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whateverisbeautiful · 25 days

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#39: The Love of My Life (1.04)

gif cred: @figmentof

Now for years, I’ve pretty much acted like ‘love of his life'/'love of her life’ are Richonne’s official pronouns. So many of us have been referring to Rick and Michonne as the love of each other's lives for ages. And to now have an in-show moment where that's expressed directly - Heavenly. 😇 And I’ll be gushing about it for forever.

This scene is a magnificently acted and heartrending knockout. 👏🏽 And it's especially powerful because it's in this moment that Michonne gets to be so vulnerably honest about her pain and what/who has been causing it recently 🥺...

So after a beautiful, quiet, and poignant exchange between Richonne, they again have one of those emotional lingering looks in each other's eyes, and then the building returns to rumbling.

Rick uses the building as a way to sorta put a halt to the vulnerability when he starts to get up and say, “We gotta get out of here. We’re running out of time.” As he stands up and puts his pants on, Michonne looks up at him and concretely says, “No.”

Then I always like the way Rick says, “Michonne.” One; cuz I just always love the way he says her name and two; Even tho it’s very true that the building is about to collapse, you can already hear in Rick’s voice that he knows he’s probably going to comply with whatever Michonne wants to do lol.

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

Plus I was like sir, Michonne didn’t hesitate to throw y’all out of a moving helicopter during a raging storm so staying in a shaking building a while longer is nothing to her crazy self. And we love her for it. 🤭

Michonne says with certainty, “We need to decide what’s next right now.” Rick tries to make his case one more time by reminding her that “this place is going down” and once again you can hear in his voice that he knows he’s about to give in.

Michonne looks right in his eyes as she says, “Sit, Rick.” She knows this is how it has to be. And it’s true. The whole reason she yanked them out of that helicopter was because they needed neutral ground for their timeout. If they leave here it’ll only make it harder to talk things through and get Rick to not revert to thinking he needs to call the CRM.

Michonne makes an executive decision for them when she says, “We’re not moving until we decide.” I like how serious she is about this because she knows what’s at stake. Like if they can’t figure it out in this conversation this could potentially end with them going their separate ways. So they need to give this the time it deserves and the building can wait.

Michonne again recalls her bestie Nat when she says, “Nat used to say ‘You got to know when to go’ It’s not time to go. Not until we know where we’re going.” I’m with it. 👌🏽 And I think the building is with it too the way it shakes and rattles after she says this. That building said 'that's right Rick, sit down, buddy.' #DirectQuoteFromTheBuilding.😁

And so Rick gets on board and sits back down on the bed, placing the PRB in between them. I love that even despite thinking it’s crazy to stay in here, Rick is willing to stay a little longer in this crumbling building for Michonne.

gif cred: @nat111love

And then I love the framing of it when Richonne both look down at the PRB on the bed and then Rick looks out focused on the shaking building and Michonne looks up focused on her shaking husband.

As Rick then looks at her with teary eyes you can see so much of that suppressed pain within him slowly but surely bubbling up to the surface. Michonne again takes this approach of asking questions that help Rick get to the bottom of what he really wants and feels when she asks, “After I left here, why did you come after me?”

I love that this is what she wants to address first because Rick going after her was a clear sign that they are way too magnetically connected to actually let each other go.

gif cred: @figmentof

Rick says, “You know why.” And I love the way he says it. 🫦He knows she knows he loves her more than life itself. But then I just adore Michonne saying, “Say it. I need you to.” Yes.👏🏽 Danai’s writing said this miniseries is not gonna just vaguely infer and imply when it comes to expressing Richonne's feelings about each other. Very refreshing to see.

I love that Michonne wants Rick to say the reason aloud even tho of course she knows. There’s power in hearing the words both for her and for him to have to hear himself directly say aloud why he couldn’t let her leave.

gif cred: @nat111love

And because she needs to hear it, Rick so willingly tells her why, and without even trying to be as romantic as possible he manages to be as romantic as possible by giving his honest answer, “You’re the love of my life.” 😭

gif cred: @riickgrimes

PERFECTION. 🙌🏽 After witnessing Richonne's beautiful years-long journey, can we just pause and take another moment to appreciate that there is now a scene where Rick declares Michonne the love of his life. All we've ever done is won, y'all. 😭

Hearing Rick so sincerely tell Michonne that she’s the love of his life brings me copious amounts of joy. 🥹 Rick knows she's the one. Past, present, future - Michonne is the one for Rick. The one & only. 😌

Then he adds to the devastating beauty of it all when he says, “I couldn’t just let you go. It felt like my heart ripped - ripped itself out of my chest and walked out the door.” If you wanna talk about romance, baby, this is it right here. 😭😍🫠

gif cred: @msanonships

I love Danai for writing this and Andy for so powerfully performing it. We feasted on every word and this gave such a shining example of why Richonne's story is an epic love story through and through. 👏🏽

After watching his panic when she left the apartment earlier, I love that Rick now describes it by saying it felt like his heart ripped out of his chest and left. By personifying his heart walking out the door he’s saying Michonne is his heart. She leaves, his heart leaves. 🥲

And again, Rick isn’t even trying to be romantic. This is just genuinely what is pouring out of his heart for her. It’s just his truths. And it’s beautiful that his love for her is still so overwhelmingly strong that he could never move on or let go of her. He couldn't let her go when she walked out of the apartment just like he couldn't let her go during their almost 8 years apart. 😭

gif cred: @nat111love

I also think about Rick and Michonne's first season 3 scene face to face at the prison when Rick walks away and tells Michonne, “Can’t let you leave.” Man has that been proven more true than he could have ever guessed.

gif cred: @figmentof

Michonne hears this and she knows she feels the exact same about the love of her life because when she walked out earlier it felt like her heart ripped itself out of her chest and stayed in the apartment. 🥺

Like we really saw how extremely difficult it was for both these magnets to even have a few moments of thinking they were walking away for good. 🧲💔

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

So she urges Rick, “Then come home with me. It’s that simple.” I love how Michonne’s mindset is so firmly rooted in her belief that she and Rick can go home and overcome anything that follows if they’re together.

No matter how complicated things appear, she believes the simple truth that together they’ll figure it out. And...

But Rick isn’t so sure of that when he says, “It’s not…it’s not that easy.” Again, after so many years refusing to entertain any other idea than that he’d be making it home to his girls, this is now a Rick who is beaten down by the fact that it really hasn’t been as easy as he hoped to make it home.

I like how even tho Rick seems like he’s jumping out of his skin with all the emotions swirling inside of him right now, knowing he’s on the brink of being the most honest and vulnerable he’s been in years, he still gives Michonne his full attention.

Michonne takes another effective approach that is so signature to Richonne - which is leveling through vulnerability. She lets Rick know how the CRM hurt her, leading by example of how he too can open up about how the CRM hurt him.

She says, “Listen to me, when this army attacked my friends, I got hit too. I nearly died.” Once again, it’s important for Rick to hear these things and be reminded that Michonne has been through a lot and so being apart from her doesn’t protect her nearly as much as being with her. Plus now he knows the CRM almost took her life which has got to shake him up.

gif cred: @clonecaptains

She explains how she was holed up in a mall with Nat for an entire year and then emotionally says, “They took a year from me, from my time with my kids.” Pain. 🥺😖

The way her eyes water up thinking about the valuable time she lost with her kids thanks to the CRM. You can tell that rips her up inside because every moment with her children is precious and the CRM stole countless moments.

I feel like the flagship show wouldn’t have given Michonne an opportunity to share not only what the CRM did to her but how it pained her. And it’s another reason I am so grateful to Danai for writing this episode and truly acknowledging Michonne’s feelings.

Then Michonne confesses, “I lied to you. I don’t know how Judith is. I don’t know if she’s okay. She stopped answering the walkie.” The way her voice breaks as she for the first time in a long time has to admit to herself that she doesn’t actually know if Judith is alright. 🥺 I just...

She so badly only wanted to entertain the thought that her daughter is alive and well out there but here she’s vulnerable as she reveals she hasn’t been able to know for sure for quite some time.

Rick reacts to this as it hits him that because of the CRM, Judith had to be without both her parents for an extended amount of time.

Then Michonne says, "They've taken so much from us. Why give them any more?" So true. Michonne handles so much so well in ep 4 in how she gets Rick to really come to necessary realizations.

Like when she shares with him what the CRM took from her (a year, her time with her kids, her chance to get to Rick sooner, nearly her life) it’s leveling through vulnerability to help him see they took things from her too and so she understands what they’re capable of taking from people. And it shows him how he can open up with her and share what they took from him.

Rick is squirmy over all this tho and so he starts to look away. But I love that Michonne takes his face in her hands and keeps him looking at her as she passionately says, “This hope that you have in the CRM, sacrificing yourself - it’s not real. We, your family, are real. I’m real.” Y'all, it’s physically impossible for me to not tear up over this right here. 😭 So superbly performed and so powerful. 👏🏽

gif cred: @nat111love

I love that she wants Rick to see that over the years he’s been fed a narrative that isn’t real. This type of sacrifice won't solve things for him just like it didn't solve things for Okafor either.

Like Okafor tried to act like sacrificing being with his wife was the right way but it clearly still broke something major inside him. And Okafor's viewpoint of living only for the greater good was a story he told himself and believed in to run from the darker reality that he had destroyed what made him human and what made life worth living when he 💣 his wife.

Fortunately, the love of Rick’s life is here to remind him of what is and isn’t real and what he should actually pursue which is his being with his family.

I love that she appeals to Rick as the Family Man he is at his core when she says "We, your family, are real." She's helping him see he has a whole family who loves him and wants and needs him with them. And Michonne wants Rick to see that being with them can be his reality the second he chooses it.

And then I especially love Michonne earnestly telling Rick "I’m real."

I think about Rick’s last full TWD episode and how he has this breathtakingly beautiful moment with an imagined Michonne (again, thank you to Danai for advocating for that scene 🙏🏽) and at the end of the hallucination, Rick says, “...But this isn’t real” and Michonne assures him “Yes it is” because their love is real in any dimension.

The real Michonne doesn’t even yet know about all the dreams and visions Rick has had of her, starting all the way back from his final ep in s9, but it makes it all the more fitting for her to now almost be reminding Rick he doesn’t have to dream anymore - She’s right here.

It is so beyond refreshing to now see Michonne really in front of Rick and again helping him see that she is real and their love is real. Always has been, and always will be.😌

I adore how she then says, “Our love. This? It doesn’t get denied.” 👏🏽I love the passion in that delivery and the way Michonne has this clear reverence for the power of their love. Me too.🙋🏽‍♀️

gif cred: @nat111love

Richonne's love is really and truly an unstoppable force and it can’t ever be denied so I love that Michonne knows that and verbalizes it to Rick here.

gif cred: @nat111love

She says their love can’t be denied, “No matter what you keep trying to tell me…” and when Rick again starts to look away she turns his face back to her, almost as this act of recentering him to look at what's real and important as she says, “Or yourself.” She’s speaking some gospel truths, as always. 🙌🏽

gif cred: @nat111love

After she witnessed his panic attack in bed, Michonne knows Rick is wrestling with something deep within himself and knows he's been trying to lie to not just her but to himself too. And honestly, the two are so one that lying to himself is lying to her, and lying to her is lying to himself.

Michonne saying "or yourself" is her addressing that Rick keeps trying to convince himself of something that's untrue and trying to deny a love that simply cannot be stopped.

gif cred: @nat111love

And then y’all, this next part both breaks my heart and heals me because Michonne looks at him with tears in her eyes as she gets exceptionally vulnerable to tell Rick, “And this - this back and forth…it’s hurting me, Rick.” 😭

How are we supposed to watch this and not burst into tears? 🥺

gif cred: @nerd4music

First of all; it is meaningful beyond words that Michonne got to just outright express that she’s hurting. And specifically hurting from Rick’s behavior and back and forth.

As I’ve said before, it’s so fitting to address the hurtfulness of the back and forth because it’s not just the pulling away that’s painful. Like to have those moments where they’re so blissfully bonded and connected only for that Rick to continually disappear. It’s all hurtful. 😔

Rick was so one-track-minded in his desire to keep Michonne safe that he ended up being the one to cause her harm. And I love that she just told him straight up that what he was doing was hurting her and that that was the catalyst for him to finally be honest and vulnerable with her.

Michonne says, “It’s making me become someone I don’t recognize. You’re hurting me.” The vulnerability is so raw and authentic. 😢 This is a woman who knows she can be completely real and honest with her man, even when he’s in this state.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Rick hears this and you can see her words hit him like a ton of bricks as he looks down with a tear. He knew he was deliberately trying to hurt her, but I think having to be confronted by those actions directly and hear Michonne say it outright, it becomes real what he’s doing.

And you just know from his penitent expression that he’s immediately deeming it intolerable to continue hurting her.

gif cred: @nerd4music

I love that something as simple as saying "you’re hurting me" ends up being so powerful. Because Michonne could have tried to say it without saying it or just let it be the elephant in the room but instead she has the maturity to just call it what it is and say what you are doing is hurting me. And hearing it laid out plain and simple has an immediate impact on Rick.

TOWL made it very clear that Michonne does not exist just to carry the weight of Rick’s emotions. Supporting and uplifting him is a beautiful thing that she does so happily, willingly, and well, but she is also a person who needs to be heard and held in this relationship.

All that back and forth Rick was doing, it was making her lose herself as she tried so hard to hold onto those flickers or her Rick while seeing the man she loves rapidly fade away at any given turn. Similar to how Rick saw Michonne burn away in his dreams, Michonne has been having to watch her Rick routinely try to burn himself away from her in real life.

She needed the deliberate hurtfulness, the continuous deflections, and the kiss-like-we’re-still-madly-in-love-but-then-act-like-everything-we-have-is-broken thing to stop. For her sake and his. For their sake. And hearing her outright say that he’s hurting her is enough for Rick to snap out of it and finally put down the wall with the one person who always gets all of him.

Michonne continues to look at him as she says with certainty, “And I know you. That is not how you love.” This dialogue man. 🫠 Elite. 👏🏽🔥

gif cred: @nerd4music

I love this line so much. After saying several times in this episode that she doesn’t know who Rick is anymore, I love that here she says with conviction that she does know him and she knows the way he loves and it’s not like this.

Rick has a giant heart and is a very loving person, which is a huge reason he’s so compelling and unique as an apocalypse protagonist, and I love how Michonne expressing this here shows that she loves how he loves.

That’s actually something I noted a lot throughout TOWL (especially in episode 5) which is I adore how Michonne loves the way Rick loves. Like he’s Loverboy 5000 and loves giving gifts and affection and warmth and Michonne is so wonderfully reciprocal and appreciative of all the love he has in his good kind heart. It’s great. 🥰

And because she knows and cherishes how Rick loves, she’s able to look at him in this moment and tell him that trying to hurt her like this is not him. This showing of love through lies and inflicting pain has been eating away at Rick, and so he knows this is not how he loves too.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Before this episode aired, there was a lot of discussion and curiosity surrounding what would be the thing that gets Rick to officially snap out of his defeated state in TOWL. What would prompt his turning point?

And I appreciate more than I can even properly express that what it ended up being was Michonne expressing her hurt. That was it. 🥲That’s enough. That’s more than enough. 😭

gif cred: @figmentof

Rick hearing that he’s hurting his wife is what spurs him to finally go to the depths of everything he’s feeling and let it out because no matter how hard or scary it’ll be, he’ll do those hard things if it means no longer hurting his wife. That means so much to me. 🥲

Danai deserves several gardens worth of flowers for this alone. 👏🏽🔥Having the hurt and vulnerability of a character like this be voiced and validated is rarely seen in media, and so it was very meaningful and healing to witness depicted on screen - both witnessing Michonne getting to voice her hurt and for it to matter so much that it’s the very thing that gets Rick to finally make a change. 🥹

Truly, this scene had me looking at Danai like...

She really wrote something special with this scene and this whole episode.

And also I just so appreciate Richonne’s communication. Rick’s previous relationship severely lacked that as he and Lori went whole pregnancy terms not talking about their issues and not getting things off their chest.

I think about the season 3 premiere when Lori says they need to talk and when Rick asks about what she just vaguely says, “Things.” She was still trying to tiptoe and make Rick have to be the one to directly get the tough stuff out in the open. Which was pretty unfair to do to him, especially after he was already the one who had to initiate getting all the secrets out of her and Shane in season 2 since they had no intent of confessing about their betrayal until he confronted them.

But with Michonne, she says the exact thing she’s feeling and thinking which makes their communication so healthy. I’m glad that now Rick has Michonne who loves and trusts him enough to be outright vulnerable and just tell him something as straightforward, honest, and effective as “You’re hurting me.” And he loves her enough to not shut down but rather hear her, receive it, and finally open up after she expresses this. He won't let himself intentionally hurt the love of his life any longer.

gif cred: @figmentof

So Michonne has powerfully poured her heart out to Rick in this phenomenally acted scene and now...it’s finally time for Rick to more fully pour his heart out to her and reveal what's really going on inside him.

And the next part of this scene can best be described as incredibly emotional and truly exceptional. 😭👌🏽

#richonne #towl #reveling in richonne #1.04 #RIR (39)#the ones who live #twd towl #michonne grimes #rick grimes #rick x michonne #twol #michonne #rick and michonne #twd: the ones who live #twd #richonnefandom

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mintsandapples · 5 months

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nat : none of those emergency hides for her. no, something custom. we measure, you get to work, i walk her through the screamsticks - god help her - then she sleeps so she can face oblivion with some pep! and we do an all-nighter.

#michonne #nat towl #they looooved her 😭#her being seen and embraced and taken care of especially after how isolated she felt post-bridge really meant everything to me #screencaping my fave moments and there are sooo many beautiful shots it's hard to choose. they said Top Tier Cinematography Only!#michonne x nat #aiden and bailey #towl 1x02 #the ones who live #twd: the ones who live #**#nat twd #towl #towl moments

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lilgoblinbitch · 7 months

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okay,

i still CANNOT FUCKING GET OVER this last episode of TOWL… no show has ever had me in this much of a fucking chokehold (besides twd). like, i would sell my lungs to watch the next episode bc atp i can’t even breathe anyway without this show out 😫

and it’s the fact that richonne is just so sexy together… their chemistry on screen is UNMATCHED. they fucking killed it.🔥🔥🔥

also i fucking sobbed so hard when nat died. i really wish he didn’t have to die bc i was looking forward to seeing him help richonne fuck up the crm :((

also i need to get this off my chest as well: rick has got me sopping wet in the tight black t-shirt in the first episode. that man is so fucking fine, and it’s the way he ages like wine too.

anyways…

i’m probably gonna write another rick smut and post it later because i’m feeling inspired again

(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

#towl spoilers #spoilers #dilf central #GIVE US RICHONNE!!!!#suffering over here #rick grimes #the walking dead #michonne grimes #richonne #michonne #the ones who live #twd towl #twd: the ones who live #goblin speaks

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itsmymeaningoflife · 6 months

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I’m just trying to figure out timelines for everyone across the spin offs (and further series of spin offs) so correct me if anything here is wrong

S9ep5- Rick blows up the bridge and is presumed dead by everyone. Jadis is seen to “save” Rick and take him away in a helicopter to the CRM.

S9ep14- we see a heavily pregnant Michonne and Daryl searching the river for Ricks body. Judith gets kidnapped and Daryl and Michonne both get scarred by the group that took her and the other kids.

S10ep18- set across the 6 year time jump. Daryl lives in the woods looking for Ricks body. Every now and again Carol comes and checks on him. We learn about Leah and how he got Dog.

S11e24- we see ricks failed CRM escape where he throws his bag/ phone/ boots into a boat (presumed to take place somewhere within the 6 year time jump)

TOWL Ep1- we see Ricks other escape attempts over his years of being captured and his slow acceptance of his new life in the CRM. Rick loses his hand in this time. (Also presumed to have taken place within the 6 year time jump+ the rest of twd timeframe)

S9ep5 ending- We are “introduced” to older Judith.

S9ep6- We are introduced to RJ, Rick and Michonnes son.

S9ep7- Carol is taking Henry to Hilltop, and stops off at Daryl’s camp in the woods where he has remained over the 6 years of Rick being missing. She convinces Daryl to come with them back to the communities to keep an eye on Henry for her. Daryl reintegrates back into the communities after his long stretch in the woods with Dog looking for Rick/ Ricks body.

End of s9 through s10- Daryl is fully settled back into the communities and has stepped up to a more leader type role. He’s shown to build a good relationship with Judith and RJ through these season. They call him Uncle Daryl.

S10ep1- Judith and RJ share the story of “The Brave Man”

s10ep13, Michonne leaves Alexandria, leaving the kids in the care of “uncle daryl”. She communicated with Judith and RJ via walkies. Michonne is captured by Virgil, finds Ricks boots, sets off to find Rick and helps the people we see her with in the beginning of TOWL. Michonne tells Judith that she’s going to find Rick.

Early TOWL Ep2- we see Michonne formally joining Nat and his people, Michonne goes out of walkie range and can’t contact Judith anymore.

Twd s10ep16- Judith tells Daryl that she hasn’t heard off her mom in a while and is upset that if Daryl found out that Michonne was in contact with her, he would leave too.

Twd s11ep10- we see Daryl taking guardianship of Judith and RJ in the commonwealth. Carol has also relocated to the commonwealth. Judith says she will stay in the commonwealth as long as Michonne knows where to find them.

S11ep15- Carol is looking after Judith and RJ in the common wealth while Daryl is away. They call her Aunt Carol. She’s seen to be taking care of them in her home, cooking for them, and taking them to school.

S11ep23- judith is shot

S11ep24- Judith tells Daryl and Carol that Michonne left to find Rick because she found something that belonged to him while trying to survive her gunshot wound

TOWL Ep2 later - Michonne and Nat survive a mustard gas attack but spend (presuming a) year phiding out recovering.

S11ep24 finale post time jump- Time jump of about a year (presuming to line up with the mustard gas time jump in TOWL ep2) Daryl says goodbye to Carol, Judith and RJ. Daryl tells Carol they’ll see eachother again. Daryl tells Judith that if he sees anything “out there” he will bring Rick and Michonne home. Daryl leaves the kids with (presumably) Carol while Daryl goes out looking for Rick and Michonne.

TOWL Ep1 and ep2 endings- Michonne and Rick reunite

TOWL ep3-6- Rick and Michonne escaping the CRM and coming back home. Rick and Michonne reunite with their children

DD e5 (flashbacks)- Daryl runs out of gas for his motorbike out on the road trying to find Rick and Michonne. Seems to be in frequent contact with Carol via radio. He’s in Maine trading with a group that rounds up fresh walkers. Daryl goes with the group to trade walkers for gas in order to get home. He uses the groups radio to talk to Carol and promises her he will be home soon. Carol tells Daryl over the radio “(….) came back” but the interference meant he didn’t hear who “came back” (at this point we are assuming that Carol is trying to tell Daryl that Rick and Michonne came back). Daryl ends up captured by this group and in his attempt to escape them, he jumps off the boat into the sea, hoping to land on a lifeboat.

DD ep1- It is revealed that Daryl has ended up stranded in France.

DDep1-6- Daryl meets Isabelle and Laurent. Laurent was born to a freshly turned Walker (Isabelle’s sister) and is thought to be the saviour of humanity. Daryl eventually but reluctantly agrees to help transport Laurent to “the nest” in Paris on the promise of being able to find a boat to get him back to America. He gets Laurent to the Nest, and Isabelle tells Daryl that he’s bad for “abandoning” Laurent when he attempts to leave and go back home. Despite this Daryl prepares to leave and goes to the beach where he prepares to board a boat to take him home, but then sees Laurent has followed him and is surrounded by Walkers. Daryl goes to save Laurent, and misses his boat, leaving him still stranded in France.

DDep6 ending- Carol is out on the road (presumably) trying to track down Daryl after he hadn’t been in contact with her when he said he would. She runs into a man on Daryl’s motorbike and demands to know where he got it, fearful of what has happened to Daryl. She locks the man in the trunk of her car, taking Daryl’s motorbike and driving to the port in Maine to try and find Daryl.

Book of Carol teaser- Carol arrives at the port with Daryl’s bike, asking the group about the man they got it off. They seem reluctant to reveal anything about what’s happened to Daryl. She spots Daryl’s crossbow and takes it, threatening the men and demanding to know where Daryl is. Daryl is shown to still be in France.

Book of Carol (DD.s2)- TBC

Dead City is presumably set a good few years in the future with Hershel being aged up? Not sure exactly where this falls

Edit- I’ve not actually watched Daryl Dixon OR Dead City so this is all just from what I’ve followed plot wise on here. I could be completely out so please let me know if I’ve missed anything vital

#the walking dead #twd #Caryl #richonne #twd: the ones who live #towl #twd towl #daryl dixon #the book of carol #dead city

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frangipanilove · 6 months

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Fighting Fire With Fire Part 2;

"The Duality Of Fire"

(read part one and part three here)

During the early stages of the outbreak, the military used napalm in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Through flashbacks and through FTWD, we saw how Operation Cobalt completely failed to contain the virus, while simultanously contributing to the total breakdown of societal structures. Metropolitan areas on the North American continent were indiscriminately bombed, making no differentiation between the living residing there, and the undead. We also saw, for instance in Shane's flashback to when Rick was in the hospital, how federal forces went in and killed any remaining survivers.

This is the duality of fire. It can be used for total obliteration, but it can also facilitate new life, as we saw in TOWL 1x1 Days, when Rick told the story of how his father burned down the farm, and how it flourished the next year.

During Rick's echelon briefing, we see the duality of the "fire" symbolism illustrated. Both Rick and Major General Beale talk about how you sometimes "have to burn things down in order to bring things back":

Both recognize the tremendous power of the fire symbolism, but they use the metaphor differently. Where Rick is ultimately interested in a good outcome as in facilitating new life, thriving crops and a sustainable future, Beale is literally talking about burning down cities, along with the people living in them.

In flashbacks seen during Major General Beale's Echelon briefing, we witness how the military used napalm on Atlanta and LA.

Napalm is, simply put, a fire bomb made from petrochemocals.

Let's explore the "fire = fuel" angle for a minute.

The opening minutes of 1x1 was our first introduction to the visuals and the symbolism of the show. We see Rick arrive at a gas station in search of fuel.

He only finds death and destruction, meaning that since the very first seconds of the show, the literal opening scene, we see gas, gas stations and fossil fuel surrounded by death symbolism. And, when we later learn that the military bombed the cities and killed countless civilians using napalm, we realise they used a firebomb made from petrochemicals.

The symbolism around gas stations as temples of doom continues, such as in 4x4 Indifference:

This sign quite literally labels the gas station as "hell". The people residing there had committed suicide. Keep this in mind, I'll return to it shortly!

The term "fighting fire with fire" was originally used to describe a technique of forest management, specifically in regards to how to manage wildfires, in which controlled fires were ignited in the path of a wildfire as a preventative measure:

"Fighting fire with fire" as an expression has also often been used to describe vaccines, due to the way it was discovered that exposure to pathogens in some cases could trigger the immune system to produce antibodies against said pathogens, thus resulting in immunity:

When first we met the character Dr. Edwin Jenner at the CDC in TWD 1x5 Wildfire, his name was a reference to Dr. Edward Jenner, an English physician widely known as the “father of immunology”, due to his role in developing the world's first vaccine, against smallpox, in 1798.

It is not a strecth to say that this foreshadows a potential vaccine in TWDU. The virus is called wildfire. Vaccines are often said to be "fighting fire with fire". We learned about the wildfire virus from a character named after the guy who developed the world's first vaccine.

In TOWL 1x2 Gone, we see Michonne involved in a situation that sheds light on how the "fighting fire with fire" symbolism is utilized by TPTB. We see her trying to get through an enormous walker horde, it's a virtual ocean of death:

She tries to distract the walkers by shooting a small missile into the horde, which then explodes. Fighting fire with fire.

Eventually, Nat shows up and helps by adding more explosive fireballs, and the "ocean of death" parts to reveal a way forward.

Fighting fire with fire:

This also provides an interesting example illustrating how fire bombs can be used responsibly, in contrast to the way napalm was used by the military, who indiscriminately bombed cities, killing innocent civilians in metropolitan areas by incinerating them.

It shows that when the people, who have harnessed the tremendous power of fire, have the right intentions, it can be used for good. It shows the duality of fire, and it illustrates the duality of pharmakon, a poison and a cure.

Fighting fire with fire.

This guy stands out from the crowd, and I believe he tells us something about what the wildfire virus in TWDU in reality is a metaphor for:

He's a callback to Rick, back in TWD 1x1 Days Gone Bye:

He beautifully illustrates the ominous nature of the fire symbolism, here represented by fossil fuels, or simply gasoline. We saw it herald death and dystopian hellscape at the gas station in 1x1, we saw it at the gas station in 4x4 Indifference, which was literally named "Hell", we saw it when napalm made from petrochemicals was used indiscriminately to destroy metropolitan areas on the North American continent and massacre anyone in proximity, infected or not.

And we see it again here.

The gas man is Mr. Wildfire Virus incarnate, a posterboy for death and necrotic life, a metaphor for "the old ways". He represents the disease, the plague, the extinction event...

He represents "the end" of humanity!

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the wildfire virus and the walkers in TWDU are metaphors for carbon emissions, the fossil fuel industry and the rapidly escalating threath of climate change to humanity. That's always been my interpretation, and that's solidified after seeing the gas man.

An interesting detail is how the gas man is shown here with gold teeth, as though he's illustrating the incredible wealth accumulated by the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the equilibrium of the ecology of the planet.

Seeing a gas man as the front figure and team captain of an enormous horde of the undead, an insurmountable obstacle, an ocean of death... it's not subtle.

A gas station innundated in death symbolism was the very first thing we, the audience, saw of TWDU, it was literally in the opening scene of 1x1.

And the gas man were among the last things we saw in what's so far one of the last episodes of the last spin off. But a few episodes later, we did see a glimmer of hope, and a potential way out of the mess...

The gas man functions as the face of the threat to humanity in TWDU, and was, in my opinion, inserted as a counter point to what we saw few episodes later, the ethanol as a representation of a "cure", an "antidote" in the back Richonne's escape car.

An electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car, no less...

Again, not subtle...

Bio-ethanol, a sustainable, renewable source of energy, is portrayed as a foreshadow of a sustainable future, in which humanity recovers and thrives.

A green(e) future?

I wrote about how they in FTWD season 4, and in particular 4x16, explored the "ethanol = cure" theme in a post the other week, read more about it here.

Remember how we in TWD season 9, saw the production of bio-ethanol as an alternative source of fuel. We saw how crucial it was, in that Maggie was even seen trading produce for bio-ethanol.

This is a theme TPTB also explored in TWD World Beyond, where especially Elton was concerned about the sixth extinction event, the Holocene extinction.

The kids in TWDWB called themselves "the Endlings", seeming to have accepted that they were among the last survivers of a humanity that was on a direct path to self destruction. Here's from an article in Comicbook.com:

"'Wind always wins,'" Elton tells Hope, borrowing a phrase from his mother who died at the onset of the apocalypse ten years earlier. "Something my mom said about nature deciding who lives and who dies. Turns out she was right."

He explains humans are "at the conclusion of the Holocene extinction," the sixth extinction event on the planet following the Late Ordovician mass extinction, the Late Devonian extinction, the End-Permian extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, and the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

"We were already killing ourselves directly and indirectly, but nature made a shortcut," Elton tells Hope. "It took the dinosaurs possibly 60,000 years to die after 240 million of living, so following that ratio, given the human race's 600,000 and factoring in other miscellaneous variables, I say we have about 15 years until we're gone."

Elton was referring to the walkers when he talked about the threath to humanity, however, if the walkers are a metaphor for climate change, Elton's predictions of 15 years until we're extinct are sobering...

In TWOL 1x6, Major General Beale estimated non-necrotic, meaning human, life has 14 years left.

In real life, the doomsday clock is currently at 90 seconds to midnight (x)...

...we're nowhere near reaching the 2 degrees Celcius target...

...and 2023 was the hottest year on record.

We're not doing great.

TPTB seem to be well aware, because...

...here we see how an electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car represent the "antidote", the future, the "escape" from the extinction event.

Richonne's yellow stick shift electric/bio-ethanol hybrid car represents a potential way out of the imminent Holocene extinction. It represents an "escape" from the sixth mass extinction event, much in the same way a shift away from carbon emitting fossil fuels, to sustainable, renewable sources of energy represents the "cure" against climate change in real life.

But back to the narrative of the show. The accumulation of walkers represent a real threath to humanity, as Major General Beale correctly stated. What could the expression "fighting fire with fire", or "pharmakon", tell us about a potential "cure"? What could the "antidote" be, in the canon of the show?

During Rick's echelon briefing, Major General Beale raised a few issues that would be of legitimate concern, even if most of the rest he said were the ramblings of an authoritarian genocidal madman. He mentioned hordes of up to a million walkers, and he referenced studies suggesting non-necrotic life, meaning humans, could have as little as 14 years left before the the dead would outcompete the living. Millions of walking corpses, spreading diseases, polluting the soil, contaminating fresh water sources.

Those are legitimate concerns and would have to be dealth with. Fire could play a literal role.

Glenn told us in season one. "We bury the ones we love and burn the rest". From an infection contagion prevention point of view, it makes sense to use fire to destruct the wildfire virus. Fighting fire with fire. However, there must be some way to contain the virus while still preserving one's own hummanity. "We bury the ones we love and burn the rest". Unlike what happened during the mass murders of Operation Cobalt during the initial stages of the outbreak.

Again, fire, when used responsibly, could play a role in neutralizing the treath of the plague. It's pharmakon, a poison and a cure.

Fighting fire with fire.

And using fire as a contagion preventation measure was already built into the infrastructure at the CDC. We first saw it in 1x5 Wildfire, when Dr. Jenner accidently knocked over a vial containing samples from Test Subject 19, his late wife, upon which the lab went into full decontamination mode and erased any remaining trace of the pathogen in a great ball of fire.

Later, when the doomsday clock at the CDC reached zero, we watched the entire CDC explode, effectively destructing everything inside, including test samples containing wildfire as well as any other pathogen they might have kept in there.

We also saw it on Hershel's farm in season 2, when the barn where he had kept the reanimated corpses of his loved ones while awaiting a cure, caught on fire. Although, that was more of a display of the symbolism involved rather than a depiction of how to scientifically contain a virus:

We've also seen it countless other times. Fire symbolism has been prevalent on the show since the very beinning, and there's a reason for that. It's because it represents pharmakon, a poison and a cure!

My hypothesis is that "fire" could play a literal role in the resolution of the zombie apocalypse. I also believe that it's likely the term "fighting fire with fire", or "pharmakon", could be meant to be interpreted figuratively, as in the develepment of some kind of cure/vaccine/treatment/immunity.

And like I explained in this post from a few days ago, connections to Beth is found everywhere in the symbolism surrounding these themes.

I mentioned her association with ethanol (as in moonshine = alcohol). I discussed the precedence set by Alicia from FTWD in regards to the bite/cure theory.

And finally, I've spent years now, talking about the Sirius symbolism that Beth has been absolutely immersed in. The word "Sirius" comes from Greek Seirios, which means "glowing", "scorching", it refers to Sirius the Dog Star, and it's associated with the scorching hot "dog days of summer".

"Sirius" symbolism IS "fire" symbolism, they're literally the same, and it ultimately means "return/resurrection/rebirth/reunion", as a reference to how Sirius the Dog Star periodically disappears from the night sky, only to return one morning, right before dawn.

I've talked about how Beth is deeply connected to the symbolism we see around Rick, I've talked about how they so often completely mirror each other and the resurrection symbolism around Rick is identical to the resurrection symbolism around Beth.

If "fire" is a part of the "cure" on the show, the fire symbolism includes resurrection symbolism, which we've seen countless exemples of around Rick and Beth.

And remember, the future is green(e)!

#team delusional #bethyl #daryl dixon #beth greene #team defiance #the walking dead #beth x daryl #twd #daryl x beth #twd towl #twd world beyond

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