it, he struggles, fallen from her grace.

None of these things is stated overtly in the text. All of it is oblique, subtle, and noticeable only to fans who are watching closely. And who watches more closely than TD?

In my next post, I will discuss Denise's death and the effects of Daryl's incarceration at the Sanctuary. I will also look at what happens when, after finding safe haven at the Kingdom, Daryl is gifted ANOTHER crossbow (pictured above), by Richard, introducing an entirely new era for Daryl's arrows and foiling Daryl's mercenary, ruthless outlook on the coming war.

#the walking dead #team delusional #daryl's arrows #beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is coming #beth is alive

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