11C IN ONE WEEK BABYYYYY, HERE'S TO THE END

no thoughts, just daryl dixon in 11.18 of the walking dead

my when he actually buttons his shirt… folks we are witnessing the de-slutification of daryl dixon.

RIGHT HERE EVERYONE !!!

🤭

TWD fans, this is it. The last day of peace

I have a lot of feelings about 11C and, surprisingly, a big chunk of them are negative 😅

A rant about TWD S11 and the amount of screen time for different characters

This is a BIG rant, so I'm putting a break here to not annoy anyone who don't want to read it. If you want to read it, there's lots of love for TWD characters and hate for AMC right bellow.

Okay, so I'm seeing a lot of hate to the amount of screen time Eugene/Josh McDermitt had this season. And I would like to point out how this makes me both sad and angry - and how it begins with Eugene but it's not about him.

So, Eugene deserves to be developed as any other character on the show. He's part of TF/main cast. McDermitt's on the show since S5! That's seven years of commitment! And McDermitt always gave us an incredible performance - so much that he had to quit SM on 2018 because he suffered so much online abuse from the fandom who disliked Eugene's arc with the Saviors. He could have left the show altogether but he stayed because he has love for his character and TWD.

But, as said, this is not just about Eugene - it's much deeper than that, I think. It involves all the main characters arcs on S11.

Other talented and marvelous actor who decided to stay with us until the end, dedicated years of his life to TWD and also got his share of online abuse? Seth Gilliam/Father Gabriel. Gabriel's arc was pretty chopped on S11. Remember all of his struggles with his faith on 11 A? It got mostly resolved off screen. And don't even get me started with his relationship with Rosita.

What about Christian Serratos/Rosita and Ross Marquand/Aaron? Fan favorites since their first appearances on S4 and S5. Legitimate TF members and two others main characters left to dry on S11! We've barely saw them!

Aaron's arc begun with him struggling to keep ASZ running, then they got him randomly involved with another weird cult-like group that ended up being Negan's new group because oh yeah he used to work on something like that before the world ended lets use that so GA can see we didn't forget this info about him whatever and now he is stranded in a horde with chances of being killed by a smart walker just, you know, because.

Rosita was supposed to be part of the CW rebel group and fight corruption inside the police force but we never saw that happening! And don't even get me started with her relationship with Gabriel. Yep, I'm repeating the phrase because COME ON!

Ok, GA didn't like their romantic relationship, but at least let us see they properly ending it and being a good example of respectful exes who are still friends and co-parents. TWD IS ABOUT FOUND FAMILY DINAMICS! GIVE US THE DAMN FOUND FAMILY DINAMICS! Oh, with this I also wnat to highlight that we should have seen more Aaron + Gracie and not those what three scenes they gave us in 24 fucking episodes.

My point is: Father Gabriel, Rosita and Aaron deserved to be featured as much as Eugene was this past season. Especially because none of them have spin-offs on the future. These actors had to say goodbye to their characters with only a handful of scenes. Characters they cherish and love, characters they brought to life for years!Seth, Christian and Ross stuck with them (and TWD fandom, a very difficult fandom, by the way) even when they were gifted shit arcs and/or minimum screen time. Most of them got screwed over by the storytelling season after season. McDermitt/Eugene got a few chances to shine on S11 and we are complaining??? We should be complaining about how Gabriel, Aaron and Rosita didn't had the same chances! Not hating on Eugene! They all deserved to be upfront this last season and have really meaningful and deep arcs to reflect their years and journeys. But nope. Sidelined, all of them, Eugene being the exception but mostly on 11C.

Lets now talk about the main MAIN characters of the show, shall we?

Lauren Cohan/Maggie and JDM/Negan got stuck together on a never ending fight for dominance that is STILL not resolved (and bordered on sexual tension. Why? Just..why??)! What's the point of having so much time wasted/dedicated on such angsty and tiring relationship?

I'm sure Lauren would have preferred to explore Maggie's relationship with her son and her found family and to fight to rebuild The Hilltop or face the consequences of being a leader who abandoned their people and came back to find almost all of them dead. We could have seen the motherly love, the undying grief for Hershel/Beth/Glenn, the struggle to reconnect with TF and The Hilltop folk, the urgency to prove herself worthy of the title of leader again. It would be interesting and play with Maggie's layers.

I don't know what JDM would've liked for his character but he must also be tired of Negan's never ending redemption arc. And I have nothing against Annie and the baby thing besides the fact that looks unrealistic as fuck after we saw him begging to Maggie to murder him so he could be with his dead wife on S9 + "Here's Negan" especial episode. Yeah, okay, he burned Lucille twice - wife and bat - on said episode so he got closure. I get that. A new wife and baby on the way off screen? Not so much. Joining a weird group with a rough leader that looks like a cult? Even less. By the way, you guys remember those people? Did they even got a name?

And then, obviously, Caryl. I don't have the energy to discuss anymore how incredibly wrong Caryl were handled this entire season. No energy. Just tired. All the missing opportunities. All the time spent apart. All the incredibly necessary heart-to-heart's that not happened. All the pointless Leah thingy - by the way, every single point of the Reapers arc (Gabriel and the other priest; Pope choosing Maggie because God or a bonfire told him to; Leah trying to recruit Daryl who wanted to save her after she tried to kill him multiple times, only so she could become Maggie nemesis without never seeing her before; everyone that was killed for shock value; Alden's death and its 3 seconds impact; Elijah mourning his sister and then being pushed to be Lydia's new boyfriend because we have to do something with this kid, yada, yada, yada) had no payoff whatsoever.

Anyways..what I'm trying to say is: every OG/main/important character of this fucking show suffered from mediocre storytelling throughout the entirety of S11. All of them.

Even fan favorites newbies got sidelined. Eleanor Matsuura/Yumiko is the only one who had personal reasons to not appear on 11A and 11 B (she had a baby). I'm not a Nadia Hilker/Magna fan but I hate how she was mostly forgotten this season. She's an interesting character and after being missing for most of S10, she got sidelined for S11 too. Angel Theory/Kelly and Cassady McClincy/Lydia are SO TALENTED and loved by everyone and were rewarded, respectively, by becoming a walking translator and an unwilling participant of the 'let's see who unnecessarily loses a limb this season' game.

I could go on and on and on but, again, no energy. And I think I wrote too much already. In short: Eugene is not to blame. Everyone should have had meaningful arcs like Eugene. He deserved every second of it. ALL OF THEM EQUALLY DESERVED IT. All of them characters are special and loved and deserving and should be treated with respect and celebrated after so many years of existence. AMC, Gimple and co. made the decision to waste their (and ours) precious time with Reapers and other groups and characters that I don't remember or weren't even given names, CW stormtroopers, an anti-capitalism narrative that was very important but lasted two episodes, impossible to understand time jumps followed by a creeping pacing also impossible to understand followed by more wtf time jumps, and lots of Carol scenes on the kitchen because obviously that's what we want to see her doing..cooking and baking! Ha!

It's not about the amount of screen time each character got. It's about the non-existent quality of it.

AMC plays dirty, guys, and all of us suffer the consequecences. Even side characters like Diane, who is owned some peace of mind after being a soldier for every fucking battle TPTB invents. If any side character deserves a happy ending is her.

I rest my case.

11x17 and 11x18

If anyone wants to reblog this to be positive about Caryl. I am here for it. There were some nice callbacks and some lovely moments between Carol, Lydia and Daryl and also some great Daryl, Judith and Carol moments. I won’t share gifs here as to not spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. But just know if you want to be positive about the episodes, I really enjoyed both. I know that I am probably not everyone’s favorite Caryler right now because of my positivity. 

My expectations are low and I can never be negative about Daryl and Carol. I truly think there is time for some great moments and if you do follow spoilers, we know that Daryl and Carol filmed together A LOT for 11C.  I will include one spoiler though.

I too was upset at the loss of the Caryl spinoff, but I have never stopped believing that we might get something special in these last eight episodes. I still think that is a real possibility. 

IT IS OKAY TO HAVE ENJOYED THESE TWO TWD EPISODES. So if you liked them feel free to say so. 

Please give some more thoughts. I’m just so sad, again.

I understand where those feelings are coming from, I really do. Caryl has spent nearly the entirety of an extended season in a weird emotional place, we’re coming dangerously close to the end, and there still hasn’t been any breakthrough. Worse, the show is still dangling other potential ships and to what end? Creating suspense? It’s not suspenseful. It’s exhausting and it disrespects all characters involved. Daryl’s not an alpha male. He doesn’t need to be portrayed as TWD’s most eligible bachelor. Female characters don’t need to be pitted against one another by the audience or used as plot devices. When we had the spinoff, we could at least look forward to more story for Daryl and Carol, presumably when their relationship would shift for the better, but without that extra time and space, what are we left with? A shell of the relationship we all cherish for one reason or another and maybe some last minute, lackluster payoff? Since 11C started, I said I was wary about how Caryl’s story would come together and this episode reminded me why. That being said, I still think we could be headed for canon and I’m still not worried about Donnie. 

Something that a lot of people seem to be overlooking is that the emotional arc in this episode belongs to Daryl and Carol, not Daryl and Connie. Connie is, unfortunately, a plot device on Caryl’s path to healing. I’d even argue she’s standing in for Sophia in some ways, somebody they want to protect together because they failed her before. While at the same time, Carol wants to protect Daryl because she still thinks she failed him before. 

There’s also a lot of role reversal going on. Carol taking Daryl's hand juxtaposes Daryl taking Connie's hand in 10x05. Connie saying she's not going anywhere juxtaposes Carol saying she's not going anywhere in 10x18. I think the intention is to make it seem like Daryl has a choice between these two women (side-eye). Connie is the more “obvious” choice or rather the “safest” choice because she doesn’t run, but Carol is everything to Daryl. He needs her. Connie doesn't need either of them. She can handle herself. 

I hope I’ve shared enough of my thoughts for now and that this answers a fair amount of my other asks. I won’t be able to get to them all unfortunately, but I see them. I know there are a lot of concerns. Hang in there. 

More Thoughts on TWDU & The Caryl Spinoff

Okay.  I wrote a post a while ago about some of the problems with TWD “universe”.  Some things have changed after SDCC.  Importantly, the “where’s Rick and Michonne” mystery should be settled before long.  The idea of the Richonne spinoff still seems a little strange to me (whatever happened to the movies?) and it won’t have any of the qualities that would have made the Caryl spinoff so unique.  But hey, the Richonne spinoff still makes a million times more sense than Isle of the Dead.

Whilst I’m here, I wanted to touch on the CDC/French plotline for a little bit, as it looks like these elements are going to be important to the franchise going forward. The creative minds behind TWD have made many questionable choices over the years but using Dr Jenner’s reference to the French as the linchpin of TWD’s expanding “universe” is truly bewildering.

Scott Gimple used one of Jenner’s lines (“The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”) for the title of the S7 premiere.  “Wildfire” and “T-S 19” obviously resonated with Gimple, and he has praised the CDC plotline in the past: “The thing that means so much to me about season one is, I was a fan. I was watching live every Sunday ... And then later, in my Walking Dead life, I hear people maybe taking shots at [the CDC episodes]," Gimple told Decider. "And I was not one of those people. I had a great time those Sunday nights. And there are some moments in the CDC that I love and I remember”. TWD Universe Boss on Bringing Back The Walking Dead's Dropped CDC Plot (comicbook.com).

Of course, Gimple is entitled to like what he likes, but I think that there have been much better episodes than “Wildfire” and “TS-19”.  I also think it’s worth noting that Robert Kirkman regrets the whole CDC plotline as he always tried to stay vague in the comics about the cause of the plague and what was happening outside the US.

https://www.cbr.com/robert-kirkman-reveals-his-biggest-walking-dead-regret/

For reasons best known to themselves, the powers that be at AMC have made Jenner’s comments integral to the future of the franchise.  Variant walkers and Jenner talking to French scientists featured in the post-credit scene of WB.  The 11C trailer shows that we’ll be seeing variant walkers in TWD before long.  Details about the Daryl spinoff are few and far between, but his story seems to be intrinsically linked to Jenner’s comments about the French.

This whole French thing is baffling to me, and it seems like whoever decided on this new plotline wanted all the acclaim for foreshadowing something in S1 without putting in any of the work.  They’re piggy-backing off a throwaway reference – it reminds me of when the BBC’s Sherlock introduced a whole secret evil sister plot after a couple of jokes about a lost sibling, or when J K Rowling provides world-building via Twitter and whatever she has tweeted just falls apart if anybody thinks about it for more than a second.

I could never class the reference to “the French” as meaningful foreshadowing or set-up, because it hasn’t ever been mentioned in all the time in between the S1 finale and now. They’ve had SO much time to set Europe or fast walkers up if they wanted to.  They could’ve had the walkers get slightly faster and smarter each year and they could have thrown in a reference to France every season. There’s never been an issue with including easter eggs in the past, the Darabont era was full of them – think of the upside-down American flag in the RV (an official distress signal) or the bible verse outside the church in S2 (foreshadowing that Sophia was already dead).  

I can’t understand why any creative mind would give so much weight to this single reference to the French.  Why would you prioritize a line spoken over a decade ago/an exotic location over consistent characterization or world-building?  Why on earth would you send Daryl to France (which only seems more egregious now that the other spinoffs appear to be US based at this moment in time)?

The relationship between Carol and Daryl is the emotional core of the show.  If TWD loses Caryl, it will lose its heart as well as its head – we’ll get variant walkers that make no sense in-universe alongside a whole load of narrative choices that seem unfathomable (like Maggie and Negan pairing up for Isle of the Dead or the possibility of Daryl leaving Carol behind for France).

All of this wouldn’t sting if the show had always been bad, say if TWD was more like Z Nation, which features a runaway Liberty Bell plowing through the undead like the rolling boulder in Indiana Jones (go look it up, I’m not kidding).  But TWD has been smart in the past and you can intellectually engage with the show. Like I outlined recently, Kang’s allusions to the Cold War in S10 are so good. The best zombie narratives are closely linked with social commentary and critique, e.g., George A. Romero engaged with issues surrounding race, gender, and class - Kang’s work slots into this tradition. I’d take her intricate work and careful storytelling over foreign locations or fast walkers every time.

The whole CDC/French thing is just based on the shakiest of foundations – like, you’d condemn a house with foundations that unstable.  It’s mind-boggling that the writers are relying on one line said over a decade ago to re-pivot the franchise, rather than honoring the characters and world that they’ve built.  I feel like it should almost go without saying, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the Caryl spinoff would have been structurally sound.  Caryl have been developing their bond for 11 seasons for crying out loud and we could all see where they were going when New Mexico was repeatedly mentioned in S10.  Caryl taking off and pursuing their New Mexico dream would have felt right. The CDC/French stuff and whatever they have Daryl doing on his solo mission never will.

"Caryl's story isn't over" = carylers pls watch 11c = carylers make up a large section of twd viewers and Daryl fans

Like... the vast, vast, vast majority of us aren't going to watch Bon Voyage, Daryl! either in principle or bc of genuine lack of interest lol. Sorry we don't enjoy watching one of our favorite characters be destroyed for the sake of ~*the universe*~

ok now that i'm finished the episode i can construct a very intellectual and sophisticated spiel.

if the dumbshit production team do so much as even touch a fucking HAIR on my baby's head. fuck that they already have. if they kill, murder, or traumatise judith, any further than they already have had the utmost nerve to. i will have heads on sticks, may as well call me alpha.

I’ve been completely out of TWD loop so like is the show finally over or has the final season not actually been filmed yet? And what’s the latest Beth coming back scenario that Team Delusional has? Have to say I commend you guys still believing she’s coming back. I stopped after S6 and at this point feels it’s just been way to long for her to come back but I do truly respect those in Team Delusional still fighting the good fight.

So, there really aren't any straight forward answers to those questions, lol.

The final season of the flagship show is currently underway. The last portion of it will air in the fall. So, the flagship show will be ending.

However.

They're doing a few different spinoffs with different characters (such as Daryl, Maggie, and Negan) but these spinoffs are going to be limited runs. Like only 10 episodes or 1-2 seasons, like The World Beyond was.

AMC has come out and said they had to end the flagship show because of logistical issues having to do with streaming rights. They made agreements with companies such as Netflix more than ten years ago, and back then, those agreements were lucrative. But now AMC wants to have it's own material to stream on it's own app (which is understandable). To legally get out of the agreements, they had to end the show and start other ones to continue telling the story.

So what does all that mean? It means that even beyond the spinoffs, there will probably be a new "main" or "flagship" show in which they will tell the story of Team Family's war against the CRM (black-clad helicopter people) which is coming.

As for Beth, I personally believe she was supposed to show up the beginning of S11. She didn't, but a lot of things changed right around the end of S10. There was CoVid, MMB backed out of the spinoff, etc. So they had to shuffle things around a bit. I really think we'll see her in 11c this fall.

And understand, I don't mean that she'll have some big reunion with Daryl. I think it will be more like the audience sees her, much like we saw Morgan in a coda in S5 long before Rick and co saw him. And then I think, based on some suspicious things Norman has said about the spinoff, that maybe Daryl will run into her there. At least, that's what we're hoping.

As I said, not one really straight-forward way to answer your questions. 😊 But I hope this gave you the gist! Xoxo! ☀️🔥🇺🇸

So that's it. The walking dead is over. I haven't watched the final ep (I have to catch up 11B and 11C first) yet so I have nothing to say about it, I only know the caryl content and I don't have enough context to give a proper opinion. But this really feels like the end of an era.

Thanks to TWD I met a lot of wonderful people. Spent hours making gifs and discussing the show and caryl and mourning way too many characters lol

The walking dead fandom is quite a mess but it was a fun ride.

I'm grateful.

This is probably as good a day as any for me to finally materialize these thoughts that have been gnawing at me since the end of April. This is going to be messy because I’m writing it in between innings of my softball game.

What is the likelihood we get some form of canon by the end of the series?

When this all started, the crackhead in me really had to wonder, what if this is all a sick ruse to cover up a fake out?

As much as I regard that notion as the chaotic timeline, I think those theories were actually fair considering the very odd incompetence that we’re observing in marketing surrounding the final season, and just, franchise direction in general. Of course, the idea that this is all some conspiracy for next gen clout becomes more favourable than the less spectacular reality, which is just, people in the positions of creative authority at AMC not valuing their characters and stories as vehicles for great art, as much as their fans.

I do think it’s possible we could see some form of fake out death in the final act. It could be Carol, or Daryl (since tracking indicates a potential rescue mission) as an easy means for propelling their development. It could also be Judith, based on the set photos where she is apparently injured. Either way, I’m almost certain there are going to be a lot of major and minor character deaths to clean up the inflated cast, and go for basic shock value in classic TWD fashion, so at least one fake out for a major character could balance all that tragedy.

I feel certain evidence says Carol won’t die. However, I have a feeling we could be looking at Rosita, Aaron, and/or Gabriel biting the bullet. These would be the characters that need to go imo, in order to justify any narrative where Carol becomes leader of Alexandria and stays behind, which is what I assume they will try and do. Daryl and Carol would be next in line for leadership in the absence of these figures in AZ. At the very least, I like the idea of everybody finally looking up to and appreciating Carol’s contributions.

I actually believe they are going to give us canon in some capacity. If they don’t, several chunks of several seasons of storytelling will have amounted to a complete waste, including the bizarre separation of their two leads for two whole blocks. Since s7 I haven’t underestimated this show’s capacity for wasted potential, in fact, I routinely bank on it. But to me, fully wasting Caryl will be next level failure for AMC. They really should have gone canon in s10, to give time for the relationship to materialize, but I always suspected they would procrastinate out of fear of writing mediocrity after so many years of anticipation. I think losing their planned season 12 probably played into why the current season is so unhinged.

There are frankly too many cues pointing to a Daryl and Carol romance to just ignore. Their last scene with the lunch date in particular seems to be spelling it out. Even the 11C sneak peek they gave us juxtaposes Daryl and Carol relative to their relationship to the Grimes kids. I think we’ll see lots of solo Caryl moments that allow them to emotionally unpack, and just maybe, bring them together before the battle with Commonwealth peaks, with the meat and potatoes of the relationship happening during the time jump—a lacklustre consolation to a post-war honeymoon road trip any way you slice it. This is why I’m inclined to think they will get the lead on Rick post time jump. It could at least open the floor for some emotion heavy scenes between Caryl as they have to very suddenly deal with this news that is both magnificent and damning to their present situation. This is how I presume they will attempt to string their fans further—not with no canon (as we’ve long worn that out) but with their first “reunion” as an actual item. I don’t want to comment on the infamous wedding theory at all tbh, but where I brushed it off before as being kind of corny, maybe it will prove to be the only thread they can utilize to tie Caryl together in a way that is unmoved by whatever life has to say about it.

The thing I hate most of all about this whole situation is how it’s only made me anticipate 11C more. Lmfao. The cruel irony, and inevitable emotional damage to my person is palpable. Once I’ve pledged my love for the characters, I have to see through the whole shitty shebang to the end. Though there will continue to be no orthodox viewership from me until season 11 proves it can entertain me. Their perception of what constitutes thrilling storytelling these days is just sad. These bold claims they’re making about the “humanity” of the ending are either going to have to smack their viewers like lightning, or be gaffed at by reviewers like typical TWD self flagellation. It’s depressing to think that they’ve already shit the bed, so for now I still find it plausible to follow the motions, with my cynicism in my back pocket. But I genuinely think there may be something of substance that can still surprise us beneath the horizon.

EK Instragram Tidbit 9/27/22

So EP Angela Kang has been counting down the days to 11C’s premiere with behind the scenes pictures from each season. Today was season 5 and she posted one of Beth at Grady. Nothing too suspicious on its own, Beth had a somewhat big arc in the first half of the season. But then EK put it on her instagram story with a 💫. 

This could be absolutely nothing too serious, after all, EK does use the 💫 emoji a lot. It is however interesting to me that she uses it so much in terms of its meaning and how that meaning could relate to TD.

It basically means dizzy/disoriented, which could relate to Beth possibly waking up disorientated after being shot. I assume that would be expected with such a traumatizing wound. Or, it could refer to being intoxicated, or sick. Remember how in season 4, a huge part of Beth and Daryl’s character development was looking for alcohol and drinking together. Daryl even asked Beth if she felt sick.

I also remember this 💫  emoji being called a return star but I can’t find much evidence of that other than the 💫  symbol coming up in my google searches. If  it really is also called a return star, that could point to many other things symbolically related to TD.

While this is most likely just EK using an emoji she uses a lot to share AK’s post her character was included in, it stands out to me for more reasons then an innocent repost. I could be reaching, but whenever EK uses this emoji for TWD related things, it feels like a hint almost. 

Anyway, I hope you’re all having a good Tuesday!