Why The Walking Dead 1018 upset shippers

Is Daryl a hypocrite?

However, even more than making Daryl seem cruel; many fans feel his blaming Carol for Connie’s fate also makes him a hypocrite. Daryl, whose lashing out caused Glenn’s death. His violent reaction caused Negan to murder Glenn as a “bonus” on top of killing Abraham, which was guttural, visceral, personal anger. And yet, no one in the family or group blamed Daryl at all. In fact, we were even shown Maggie comforting Daryl, showing how much she didn’t blame him, and showing the strength of their bond was only solidified after that.

Yet, Carol, who attempted to take out Alpha’s horde, in a way that she hadn’t thought through, is blamed for the fall out from that decision – in which Magna and Connie chose to head back into the cave to fight Whisperers, of their own accord – by her best friend.

Seeing Daryl cast that blame at Carol – when Reedus admits that Daryl still blames himself over Glenn – makes him seem hypocritical and cruel. And for many fans who fell in love with the Daryl who brought Carol a Cherokee Rose in a beer bottle to lift her spirits while Sophia was missing, that’s a galling change.

The fact the fight happens at all is hard for fans to take, not because Carol and Daryl should never argue, but because fans had just sat through an entire season of them arguing and distant and had hoped that this tension might be behind them, given they seemed to make up in “A Certain Doom.”

So for fans to see everything undone again and for Carol and Daryl to be at an all-new low with each other is depressing, and it’s not surprising fans of their closeness don’t like it. Particularly given the world we’re in right now.