I would have supported it at one time, but it seems like too much time has passed for them to go in that direction now. I realize it's only two years into the apocalypse, but for us it's been 7+ years already.

Let us enjoy this intense relationship that they do have, because it's wonderful to watch. It feels like the most authentic relationship in the series.

My fear is that they'll throw them into a romance in some 10th season attempt to salvage the ratings. Just before they kill one of them off, of course. PLEASE don't do that!

 

Chris Hardwick said it best, something to the tune of 'in a real zombie apocalypse there'd be a heck of a lot more love making going on"

 

The way they’ve written Daryl and how I’ve built out his character in my mind is that he is almost completely asexual. The only person he’s shown anything like romantic love for was Beth (I think), but even if that were true, I never imagined he’d ever do anything about it. My impression is that he has a boat load of self-loathing seething inside, and while he knows he has value for the group because of his physical strength and survival skills, he would never feel that he was good enough for anyone to love romantically. He’d certainly never feel he was good enough for Carol.

I imagine that even pre-ZA when he was following Merle around, Merle would hook up with some skank in a bar and Daryl would just hang out getting blind drunk until he passed out – he’s got no time for that kind of nonsense.

We’ll probably never see a scene where he tells us much more about his past, but I’m betting the guy has never had a girlfriend (or boyfriend) and probably never will.

 

I see them more as a surrogate son/mother relationship. Daryl acts like a child around her, the way he talks to her and the way they relate to one another.

They share a connection with abuse, his coming at the hands of his father, hers coming at the hands of her husband. Almost as if he gets to relive his youth through Carol and Rick. Rick being the brother he wanted and Carol being the mother he wanted.

 

If you watch the episode with headphones, you can clearly hear Carol whisper during the last hug with Daryl, "I Love You". Then Daryl unhugs her.

She loves him in a sexual way.

 

Yes! Thank you.
Daryl sounded more like the kid whose mom didn't keep her scheduled court appointed visitation. He was flabbergasted, stunned etc. his voice cracked like he was 13.

 

No, I think she loves him because they are family.

 

Me too,if it was ever anything else it would have happened way before now.
Again the writers simply can not portray adult relationships without having had any.

This is frustrating to no end because they instead are just wasting screen time trying to make us wonder?

 

Exactly. Bethyl will happen someday. But in heaven, not in the show.

 

I see it more as a Mother/Son thing with the shared abuse as mentioned.

Shipping would be awkward. And as long as it's the ZA, stick to anal, we don't need any more preggers going on! (for everyone's safety's sake. Breed after things are settled down)

 

. Both were abused souls who helped each other in a tried and dire time of their lives. They understand one another. A forever and ever kind of friend. . . Let's leave sex out of it

 

I just wish they would be blunt with it and let us know they are never gonna be an item. Quit teasing us.

 

No.

 

Technically speaking, they are now at 2012, more or less, two years after the outbreak in 2010. And he must have had a shower while in Alexandria.

 

Why can't a man and woman just be really close friends?!

 

I sure as hell don't see it as a mother/son thing. That crap went out the window the second she teased Daryl about screwing around. And just because they are very close and nothing hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it never well. Look how long it finally took Mulder and Scully to get together on The X-Files, and they had that same close friendship, bond and understanding. Carol's and Daryl's relationship reminds me very much of the one Mulder and Scully had.