‘The Walking Dead’ reaction: Was that Daryl, Carol reunion almost romantic?
Mrs. Carter: Can you read anything more into what we saw tonight on “The Walking Dead“?
We know that for fans of Daryl and Carol who love what the relationship between the two, they had one of the best moments of the entire series tonight — he refused to let Richard sacrifice her for his high-risk plan, and once he figured out where she was, he was eager to pay her a visit. The two shared a loving embrace, and then Daryl did do something controversial: He opted not to tell her the truth about how Negan had taken the lives of many people they held dear.
If you love someone, shouldn’t you tell them the truth? It’s a good discussion to have, since Daryl may also have been thinking that loving someone is at times protecting someone. If Carol wanted to be a person away from the violence and the murder, he may not have wanted to tell her something that would bring her back into it. You can debate as to whether the love he has for her is romantic (we like to think that at least subconsciously it’s there), but it’s almost indisputable that he loves her as a person and values her in his life. He wants her to be whatever person she wants to be, and her happiness is a priority.
Still, you do have to think that she’s going to be none too pleased when she inevitably learns that Daryl lied to her…
In getting to the title of the article, the closing minutes (where Daryl departed the cabin) gave us one of the most potentially-romantic moments of the entire series for the two. There was a brief moment between them where you thought that the goodbye could bleed into something more, and he could decide not to leave the cabin at all for the night. We read some of this emotion into their last embrace, but this may also just be the sort of projection so many of us do with characters we want to see together on TV. There is something to leaving Daryl single and romantically unattached; it makes him akin to a unicorn in a world where they are now many romantic pairings. We just know that simultaneously, there are a pool of people with a different reading on where his story could go, one where there could be a great culmination of years of buildup and speculation.
What was your read on the Daryl / Carol scenes in tonight’s episode? Share below! Also, head over here if you are interested in some further news when it comes to “New Best Friends,” including our full review! (Photo: AMC.)