#idec for her that much but her potential . she would have been awesome

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food . water . vbros women being written well .

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ok hi guys

for those asking for it, this is a post about 7x10

but please keep in mind these are my own opinions and feelings and I don't mean to influence anyone with them whatsoever

I do also have a theory which I'll be including at the bottom because reasons

click the cut if you feel like listening to me ramble

(and also beware of possible spoilers)

So.

Okay.

Where the fuck do I start.

I'm not gonna lie. I didn't love this episode as much as some. I liked it. But I would not call it my second Consumed. 

As amazing as their chemistry is and as muchhhhhh as I have fucking missed them, there are a couple of things I can’t ignore about the writing. If you did enjoy it all, that's awesome, and I am so happy that you did and it's definitely not my intention to make anyone feel badly or try to change how they feel either. It's just my own thoughts (to which, again, I am just extremely fucking frustrated with the stalling) but I was asked to post my opinion so here I am.

It's not that I didn't like what we did get but it's more of what still has yet to happen that is causing me to rip every fucking hair out of my head.

Right so I’ll discuss the episode first then post a theory… if you want to skip my episode opinions, you can go to the bottom for the theory. (Or just abort the whole post when you realize what you got yourself into by clicking this)

So, first of all let me just say that of course it's fucking amazing and adorable and everything else under the sun anyyyyy time Caryl share a scene. That's a given because it always is. They just light up the screen in any scene they are in together. And it will forever baffle me as to how tptb can possibly deny these characters and actors screen time when they are the freaking highlight of the entire series but I digress.

Things I did love about this episode:

> All the acting was incredible. I don't know how any of them aren't receiving nominations and all the awards. It's wrong. They deserve it like fuck.

> Daryl's speech to Richard, I fucking adored to pieces. Don't mess with Carol in any way, or Daryl will kill you, got it? And I lovedddd the build up with "Say her damn name!" That was fucking cute okay. It was my favourite part of the episode, in fact.

> Daryl lied to Carol for Carol. He lied because he absolutely loves her like hell and he cannot stand to see her suffer any more heartbreak than she already has had to deal with. He recognizes that she's in a fragile place right now, and as much pain as he's in himself (for all that he blames himself for over Glenn) he holds it in. To spare CAROL. He did it before with the child walkers in Consumed and now he's done it again in another attempt to make things easier for her if he can, any way he can. Because he knows she would/could blame herself too if she knew Negan had killed after she left and that she might start thinking that she could have done something to prevent those deaths. Even though we all know that's not true and that's not how this world works, (that it doesn't matter how much you try to prevent the bad, it happens anyway), the sheer fact that Daryl tried to make sure she didn't have to feel that torment at this moment, says it all and more. He fucking loves her more than anything on the planet and will do anything to protect her.

> The hugs and all the nuzzling…… yes. I've had requests for gifs so I'll gif some parts I found especially cute. I mean, all touching and hugs are good touching and hugs. When would I ever complain about touching and hugging? Um never so don't get me wrong I loved them on their own and for different reasons but here’s the thing the thing the thing, for me, when it comes to hugs to end all hugs, there is just no topping this……

Nothing will beat the Terminus hug in my eyes (unless it includes….OH LET'S SAY…. THE FREAKING KISS ITSELF) so I must admit, as cute as all the hugging was in 7x10, it didn’t top No Sanctuary. Not for me anyway. 

Right.

Moving on to things I did not like:

First and foremost, I guess I sound greedy with this but idec anymore:           IT. WAS. TOO. FUCKING. SHORT. We wait months upon months upon months upon months……….for approximately 4 minutes of screen time. Just……… :x (I’m sorry but it’s something I just can’t deal with for much longer)

Other than that, I have two main gripes with this episode:

1) The fact that Daryl leaves Carol at all. I assume it was because he thinks she's in a delicate place emotionally, so he doesn't want her to get involved in the fight with the Saviours and potentially get caught in a dangerous situation so he leaves knowing he'd have to tell her things if he stayed. If we read into it, I suppose we can come to this conclusion. However, I have two problems with that, and one is that we are always forced to assume and infer these things rather than hearing words or a conversation in the script about where he is going, when he'll be back, or Carol inquiring for that matter etc. because she would ask him ffs!  The second problem is the fact that while no, he doesn’t want to involve her in order to protect her, he also would not leave her side if there was anyyyy potential threat around her (which there is!) let alone the Saviours whom he knows are in the very area and whom he had just seen earlier in the day! It’s not Daryl, imo! Especially when they jussssssssst made it so evident that he loves the fuck out of her to threaten Richard if anything happened to her in the very same episode!  So, we're supposed to believe that he leaves her after trying to protect her, even making a speech about it just 6-8 hours before? No. Nope. No. Yes, she's strong enough to protect herself but that still wouldn't matter to Daryl. He protects her regardless. Now, I know the Saviours are after HIM but I still do not believe Daryl would leave her alone knowing that danger is around the corner (almost literally!)

So here is where this is a continued issue for me and the writing. Because I feel like this was an obvious tactic by tptb when they decided they needed Daryl elsewhere for the next installment of their story. It was like they need him to be at Hilltop now, so poof. Hilltop it is. Nothing else matters because of that one stipulation in their plot. Sorry for being so picky but it just gets seriously frustrating sometimes to watch the characters moved around according to a chess board instead of thinking of how that action will affect the character themselves and our beautiful relationship that kinda has to take the immediate backseat to those decisions. The writers seem to rely quite a bit on gimmickry now that it seems the first thing they are concerned with is how things appear to the audience rather than staying true to how the character would actually think or act. Just my opinion, but I can’t help it, it bothers me.

2) The second gripe I have; Yeah, I also can't help this but I'm upset that one more time we watched an opportunity float by where Daryl could have voiced his feelings but didn’t. Okay. Yes. I know why they are still holding that back. But after every fucking thing he just witnessed with Negan/Abe/Glenn and the shit he went through in Sanctuary (not to mention that the only reason he escaped was because of the inside help from Dwight/Sherry) and how other people have died before his eyes, like Denise who just gave him advice about telling the woman he loves that he loves her before it's too late,…. and he still doesn't take the advice? Come on. It's stretching the limits of realistic now. If he didn’t know if he or the woman he’s in love with would be alive the next day, he would be holding onto her as tightly as possible and telling her something about his feelings. I absolutely agree that Carol was not in the right state of mind as of 7x10 to have been making out with him on the couch (YET) but I still see no reason why Daryl couldn’t or wouldn’t have told her sommmmethingggggg in words about how he feels. And yes, I do know that his lie about Negan was a form of admission, and in fact, I felt there were a TON of words left unspoken to be conveyed through other actions (like the way he went back to hug her was basically his way of saying “I love you”) but ummm, imoooooooo, he also should have the fracking words by now too. Yeah, I know, I know, I know why it didn't happen here. But it's the carrot dangling that is getting ridiculous for me now and I find myself rolling my eyes every time they stall past another scene.

Le sigh.

Alright. There it is.

I loved the Caryl we did get but I’m still frustrated with the Caryl that is still being held over our heads. 

Despite my disappointment with those things, however, I want to remind people, for those feeling down about where Caryl are heading, 

please don't feel down about where Caryl are heading! 

Because even though they are still playing with the ambiguity for now, this episode is most definitely setting up for the future! Not only Daryl's feelings that are now coming out one (slow) piece at a time (as with Richard), but Carol's inevitable return to herself. And what that will mean for Caryl.

That brings me to

                                                                Theory time.

Good news: it's about the finale and you're gonna like it.

Bad news: it's the last fucking one I'm doing for this show if it turns out not to come true as of 7x16. (I'm sorry to say this but they have me until the screen fades to black the night of the finale because I'm too tired.)

SO. OKAY. This involves several easter eggs that were placed throughout season 7 (or before) and yes, it’s onlyyyy a theory (which very well could be wrong) but I'd say there is the slight possibility it could happen, based on things they purposely placed in the show for us to see.

In a nutshell, it goes like this: I think Caryl could finally kiss in the finale.

And here is why:

Easter Egg 1)  Who's The Boss 

It was in The Cell (not-so-coincidentally DARYL'S episode) and it’s shown on the TV Dwight is watching at Sanctuary. It was on the screen long enough to make note of and it makes you wonder why they left it there for as long as they did. For those that don't know, Who's The Boss is an American sitcom that aired in the 80s. It was actually pretty funny but more importantly it had a very prominent couple-to-be/turned couple who just happened to go canon in the finale of season 7/premiere of season 8. Yes, it absolutely could be a coincidence but hmmm maybe it’s not…

I would like to give all credit for this nugget to the lovely @ikkleosu, though, because while I had noticed the flash of Who's The Boss, I hadn’t thought to check out episodes until she noted exactly what went on in each ...

If anyone is interested, in the season finale, Angela (the lead female character) kisses Tony (the lead male character) to “show him how she feels”…..

link here (skip to the very end): 

                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em3ZZp_jsl8 

And then in the premiere of season 8, Tony reciprocates and tells her he loves her and it marks the moment they become a full-fledged couple….

link here (very beginning of this vid): 

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SorDhv764LY

Tony and Angela have a few shades of Daryl and Carol to them as well, so yeah, like @ikkleosu said, it's just really interesting that we are in that sammmmmme freaking set up now on twd where two characters are in almost the exact same place, pre-canon at the exact same time and it just happened to be an Easter Egg placed in Daryl’s episode. 

Obviously could mean nothing but……….

Easter Egg 2)  Carl and Enid's forehead kiss turned kiss

Sound familiar?

They did that for our benefit, you guys. It was a fucking tease and I want to punch them for it but it was like they were hinting that a forehead kiss can (and will) be romantic, knowing full-well that we are awaiting the kiss for Caryl.

Easter Egg 3) “Denim Dreams” (a romance novel)

This was pretty obvious but I hope everyone caught the romance novel Carol was reading? Interesting how they focused on it in 7x10. Hummmm, "It's like a damn romance novel" anyone?

But wait, there’s more.

The lovely and brilliant @pixiegrunger pointed out to me that the cover of this romance novel actually sort of looks like it could be a man and a woman riding a horse..

Why is that important you ask? Well see, we heard reports of Carol and horses at ASZ in the finale and it happens to also be when a particular war mayyy begin to go down…

As @pixiegrunger says it could kind of be like Carol is the knight on a white horse coming to save the man she loves now?

She also noticed this….

on the wall/overturned train car/truck/whateveritis where Daryl just happened to threaten Richard over Carol, which could also have to do with the finale…….

Nope, there is no proof of anything yet, but it’s interesting right?

Easter Egg 4) Romance novels every freaking where.

See Carol kneeling on the ground here?

And do you see the stack of books to the left? The romance novel she was reading earlier (titled “Denim Dreams”) is in that pile. Well right below that one is another romance novel that was sitting on her coffee table during 7x08 by Randi Smith that appeared to have a couple kissing on the cover…

And I suspect there are more in that pile that are too blurry to make out as well. 

The point? There are romance novels out the wazoo in this episode (when DARYL shows up), which Carol is apparently reading. 

Just sayin’

Easter Egg 5) The canteen sharing from season 5

I swear this was fucking tease too and I swear it still has to do with kissing. And remember also that Carol was the one who first offers Daryl the water. Then Daryl to Carol. Angela > Tony. …?

Okay so putting it together, here's my potential theory:

I think post-7x10 Carol is going to come to the realization that she absolutely cannot lose Daryl. She loves him so fucking much and she has to protect him for that reason now. You could see that she almost went after him in the end of 7x10. HE was what she needed to allow her to see that her decision to isolate herself is not an escape at all, because she can't truly run away from the pain or the feelings she has. They are always there and I think she will decide now that she wants to hold on to the good. To Daryl. Knowing as she now does that she can't live apart from him anymore and pretend everything is fine. Because he is a very big reason she can go on. She loves him. She needs him. And she knows he loves and needs her. So I think she will decide to fight for him (and yes, Team Family when she finds out about Glenn and Abe), then she will ride in on her horse (just like the romance novel?) and she will "kill for love" in the finale.

But here's the part that I think could also come at the very end; they can't simply end the arc with no tangible indication of the choice she is finally making and why and that's where I think a kiss could happen, to let Daryl know how she feels about him (since she had left, and he was obviously quite hurt by it) and to set up the arc that is to come in season 8. (Just as Angela did in the finale of Who's The Boss) I don't think it would be any more than a single kiss at the very end because I don't think there would be time for much else but it would be enough.

Nope, nothing is conclusive and everything here is conjecture but at the same time, these items were placed in each episode for a reason so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what they do with them. 

You’re a fucking trooper if you got through all that. lol. And remember they are my opinions/thoughts only y/y