Random commentary on S7E1
Rewatching this awful scene for the millionth time and something just hit me....
Just look at Daryl. Look at him after Negan killed Abraham.
Everyone wonders why he did it. Why Daryl threw himself at Negan. But what I can’t stop thinking about is what must have been going through Daryl’s mind...
This is a man who has lived with untold violence his entire life. We know Daryl so we know he tried to fight back, especially once he got big enough, but given how he was when we first me him...I’m betting he was rarely on the winning side. Since meeting the group though, things changed. He flinches less and less and smiles ever so slightly more. (Daryl smiles are subtle) 😊
He now fought instead to gain the strength and confidence to stop men who would wield their power over him or anyone he loved. Likely vowing to never be a victim again. Daryl found hope, a family, a place to belong.
Then Negan happens and the group is faced with a brutality beyond anything they had ever seen before. The entire group is just as broken as Daryl is by this man but we do know one important extra piece of the story.
Daryl has seen brutality before; lived and breathed it. Not to this extent, obviously, but in this moment, who knows what memories were pouring through his mind and overwhelming his brain. He simply couldn’t cope. And upon seeing Negan, a shamelessly violent man getting off on the pain of others, getting very angry at Rosita for not obeying him and refusing to look at the bat that just killed the man she cared for... Daryl knew this would end violent. And he broke. He did the only thing he was conditioned his entire life to do.
How many times do you think Daryl threw himself in front of his mother and ended up taking the beating himself? Or how many times did Meryl do that for him? Daryl’s instincts flew into overdrive and he did the only thing he could ever do as a kid and tried to take the punishment himself.
And yes. His action continued a chain of events that led to Glenn’s death. And Negan would say it was Daryl’s fault; fuck Dwight and Negan both said it. But when do we ever believe that the abused are at fault?? We don’t. Daryl was abused his entire life, pulled himself out of the toxic world his father and brother lived in and was then put face to face with a cruel man beating people he loves to death and we expect him to think rationally?? No. He was triggered as fuck and desperately wanted to stop this man from hurting his friends. The blame lands squarely on Negan and Negan alone.
And yes, I know I’m biased. Shut it! lol
