Why the hell Daryl carry beth over the threshold, she's perfectly fine walking. I mean she's going as fast as she can! Right? Daryl explain yourself!!

The bridal carry is one of my favorite Bethyl moments. As you pointed out, Beth is perfectly fine walking. Yeah, her ankle is still hurt, but not to the point of needing to be carried. Especially not when they were literally just a few short steps away from their destination. She managed to hobble down the stairs into the embalming room earlier in the same episode, remember? And those were stairs. Arguably much harder to negotiate than a nice flat kitchen floor. And yet, he felt the need to pick her up and carry her like a damn fairy tale princess.

I especially like the fact that we were able to hear the little exchange that took place between them before they came through the door. He was hurrying her along. Why? They’ve got nothing but time and it’s not like lunch is going anywhere. There’s no imminent danger. You know why he’s hurrying her? Because he can’t wait for her to see how perfectly he set the table for their lunch date, that’s why. And she gets all defensive and tells him “I’m goin’ as fast as I can!” But it’s not fast enough for him. He gets caught up in the moment and he’s become very comfortable with touching her. So he seizes the perfect opportunity to pick her up and carry her - only this time, it’s not a serious piggyback. This time, it’s a happy bridal carry, like he’s proudly bringing his new wife home.

The other reason I like the fact that we got to hear that little verbal exchange between them is because it was purposefully written to illustrate the fact that Daryl is doing it because he’s anxious to get her into the kitchen to have lunch together. The writers didn’t want people to mistake his chivalry as something that Daryl had to do because Beth literally couldn’t walk in there on her own steam. They could’ve just shown her carefully opening the door, and hanging onto the doorframe for balance as she limped into the kitchen. They could’ve shown Daryl behind her, ready to catch her in case she fell. They could’ve had him put an arm around her waist and assist her to her chair. But they wanted to bring a specific image to people’s minds as they were watching the episode:

The image of a groom carrying his bride over the threshold of their home was the first thing that sprang to my mind when I first watched that scene in “Alone”. And I know for a fact I’m not the only one who saw it that way. I know a lot of people like to compare him carrying her out of the hospital in season five with him carrying her in the funeral home. And I’m sure that was entirely intentional on the writers’ part. But when 413 aired, I firmly believe that this is what the writers were going for in terms of how they wanted the audience to view Daryl and Beth’s relationship.

This was such a fun, flirty moment for the two of them. Daryl was acting purely on instinct in this scene. He picked her up because he was struck by the urge to do it, even though they were almost to the table (which was perfectly set, by the way, right down to the pig’s feet he called dibs on earlier). 

“I’m goin’ as fast as I can.”

“Forget that!” *bridal carry*

Little throwback. Never forget Nicotero's quote, "The script wasn't like, 'Beth and Daryl totally hook up.' It wasn't there. But when I watched the episode, /I felt I kind of wanted that,/ which was what he brings to it and what Emily brought to it."

That’s right. It wasn’t written that way but that’s the way it came across because of their chemistry. And what they brought to it. And no way they threw all that away. I refuse to believe that all this man pain isn’t to restore some kind of hope to his character, to show him he was right to believe. Though the show is about the dead it’s really about finding a reason to live. A reason to fight. That’s been a theme running through the undercurrent of this season. Know what you want. And what you’re fighting for. Well I think they’ve brought Daryl to a place where he won’t want to fight anymore. And then….. He’ll see her. Alive. That’s gotta be what it is or I just dont know what to think anymore……

No but like Daryl being shot and this whole thing with Dwight? It literally makes no sense. Daryl has taken it upon himself to take in people. GOOD people. It just seems like dumbest thing ever for this man to cross him and Daryl's just kind of like "lol whatever" He's obviously going to be brought to Negan. That's what this whole weird plot line is. They needed a reason for Daryl to get to Negan cause Beth is going to be there. Like I 100% believe this, I feel it in my bones ;)

It seriously makes so much sense to me too and now that you mention it….. yes I realize Daryl went off half cocked and angry but seriously they got the jump on HIM? Master tracker? It’s almost TOO obvious.

Yes they had to drive the plot for Daryl to be taken to Negan directly. So I’m thinking yes. That’s what we will find.

Thank you for writing. xoxoxo

What exactly did Erik Jensen say about the comics in relation to Beth's storyline?

Erik Jensen responds well to tags on Twitter, and when a fan was grieving Beth in the aftermath of Coda, he asked them if they read the comics (X).

The fact that he did not reply again, answering the why, indicates he can’t. A person reading the comics would see all of the Andrea and Rick parallels, as well as Alice. Alice is blonde nurse in Woodbury who escapes with her mentor, Dr. Stevens, and becomes Team Prison’s doctor. (It’s very possible that Beth was given Alice’s escape arc). Why tell a fan to look at the comics because of Beth? She’s not a comic character. It only makes sense if she were taking on arcs from the comics.

When beth comes back who do you think will most likely propose the relationship, her or daryl? You think maggie would mind?

That’s hard to say, as it depends on what kind of situation they’re in (are they at war with Negan or living in peace?) and their individual emotional/mental states.  If I had to bet on one, I would think Beth, as she is the more dominant-natured person in the relationship and wants to live, not just survive. She is also better with her emotions and has had romantic relationships; Daryl isn’t the best when it comes to feelings. Interestingly, in the comics Rick and Andrea’s first kiss is started by Andrea, who tells Rick, “Don’t you think it’s about time you came back to life?” Daryl needs a resurrection as much as Beth in a way.

I don’t think Maggie would be upset. They are living in the apocalypse; societal standards regarding relationships cease to exist. She has known Daryl for two years and knows that he is a skilled survivor and more importantly a good man. He would love Beth and keep her happy and safe. Who could ask for more for their baby sister?

I feel like the question of who actually shot Beth was so intentionally obscured by the Dutch angles, that we just aren't going to know exactly how that went down until we see the other half of the story, the missing days, all of it. At this point I'm betting that Beth will have a bottle episode next season, and it'll open in that hallway, with magically clearer camera angles showing us what really happened, and then what happened after.

I agree to an extent. We can’t know anything for certain right now besides Beth’s return (though we can hazard some very strong guesses from evidence). I definitely think we will have a bottle episode as people will want to know what happened, and so much filming occurred during season 5 related to Beth. Bottle episodes are also a tradition in TWD: in season 3, we had the episode where Andrea discovered Woodbury, we had the two Governor episodes in season 4, the Bethepisode in season 5, and in season 6 we had Morgan’s 90 minute episode. 

I personally can’t wait.

In the latest episode we saw Carol purposely leave a trail and Daryl commented that he followed it. It made me think about when he taught Beth to track. We didn't ever get to see her use those skills, so do you think that she will be using them to find her way back to TF?

That is interesting, because in 6x06, Sasha made a point that Daryl was a tracker and could find her and Abraham. In an interview pre-season 5 one of TPTB - I believe it was Gale Anne Hurd - mentioned that we would see Beth used the skills Daryl taught her. However, Beth never used a crossbow or tracked, being at the hospital. I do believe that we will see her use those tracking skills, as it was given attention in 4x13 and again in the “previously on” segment for 5x04 (X). They simply could have shown Beth saying, “Pretty soon I won’t need you at all,” but instead reminded the audience of her lessons. Furthermore, Noah told her that he had family and a community with walls in Richmond for a reason. She would know that her family would go there, putting her in the general region. This season we also saw the Dixon sign Sasha carved into the door. With the way it was focused on, it hinted that it would come up again, and that name means only something to Beth.