The Walking Dead: Why Daryl Dixon didn’t hesitate in this week’s kill

The Walking Dead’s final midseason finale, “Acts of God,” was an action-packed episode with other vital scenes, including Daryl Dixon making a surprise kill. This episode will carry the story into the last eight episodes of the series and set things up to do just that.

Maggie is in the middle of an altercation she has started with Dep. Governor of the Commonwealth, Lance Hornsby. She declined his offer to assist Hilltop and bring them into the Commonwealth family of communities. Although he couldn’t find proof, he knew she aided the Riverbend residents in slaughtering his men. He doesn’t like people who oppose him, so he has decided to eliminate the threat instead of moving on.

This article contains significant spoilers for The Walking Dead episode “Act of God.” 

In the previous episode, we saw the return of the last remaining member of the Reapers, Leah. She is set on getting revenge for her fellow Reapers who died at the hands of Maggie. It was discovered that Leah was the one who overtook the Commonwealth caravan with a supply of guns, and Lance was impressed with her skills. He hires her to kill Maggie after learning they share a common enemy.

The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon

Throughout the episode, we see Daryl with Gabe and Aaron trying to maneuver their way away from the Commonwealth soldiers they have been assigned with to search for the surviving Riverbend residents with. After the incident at Riverbend, they see what the Commonwealth is about, at least Hornsby and his crew, and know they need to remove themselves from this community before it’s too late.

After the trio make a surprise attack on the troopers and find out Hornsby’s location, they head in that direction. They are close to Hilltop by nightfall, and Daryl discovers spikes on some of the trees, traps and other familiar signs. He now knows that Leah has returned.

We see Maggie and Leah stalk each other in the woods in the showdown viewers have wanted to see. Two strong women, each with a vendetta against the other. Leah finally gets the upper hand and takes Maggie to her cabin. Leah makes the mistake of underestimating Maggie, and she frees herself, where they once again go at it. Maggie holds her own, but Leah’s military training allows her to overpower her, and as she is about to kill Maggie, a bullet goes through her head.

Daryl is seen in the doorway as the shooter. He didn’t hesitate to kill Leah, although there was a slight dip of his head because Leah was important to him at one time. At a time when he was grieving the loss of his brother Rick Grimes, Leah was there to make him feel like life was worth living.

Even when it was revealed that Leah was a member of the Reapers, the group that killed Maggie’s people, Daryl held out hope that she still had some good inside her. When Leah betrayed Daryl by killing Pope and then placing the blame on him and realized that was her true nature.

Daryl let Leah go back at Meridian, a mistake he wouldn’t make again. And this time, he didn’t hesitate to kill her as he will always feel that he owes Maggie because of the guilt he carries regarding Glenn’s death. He will always defend Maggie over almost anyone.

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