#cat schouts

aaa my very first ask!!

I’m currently rewatching the show and i’m on season three, so i’m definitely talking about this through those goggles, but man there are a few scenes that come to mind...

One I really love is the moment where the group makes fun of Daryl over the chupacabra thing. We reference it a lot in fandom as just some oddball redneck flavor but there’s so much more to it for me.

First off: it’s such a small thing, but when he rocks up putting on his shirt, it’s the first time we see what might be scars on his chest? I remember rewatching it and thinking oh. i know where that’s going. the way he’s so fidgety about getting the shirt back on is such a sad detail in hindsight. And even though the others clearly see it, no one says anything. (Same thing later when Hershel patches him up, though that has more of a professional distance to it, maybe.)

Then there’s the part where they discuss the search for Sophia, where Daryl explains his plan and even defends it to shane, who’s starting to give up. When he says whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high. It’s a rare glimpse of Daryl being confident in his knowledge and instincts. And the way rick just trusts him implicitly…(!!!) the way Daryl responds to being trusted and respected… ughdkdj it just hits so hard.

And then Dale brings up the chupacabra story, "the first night at camp, daryl tells us the whole thing reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and saw a chupacabra", and like??? the implication there is so much!! That he actually tried to talk to these people. That he tried to make a connection when everything was falling apart. That he was sitting with them at the fire even with Merle around too (or maybe he wasn’t there (yet)?). It says so much to me about who this guy is at his core.

Especially when we learn later (when he hallucinates Merle) that he used to do a bunch of shrooms and then got made fun of for it-- he still chose to tell these strangers his weird little story.His instinct was to connect, but he’s never really been granted that connection in return. He’s so closed off, but not because he wants to be, it’s just the only thing he knows.

And then of course he retaliates with "people in hell want slurpees" which is the funniest most insane thing to say. I read somewhere (maybe an interview with Norman reedus?) that he imagines Daryl watched a lot of TV growing up, and that it really shaped the way he talks and interacts because real emotional modeling wasn’t available in his home. An awkward one-liner that doesn't reallyy feel like it's just for flavor, it's more like a coping mechanism. It's this nonsense phrase that feels like a tough-guy line, even if it means nothing. That’s Daryl in a nutshell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!