Daryl Dixon finds love. Never imagined writing those four words in the eleven years since The Walking Dead first blessed our screens. “Find Me” replaces action and bloodshed for an episode built on self-reflection and regret, focusing on three characters: Daryl, Carol, and newcomer, Leah.
The second of six episodes in this extended tenth season documents the off-screen events during the six-year time jump following Rick’s death in Season 9, and offers one of the biggest twists the show has ever delivered. Daryl has been given some significant character development.
Across the course of eleven years, there have been moments – from Daryl’s sexuality, Merle’s death, and indications of domestic abuse – yet everyone’s favorite redneck has been largely the same character since his arrival in Season 1, and to keep it frank, his character progression has stalled considerably since Season 7. Plus, with every time jump during this episode, Daryl looks entirely the same.
His romance with Leah was unexpected, firstly because it’s only taken them ten seasons to give some new, much-needed direction to Norman Reedus’ hugely uninteresting narrative, and perhaps also because it’s redundant, considering the many years and seasons it’s taken to reach this point.
Much like last week’s episode, “Find Me” feels more like filler, killing time before the Commonwealth makes their big entrance, and the show finally moves towards its final season.
The highlights of the episode would include ’Dog’, the cutest if oddly named doggie in the apocalypse, and also the potential of Leah and Daryl’s relationship considering the open-ended nature of the episode, while his friendship with Carol’s takes an interesting turn.
He blames Carol for Connie’s apparent fate in the Whisperer caves at the midpoint of Season 10, while Carol intended to avenge Henry’s death by Alpha. These final interactions hit hard, leaving their friendship strained.
