#greenback dollar

If we put our tinfoil hats on, surely we can come up with a better interpretation. Both @wdway and myself are deep enough into TD territory to view most symbolism through our special TD colored lenses, and we have no problem interpreting the “3G$” as “BG$”. Squint your eyes and suspend your disbelief and I’m sure you’ll see it too😄

Obviously, in our scenario, the BG stands for Beth Greene. But what about the dollar symbol?

Like I mentioned above, I wrote about the “money/currency” theme last year. Long story short, it’s connected to the symbolism we see around Beth, and we see that demonstrated by Lance Hornsby in season 11 of TWD. He carries around a lucky coin, and he likes to let the coin decide when he’s faced with difficult decisions. Heads or tails? The coin decides.

I’ve circled the number “82” on Lance’s coin. As I wrote about in this post, the number 82 (or episode 8x2) is crucial because it refers to the episode where we saw the second Blue Heron painting, it’s resurrection symbolism. And the fact that we see it on Lance Hornsby’s lucky coin suggests the “money/currency” symbolism is intertwined with this as well. And that’s how symbolism works in TWDU. There are usually many layers to each symbol. Everything can be interpreted in multiple ways, and most symbols are synonymous with other symbols. “Beer” and “bear” are examples of this, they can be used interchangeably, and they both in my opinion ultimately point to the North Star/home symbolism (for exemple here). Radios and dogs are other exemples, they ultimately point to the Sirius symbolism, which means “return/resurrection/rebirth”. I’ve written about that here.

Another thing tptb like to do is use words that sounds similar phonetically, like serious/Sirius, beer/bear. They proved they were able and willing to utilize this methodology in TWD 5x16 when Daryl and Aaron followed a guy to Del Arno Foods (“there are no foods”).

You know, the place with the trailers that had “How The Harvest Gets Home” on their side…where they found the Alaska licence plate with the star constellation the “Big Dipper” and “Polaris” (which is the North Star, and therefore North Star/home symbolism)…

With that in mind, come on a little journey with me. Let’s explore some symbolism! We’ve heard a lot about French impressionist painter Monet recently. What word in the English language could “Monet” phonetically sound like? Put your tinfoil hat on and sing “Monet” three times out loud to the tune of a well known ABBA song…

In 1x4 we even had tptb outright confirm the connection for us. Quinn, Isabelles ex-boyfriend, brings Madame Genet over to discuss business:

"I brought you here to negotiate for the American". He asks Genet what that's worth. She suggests weapons? Calvados?

Quinn only wants a Monet.

Now, let's appreciate how the auto-generated subtitles on this screenshot below interpreted Quinn's request for a Monet as "money". Just to be absolutely clear, his prize is a Monet, meaning a painting by Monet. "Japaneese Footbridge" to be precise. But the fact that the auto-generated subtitles heard "money" basically proves my point. Phonetically, “Monet” and “money” sound very similar, much like serious/Sirius and bear/beer.

And finally, this statement from Madame Genet further reinforces the connection between "Monet" and "money":

"Quinn is a transactional man".

It is hereby thoroughly established by tptb that any reference to the painter Monet could be interpreted as a reference to the "money/currency" symbolism. Quinn can give Genet what she wants, but a Monet is his price. The Monet is the currency that will pay for the transaction.

With that out of the way, let’s return to the graffiti on the wall behind Daryl in TWDDD 1x4. Say we’re crazy enough to believe it says “BG$”, what does that even mean?

In my “Heads or Tails” post from last year, I talked about a few significant instances of “money/currency” references around Beth:

There’s this scene from 4x12 Still, where Daryl inexplicably collected money and jewelry at the Pine Vista Country Club. Beth was as confused as the rest of us, what did he need that for?

For symbolism. He needed it for symbolism.

Later we saw Beth light a stack of dollar bills on fire:

“Fire” is Sirius symbolism as I’ve talked about in many of my posts. It means return, it means “coming back”…

In TWD 11x2 Acheron 2 we saw this:

…a 100 dollar bill with a note which talked about “coming back”, and there’s also a “radio” mention…(sirius symbolism)

It is clear there's a recurring theme around the "money/currency" symbolism, namely one of "coming back", or in other words, Sirius symbolism.

So why have tptb decided that “money/currency” references are symbolism that indicates that Beth will be returning/coming back?

And how could the graffiti from TWDDD 1x4 play into this type of symbolism?

Because there’s this:

It turns out the term “greenback” dollar is slang for the US currency. The term originated from the 1860s, and stems from the fact that the notes were literally printed with green(e) ink. They were "green(e)" on the "back"...

So, when @wdway sent me her screenshot of the graffiti behind Daryl and told me she suspected the “3G$” in reality was a “BG$”, I was already primed to agree with her. In the past, I've tied this theme to various representations of money/currency. This time however, the BG (Beth Greene) is directly tied to the dollar symbol ($). So you could argue the graffiti on the wall behind Daryl, as he sets the pigeons free(!), spells out "Beth Greene Green(e)back dollar”.

Green(e). Back.