I did this as a video. But it took a REALLY long time to make and ended up being long. So, I'd appreciate some feedback. I may not always be able to do the video component. Are you guys good if it's just the audio, podcast style?
Also, would you prefer I broke it up into 10 or 15 minute chunks for easier listening? Or do you like the longer episode? Let me know!
And also what you think about the episode and the analysis, of course! 😉
The Dialogue That Sent A Ship Reeling And What It Might Mean for the Overall Story Arc
***Possible spoilers for future episodes****
@bookqueenrules:
So, I read a ton of reviews of season 1 before episode 1 aired. Many of the reviews were from “Carlyers”. I am always interested in seeing their perspective.
They all seemed to agree on a few things.
First and foremost, they HATED Daryl’s response to Laurent in this exchange from episode 1:
L: “Do you have children, a wife, parents?”
D: “No, nothing like that.”
I believe this exchange at the beginning of the episode speaks VOLUMES about Daryl’s “happy ending”. We see him think of Judith and Carol, the people he is closest to at home, as he is regaining consciousness. However, soon after that he does not acknowledge Judith as “his child” nor does he acknowledge Carol as a type of “wife” or “life partner”.
This tells us that in Daryl and the writer’s minds Daryl has never been a father nor husband/life partner to anyone, yet.
Being able to be a good husband and father after the abuse and trauma Daryl has experienced, I believe, will be his happy ending.
Another thing they seem to hate is that by the end of the series, Daryl is torn as to whether he should stay with Laurent and Isabelle or keep trying to go home. I assume that happens in episode 6 because a DEVOTED Carlyer said that was the hardest episode for her to watch. Daryl being torn is more understandable when you see the parallels in Daryl’s mind: Isabelle is a platonic friend he becomes close to(Carol), and Laurent is a child that is not his, but that he feels responsible for because the parents are not around (Judith). Now, of course, we all know he will and should choose TF, but just the fact that he is torn should let the viewer know that Daryl still feels he is missing “something”. Back to that in a minute. I think it’s helpful to look at all of Daryl’s close relationships during the flagship to see why Daryl is still looking for “something”. That “something” is to belong to someone.
Merle- Daryl did at one time “belong” to Merle. It was just the two of them. Neither had other close family nor significant romantic partners or friends. It was a dysfunctional type of belonging, but a “belonging” none the less. Daryl believed he belonged with Merle. In season 3, Daryl was torn between his new family(TF) and Merle. He did leave with Merle, but would have returned to TF even if he hadn’t convinced Merle to go back to the prison with him. So, he chose TF over Merle in the end.
Beth- Beth is the ONLY character that Daryl asks to settle down with him. HE asks HER to stay at the funeral home and try to make a life. He gives up looking for Rick, Carol, and the rest of TF. He feels he now BELONGS to Beth. This is an example of functional “belonging” because she restores his faith in himself and in the possibility of good in the world. This is further emphasized in the “Buttons” episode where Daryl and Aaron are trying to save Buttons the horse. Oh! Buttons the horse, Daryl’s highlighted button in the promo pictures, and the button on Beth’s necklace… Sorry, I just made that connection as I type! Major symbolism there. I digress. In that episode, Daryl says of Buttons, “He once belonged to someone, but now he just belongs to himself.” The implication being that the statement is true of both the horse and Daryl.
Rick- Rick becomes the better brother Merle never was. However, he can never really belong to Rick in the same way he did Merle because Rick has a family of his own and didn’t live through the same childhood trauma Merle and Daryl did.
Leah- Daryl is torn between belonging with her, TF, and searching for Rick. He leaves even though she has issued an ultimatum. It’s only after she is “gone” that he says he belongs with her. I believe that indicates that Daryl really does want to belong to someone, but Leah is not the right one. He knew it when he walked out on her.
Carol has belonged to Zeke for a long time now. Even when they drifted apart, they drifted back together. Before him, Carol belonged to herself drifting in and out of storylines fighting her need NOT to belong to anyone. She initiated romantic connections while Daryl was free and clear to form that kind of attachment with if she chose. Zeke is the one that showed Carol she could have her “happy ending” family after the dysfunction she experienced with Ed and Sophia. Though Henry didn’t live, Carol still had six years of a “happy ending”.
After telling Judith he wouldn’t leave her, why does Daryl leave to explore? There were many others in Alexandria and Hilltop who could have gone. So, Daryl must have WANTED to go. Judith seems to be OK with it because she connects it to his “happy ending”. Carlyers are interpreting Daryl’s call to the Commonwealth, presumably to Carol, about coming home in a week, as Daryl realizing his “mistake” and wanting to come home to his “happy ending” being Carol and Judith. If that were the case, he would have responded differently to Laurent’s question.
The Carlyers all LOVED the last minute of the season(We can all guess that is when Carol shows)
They also agree that some of the themes are fatherhood, purpose, and belonging. Curiously, they don’t see the “happy ending” as a theme for the most part. It’s been pretty obvious, but few of them comment on it. I am assuming that episode 5 will be heavily related to the theme of fatherhood based on some vaguely worded reviews.
I wanted to mention a couple of other things that I don’t believe you discussed in the video. Forgive me if I just missed them.
Isabelle’s comment in the bath about scars showing you have healed. I believe that is heavy foreshadowing for Daryl healing his scars from childhood.
Also, I don’t believe you mentioned the radio in the “map room”. Would that be another Sirius/radio connection? I thought it was interesting that Isabelle is caught in a lie about the radio. It is clear that Isabelle is willing to lie and manipulate to get what she wants. She reminds me of Carol in that way. She feels the ends justify the means for the greater good. She also reminds me of Carol in the sense that Daryl, Carol, and Isabelle are all characters who were “broken before the world ended”. It was after the world ended that Beth broke for a moment, but all of these characters have proven they are survivors. It will be interesting to see that play out if/when they all meet.
@twdmusicboxmystery:
Love, love, LOVE everything you said here! And totally agree! It’s fun to know what the Carylers are saying.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about Daryl’s reply about not having a wife and kids. And great call about the foreshadowing there. It’s clear that he’ll have them eventually, and we all know it won’t be with Carol.
Honestly, I think the reason he’ll be so torn will be Laurent, rather than Isabelle. I was thinking as I read what you wrote is that part of the reason he was willing to leave Judith was
1) she doesn’t truly need him anymore. She’s okay with him going, which means she a happy, healthy, well-adjusted kid. He still loves and wants to be with her, but if someone else is depending on him as a lifeline physically or emotionally, well, he’s going to stay for as long as they need him. And Judith is such a badass all by herself, that she doesn’t necessarily.
2) It’s also true that he doesn’t see her as truly “his” and if there’s any chance her real dad (Rick, although biologically that’s a can of worms, lol) is still out there, he wants to bring Rick home to her. So, once again, it’s Daryl doing something for someone else, rather than himself. Which is why Judith says the thing about the happy ending to begin with. She recognizes that he deserves to think about his own happiness every once in awhile, rather than everyone else’s.
Anyway, I’m actually excited to see the part where he’s torn about staying or going. It plays into Daryl’s changing his mind/what changed your mind theme, which started with Beth and has been constantly in play since S4.
Isabelle reminds me a lot of Leah. Not in her personality or toxicity, of course. But in the sense that she’s an interesting blend of Carol and Beth. I already like her relationship with Daryl and I can see them becoming close friends. People say Clemence Posey’s performance here is really amazing. Up there with Norman’s. So I’m excited to see more of both of them.
Thanks so much for the post! Absolutely love it!
Oh, and yes, the radio is a Sirius symbol. Because Sirius Radio XM. It’s also part of the Communication Theme.
I was rewatching 4x01 and I thought about this.. Why did the group just let Daryl tell Beth about Zack? (Like, okay we know why the writers did this) but like, why not Glenn for example? He was literally her brother in law.
Something I thought about was maybe Daryl volunteered to be the one to tell her. Honestly this is probably one of my fav Bethyl scenes lol. But anyway, what are your thoughts?
Yeah for sure. As you said, the writers were clearly setting something up here. But if not for that, there was no reason for it to be Daryl who told her. It would have made way more sense for it to be Glenn or Maggie. Or both.
So, to me, this falls into the same category as the "damn romance" line. Or Beth's sweater falling off her shoulder when she hugged him. It's obvious what the intentions were. Skeptics might say something like, "of course they were setting something up. They were setting up the two of them being together in 4b."
But it's so much more than that. It wasn't ONLY that. Daryl is front and center for all things ROMANCE around Beth. And there's a reason for that.
As to how the decision would have been made, I don't know. Maybe Daryl volunteered. I can see Daryl volunteering. And not only for Beth's sake, but because he had been friends with Zack. They'd been talking and bantering directly before entering the Big Spot, where Zack was killed.
Plenty of people have also hypothesized that there was an element of jealousy from Daryl about Beth and Zack. Even Daryl himself would probably not have recognized or admitted it, but perhaps that's why he wouldn't tell Zach what he did before the return, and why their banter, while good natured, felt just a little bit like a pissing contest. If that was the case, there might have been an element of guilt for Daryl about Zach's death, and he felt like it was his duty to tell Beth about it.
Just spitballing here, but it really is interesting and kind of fun to think about. Not sure if that helps at all, but thanks for the question, Nonny. Xoxo! ☀️🔥💞
Do you think this makes it sound doubtful that beth will return? This is the first 6 episodes review
Okay, so I've read about 10 of these review articles over the past day or two. I get that it doesn't say we'll see Beth, but I actually think it sounds VERY promising. A lot of what me and my fellow theorists have been saying for a long time now is already being confirmed.
I'm going to combine several Asks into one post so I can gather all my thoughts in one area. I'll also insert some of the articles in case you want to read them yourself. Just keep in mind that they do have a lot of spoilers.
Norman Reedus stars in a minor triumph of a Walking Dead spin-off.
If you read across all the articles out there, some of them clearly are loving the Daryl spinoff, while others are much more negative and hate it. (Most of them seem to harbor negative feelings toward Norman and TWD in general, so I wouldn't take their words too seriously.) But you start to notice similarities between the articles. Most of them talk about the same things in the series, and we start to get a lot of hints toward what we'll see.
It's true that they don't mention Beth and some go out of their way to say that there are no other familiar faces from TWD. But keep in mind a couple of things about that:
1) I think that's aimed toward the Carylers. They're so sure we're going to see Carol at some point, and to me, it doesn't sound like we will. Or, if we do, it will be at such a last possible secondn to kick us into season 2, that her presence will have absolutely no effect on season 1.
2) Several of the reviewers have said that AMC swore them to secrecy when it comes to episodes 5 and 6. So, they've said some general stuff about how amazing episode 5 is gonna be, but overall, they can't say anything about what they saw in those episodes. So even if someone big showed up (Carol, Beth, Rick, Shane, lol) they wouldn't be able to say.
And I think it's SUPER significant that AMC would swear them to secrecy about those episodes. When the show literally leaked Troy's return 15 minutes after the FTWD Coda with the "mysterious" person, why would they demand that those receiving the screeners not reveal anything about the final two episodes of the Daryl Spinoff. Sounds all kinds of promising to me.
Daryl does France in AMC’s most disposable and bizarre spin-off yet.
But there's plenty more. Let me just mention some things that stick out that seem to confirm we're right about smaller things (i.e. not Beth, per se). If you read across all the articles, there are actually a LOT of spoilers for the first few episodes. You can piece together a lot of the story from what's said. Yet, there's nothing about Carol, as I've already mentioned, and nothing suggesting a Daryl/Isabelle romance.
I did read one that said there are some "romance tropes" they use between the two of them, that are sure to get the Daryl shippers all fired up, but we don't actually hear about a relationship.
To me, that just means we'll see more of the same. Just as with Connie, just as with Carol, or Rosita, or just about anyone else he's had friendships with, he will be close to Isabelle and they'll connect on a deep level. Because of that, we're sure to see some Daryl/Isabelle shippers spring up, and the more angry people who ship Daryl with someone else (we all know who they are) will be on the warpath.
But I think if we were truly going to see a Daryl/Isabelle romance, it would be apparent in some way from these reviews. Even if they didn't come right out and say it, they would be frustrated that something is going to happen to inflame the shipping wars and would say so.
Another thing certain shippers were saying is that the leaked pictures of Daryl near the moose crossing sign were just down the road from the Commonwealth and were a scene where Carol caught up with him before he left the states and they had some kind of interaction.
That's proven to be false. We're now being told by the screeners that he's in Maine, very far from the Commonwealth, and Carol is nowhere in sight. To those of us to *actually* follow the details of the story and the symbolism, this has a lot more ties to Tales of the Walking Dead's Davon episode. If you haven't watched it, I would highly suggest you do. We're hoping to see some obvious ties to it in the show.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is a highly anticipated series that provides an international treat for fans of all ages, backgrounds, regions
Of all the articles I read, this may be my favorite. It just gushes about how good Daryl's spinoff is, and has lots of good clues in it. But yes, the line you mention, Nonny, really stood out to me.
If you read carefully, it says Daryl will be asked about those he loves, and being Daryl, he's fairly closed-mouthed about it. But they specifically entangle that idea with him saying, or almost saying, a name that will break the internet. The Carylers, obviously, assume it will be Carol. But would him saying her name break the internet? I don't think so.
Exactly!
It doesn't make sense that Carol's name would break the internet. He already told Carol he loved her before leaving the CW, so it wouldn't be anything new. The names of any other character (Rick? Judith? Michonne?) wouldn't either because the audience knows they're out there somewhere. To break the internet as the reviewer suggests, it would have to be someone we don't know about (most of the GA doesn't think Beth is alive) or something we haven't heard Daryl say before.
So, here's what I'm guessing/hoping for. What if someone (Isabelle, I'm assuming) asks Daryl if he's ever been in love? Now, it says it's an "almost" name drop, so maybe he doesn't actually say Beth's name, but mentions a girl he once ended up alone on the road with or something.
That would be sublime. 😍
And naturally other shippers think he'll refer to Carol. But here's the thing. Let's say--you know, just for kicks--that he IS talking about romantic love and he DID refer to Carol. I still don't think that would break the internet. Sure, the Caryl shippers would go absolutely ballistic with triumph and joy, but remember that, while they're very loud and vocal, they're just a small part of the internet. Most of the GA doesn't know who they are any more than they know who we are. And I think the after TWD viewer who isn't part of the ship wars would just go, "huh. Okay. So they finally had Daryl say he was in love with someone." And then they would shrug and move on. Because most of the GA wants Daryl to find a happy ending, but they don't care overly much who it's with.
Now, obviously I DON'T think he's going to say Carol's name, in a romantic or any other capacity. My point is just that no matter how you slice it, Daryl saying Carol's name would not break the internet, so that can't be what the reviewer is talking about.
But referring to Beth would be completely different. We've never heard him talk about her before. And if he talks about feelings he had for her, well, even the average viewer remembers his and Beth's storyline (AMC has certainly kept it in the forefront of most people's minds all these years) and would have an emotional reaction to Daryl talking about her, and even more so if he says he loved her.
Now, of course this is all speculation one way or the other. We have no idea what he will actually be talking about in that scene. Again, this is just what I'm guessing/hoping for, because it's the only thing I can think of that would "break the internet" as the article says.
So, I've already addressed most of this. I'm not getting the Daryl/Isabelle romance thing at all when I read the articles. Again, just read them very carefully. It says there are set ups that feel like romance tropes, but it doesn't actually say there's a relationship, and the same thing could have been said of Connie and plenty of others.
As for the happy ending, I really think we'll see something of that by the end of the first season, but remember that the reviewers have admitted they can't talk about that. But even if we don't get a total Daryl/Beth reunion in S1, keep in mind that Judith's line about his happy ending probably spans the entire spinoff series.
And if I'm right about him mentioning Beth, (yes, still a big IF right now) well, there's no reason to do that unless they're foreshadowing her coming back into the story.
So, as always, we'll have to wait and see what the episodes bring us.
Can reviews be misleading? Yes. Definitely. And I don't even think it's always done purposely on the part of the reviewer. Sometimes yes, sometimes, no. But we have someone who has seen the show and is trying to reveal it without spoiling it. Each reviewer has their own thoughts and impressions and biases that naturally leak into their reviews. Some of them don't have English as their first language. Some of them are Caryl shippers, and that will make their reviews sound a certain way.
So, you just have to keep in mind that these reviewers are human beings with their own insights and opinions. And while that might make their review come off as misleading, it's really just that they have their own interpretation of what they're seeing, just as we do. Whose to say who's right or wrong? (Except we're totally right. 😉😁😇)
Overall, I've really enjoyed reading all these articles and harvesting clues and insights from them. I'm more excited for the Daryl spinoff than ever and still think it is leading to Beth. And we'll get episode 1 in just a few days. (Yay! 🎉)
These are just things I've realized or else other people have pointed out to me in the past few days. Or stuff I just forgot to include in my analysis.
Head Wound in the Mona Lisa:
So, back in 2016, Erik Jensen, the actor who played Dr. Edwards at Grady, posted this:
Erik Jensen has fairly consistently posted suspicious things over the years, so we always suspected he knew Beth would be back and was dropping hints. now this in the latest episode of Daryl Dixon:
Coincidence? Um, no.
Grady Sequence Parallels:
I had someone say they thought at the part after Daryl fought with Quinn on the catwalk and knocked him out, there might have been some Dutch angles like in Coda. I went back and watched, and I didn't see any major Dutch angles per se. The camera slides sideways a few times, so I get why it felt reminiscent of Grady. I just don't think they're true Dutch angles.
But I still think this person was onto something. Why? This is why:
The top one is a bit hard to see, because Rick just happens to step in front of Beth just then, but Daryl is holding his hand out to Beth. He holds his hand out to Laurent in EXACTLY the same way.
Follower insight on Why Antoine Wanted the Birds Set Free:
Daryl Dixon 1x02: Alouette - Video Symbolism Analysis - Part 2
Hey Everyone! I divided my video into two parts this week. I've posted them both at the same time, so you don't have to wait for it. I just thought it might be easier to watch if I cut it into two parts of roughly half an hour each.
