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Leia post in honor of Carrie Fisher’s passing which was 7 years ago today.

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Daryl Dixon explains Isabelle to his soulmate Carol DARYL DIXON - THE BOOK OF CAROL 2.04 "Le Paradis Pour Toi"

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series appreciation • 20 characters: [1] dana scully, the x files

I think the dead are beyond caring what people think about them. Hopefully we can adopt the same attitude.

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Actually, ‘people get upset’ because romantic potential between Carol & Daryl has long been used as a plot device, or a way to exploit and manipulate a portion of the audience, or in the case of The Book of Carol, as a complete marketing misdirection. You want a happy audience, pick a narrative direction and commit to it 100%. Carol & Daryl aren't wishy-washy characters so why should their relationship story be any different?

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Actually, ‘people get upset’ because romantic potential between Carol & Daryl has long been used as a plot device, or a way to exploit and manipulate a portion of the audience, or in the case of The Book of Carol, as a complete marketing misdirection. You want a happy audience, pick a narrative direction and commit to it 100%. Carol & Daryl aren't wishy-washy characters so why should their relationship story be any different?

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MAKE IT MAKE SENSE:

The stark differences in reception to Carol’s and Daryl’s arcs in The Book of Carol

When a show makes its audience work overtime to either rationalize, or completely pan its choices, there’s a fundamental disconnect between the producers, writers, and the characters they’re supposed to understand. It’s frustrating when the fans can see the potential in a character or dynamic that the creators don’t seem to fully grasp, or worse like with #TWDCaryl , choose to exploit the shit out of it for purposes that just seem illogical on all fronts.

For years, inconsistencies in both Daryl and Carol’s storylines on the flagship left us trying to bridge gaps that should have been addressed at the time. Historically, the audience has always had to make sense of the disconnect, but nothing compares to what we're seeing now.

Carol’s current arc in The Book of Carol, is actually making brilliant amends in that regard. Melissa has such a strong sense of who Carol is—her trauma, her growth, her motivations—and she’s not just acting; she’s advocating for a coherent, cohesive story. Melissa continues to prove that when you have a deep understanding of your character, strong advocacy for said character, and the ability to execute the vision, amazing things are possible.

On the flip side, watching Daryl get almost the opposite treatment makes it clear what’s missing. It’s not just a missed opportunity, it’s genuinely sad when you know the character, what he is capable of when given the right depth and development, AND what the actor can do with it. Without a clear understanding of why or when the actor has to explain what's happening by literally retconning his own character instead of showing it in the performance, we get a Daryl who, at best, feels like a hollow shell and at worst, a different person entirely.

The saving grace is supposed to be the dynamic of Carol and Daryl and the sorcery that Melissa and Norman create when they’re together. The Ole Caryl magic is undeniable, not just because of their chemistry but because they make each other better—both the characters and the actors. The creative team’s failure to capitalize on that, and even worse, cheapen it, especially when it’s so obvious and beloved by fans, is just an insult to the core audience and the biggest waste of rich opportunity.

Even if S3 pulls it together, it won’t completely undo the damage already done. We’ve seen the show pull itself together before—S9 and 10 are proof that with the right focus (and leadership), characters can make sense again in the larger story. But they need to get back to what works, and fast. The time for retelling old storylines and recycling old scenes is over.

Some of the fans are still here, waiting for that spark, but the clock is ticking, and the cost has already been too high. The narrative needs to stop feeling like a jumbled mess of mischaracterizations and creative whims and get back to the grounding force, the HEART & SOUL of the story, Carol & Daryl on the same path forward together.

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Dear Undecided and Both Sides are Evil voters.

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Isabelle: tropes, misogyny, and the recurring problem in TWD

This is exhausting, y'all. Isabelle's treatment in The Book of Carol is an old, tired, repetitive textbook example of how female characters have been so often mishandled to push male narratives forward in The Walking Dead Universe.

The show's history of using women as emotional props for male character pain and growth is glaring (HAS BEEN for over a decade) and Isabelle's arc-with such a talented actor and Queen of the Beauxbatons Clémence Poésy-just reinforces this issue.

The rest is under the cut for references and spoilers for season 2.

Instead of giving Isabelle her own rich and fully realized storyline, the show has decided to lean into well-worn tropes: reducing her to a manipulative guide whose primary function is to "heal" Daryl emotionally and make him feel worthy, while simultaneously suggesting that her own worth is diminished in comparison.

The narrative centers around his pain, his growth, while she fades into the background or worse, becomes a tool for shipbaiting-dangling potential romantic tension without real payoff, only to discard her once that tension has served its purpose.

It's particularly painful when the show teases us with the potential for rich character development, and/or friendship development only to quickly revert to tired tropes. Isabelle's m emotional manipulation of Daryl as part of her "role" not only diminishes her worth but also plays into a damaging stereotype that women need to manipulate or "fix" men.

It creates a power imbalance, suggesting that Daryl's growth and self-worth come at the expense of Isabelle's agency, and apparently her life. That her worth is completely diminished by the importance of his pain.

It's a huge missed opportunity and speaks to the deeper issues that The Walking Dead franchise continues to struggle with women being used as plot devices or emotional springboards for men. Isabelle deserved better. Clémence Poésy deserved better and Daryl deserved better. This pattern is tiring, and the show needs to move beyond it if it wants to give its female characters the respect they deserve.

How many times does it have to be said?!!?

DO BETTER, AMC.

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This iconic legendary genre defying female character who became the whole vibe and heart of the show.

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“We work on the show for the fans. They are the whole reason we make the show.”

-Melissa ‘heart & soul of the show’ McBride

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CAROL + ISABELLE & The Use of “LYING”

I appreciate this point and thought-provoking question so much @thegratefulsouth ! Carol has such a long history in relation to lying, deception, and moral ambiguity on the show, but then again, so have most of the characters. Personally, I think the audience is always harsher on Carol for doing the same things that other characters have done or would do. Historically, this was seen through the main show over and over, and the double standard towards Carol, I think is largely rooted in sexism, ageism, and misogyny, and her long, complex history.

Carol’s journey has been defined by increasingly difficult and morally complex decisions, which she takes on at great personal cost. Her lies, manipulations, and choices always feel deliberate and weighed heavily in the story, making her actions seem more scrutinized. Because viewers have been exposed to her growth over a long period, they often impose higher expectations on her, sometimes unfairly. It’s almost as if Carol’s perceived strength and resilience cause people to forget the emotional toll that every one of her decisions takes on her, and they judge her more harshly because of it. The audience might excuse or more easily forgive similar behaviors in Isabelle because they are encountering her struggles fresh and within a narrower context, without the same layered history to unpack.

Isabelle, as a newer character with a more perceived singular motivation (protecting Laurent), may receive more immediate empathy, and/or some critique, even as she also lies or manipulates to the point of emotional abuse. The GA may more readily accept her actions as situational, possibly because she presents as a more traditional, figure without the weight of past trauma-driven complexity that defines Carol. There’s can be a bias where characters like Isabelle can still be seen as redeemable, while someone like Carol—who has made similar but sometimes darker choices—might be viewed as “damaged” or morally ambiguous due to her longer arc.

In both cases, it’s clear that lying is tied to survival and protection, but Carol’s lies come with a depth and weight that the GA might interpret as more morally questionable, even when they shouldn’t. It’ll be interesting to see how these dynamics play out, especially when Carol comes clean with Ash, which will likely serve as yet another test of her resilience and emotional reckoning. Hopefully it will end in a deeper understanding and acceptance for Carol in all ways and success in this new beautiful friendship between kindred spirits.

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Hi, I just recently found your texts about Carol and Daryl and love them. Did you write anything about other characters from TWD?

Hiiii! THANK YOUUUUU! That means a lot, honestly. I have written a meta about Isabelle in regards to the current season, but haven’t posted it yet. As far as other characters, I haven’t written about anyone else since about 2016, lmaooo. That may change as the spin-offs continue!

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This is so relatable @carylisbeautiful Thank you for sharing your feelings and understandable worries. A lot of folks are feeling just like you and that’s totally valid. I am actually feeling pretty optimistic that the show won’t take the characters in that direction or keep them in platonic land much longer, and I explain a bit why below.

I’m putting this under a cut for very vague references to spoilers for season 2.

I actually think everything in The Book of Carol, including Daryl’s situationship with Isabelle, is actually leading up to #Caryl coming to terms with each other, expressing their feelings more, deepening the bond, and moving toward romantic canon, not permanently friend-zoning them or making them wing-people for each other, or otherwise keeping them stagnant. The motion forward may be slow, but I still think what they’re going for is bringing them closer together.

It makes sense to me that everything would build toward Carol and Daryl confronting their deeper feelings and pushing past the emotional boundaries they’ve kept for so long, especially after they have a chance to sit with and process everything that happens in France. The idea that, once reunited, they will no longer feel the need to search for connection outside of each other is powerful—it really reinforces how integral they are to one another’s emotional well-being. And that has its own compelling issues and pitfalls when considering both Carol and Daryl’s trauma and relationships past. The Isabelle angle, though completely unnecessary for Daryl’s character, will be used as a means to an end to get Carol and Daryl on more equal footing as they go deeper into their connection.

I think S3 will be an opportunity to explore what their reunion will mean for them, not just in terms of their deep bond but also how they might finally allow themselves to open up to the more passionate side of their relationship. There’s something incredibly satisfying in the idea that this slooooooowwwwwwwwwwww burn is leading toward a richer, more complete connection, one that acknowledges their spoken mutual love, in addition to the deep connection, passion, spice, that has always been simmering under the surface.

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This comment/question on the post about Daryl: relationships + trauma, is so great and really got me thinking about Zabel’s “mature relationship” comment, so much so that the response became it’s own beast! Thank you @thegratefulsouth for your kind words, and excellent q! I don’t think anyone was expecting another meta about this, but here we are!! Also, I’m long winded, lmao

As far as “mature relationship,” that’s the story they may think they’re telling, or maybe that’s Zabel being cheeky, but we know the ACTUAL mature relationship is Daryl’s relationship with Carol. Daryl and Isabelle are something else. Again, coming from a trauma lens and not the trope-y, sexist, misogynist, storytelling choice lens - Daryl is exploring with Isa like he’s a literal kid who’s left his real home for the first time. He’s disconnected from home, and I feel like he’ll see Isabelle as a way to connect with someone the way he hasn't before. Because he has a solid foundation of attachment with his OG fam, he’s now grown to a point where he is more open to others. The disorientation of being completely ‘away from home’ will possibly move this to a new place than we’ve seen from Daryl, making him look like an entirely different person. Even different from the Leah-era, where Daryl was still in physical proximity to his actual “home.”

Rather than mature, it’s the idea of Isabelle symbolizing more of a way for him to try something new, rather than a fully grounded or mature relationship. Again, it CAN make sense given his long history of trauma and the way he’s developed emotionally over time, that doesn’t mean it does. His connection with Carol is rooted in mutual understanding, something that transcends surface-level emotions or fleeting circumstances. It seems like Daryl’s search for support in Isabelle is more about seeking comfort in his unfamiliar surroundings, and trying to embrace a different perspective, but it’s the connection he has with Carol that’s the real anchor for him. They’ve been through so much together, growing and healing in ways that only they can understand. That shared foundation is the true mark of maturity, even if it’s not always perfect. It’s almost like Daryl is searching for a way to extend what he’s built with Carol, but nothing else will ever reach the same level. In that sense, it’s interesting to think of Isabelle as a reflection of Daryl’s arrested development—a way for him to figure out new aspects of connection but from a much less grounded place than with Carol.

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Carol: Love, Loss, + Survivor’s Guilt

-Inspired by listening to I’ve Never Been to Me and Crazy by Patsy Cline on repeat

Shared from a recent post I made on Twitter

It’s not news in the TWD fandom how Melissa McBride’s insight into Carol’s journey has always been spot-on, especially when it comes to the deeper emotional layers that drive her.

Carol lives and breathes inside Melissa and Melissa LOVES and KNOWS Carol better than anyone. Period. As we keep hearing, the way she describes Carol’s current headspace seems to be centered in unresolved trauma, PTSD, and confronting her survivor's guilt. Like so many of us here who love her, I AM HERE FOR IT. It literally brought me back to this fandom after years away because the promise of Carol Peletier is unlike any character from any medium, and Melissa McBride is just as rare and special. She and Carol have more story to tell and after episode 1 of The Book of Carol, it is BEAUTIFUL already.

For so long, Carol’s very identity has been shaped by loss—both the loss of others and the parts of herself she’s had to compartmentalize to survive. This compartmentalization was initially a survival mechanism, a way to navigate both the horrors of her pre-apocalypse life and the new terrors of the ZA. But then, she was so good at it, it became her superpower.

She became a master at putting up emotional walls, donning her many masks to navigate her compounded grief, loss, and trauma. But over time, what began as a means of survival and a means to find peace, has left her fragmented, and the only two people to have ever been able to see inside those walls are Sophia and Daryl.

Carol’s journey, especially in connection to Daryl, has always been about finding that elusive peace. Her origin story of connection with him is intimately tied to the search and consequent loss of her daughter, and he is literally the only one left in her life who was there. The fact that their bond was forged out of that loss is such a crucial element. Her struggle with survivor’s guilt now with Daryl being gone, links directly back to that time and feels like the ultimate test of her emotional endurance. Like she needs another test?!?! 🙄 But, I digress.

One of the problems now is Daryl’s situationship in France. Carol has always been so attuned to the needs of others, especially Daryl, but often at the cost of her own needs and her own healing. The way Carol perceives his survival without her now, and how it will reinforce her own insecurities, is fucking heartbreaking— because it’s not a reflection of her worth but of the trauma she’s carried for so long. She’s also constantly torn between protecting others and protecting herself, and her methods of self-preservation often come at the cost of personal connection, believing she doesn’t deserve the happiness and wholeness she craves.

Integrating all her masks, not dropping them completely, but integrating them and the pieces of her fragmented self, is key; to accepting that all these parts—her resilience, her vulnerability, her love for those around her—are not mutually exclusive, but rather, all facets of the same powerful survivor. And again, Daryl is the one person left who has seen her in her truest form, which makes his absence (and her perception of his ability to survive without her) even more painful. But with or without him, for Carol, this next step seems to be about reconciling her sense of worth, and realizing she deserves to heal and feel whole.

The hope for her in reuniting with Daryl, her soulmate, is not just about a physical reunion—it’s about the emotional closure she deserves. It’s about Carol finally allowing herself to not only protect those she loves but to be loved, fully and without condition. She’s fought for everyone else’s survival, and now it’s time for her to fight for her own peace and happiness. The question now is will Daryl fully understand that quest despite whatever the fuck he is doing. Oops, I mean despite the separate connections he is making and the emotional regression, confusion, guilt, and projection that seems to be happening. It’s going to be a bumpy road ahead in France, but then again, Spain is still out there.

Melissa’s love letter to Carol - Paraphrased from I’ve Never Been to Me by Charlene

Hey lady (Carol), you’re cursing at your life. Y

ou’re a discontented mother and regimented wife,

With a weary heart who’s lived a million lives.

I've no doubt you dreamed about

the things you'll never do, you’ve ran out of places and friendly faces

Because you had to be free

You’ve spent your life exploring

The subtle whoring

That costs too much to be free

You’ve been to paradise, but you’ve never been to YOU.

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Well. Helloooo! It’s been approximately 184 years since I posted any kind of meta on this site, let alone a TWD-related meta. But here we are, in the year 2024, no less. Nothing like The Book of Carol and Melissa’s return to bring some of us back. Unfortunately, it’s been a mixed bag, and current spoilers point to some really disturbing info about our beloved characters, specifically Daryl. The following is from a recent Twitter post made regarding Daryl’s character and thought it would be cool to post here, too.

CW: Daryl - relationships + trauma

There are so many feelings about the spoilers re: Daryl/Isabelle, and this post isn’t meant to invalidate any of them or defend the storytelling choices or retcon. Umm, no. Not at all. That’s a whole other post and many others have written extensively on the issues of show-running, creative consistency, and marketing of The Book of Carol. It’s not even about shipping, really. On the contrary, this post is to share some thoughts about Daryl as he is now, viewed a bit thru a trauma lens.

Before I start, I feel it’s important to note that I am an LCSW, or Licensed Clinial Social Worker, in the US.

A big part of viewing what’s going on with Daryl’s character is to start by posing some important questions: Where is Daryl emotionally? What’s going on in is his headspace? Is he clinging to what’s there in France because he feels utterly alone and resigned to his fate? What if Daryl is actually able to open himself up to Laurent and Isabelle in part because of his relationship with Carol and not in spite of it? What if he’s capable of connection & love with others precisely because his OG found-family showed him what it can look like in so many ways? Hear me out. It is a powerful thing to consider, especially given that Carol, Judith, and his family undeniably shaped Daryl, offering him his first real sense of belonging and trust. Now it appears totally lost to him - a devastating, compounded, and total loss. And he is NOT OKAY.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t OOC for him to connect with others the way he has and/or regress. As we know, trauma survivors like Daryl, especially those with histories of domestic violence, complex trauma, childhood abuse, and neglect, often find themselves in cyclical patterns of vulnerability. It does make sense that Daryl, even after growing in his relationships with Carol and the fam, might still be susceptible to getting involved in dysfunctional relationship dynamics (cough *Leah* cough) His need to care for others, while being a strength, also exposes him to people who might exploit that—whether intentionally or not. He is, in a sense, truly acting out of character.

In Daryl's current emotional state he’s completely unmoored (by a literal ocean of impossible distance no less) from his foundation of emotional safety, and has appeared to regress to the point of being unrecognizable to some. The idea that Daryl's protective nature and discomfort with intimacy coexists with an ability to be exploited by others, speaks volumes to the complexity of trauma responses and his arrested development. Daryl can embody fierce loyalty and affection, yet be caught in cycles of seeking out or gravitating toward what’s familiar, even if that familiarity is rooted in pain or dysfunction. There are not a lot of options for relational safety in the ZA. Isabelle, Leah, and even Rick, all in their own ways, represent that tug of codependency and trauma-bonding for Daryl. Not to mention, when there are children connected, his protective instinct becomes exponential.

Daryl’s current isolation, insecurity, and uncertainty about the depth of Carol’s love and his OG found-family provides a pretty valid underpinning for why he might be more open to a connection with Isabelle and Laurent, and even actively choose it when given the opportunity to go home. It’s not the arc that makes the truest sense for Daryl, but it is still very true to life in the way trauma can regress personal growth, even temporarily.

At the same time, it’s 100% understandable that this shift feels like a betrayal to Daryl’s character, as it undermines the progress he’s made and relationship choices he’s made in the past. The narrative may fall really short of pushing Daryl forward, instead choosing to revert to old tropes that fail to capture the nuance of his journey. By ignoring the potential for deeper, more layered storytelling, the show risks alienating viewers who’ve been invested in Daryl’s growth over the years. It already has, and I see y’all out there. 🫶🏼

Ultimately, it’s the tension between authenticity in trauma responses and narrative sense and progression that leaves the audience, Daryl, and most likely Carol, completely unsatisfied. IRL, growth is non-linear but in fiction, especially after so much buildup (and let’s face it MISDIRECTION) it’s not unfair to expect a clearer arc forward, versus regression into old patterns.

Hopefully, the progression will materialize in resolution which will in turn, lead inevitably to - truly actualized, authentic, and absolute love in all ways for Daryl with the safest, most accepting person person in his life, Carol. After all, Spain is still out there.

Part 2 Coming Soon: Carol and Survivors’ Guilt