Daryl (+Beth) and ‘settling down’
In season 6, everyone is surprised to learn that Michonne and Rick are now together, after they were literally caught naked.
Daryl seemed to think little of it, and continued his season 5 and onward trend of disinterest and lack of any real passion or enthusiasm.
Then Abraham asks him point blank,
He’s closed off, but lets his face slip for just a moment. It’s like you can see him seeing that moment right before she was taken- again and again. He looks so sad and tired. From season 5 he seems to use his hair as a physical shield from others.
Daryl never opens up about Beth, not even to Carol or to Rick, but it’s more in what he doesn’t say that’s revealing. He doesn’t say, ‘no actually, I never have thought about that’. Instead, he says
It reminds me of another scene from early in Alexandria, where he’s fully shut down post-coda, and Rick tries to reach him. I think it may be Rick trying to kind of sus out what type of bond Daryl and Beth had, by bringing up his loss of Lori. Either way, it seems very intentional to have Rick open up about this specifically to Daryl. Like he said in the episode following her death, “I know you lost something back there.”
He’s clearly trying to encourage him to go explore their new home, like the rest, by hinting that even though Lori didn’t make it, he’s still going on. He’s not dead, and neither is Daryl, not yet at least.
Again, what Daryl doesn’t say is more interesting. He doesn’t say ‘oh well that’s sad you lost someone, I can’t relate’. Instead, he seems to acquiesce to what Rick is saying, an agreement and sharing of his nostalgia.
‘Here we are.’ Just not with them.
Why would he want to go look around? She’s not there so it’s hollow anyways. It means nothing to him, because she’s not enjoying it. She’s gone, just like Lori’s gone.
In 4x13, it’s a totally different Daryl than we’ve really ever seen, relaxed, teasing, content. He doesn’t even have the same constant pacing about to explode, about to leave any minute energy. He’s planted into the ground, happily. They no longer look for the others, the seasons are changing, and they have each other, and that’s enough now. Without realizing, the entire goal of their days has changed, from frantic searching and despair, to more ease and comfort.
Beth makes it clear she’s tired of moving on, so it’s all left to his decision. When he finally suggests they stay, she doesn’t seem shocked. It looks like she knew she could convince him to stay from the start, and just had to play it right. She looks happy, just like he does.
Abraham never met Beth, but he met her on her death bed, cradled in Daryl’s arms. He saw the emotion, the care he took of her lifeless body.
Like Rick, I’m sure he’s assuming that if Daryl had thought about settling down since the world had ended, it would have been with the girl whose body he held with such reverence and sorrow.
He never says No,
because he had thought about it, but shit doesn’t settle.
💔
