onlycaryl

[onlycaryl]

I am looking forward to season 3 for Carol and Daryl. And the parallels of different characters/couples to my favorite duo. From season two, we had...

Ash and Isabelle parallels to Carol and Daryl

Sylvie and Emile as parallels to Carol and Daryl

Genet and her husband as parallels to Carol and Daryl

Jacinta and Fallou as parallels to Carol and Daryl

Isabelle, Quinn and Anna as parallels to Carol and Daryl with their respective love interests.

Theo and Didi as parallels to Carol and Daryl (my favorite)

And minor others too!

I cannot wait to see the parallels for season 3.

[onlycaryl]

I'm not trying to start a war here (it seems there's already one going on), but is it possible that Melissa McBride does not want to have her character's name in the title?

[onlycaryl]

Was it so that in one version of the TWD Season 11x24 episode script that Daryl was going to kiss Carol and Carol halted him?

[onlycaryl]

These are some things I would enjoy hearing Daryl and Carol say to each other in season three of TWD: DD. I will post them one at a time as they come.

Daryl: "Is it crazy -us being in Spain, too? "

Carol: "Crazier than being in France, you mean? It's hard to tell."

Daryl: "Don't need no globe, now."

Carol: *nods* "Prefer to spin you around, anyway."

Daryl: *snorts* "Still dizzy from that boat ride. Gonna barf all over you."

Carol: "Oh, good! I'll put it in a little baggie and that'll be my souvenir from Spain."

Daryl: *his lips twist at her fondly* That's gross.

Carol: *utters something in Castilian*

Daryl: "What?"

Carol: "Not telling. You've got your Dépaysant and I've got mine."

Daryl:............

Carol: ;)

[onlycaryl]

Message to Dary Dixon,

You have been my favorite male character for years. So I say this with love. Losang's assessment of you as being "a man reacting" was correct. This part of you is not new. Whenever you feel torn between the old and the new, you struggle for some reason. Merle or Team Family? Stay with Beth (non-romantically) or not? Life on the road or life in Alexandria (remember at first you were uncomfortable there), be on your own or join up with Joe's group, Hilltop and the Kingdom with Carol, or Leah; stay in the forest looking for Rick or come back with Carol, etc. So that part of you continues in France: go home to your old group or stay with your new one. You can change your location, but that alone won't help you in changing what you need to about yourself. You have much growing up to do in this area. Because you keep having the same problem.

You keep coming back to the same fork in the road. I am tired of this being the case for your character. Make up your mind, Daryl. Stop being a man who simply reacts to whomever seems to be influencing you at the time. And find other things to attach to. Not everyone's dilemma exists for you to resolve. You don't always have to be taking in a child as though it were a stray. And feeling so obligated to go to the ends of the earth for the same kind of characters you barely know.

You might want a life partner and to heal the hurting child inside you, since you keep finding yourself entangled with them. Perfectly understandable. So, instead, do something different. Do something that demonstrates a conscious choice on your part, reflecting your efforts of going after what you want. Find older people, people around your own age to bond with, instead of a child all the time. Find people older than you are to connect with. Find people who have the life experience to supply the answers you have questions to. Find people your age who have been abused by a parent or guardian to grow. Find misfits who found the love they were looking for in themselves or in their best friend. Find people who are excellent at communicating because they worked on themselves and their long-time relationships, instead of searching for the next big adventure.

Being a reticent male character is attractive in appropriate situations. But when your default button is to stay silent or not say much at all when the situation calls for you to speak up and speak clearly, your maturity takes a hit from it. You emotionally detach whenever you feel stuck between two choices, leaving the people who care about you like Carol, disoriented. You repress your emotions when a seemingly impossible choice is too stressful for you to make. But that is the wrong thing to do and you do it every time. Lean into the pain. Manage your stress better. Carol is excellent at making the tough choices, even if she gets hated for it. Learn from her. Where you may be weak, she is strong. So do that or something else that is new and fresh and speaks to the core of who you are as a character and person. That is what will be more progressive and effective at helping you mature. There are other people you can connect with in the world, aside from women who feed your savior complex and orphaned or abused children.

If you do that, then you won't be a man reacting anymore. You will be able to look at those things and people in the face and remain unmoveable in your decision to stay who you know you are. You aren't torn. You are afraid. Afraid of not being as important to the person who means the world to you. So you wonder if you should just settle. Even though the true you wants "more". Like Losang said, only after sacrificing everything can we be sure of our faith. Risk it all, so you can be free from this wearisome cycle of perpetual indecision.

Be well, Daryl. You can do this! I am rooting for you!

And find Carol a cute mantilla and outfit to wear in Spain. After nearly dying several times trying to get to you, it would be a nice gesture.

The undersigned,

~OnlyCaryl

[onlycaryl]

Daryl said to Isabelle he wondered if the people back home were still thinking about him.

Carol more than just thought about Daryl. She flew to the other half of the world to find him. And succeeded.

I hope this revelation is sinking in for Daryl.

Carol says it did not feel like home back there at the Commonwealth. She said that with Ezekiel being there. It is obvious he did not succeed in any attempts he may have done to console Carol. And she was able to tell Daryl it did not feel like home to her.

I hope that sinks in for Daryl.

I think the D'paysant of France is meant to make us and them view home differently.

Home is not where you are, what you do there and whom you serve. Daryl, I think learned that with Isabelle and Laurent. He can help someone without feeling like he has to make a home with said person or make them a permanent part of his life. And Carol is learning that home is not a repository of bad memories and guilt to keep holding onto and identifying with. Only after she let go of the part of her that died (symbolized by the 'Carol walker') was she able to remember and see her daughter's face.

Sophia's memory was used as a catalyst to bring Carol to Daryl. But after she found him the guilt still remained. Remember the Carolesque walker that was attacking Carol is clearly a representation of Carol's inner fight with herself. Instead of killing the walker version of herself, Carol is able to forgive that part of herself that died right along with her daughter. Only after she looked her guilt in the face and forgave herself, was she able to remember and see her daughter's face.

I thought this was beautiful because for Carol to do this, it means that deep down she wants to love herself. Carol wants Daryl to console her but in order for her character to grow, she needed to do that part by herself. Daryl did not create that guilty part of her. She did. So she had to do the work of laying it to rest. If she continues to be successful, this gives Daryl a much better chance at having a happy ending with her.

And since the defining premise of Carol and Daryl's relationship has always been about hope in the face of incredible loss and suffering...

I will do what Isabelle said and "bet on hope".

[onlycaryl]

I want Carol and Daryl to become romantic Canon. Because I know that they would redefine and reinvent the dynamics of that category. Just as they both have done with their individual character arcs, their friendship and the genre as a whole. If they became romantic canon, it would not be the stereotypical romance in any way. Just as their bond and their love for one another is unlike any other, so would their romance be.

[onlycaryl]

Carol and Daryl are new at their feelings for one another being free and without judgment. I would like to see more compliments between them on the show. Scenario No. 1 on how Carol and Daryl would interact with each other directly after waking. Carol speaks first.

"Hello, handsome." Daryl scoffed, rubs his eyes in an attempt to remove the evidence of prior bliss.

"Don't know about all that." Carol puckers her lips in consideration. Then bends to him as though relaying a well-kept secret.

"Well I know all about it. You are. So shut up and deal with it." Daryl's partial amusement at her being so adamant about it, lightens his eyes. He reaches to tuck the white curls behind her ear. 

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good," she gives a solid nod. "Glad we don't have to do this the hard way." And it got her a hoisted eyebrow from Daryl. So she raised her hand to her mouth, whispering, "I know where all your tickle spots are. And I will show no mercy, should you choose to insist in this senseless exhibition of middle-age modesty."

"Run that by me again -this time in English." 

"If you provoke me, I will tickle you ruthlessly."

"You threatenin' me?" A playful retort by him. Carol meets it with an uptilted chin.

"Maybe. That's up to you." Daryl, not one for outright laughter, actually does at that remark.

"Hmph. You're the only person I know that'll start shit when there ain't nothin' to stir it with."

"You started it by saying you weren't handsome."

"Pfft. Said 'yes' when you told me to accept it." Carol seems pacified by this admission and sighs for his sake.

"Well not only are you handsome. You're smart." He makes a sound and his eyes are wet but not from laughter. "Daryl?... what's wrong?"

He quells her worry, buffing her shoulder with his thumb.

"Nothin'," is his sincere reply. "Finally. Nothin' ".