Daryl Dixon, drawn by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard.

 

Hasn't Daryl had a fabulous season?

Finally a showrunner who loves this character and has a vision for building him up, rather than sending him down a continuous downward spiral to the pits of fiery hell. Thank you AK.

He started the season in a bad place. Rick (I love the guy, but he was never very sensitive to Daryl's needs, and was a pretty shitty friend to him, no matter how much he loved him) had Daryl living in the Sanctuary, of all places, ffs. Where he was tortured and humiliated as a prisoner for weeks. Separated from his friends, again. He was still loyal to Rick, but began to voice his very valid concerns more and more. Until it finally came to a bust up in that ditch and got properly aired and perhaps the two of them could have really started afresh, had Rick not been gone.

Daryl never got closure with what went down with Negan. No one did, without a trial. Yet, he was soldiering on, until Rick was gone, and this was the final straw for him. He was lost without his direction, even if he didn't always agree with it. And so he turned inwards, more than ever.

After the second time jump we meet Daryl as a complete recluse. He's living in the wild, grieving for Rick, unable to move on until he finds his body, because deep down he still harbours some hope that he might not be dead. The only one bonus is that he's got himself a dog.

And then Carol reaches out to him, giving him Project Henry, that has far reaching consequences. It reintegrates him into the community, amongst its leaders. He reconnects with old friends. He makes a wonderful new friend, who might in time turn out to be his soul mate. Project Henry gives him new purpose that leads to another and another. He finds his voice again. His principles matter again. He opens himself up to the future with people again. He makes a life-altering connection with a young girl he basically adopts as his daughter. And the last we see of him, he is in a snowball fight with children, having actual *fun* for an entire twenty seconds. And he is back with the remaining members of his family in Alexandria.

What a fantastic arc for this long neglected and downtrodden character.
Can't wait to see what's next for Daryl.

 

Just for fun.

 

https://www.nme.com/news/film/the-walking-dead-daryl-spin-off-movie-reportedly-in-the-works-2647945

A TWD film about Daryl is apparently in the works.

This may have been a good idea back in TWD's glory days, but not now.

 

Much as I love Daryl, I don't think this is a good idea either, and probably won't happen. It also makes little sense, that Daryl should go after Michonne, leaving Judith and JR behind. He will just have to trust Michonne to bring Rick back.

They really should bring TWD to a close now, with a final season. Two tops. Tie it in neatly with Michonne finding Rick and reuniting him with his kids, Daryl and whoever is still alive from the gang. Show some hope for them all. Then let it go.

 

What a happy moment this was, after all the crap both Daryl and Connie have just been through.