The Walking Dead Episode 413: "Alone"
I am MADE of squee.
Everything under the cut contains spoilers for Episode 413: "Alone" which aired last night. Do not read further if you haven’t seen the episode!
You guys. YOU GUYS!! Daryl is happy! Daryl is happy and content and he found a dog and and and
Okay, I have had only a 2 hour nap in the past 31 hours, so I'm loopy and I am literally dashing this out in a giant emotion-based flaily gleeful bout of verbal diarrhea. BUT OMG YOU GUYS.
So. I tried to be unbiased when I watched. I really did. I tried to keep my delirous squee to a minimum. And then I thought, what if some complete stranger who'd never seen the show before walked in on THIS episode? What would that stranger think?
And then I let the squee run free. Daryl/Beth, baby!
Okay. So.Much.Touching. Daryl, who normally flinches away from any kind of contact, lets Beth take his hand. TAKES HER HAND BACK. Gives her a freakin' piggyback ride. And then then omg then, when they are in the funeral home and he's bitching offscreen that she's taking too long and she says "I'm going as fast as I can" he SCOOPS HER UP AND CARRIES HER TO THE KITCHEN. Check out the smile on Beth's face. I mean. He doesn't do that because he has to. He does it because he WANTS to, because it will make her happy, because it will make HIM happy, because he's actually being goofy. Daryl Dixon has probably never been goofy in his life.
He puts a flower on the gravestone to make her feel better.
That conversation at the table when she keeps asking "what made you change your mind" and at first he just grunts and she calls him on it because that's what Beth does and then he just LOOKS AT HER and she gives this tiny little 'oh' and and and
I love this Daryl. I love this journey that he's on.
He still doesn't know how all this emotional stuff works, but he's tentatively learning. He wants to be happy. This is a Daryl who for the first time ever in his whole miserable life doesn't feel shackled by his past and feels like maybe he actually deserves to be happy. And he wants to believe in the good in people because Beth sees the world through this, like, prism of goodness. What some might see as ghoulish - the walker in funeral garb - she sees as beautiful. And Daryl just… studies her, like she's this fascinating creature and he just.can't.look.away. He stands in the doorway and watches her sing, he wants her to keep singing. He looks so fucking smitten. And he sees all the lightness and purity in her and he needs to believe in that. Believing in that, being with her, living by her example, makes him a better person. Makes him want to find a new place with her and make a new start and have a home and protect her and teach her and and and
OMG.
So that fight scene between Daryl and the walkers and the gurneys was ridiculously good. So frenetic and sincerely scary. And then he gets outside and she's GONE and he runs and runs - like in the house he's looking like he washed up, he's clean and neat - and then you see him running and he's… how long has he been running? HOURS AND HOURS RIGHT. He's sweat-soaked and disgusting and so scared and alone and he let her down and let himself down and now he's so so so lost. Heartbreaking.
He has no choice but to go with Joe and the gang of mouthbreathing troglodytes. Daryl's not an idiot, he knows that they're up to no good. But he can't find Beth if he's dead.
Also, I hate Joe and want him to die.
So my completely speculative no-spoilers-here thoughts are this: The people in the car are from Terminus, and that's where they took Beth. The funeral home was one of their safe houses for when they go out searching for survivors. In my heart of hearts I still don't trust that Terminus is a good place. Could turn out that Beth gets hoodwinked a la Andrea (Terminus keeps the darker parts hidden from her) or could turn out she knows Terminus is bad and she's being held against her will. Either way, she's there and alive. (Option 3: Terminus is good and Beth is happy there just doesn't feel right to me. Why would the people in the car not turn around to get Daryl then?)
Daryl stays with Joe and the mouth-breathing troglodytes until they either get to Terminus (which the troglodytes plan to attack) or until they spot another of group - my guess is Rick's - (which the troglodytes plan to attack.) Daryl then pretends to go along with it until he can prevent the attack/signal Rick/get away. (I am not sure how Glenn & Abraham and the rest of the gang are going to fit into my little theory. At all. So yay show for keeping me guessing. But also, Mr. Gimple, are you aware that you only have three episodes left to hopefully wrap this up? ONLY THREE.)
My HOPE is that all of this doesn't make either Daryl or Beth lose their (newfound to Daryl) faith that people can be good. That there are decent people in the world. That you must have empathy and compassion and love for others to be truly human, else you might as well just be a walker. I don't want Daryl to regress. I don't want Beth to become hardened.
Then I want Beth and Daryl to kiss. The End.
(I was going to sort of... put a disclaimer that I guess you could skew everything between Beth and Daryl into 'friendship' as well. Then I think of the way he looks at her and I only see smitten kitten. So… I don't think I personally can. I mean, I kind of can - she represents goodness and he needs to hold onto that - but emotionally I'm all GUH *flaily hands* But if it never goes beyond friendship for the two of them, I've always got fanfic. Hell, fanfic is how I keep my Daryl/Glenn love alive ;)
Also… NORMAN GOT HIS DOG. Okay so he didn't stick around but HOW FREAKIN' ADORABLE WAS THAT DOG. I am of the belief that the dog was just a stray that happened to lead the walkers to the doorstep, and when Daryl heard it bark he just assumed it was there hoping for a handout like last time. He let his guard down. He made a mistake and opened the door. He's allowed to fuck up occasionally.
Oh my gosh and how cute was that first visit from the dog? When Daryl's all "I told you to stay back" and Beth's like, "Yeah, but Daryl. You said there was a DOG." THAT IS ME. THAT IS ME RIGHT THERE.
I can't even.
Okay, so there was other stuff, too. I loved the opening flashback with Bob's life of loneliness before he was found, and seeing Daryl and Glenn together omg, and how clean and pulled together they looked back then. I loved the throwback to the three questions, and the contrast between that and the end scene with Daryl and Joe's Troglodytes and how clear it would be to Daryl that these are Bad Guys. I love love love Bob who is just damned happy to not be alone again, and his sweet little hesitant kiss with Sasha.
Love Maggie and Sasha badassery and Maggie also admitting that she can't go it alone. I guess she was taking a cue from the lesson of Michonne's pets providing a covering stench by lying down amongst the dead walkers, but I don't know how she planned on watching for Bob & Sasha from there. Maybe we're supposed to think she passed out?
So now everyone is on the tracks (and presumably - hopefully - Beth is already at the end point.) Let's get these folks together again!
If you want to talk about the ep, feel free to comment! I even have much less on my plate this time around, and should be able to reply. :) BUT PLEASE TAKE NOTE: NO SPOILERS FOR THE COMIC BOOKS OR UNAIRED EPISODES. I know almost nothing from the comics and I don't want to know. Spoilers seriously ruin my enjoyment of a show. So please… be careful. Thank you.
Now I go to… pass out? Nah. Talking Dead! I can last another 45 minutes. Heh.
.
Everything under the cut contains spoilers for Episode 413: "Alone" which aired last night. Do not read further if you haven’t seen the episode!
You guys. YOU GUYS!! Daryl is happy! Daryl is happy and content and he found a dog and and and
Okay, I have had only a 2 hour nap in the past 31 hours, so I'm loopy and I am literally dashing this out in a giant emotion-based flaily gleeful bout of verbal diarrhea. BUT OMG YOU GUYS.
So. I tried to be unbiased when I watched. I really did. I tried to keep my delirous squee to a minimum. And then I thought, what if some complete stranger who'd never seen the show before walked in on THIS episode? What would that stranger think?
And then I let the squee run free. Daryl/Beth, baby!
Okay. So.Much.Touching. Daryl, who normally flinches away from any kind of contact, lets Beth take his hand. TAKES HER HAND BACK. Gives her a freakin' piggyback ride. And then then omg then, when they are in the funeral home and he's bitching offscreen that she's taking too long and she says "I'm going as fast as I can" he SCOOPS HER UP AND CARRIES HER TO THE KITCHEN. Check out the smile on Beth's face. I mean. He doesn't do that because he has to. He does it because he WANTS to, because it will make her happy, because it will make HIM happy, because he's actually being goofy. Daryl Dixon has probably never been goofy in his life.
He puts a flower on the gravestone to make her feel better.
That conversation at the table when she keeps asking "what made you change your mind" and at first he just grunts and she calls him on it because that's what Beth does and then he just LOOKS AT HER and she gives this tiny little 'oh' and and and
I love this Daryl. I love this journey that he's on.
He still doesn't know how all this emotional stuff works, but he's tentatively learning. He wants to be happy. This is a Daryl who for the first time ever in his whole miserable life doesn't feel shackled by his past and feels like maybe he actually deserves to be happy. And he wants to believe in the good in people because Beth sees the world through this, like, prism of goodness. What some might see as ghoulish - the walker in funeral garb - she sees as beautiful. And Daryl just… studies her, like she's this fascinating creature and he just.can't.look.away. He stands in the doorway and watches her sing, he wants her to keep singing. He looks so fucking smitten. And he sees all the lightness and purity in her and he needs to believe in that. Believing in that, being with her, living by her example, makes him a better person. Makes him want to find a new place with her and make a new start and have a home and protect her and teach her and and and
OMG.
So that fight scene between Daryl and the walkers and the gurneys was ridiculously good. So frenetic and sincerely scary. And then he gets outside and she's GONE and he runs and runs - like in the house he's looking like he washed up, he's clean and neat - and then you see him running and he's… how long has he been running? HOURS AND HOURS RIGHT. He's sweat-soaked and disgusting and so scared and alone and he let her down and let himself down and now he's so so so lost. Heartbreaking.
He has no choice but to go with Joe and the gang of mouthbreathing troglodytes. Daryl's not an idiot, he knows that they're up to no good. But he can't find Beth if he's dead.
Also, I hate Joe and want him to die.
So my completely speculative no-spoilers-here thoughts are this: The people in the car are from Terminus, and that's where they took Beth. The funeral home was one of their safe houses for when they go out searching for survivors. In my heart of hearts I still don't trust that Terminus is a good place. Could turn out that Beth gets hoodwinked a la Andrea (Terminus keeps the darker parts hidden from her) or could turn out she knows Terminus is bad and she's being held against her will. Either way, she's there and alive. (Option 3: Terminus is good and Beth is happy there just doesn't feel right to me. Why would the people in the car not turn around to get Daryl then?)
Daryl stays with Joe and the mouth-breathing troglodytes until they either get to Terminus (which the troglodytes plan to attack) or until they spot another of group - my guess is Rick's - (which the troglodytes plan to attack.) Daryl then pretends to go along with it until he can prevent the attack/signal Rick/get away. (I am not sure how Glenn & Abraham and the rest of the gang are going to fit into my little theory. At all. So yay show for keeping me guessing. But also, Mr. Gimple, are you aware that you only have three episodes left to hopefully wrap this up? ONLY THREE.)
My HOPE is that all of this doesn't make either Daryl or Beth lose their (newfound to Daryl) faith that people can be good. That there are decent people in the world. That you must have empathy and compassion and love for others to be truly human, else you might as well just be a walker. I don't want Daryl to regress. I don't want Beth to become hardened.
Then I want Beth and Daryl to kiss. The End.
(I was going to sort of... put a disclaimer that I guess you could skew everything between Beth and Daryl into 'friendship' as well. Then I think of the way he looks at her and I only see smitten kitten. So… I don't think I personally can. I mean, I kind of can - she represents goodness and he needs to hold onto that - but emotionally I'm all GUH *flaily hands* But if it never goes beyond friendship for the two of them, I've always got fanfic. Hell, fanfic is how I keep my Daryl/Glenn love alive ;)
Also… NORMAN GOT HIS DOG. Okay so he didn't stick around but HOW FREAKIN' ADORABLE WAS THAT DOG. I am of the belief that the dog was just a stray that happened to lead the walkers to the doorstep, and when Daryl heard it bark he just assumed it was there hoping for a handout like last time. He let his guard down. He made a mistake and opened the door. He's allowed to fuck up occasionally.
Oh my gosh and how cute was that first visit from the dog? When Daryl's all "I told you to stay back" and Beth's like, "Yeah, but Daryl. You said there was a DOG." THAT IS ME. THAT IS ME RIGHT THERE.
I can't even.
Okay, so there was other stuff, too. I loved the opening flashback with Bob's life of loneliness before he was found, and seeing Daryl and Glenn together omg, and how clean and pulled together they looked back then. I loved the throwback to the three questions, and the contrast between that and the end scene with Daryl and Joe's Troglodytes and how clear it would be to Daryl that these are Bad Guys. I love love love Bob who is just damned happy to not be alone again, and his sweet little hesitant kiss with Sasha.
Love Maggie and Sasha badassery and Maggie also admitting that she can't go it alone. I guess she was taking a cue from the lesson of Michonne's pets providing a covering stench by lying down amongst the dead walkers, but I don't know how she planned on watching for Bob & Sasha from there. Maybe we're supposed to think she passed out?
So now everyone is on the tracks (and presumably - hopefully - Beth is already at the end point.) Let's get these folks together again!
If you want to talk about the ep, feel free to comment! I even have much less on my plate this time around, and should be able to reply. :) BUT PLEASE TAKE NOTE: NO SPOILERS FOR THE COMIC BOOKS OR UNAIRED EPISODES. I know almost nothing from the comics and I don't want to know. Spoilers seriously ruin my enjoyment of a show. So please… be careful. Thank you.
Now I go to… pass out? Nah. Talking Dead! I can last another 45 minutes. Heh.
.