#beth is comig

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Grave Numbers in Alone

Okay Everyone! The genius of @wdway has struck again. Her numbers prowess is totally making my summer. We're gonna talk about the dates on the grave in Alone. A LOT of us have written theories about what these might represent. I think most of the theories out there have some merit, but like most things TD, they haven't been confirmed in a big way yet.

One of the things we talked about, especially during S7, was that we might see Beth in an episode that aired in November or December. Honestly, at least for me, that was less because of these dates and more because of 1) The St. Nicholas/Pickle theme (we saw a ridiculous amount of pickles in S7) and 2) the November calendar behind the Beth walker in Them.

Obviously November and December didn't work out for us in S7. Once she didn't show up in the MSF, we kind of let it go because we were still convinced she'd show up in S7. If she shows up in S8, the November/December dates still COULD be a thing, but so far it hasn't panned out very well for us. ;D

All that said, check this out:

The dates we see on the grave stone are November 12, 1837 and December 10, 1874.

Guess what, Bethyl junkies? This year's MSF (8x08) will air on December 10th. 

And--wait for it!--8x04 will air on November 12th. 

These dates haven't fallen on Sundays since before S4 aired, y'all. And we know Gimple has up until S15 at least planned out. Even if he didn't have that far planned out in S4 (I think he did, but whatevs) I'm sure he had planned out far enough to know which episode Beth would return in and could figure out the air dates.

Also remember the St. Nicholas/Christmas theme. After writing my St. Nick/Pickles Theory, I really didn't think the Christmas theme meant a literal Christmas date. In the legend, St. Nicholas's gift was to resurrect three boys (yes THREE) who had been murdered. And Daryl never got anything from Santa Clause, right?

So Daryl's gift from St. Nick will be Beth's resurrection. That doesn't mean it has to happen at Christmas time. It's all about the symbolism people. The St. Nick/Resurrection story really isn't about the holiday at all. It's about the man who was the saint.

But now, looking at these dates…hmm. I doubt it will be Christmas thing for the characters in the show, but it may still be Christmas time for us, the audience.

And understand, I still think there's a good chance we'll see Beth earlier in the season than that. Maybe as early as 8x01. But of course there's simply no way to know for sure.

The other possibility is that we, the audience will see her early on. Other characters might as well. (Remember that Carl brings Maggie the music box in 5x10 and all the parallels in 8x01 with him, Rick, the gas station, etc.) but maybe Daryl just won't see her until later. Remember, this is HIM receiving something from St. Nick. That's what his "I Never" in Still was about. It wasn't about Rick or Carl or even Maggie.

I've also always said that I think he'll see her at a distance at first, but not be able to get to her right away for whatever reason (remember Red Poncho Guy). So maybe he'll see her in the Nov 12 episode, but the two of them won't actually reunite until the Dec 10 episode, which incidentally is the MSF.

Given that the calendar behind the Beth walker in Them was seen by Maggie and Carol, but not Daryl, I think they'll see her first, in the November episode. We've said Carol will probably play a role in her return, so I think it's significant that it's Maggie and Carol at this part (who were also the two taken by Paula's group of Saviors in 6x13; yeah, not a coincidence).

Daryl probably won't until one of the December episodes. Maybe he'll finally reunite with her in the MSF, just as he should have been able to in Coda, but really didn't.

Oh, one other thing? The Nov 12 th episode (8x04) will be exactly three seasons after Slabtown. Perhaps another Beth-heavy episode? And of course the MSF will be exactly three seasons after Coda. Just saying.

So this was my big ah-hah moment last week when @wdway sent me this. But I'll also give you a little more, just for your info. @wdway started messing around with the numbers (her God-given talent) and came up with the following.

I think you guys know this, but just so were all on the same page: this will use season and episode designations (like 1x01 = season 1, episode 1) but also series numbers. So, there are 6 episodes in the first season, 13 in the second season, which = 19. So the series number for 3x01 = 20. Hope that makes sense.

So Alone, where we see the "Beloved Father" grave with these dates is episode 48 for the series. As many people have pointed out in the past, 1874-1837 =37. If you go forward 37 episodes from Alone (to series episode 85) that's 7x02, The Well. If you go backwards 37 episodes from Alone, it's 2x05, Chupacabra. It may not be entirely clear why these episodes might be important, but consider some facts in the plots of these episodes.

The Well is where Carol is healing from her injuries at the Kingdom, after being shot. Remember she begged that Savior to kill her, and you know, MORGAN SAVED HER. Basically, she came REALLY close to dying, but didn't. This is also the episode where she met the man who will probably be her long-term love interest. (Carzekiel for the win!)

For 2x05, it's where Daryl is injured and alone, and has to fight his way back to TF. He sees his apparently dead brother, who later turns up alive, and is shot in the head by Andrea, yet survives. Basically, he came close to dying but survived. It was even a head shot in his case. Throw in an Andrea parallel and I don't think you could ask for much more.

So then @wdway decided to add the two years together. 1837+1874 = 3711. Well, there's another 37. Don't know if that's on purpose, but in case it is, she thought she'd play around with the 11 as well.

11 Episodes back from Alone is 4x02, Infected. (May be a coincidence, but this is series episode 37, so both the 37 and the 11 are present here.) The biggest thing that jumped out at her here was that this is where we see Daryl digging graves. We have to side-eye that because all of the Bethyl-in-a-graveyard stuff.

(Keep in mind that they used Daryl digging the graves both as a promo image beforehand, and to make a Daryl figurine from. This image of him in an empty grave is important. And the scene itself is very small and short.) I'd also submit that there were lots of other parallels in that episode (see my re-watches for details) but I'll admit by itself it's not a super-big Beth or TD episode. At least, not on the surface. But…give us a second to convince you.

Forward 11 episodes from Alone is…um…Coda. So we have Daryl digging a grave 11 episodes back from Alone. We didn't actually see them put anyone in that grave. So it really was an empty grave. Then, 11 episodes forward from Alone was Coda, after which Beth's body disappeared, and she got no burial. See what I mean?

So then, just for good measure, she went 37 episodes forward from Coda. We get 7x13, Bury Me Here. Not only is the episode number the same (Alone = 4x13 and Bury Me Here = 7x13) but there's a graveyard/burial theme going on here. 7x13 is where Benjamin dies, Morgan kills and buries Richard (the S7 promo pic of the empty grave came from this episode) and I also believe we see Carol digging graves for walkers in that episode.

So, I've said before that I think Beth could show up at the Kingdom first. I'll admit I've gone back and forth about it. We have more evidence of her there than at the other communities. And I don't mean that I necessarily think we'll see her there first, but rather that after she's revealed, she may go to that community before Alexandria or Hilltop. There IS evidence of her at all the communities, to be fair. So I could be wrong. But there's just MORE there to suggest Beth than at the others.

@wdway got excited about what she found with these numbers because she also believes Beth will show up at the Kingdom first. I think she's more firm in her belief of that that I have been. And I gotta say, she's convincing me more and more. Think of it this way:

37 episodes (the difference between the years on the gravestone in Alone) from Alone is The Well, 7x02. 37 episodes from Coda was Bury Me Here, 7x13. Both were Kingdom episodes and Carol-heavy. Daryl wasn't in either one.

Meanwhile, it's Carol and Maggie that see the November calendar in Them. Not Daryl. Kind thinking Carol and Maggie will reunite with Beth in the November 12th episode at the Kingdom, y'all.

(And how does Maggie fit in? I don't know. It would be total conjecture to try and guess. I mean, they could do anything. Maggie could randomly go to the Kingdom to see Carol or swap supplies or something, and be there with Carol when Beth shows up. Or could be nothing like that. Who knows?)

Some other numbers:

Again, 11 episodes back from Coda is Alone. 37 episodes back from Coda is 3x03. This is where Merle shows up, alive and well after being presumed dead for two seasons.

November = 11th month, December = 12th month. 11+12 = 23.  23 episodes back from Alone is 3x06, Hounded. That's where Glenn and Maggie are taken by Merle (kidnapped and separated from TF) and where Daryl finds Carol after assuming she was dead for several days. (Remember Carol's knife/Beth's knife). And Michonne leaves Woodbury (the lair of the villain). That's important only because she reunites with TF after that. I'll come back to this point, because while going through all this, something else big hit me.

If we go 23 episodes past Alone, we get Here's Not Here, 6x04. So many parallels in that episode I don't want to name them all. But Gimple wrote that episode entirely. There's a major grave theme going on there as well with Eastman's graveyard.

She also tried using the days in the dates. Dec 10, Nov 12. 10+12 = 22.

22 Episodes before Alone = 3x07. We actually see Carol reunite with TF in this episode (yeah!) and Michonne finds TF.

So here was my big epiphany about Michonne in S3. We could relate this to Beth just in that Michonne leaves the imprisonment of Woodbury and finds TF. It's not really a reunion as this is the first time she's met them, but still. She has to survive on her own in the woods (Merle is trying hard to kill her) and she eventually makes it to TF.

Well, Rick and Carl are the first ones to see Michonne when she shows up at the prison (*coughs Rick and Carl at a gas station in 8x01*). But even more than that, we see Rick and Michonne lock eyes across the chain link fence here. Even that early, there were hints at their romance. Granted it took them…wait for it…THREE FREAKING SEASONS to finally hook up. And how many seasons is this past Coda again?

We all totally picked up the Bethyl parallels in 6x10 when Michonne and Rick finally got together romantically. Especially the entwined fingers. So I don't think it's a stretch to parallels the two relationships in other ways, even stretching back to S3.

Anyway, back to 3x07. @wdway also makes a good point about Carol, after reuniting with TF, having to be told who is alive and who is dead. She didn't know Lori had died (though she had a pretty good idea about T-Dog). And she didn't know Judith had survived.

I can see Beth needing to have a very similar conversation. Not about Lori, of course. But about Glenn. And everyone else she once knew (Sasha, Ty, Noah). And she never learned that Judith got out of the prison, so she'll be surprised Judith is still there.

Another parallel? In this episode Maggie is assaulted (nearly) by the Gov. This has been said before, but we can parallel Maggie/Glenn's imprisonment to Beth/Daryl's in many ways. Maggie/Beth both had to deal with the threat of rape. Glenn/Daryl were both beaten badly at some point. Even the order of events is eerily similar.

If you go forward 22 episodes from Alone, we get 6x03, Thank You. Glenn death fakeout anyone?

Okay, I think I'm gonna stop there. @wdway had more intricate details, but the short of it is that no matter what path you use with these numbers, you can see Beth's arc in it. The consistent characters we're seeing in these episode numbers are Beth, Daryl, Carol and Morgan. 

And I know there will be people that don't buy into the intricate math stuff. That's cool. Totally you're prerogative. But keep in mind what I said first: these dates on the Alone headstone haven't fallen on a Sunday since before Gimple took the reins. And Gimple is a careful enough planner, that I don't think most of these patterns can be ignored.

Either way, I'm super excited for S8. Anyone else? ;D

(Special thanks to @wdway for sharing her genius with us!)

[fancybelieverdinosaur]

Chelsea is a good club for minor injuries but less so for major. Unless you are someone like Fran Kirby who has proved that she is able to perform well both before and after a stint on the bench then it is always going to be a struggle to get back into a side. If I'm honest the best time to be coming back from an injury is before preseason as it allows you to start the season with everyone finding their rhythm again without having to constantly fight to get into a well established starting 11, which is what the current group of players are.

I think preseason and next September will be key to getting an idea of what Emma is planning on doing with players. It will be very interesting to see how Maren is brought back into the side and if everyone is fit going into the start of the season how everything works when you have a full allocation of players. If by Christmas someone like Beth still is struggling for starts/minutes then it could be she might request a loan to ensure a place in the England squad for the Euros - especially as she missed out on the World Cup and might not go to the Olympics depending on the players chosen. It will also be interesting to see what minutes players brought in get and how Emma manages her formations, whether she tries something new or continues to use what has worked well this season.

Good points there💪 interesting summer comig in Chelsea.

[cymdeithasceredigion]

CYMDEITHAS CEREDIGION: CYFARFOD TACHWEDD

Cafodd aelodau dyfal Cymdeithas Ceredigion adloniant dwbl wrth fentro mas ar noson wyllt a glawog. Siaradodd Daniel Davies, yr awdur treiddgar a chrafog o Lanarth,  am y traddodiad llenyddol digrif yng Ngheredigion ac yn enwedig am gyfraniad Idwal Jones, Llambed (1895 -1937) ato.  Dyfynnwyd yn helaeth o waith Idwal Jones yn enwedig o’i gerddi digrif i ddangos pa mor dalentog ydoedd yn hyn o beth. Olrheiniwyd ei ddylanwad ar lenorion comig diweddarach o Geredigion megis Jacob Davies ac Eirwyn Pont-siân. Mwynhaodd y gynulleidfa’r sgwrs.  Yn y sesiwn holi wedyn datblygwyd trafodaeth frwd ac ehangach am wendidau’r traddodiad digrif yn llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yn gyffredinol gan esgor ar bynciau megis pam nad oedd awdl, gwirioneddol lon ei chywair, erioed wedi ennill y Gadair yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. 

Cawsom ragor o hwyl wedyn wrth i’r casgliad o farddoniaeth, Cerddi Dydd Mercher, gael ei lansio. Lluniwyd y cerddi gan fynychwyr dosbarth wythnosol y Prifardd Idris Reynolds, golygydd y llyfr, dros y blynyddoedd. Wrth farnu ar sail y cerddi a adroddwyd gan aelodau o’r dosbarth yn ystod y lansiad nid oedd y traddodiad digrif, o leiaf yno, mor farwaidd â hynny wedi’r cwbwl! Rhoddir yr elw o’r llyfr i goffrau’r Eisteddfod Genedlaethol 2020 yn Nhregaron.