"You were like me."

Hi,

I understand how you feel, and I totally agree!

While there's tons of symbolism indicating Beth's return, determining when and how the symbolism will pay off is always the hard part. However, as this is the end of the spin, they MUST pay off the themes established for the spin-off.

Additionally, Norman's interviews, and Gimple's, during the filming of season 4 are very telling. First, Norman said, "there was ALWAYS going to be a very specific ending."

This entire series, Daryl, Isabelle, Carol and others have said that Daryl left the Commonwealth looking for "something". This happens to be the exact word that Rick says to Daryl in 5x10 before the music box wakes up. Seeing how distraught and depressed Daryl is at the loss of Beth, Rick says to Daryl, " It's been 3 weeks since Atlanta. I know you lost SOMETHING back there."

So what's the ending that has ALWAYS been planned? It's Daryl getting his SOMETHING back aka Beth.

In an interview about season 4, Gimple said that season 4 was going to rectify things from the past. Of course, this will include things from Daryl's childhood, but after he makes peace with his childhood, then he will get his reward which is finding Beth.

Think of it like this. Carol makes peace with Sophia dying, and now she will get the loving family she didn't get with Ed and Sophia with Antonio and Justina. That's her happy ending.

To parallel that, Daryl will make peace with his childhood. Then, he will be reunited with Beth and at some point Laurent getting the "home" or family he didn't have as a child. That's Daryl's happy ending.

Finally, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So looking at the last season of Fear The Walking Dead, what did they do?

Not only had they brought back Madison in the previous season, they specifically brought back Troy, who had been beaten in the head with a hammer and thrown into the water. Both these characters had been "dead" for many years.

So anyone saying it's not possible that they would bring back Beth obviously has not watched Fear The Walking Dead which is under the direction of the same chief content officer, Scott Gimple.

How did the flagship end? With Rick, who had been "dead" for years to the rest of Team Family, seen for the first in years.

Will Beth be seen alive by the end season 4? I really think so.

Do I think it will be a full story?

No, I think they will save that for later, but I 100% think we will see her alive before the end of Daryl Dixson.

After all these years, Emily is filming again for TWDU. Not just a cameo mind you, we know she will be in at least one full episode. Beth is back for a REASON.

Now is the time.

Trying so compute a headcanon for this but I can’t it’s just so cute my brains stop it’s so good omg 🥺🥹

Bethyl shippers:

Fandom creators spend hours of their free time to create something to make fandom thrive...for free and for the love of the game.

And what do they get? A wholeass heap of fuck all. No reblogs, no comments, no nothing. And people are surprised that creators are dropping out left, right, and centre??

"Why is there no long fic anymore?" "Why did my favourite writer stop?" "Why is my favourite artist not posting anymore?"

It can be so intimidating to post stuff when you aren't confident. Then, when all you get is hate (whether from AI bots or humans accusing you of being AI because you used a semicolon correctly) you just... stop.

I want to write. I have three stories I am planning out, and I want to share them, but some are smut and I don't want the hate.

Ages ago, I was a vocal supporter of my favorite fanfic author and, I will admit, as the years passed and they stopped writing or answering as often, I let it die. They recently reached out (after 2-3 years) and I started rereading our conversations stretching back years, and I realized what a joy I had let fall by the wayside. We loved talking about the OC's backstories, how they came up with the plot, and other things. Supporting authors doesn't just support them, you often get behind-the-scenes info. I'm not saying this to bribe you into talking to authors, or that all authors will respond, but I am saying that reaching out can get others to open up and share things you would never know.

Sure, some people suck. Some creators want to be left alone, or monetize, or just are dicks. But most are putting something they worked hard on and loved out there in the digital void, and reaching out in any way lets them know that they aren't the only ones that loved it.

**Editing and reblogging to add some AMAZING news found by @obidala2 today.

Michael E. Satrazemis will direct 3x1 Trillium(aka Bethroot), 3x7 Hourglass and 3x8 TENEBRAE.

He also directed.......SLABTOWN!

We now have Hoffman and Negrete, writers from Beth's era, AND Satrazemis director of Slabtown

This was posted by a Facebook account that seems to have connections one day after my original post. Freaky coincidence?

******

TD has been tracking art and its symbolism in TWD since the inclusion of and focus on the large painting by Caravaggio called The Denial of Peter featured prominently in Slabtown 5x4. Caravaggio painted this work months before he died, and it's considered the epitome of his style.

What is an element of that style called? Tenebrism. See the definition below.

The writers used tenebrism as a stylistic element throughout the entire SlabTown episode not just to highlight the painting itself. I've included a couple of pictures below, but the tenebrae style is used in multiple shots throughout the episode. To make sure we picked up on this symbolism, they included, the at least TD famous, close up of Beth's sneakers with the white and black shoelaces symbolizing the contrast between the light and the dark.

Slabtown could, in fact, have more accurately been called Tenebrae.

Matthew Negrete wrote Slabtown and is a writer on Dead City this season for episodes 2 and 4. He is also an executive producer for the season. He and Hoffman were in the writer's room when seasons 4 and 5 were written. They are intimately familiar with Beth's arc and its symbolism.

The writers often use artwork symbolically in TWD and one of the ways they point this out to us is by having it appear out of place. For example, this Caravaggio was said to have been rescued by Dr. Edwards outside the High Museum in Atlanta. However, this painting has never been housed there.

Guess where it is housed? The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City setting for Dead City.

Many of the works featured in Dead City season 2 at the Met are not housed there. Most notably the Goya painting which is housed in Spain. This ties Dead City to Daryl Dixson as Goya is the signature artist in the opening credits of DD3.

What could this mean for Beth return? I've been tracking the season 5 replay since season 1 of Daryl Dixon. I've always thought that the replay of Slab town would occur after Beth reappears to explain at least part of where Beth has been this whole time. Could 3x8 of Dead City be that replay? I think it could, but it could also be one of those titles with multiple meanings.

In Dead City it could mean the end of New York City's return. The lights could go out in the city as the religious meaning of the word tenebrae would indicate, but it could also include a coda or post credit scene that shows where Beth is, thereby connecting it to Slabtown.

In light of recent sightings of both Norman and Emily in Italy, and all the past connections to Italy including the Up the Wolves song, the many references to the Mona Lisa painted by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, and of course Caravaggio being an Italian artist, we can't rule out a reunion between Beth and Daryl in Italy.

I'm not 100% convinced this is going to be the case, but it's worth taking a look at while we're talking about tenebrae and Caravaggio.

Based upon spoilers and rumors, we know that the US military will be part of Daryl Dixon season 4. According to reports, there is a large naval ship that Daryl saves, perhaps his reward is to be granted a flight to another military installation. There is a rumor that an abandoned air base with signs in English was used for filming. We have the behind the scenes pictures of Daryl on a flight looking excitedly out the window. So, theoretically, if Daryl is flying to another base in the area to meet up with someone in Italy, where would the most likely base be? Below I've included a list of American bases in Italy. The one I highlighted below stands out because Naples was where Caravaggio painted The Denial of Peter.

It is another Naval Base like the one in Cadiz and coordinates with other bases throughout the region as a command and supply hub.

As you can see above, Campania can be translated as " happyland ". Now wouldn't it make sense for Daryl to find his happy ending in " happy land"?

One final little tidbit tying Dead City into the European and Italian location, is the behind the scenes photo taken during filming featuring Maggie, Negan, Herschel, and the Croat fighting a rainstorm just outside the Croatian embassy. Remember the Croat tells Maggie in season 2 that he wants to go home to Croatia. Where is Croatia? Next to Italy.

I'm not saying that Dead City season 3 will wind up in Croatia by any means, but I do think it's an interesting connection especially with the storm. I've been waiting for a 5x10 kind of storm for our season 5 replay. Will that storm be it symbolically with the location of Croatia hinting at Italy?

I'm not sure, but I am about 90% sure that these spin-offs are merging and Beth and Daryl will be part of whatever happens next with Dead City, or perhaps it'll be called something new, where Maggie, Negan, Beth, and Daryl will reunite.

Again, I'm not 100% convinced that Italy is where this will end, but it's definitely interesting.