1288 replies to this topic

[StillTheTooth]

If I may presume, I would like to call to order the first meeting of The Impassioned Congregation of Daryl Dixon Devotees. Just a few simple rules, all who gather here:

A) One must agree that Daryl Dixon, as a character, is awesome in every way
B) Clothe themselves in dirty, mud-streaked wife-beaters
C) Amp their inner Redneck all the way up to 11, and walk softly but carry a big crossbow

I was browsing here and there and found some truly great pictures of Norman Reedus, who is pretty darned attractive IRL:
Red Shirt
Black Tank
Hoodie

[cmahorror]

Met Norman Reedus in April at Texas Frightmare and what a great guy. He was there with The Boondock Saints (all three leads were there, I guess, never seen it). He was originally in the middle but they had to move him after the first night to the first table because of how long his line was. Why? Walking Dead.

Sweet guy. I was wearing my Addams Family musical shirt (Don't Analyze Me; It's a Deep, Dark Hole and You Don't Wanna Go There) and he actually said something about trading shirts with me. You have no idea how close I came to doing it! Hey, I am a healthy single woman.

He said he was thrilled to be back for a second season of Walking Dead and assured me that, as far as he knows, Merle will be back.

Tonight just reinforced my Daryl love. If I am ever in that kind of situation - I want him with me. Badass with the crossbow and tearing apart that zombie to make sure that no part of little Sophie was in there. Just awesome.

[CharmCity04]

Well Daryl was definitely the MVP of the episode and looking hella hot too. Guess being dirty, handy with a knife, smart, and able to kill the undead, can do that to a girl haha.

[chandapanda]

Well, I live in Texas and there's a shotgun under my bed (in a safe, I don't want my cat getting ahold of it!) and my knife collection is on display, so I figure I'm halfway there to being his soul mate!

I have loved the actor, Norman, since Boondock Saints and the Masters of Horror episode he was in. I was pleased as punch he joined the cast (also loved him taking the time to go film a mini-Soup plot (which I spoke of in the media/interviews thread)). He used to be a male model!!! OMG.

Ahem, I have calmed myself down now. Crossbows are the best thing in a zombie apocalypse, really. They're quiet, you don't have to get close, they do get through the skull to kill the brain, and, if you have a knife and/or some arrowheads, you can make a whole bunch of arrows, so you have an infinite supply of arrows!! Or you can just get the ones from the previous kills and re-use them, depending on the situation. I don't know. I thought, in tonight's episode, Daryl going out of his way to help save T-Dog (almost called him T-Bone, wrong show...or I'm hungry!), a BLACK man, showed something - character growth.

And I wavered back and forth on his riding the motorcycle - LOUD, open (could get chomped, no way to hide), but also, fast, great gas mileage, maneuverable as all heck, and can get to the crossbow quite quickly. So, yay Daryl!

I resisted the urge to peek under the previous poster's spoiler bar, but I will say I hope that Daryl stays with us a long time (heck, I prefer him over...well everybody else, really....unless Lennie James (Morgan) comes back, then I'll be super excited)!

Enough gushing, I apologize. :)

Edited by chandapanda, Oct 17, 2011 @ 1:18 AM.

[Vaya]

Put me in with the Darryl love. He's not as over the top redneck as his brother and eminently more practical. Which is something to love during a zombie apocalypse. I love pro active people, and how he immediately started going through the cars for supplies and then gave everyone a "What?" look when they were all staring at him.

Darryl is awesome y'all.

[HelenBack]

Under ordinary circumstances, I'd never hang out with Daryl, nor he me. We wouldn't have a thing in common, especially not with Merle around to lead him. But in an emergency, I tend to take action, too; I think we'd make outstanding allies in a ZA, and I'd have made it a priority to pick up some crossbows while traveling so he could teach me and everyone else how to use one properly! Absolutely including the kids, and I think we'd agree on that, too.

He isn't my taste, personally, in terms of attraction, but I definitely see what all the fuss is about (noted on the ep thread, competence is sexy!). At the same time, I buy it that none of the female characters seems interested in him romantically. Not just because of age/culture differences, or all the trauma they've all just been through and continue to experience, but also, Reedus is playing Daryl with a completely believable "don't touch me" air about him. Like he doesn't think about it, he isn't sending those signals on purpose, it's just the way he is.

And I, as well, cheered a little inside when he went to T-Dog's rescue so instantaneously upon seeing him hurt. Not only is T-Dog's blackness just alien to Daryl, he was also one of the people involved in (however accidentally) leaving Merle behind, though IIRC Daryl doesn't know how big a part he played. But Daryl in that moment just saw a comrade in trouble. He'd do extremely well in the armed forces, if there still were any.

[Vaya]

IIRC Daryl doesn't know how big a part he played.

T-Dog was pretty upfront about it, Darryl does know.

But unlike Merle, Darryl's brand of racism doesn't seem as pronounced. I don't think he's said anything in particular about T-Dog being black. As far as I can tell he's only made comments about Glenn being "chinaman" despite the fact that he's Korean. Like I said, he's more practical than his brother, which is why Merle is wandering around somewhere with one hand and Darryl isn't. he seems to understand that even if he doesn't particularly like these people, its better to be in a group, and team work goes farther than out and out superiority and control attempts.

But yeah, on a physical level he does nothing for me, but he is definitely the person to stick with.

Edited by Vaya, Oct 17, 2011 @ 8:26 AM.

[onyxrose81]

Daryl is one of the few reasons why I'm still excited about this show. Everyone else is too stupid to live. He would do far better on his own, methinks but I guess he wants some human companionship. His practicality is kind of endearing.

[tostoname]

What a great title : Redneck Renaissance Man!

Daryl reminds me of Jane from Serenity, but smarter and quieter.

In the event of ZA, my first order of business after run and hide would be to find me a Daryl and win his favour!,

[Doom]

Put me in with the Darryl love. He's not as over the top redneck as his brother and eminently more practical.

This is where I'm at. I'm not ready to hump the guy, but as far as kicking ass goes, he's the kickassiest. He's working through his racism and I hope the writers are skilled enough to write a good conclusion to it, so I'll still like him for now.

I think one of the best things about him is that he's really just a problem solver. He isn't interested in trying to woo Andrea or Carol, he's not trying to position himself as something, he's not weeping about what was, what is, or what will come next. He's reading and reacting, like a cornerback in the NFL. That's what I think makes him likable. He has skills but he is also really easy to read. If he's pissed, you know it. If he thinks something, he's going to say it. He acts before there is time to have fear. This is what works in a zombie apocalypse. I'd like to have a female character like Darryl.

[HelenBack]

T-Dog was pretty upfront about it, Darryl does know.

Ohhh, right right right... Which, though it was an accident, IMO makes Daryl's unthinking rescue of T-Dog all the more awesome. No grudge at all, at least not during battle.

[Vaya]

Ohhh, right right right... Which, though it was an accident, IMO makes Daryl's unthinking rescue of T-Dog all the more awesome. No grudge at all, at least not during battle.

T-Dog did make up for it somewhat by chaining the door closed, which probably saved Merle's life. Its possible that Darryl does realize that on some level.

But also Darryl isn't letting personal grievances get in the way of someone's life

[Katydid73]

Count me in on wanting Daryl with me during the ZA! The man is handy with a crossbow, a knife, and those tracking skills aren't anything to sneeze at either!

[agora]

Guess being dirty, handy with a knife, smart, and able to kill the undead, can do that to a girl haha.

Well, looking at this strictly from a zombie apocalypse perspective I think Daryl is everything I would look for in a man: deadly, simple, and funny.

Edited by agora, Oct 17, 2011 @ 11:35 AM.

[CharmCity04]

But unlike Merle, Darryl's brand of racism doesn't seem as pronounced.

Daryl kind of reminds me of the little brother that looked up to his older brother and wanted to be just like him. I think he is just a socially awkward kind of guy who has probably never been surrounded by so many different ethnicities before. Like he is "ignorant" towards that, since he probably grew up in a household where he probably was taught some "racist" tendencies.

I honestly am hoping for a Daryl/Michonne scene (if they decide to keep Daryl around a lot longer..."they better", and bring Michonne around this season). Daryl with his crossbow and motorcycle and Michonne with her Samurai Sword. That would be kick ass.

[HWavoidance]

I also love Daryl's no bullshit attitude. Last night I actually rolled my eyes when Rick asked how could he be sure that what he was seeing were Sophia's trail marks after Rick thought the trail went cold. So naturally I cheered when Daryl said "You want a tracking lesson or you want to find that girl and get the hell out of here?". As of right now, Daryl can do no wrong in my eyes.

[HelenBack]

Quoting Lillywhite from episode thread:

My God, I freaking LOVE Daryl. He's like a human Swiss army knife. We need someone to check this sketchy tent that might be full of zombies? No problem, Daryl's on it. We need to open up this zombie to see if it ate a little girl? No problem, Daryl knows just where the stomach is. I love how he just does these things without even thinking about it, and I love how he's getting closer to the group. He's been the best addition to the show and I was really excited to see his name in the opening credits

.
That just cracked me up - "human Swiss army knife" might be darned near as good as "Redneck Renaissance Man"!

[Asari]

Daryl is the best thing about this show. LOVE him.

He certainly is a human swiss army knife with a brain/common sense attachment most of the other characters seem to lack. He deserves his own spinoff show.

Racist tendencies? He's kinda bonded with Glenn and he saved T-Dog's life. He's teachable.

[lovesduncan]

Include me in the Daryl Fan Club.

It took me awhile to warm up to him last season but, after last night, he is definitely my favorite character. Its the combination of competance, crossbow, survival skills and common sense. (The latter trait seems to be sorely lacking among the rest of the characters.)

I am not quite ready to call Daryl my "TV Boyfriend" but he is certainly the guy that I would follow anywhere in a ZA.

[morrigan2575]

But unlike Merle, Darryl's brand of racism doesn't seem as pronounced. I don't think he's said anything in particular about T-Dog being black. As far as I can tell he's only made comments about Glenn being "chinaman" despite the fact that he's Korean.

I think they're setting it up for a Daryl/Glenn buddy-cop spin-off, LOL. I do agree that Daryl's brand of racism isn't as pronounced as Merle's. I think Merle really hates people,where as Daryl seems to be more from ignorance. He probably never spent time around other races so his comments are bad but I think he can learn and overcome them.

Someone in the episode thread commented that Daryl might come across as a better character b/c he doesn't say as much as the others but he's always doing something/useful. I just want to bring that point up here, b/c it's so true. I mentioned in the episode thread that in the season 1 finale there was a point where they were all trapped, everyone was freaking out and yelling at the CDC guy and all you see in the background is Daryl trying to bust the door down with an axe.

Edited by morrigan2575, Oct 17, 2011 @ 3:18 PM.

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, Daryl is easily my favorite character as well, alongside Glenn. Dude is just an awesome badass, who doesn't put up with shit, is actually pretty smart, and gets things done. It helps that I think Norman Reedus is one of the strongest actors out of this particular group.

I do agree that Daryl's brand of racism isn't as pronounced as Merle's. I think Merle really hates people,where as Daryl seems to be more from ignorance.

That's pretty much how I always felt about him. He clearly still has issues that are negative (calling Glenn "Short Round" in this recent episode), but I do get a sense it's out of ignorance and embracing stereotypes, as appose to hate, that Merle had. And I do think there is a difference in that I think Daryl can change and I hope the show is slowly planning on going there. But, as an example, when they were cleaning up all the bodies after the Camp Dinner Bell Massacre in the first season, I remember seeing him carrying bodies with the Mexican dad (can't remember the name), and I remember thinking that Merle would probably have consider it beneath him to work alongside someone who wasn't white, so Daryl doing that kind of showed, at least to me, he's isn't in the league of Merle's racism and can be redeemable.

I do hope we get more Daryl/Glenn scenes. Despite his comments, I really got a sense he likes and even respects Glenn. Even his "You've got some balls for a Chinaman!" comment in the first season, as racist as it was, seemed like a bizarre attempt at a compliment for Daryl.

Edited by thuganomics85, Oct 17, 2011 @ 3:51 PM.

[Asari]

I think they're setting it up for a Daryl/Glenn buddy-cop spin-off,

Check this out: Norman Reedus and Steven Yeun (Daryl and Glenn) did a Walking Dead spoof on last week's The Soup:

Soup of the Walking Dead

They're off to a crackling start. :)

[willowgerl]

Some people do have a bizarre way of expressing respect and admiration. I agree that Daryl's racism comes more from basic ignorance than any real misanthropy. It's pretty clear that he respects Glenn, regardless of what he calls him, even if it's only a begrudging respect at this point. That's a long way to have come for someone who apparently has such a damaged childhood (as per interviews with NR himself.)

No doubt we'll see some interesting character shifts in Daryl as the season progresses. I get the idea that Daryl will still be rough around the edges, even as he integrates into the group more and takes more of a leadership role (are you reading this, TWD writers?!?) At least I hope he will be. The worst thing that could happen to Daryl is he becomes some sort of touchy-feely, sensitive pony-tail man who starts bellyaching about his internal drama and shit like the rest of his group.

Eff that.

Give me mah few-words sayin', crossbow-wieldin', deer-fellin', squirrel-throwin', bomb-door axin', lost child-trackin', shit-faced drunk gettin', zombie autopsyin' dirty grungy snarly Daryl any day. It's boys like that that get shit done. Yes sir.

Edited by willowgerl, Oct 17, 2011 @ 4:20 PM.

[morrigan2575]

Check this out: Norman Reedus and Steven Yeun (Daryl and Glenn) did a Walking Dead spoof on last week's The Soup:

Soup of the Walking Dead

They're off to a crackling start. :)

That was awesome! Loved it, very funny.

I do hope we get more Daryl/Glenn scenes. Despite his comments, I really got a sense he likes and even respects Glenn. Even his "You've got some balls for a Chinaman!" comment in the first season, as racist as it was, seemed like a bizarre attempt at a compliment for Daryl.

I agree, I think it was Daryl's dumbass attempt at a compliment. I'm waiting for Glenn to start giving it back to him, I really can see those two developing into a fun little partnership.

[JennyEve]

Yes, he made some remarks that could be construed as racist, but nothing nearly as bad as Merle did.
Calling Glen "Chinaman" was probably just his way of classifying him as asian. I doubt he even met nearly enough asian people in his life to tell the difference between a chinese and a korean guy just from looking at him, so he throws them all together as chinamen and isn't even aware that that could insult somebody. He was, after all, paying Glen a compliment at the time, so I really doubt it was meant as an insult.
And when he was angry at T-Dog he never once brought up the race card, as far as I remember. Yes, he tried to shoot him on the roof, but doubtlessly he would have done the same if T was a white guy.
And calling Glen "Short Round" in the new episode: is that even really racist? Compared to him Glen actually is short and maybe Daryl just is a fan of the old Indiana Jones movies. I am and I actually liked that character in the movie a lot, so to me that came across as rather affectionate and not racist at all.

What I'm trying to say with all this is that Daryl grew up around a guy like Merle (and probably a bunch of other idiots) who actually is racist, and stuff like that probably used to be their normal way of referring to other ethnicities. He never had the opportunity or the need to develop all these sensitivities of people who detect veiled racism in the most innocent (or thoughtless) remarks, so most of the time - unless someone points it out to him - he isn't even aware that he is saying something insulting.

He pretty much treats everyone the same: first, he looked down on all of them with contempt and now he is slowly starting to warm up to some of them, regardless of their race or skin color. He followed Glen's lead to get the guns, he worked with the latino guy without complaint and he saved T-Dog's life without a moment's hesitation. That speaks louder to me as to the kind of guy he is than some thoughtless remarks that in all probability stem from nothing more than ignorance.

Edited by TWoP Tennison, Oct 18, 2011 @ 8:24 AM.
Boards on boards

[cyberducks]

Ha! I remember Norman Reedus from his modelling days, as I recall he had a nice guy rep.

My God, I freaking LOVE Daryl. He's like a human Swiss army knife. We need someone to check this sketchy tent that might be full of zombies? No problem, Daryl's on it. We need to open up this zombie to see if it ate a little girl? No problem, Daryl knows just where the stomach is. I love how he just does these things without even thinking about it, and I love how he's getting closer to the group. He's been the best addition to the show and I was really excited to see his name in the opening credits

I love Swiss army knives! No wonder I find Daryl cool. And yes, practical smarts and competence are attractive.

[spineofsnake]

Daryl has become my favorite character by far on this show. He's actually my boycott character now ("boycott" meaning if they kill him off, I'll probably stop watching!) He's also the only one I could see fitting in one of George A. Romero's films - the highest compliment for me since I'm in love with those movies. He's smart, competent, resourceful, and able to make quick decisions without agonizing and crying over the consequences. If I were caught in a ZA I'd be looking to hook up with someone like that and quick. I also think it's silly to call him racist, since it appears he (rightfully) realizes there's no time for nonsense like that in an apocalyptic survival situation. There's only one way to discriminate between people in a ZA - living or dead!

[morrigan2575]

He's actually my boycott character now ("boycott" meaning if they kill him off, I'll probably stop watching!)

I try not to go there and depending on the show it's iffy but I kind of agree with you. I think if they killed him off I might lose interest in the show which is kind of scary b/c I'm assuming that on a show like this, no one is safe.

[Ginna]

Dear Daryl (aka Norman Reedus),

You are now in my "Top Five Freebies" list. Call me.

Love,

Ginna

[willowgerl]

Daryl needs to survive, hook up with an equally kickassingish female with an equally kickassingish weapon and repopulate the planet. We seriously need this man's DNA all over the human gene pool.

I shall volunteer. I'll even learn how to use a flamethrower.

edited because I cannot spell.

Edited by willowgerl, Oct 17, 2011 @ 6:42 PM.