Daryl (Norman Reedus) calls out Carol (Melissa McBride) with a heartfelt plea in a clip from Sunday’s Season 10 midseason finale, “The World Before” (via EW). Operating on intel freshly acquired from seemingly traitorous Whisperer Gamma (Thora Birch), who struck a deal with Aaron (Ross Marquand), the Alexandrians are out to find and eliminate the walker horde commanded by Alpha (Samantha Morton). When Daryl and Carol encounter another Whisperer trap — Carol first fell victim to one in 10×03, “Ghosts,” after firing off a shot at Alpha — Daryl urges his best friend to be mindful of her own safety when carrying out her vendetta against the woman who murdered son Henry (Matt Lintz).
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“Can we stop this shit? Please,” Daryl tells her. “You want her dead so bad you don’t even care what happens to you.” When Carol denies the accusation, Daryl follows, “You never came off that boat. It’s been like talking to a goddamn ghost.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Carol says. Daryl, eye-to-eye, tells her, “I’m the one you tell. Me.” She doesn’t know how, Carol confesses.
“You gotta try. Alright?” he says, wrapping her in a hug. “She’s not worth it. She’s not. Look at me. She’s a dead woman anyway.”
“We have a future,” Daryl tells her. “Don’t let her take that too.”
At ACE Comic Con Midwest in October, Reedus said Daryl and Carol’s near ten-year relationship “gets really complicated this year,” explaining Carol is still reeling following the loss of son Henry and the subsequent dissolution of the Kingdom and her marriage to King Ezekiel (Khary Payton).
“If you look at all the things that have happened to Carol, she’s lost so much, you know? And she’s become very damaged because of it,” Reedus said. “So there’s a lot of that kind of relationship this year.”
Despite Daryl’s pleas, Carol’s lust for vengeance could put more lives at risk during their high-stakes mission in the midseason finale.
“For Carol, the stakes are so high for her because of what happened to her son, and I think in this episode what we’re really seeing — and Melissa McBride just portrays the role so beautifully — it’s just the depth of her grief and pain and how much of it she’s been hiding away from everybody else in the group,” showrunner Angela Kang told EW after “Ghosts,” where Michonne (Danai Gurira) narrowly prevented war when she blocked Carol’s attack on Alpha. “And that comes bubbling up to the surface in a couple of really key moments, such as when she’s at the border with Alpha. When somebody is going through that much pain, and when they have such a burning desire to have revenge, and when she really wants to see Alpha pay for her sins, that’s going to have a big impact on all our people in various ways.”
“You’re also seeing the start of some pretty self-destructive behaviors in this episode,” Kang continued. “So the season builds from there with her story. So yeah, it’s a continuing story for us. It has a lot of emotional depth from her character side.”
“The World Before” premieres Sunday, Nov. 24 at 9/8c on AMC. For more TWD intel, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.
