where Leah belongs

In her last scene she had with Daryl before disappearing Leah said “or do you belong with the family you left because it was too hard to face what happened?” which applies just as much to her as Daryl

When she was telling her story about how she wound up alone, she says she got separated from her family, got to the cabin, and then her son died and she never left. She never tried to find her family, and we have no indication that anyone other than her son’s mother died.

I don’t believe Leah and Daryl belonged together, and hopefully the writers and characters don’t really either. They were both in places frozen in grief, unable to face where they really belonged.

Her frustration with him parallels her frustration with herself, and confronting Daryl about his issues made her face hers. I like to think she’s out looking for her family where she really belongs.

If she comes back, I’d like to see it in kind of an antagonist role. She has reunited with her family, her squad who swore to stay together and fight together (primarily against walkers or other people? come on, you know no group like that can be saints) and we get the ultimatum “me or your family” again, but with higher stakes and Daryl making the right choice

Thanks for pointing out a (another) detail i missed lol so her squad might still be alive? 😮 Yeah I can see that happening that she leaves to find her squad or they found her. .. And squad could be the reapers if they're gonna be antagonist.

---Ugh I don't like how the online fandom dont watch the ep on the same day. So I had to tag spoilers (from thursday) or wait till Sunday or Monday. /Tumblr.. And me tagging everything or posting is tiring./ And I wish the caryl fandom is more on the same page but oh well. Hard to let it go. ...

10x18 thoughts

Anyway, I like the your guys' posts of Find Me going around. Very insightful and kinda what I already had in mind. And I think it was less bad than some people were expecting.

I watched it. I really liked it. I guess I like those kind of slow stories of person's past and present .. And the parallels. it's nice to get a lot of Daryl pov in the ep. Very charactery ep. We get to learn more about Daryl ..like seeing his lonely side and as a bf in the past. Daryl's very loyal. I know that the gf Leah is like shocking to learn and writers had the chance to add it from the 6 year time skip in an episode. It helps that Carylers knew about the spoilers for a month and that .. The flashback i think was written well for me to believe it that it had happened in the past. It had that slow time-pass mood. (Apparently Carol knew a bit of Leah from Bonds ep. So ..writers had Leah in mind for a long time. ?)

The ep had a lot of parallels to different things. It gets confusing and idk what Kang is trying to say. There were llike Leah is similar to Daryl or mix of TF, Caryl similar to DL, Carol similar to Leah. And then its like Carol similar to past Daryl and vice versa. But the ep just ends of Caryl kinda breaking up and just gotta fix the cabin to sleep overnight. The angst ... Their story is not done. The ep is mostly focused of Caryl. I'm looking forward to ep Diverged.

I like how one poster said Carol needs to figure out where she belongs and it's with Daryl.

So in the ep it seems like there's 3 choices with Daryl ..to live peacefully idk. *First of all idk why Leah wants Daryl to decide. (Writers putting drama there?) Idk where or why Leah wants to leave. Idk I think she cares about Daryl and was kinda hurt that he stays by the river and not with TF (still living) or with herself. She wants him to grow? Move on too? So I think she was ready to leave and move on and made Daryl to decide.

1- stay at the river looking for Rick. 2- be with Leah (wherever she went, and move on). Or..3 - be with TF/Carol, move on.

After Carol said she can't visit often anymore and busy at kingdom, Leah made him decide, ..Daryl felt stuck in grief(1), on his three day search, and so then he's like realizes (2)"I should be with Leah". But Leah left already. Then he's back at square one(1) ..by the river. Idk it's like s9 then showed ..Carol got him to look after Henry ... To get Daryl back with TF to have some peace.( 3).

Daryl is loyal and about family/ASZ...where he would belong. So he's tired of seeing Carol running away and she needs to work on her issues..have faith. He wants Carol to stay and.. Yeah they belong together.

You guys kept mentioning the past and the future with Leah and Carol. It really is making me think of comic Carl x Lydia x Sophia. 👀 check it out in my blog.

I didn't really think of ep 17 but 👀💭 oh whisperers still around and reapers (new ) are out there still? I can kinda see that maybe Leah return to kill off the remaining whisperers/walkers and make a deal..idk and she's a leader from the reapers. Like comic Sherry. But idk.. It's so angry/manipulative and violent like. I don't see Leah that way. I wish to know where she went. I also don't think she could be comic Pamela ...cos in comics Commonwealth the people were like kinda not experienced or knowledgable of survival except the soldiers. And the arc was about old vs new world ..way of living. Political things. So idk what comic version she could be but be like comic Lydia in a subtle way.

I think the point Kang was trying to make but didn't explain well(in regards to Leah) is that she didn't actually ever plan on leaving.

The scene where Leah confronts Daryl over dinner, where she asks him to figure out where he belongs she's very likely upset that he's going out there to look for Rick for multiple days again and that's why she was upset. We all know Daryl is one of the most capable survivors left alive at this point, but there's no denying that every time he leaves, especially for multiple days, he's putting himself in danger. That's why Leah is upset. She obv cares for him. She doesn't understand why he continues to look for a "dead" man. She wants him "home", with her, just like any of us would want our loved ones were we in a similar situation.

Now to the reason why Leah can't go to any of the communities... Kang explains that she's grieving. And we see in multiple shots that her son's grave is in they yard by the cabin. She's got her own, isolated little world which I'm sure she's very hesitant to leave. Whether Daryl ever poses that they should go live in one of the communities is never established, but I'm willing to bet that either it was never brought up(because it's Daryl) or it was and it was shot down really quickly.

We also need to take into account that at that Daryl was not ready to go back, obviously, & also point Michonne was still not even talking to long time friends from outside Alexandria because of what had happened to the kids.... So Alexandria was out as a place to bring Leah. Hilltop was mostly inhabited by former Saviors at that point and Maggie was just... Off with Georgie somewhere. Likely making the thought of being there unbearable.

...and then there's the Kingdom. And as much as Carol would have wanted Daryl to come there and be safe... I can't see him ever wanting to live there and have to see Carol living the life that Daryl(in his own mind) could never give her... Even with a new girlfriend in tow. Probably ESPECIALLY with a girlfriend in tow. I can see him finding that too messy.

So we have all that to take into account... And then...

When Daryl has his freakout "epiphany" where he runs back to Leah & she's gone... It's only been a few days. And yet she's gone and the house is torn up. Chairs are knocked over, the picture frame is smashed and empty. Dog was abandoned. She left in a hurry. It wasn't planned. Walkers could have gotten in and overwhelmed her, forcing her to grab shit quickly and run... Or people could have found the place and she had to take off...

That's why Carol asks what he thinks happened. And a big part of why he blames himself for her being gone.

But yes, I think Kang was trying to explain that to us and I think that she left some clues for us to understand the events happening that way, but I think, especially with the tone of the episode, it's easy to overlook little details that got sprinkled into places...

Thanks for explaining. I forget some things or so. I kinda assumed Leah left by choice because people kept saying she left (from reviews) and also her picture was gone. Yeah Daryl doesn't know for sure how or why she left. I'm kinda think maybe one of her old friends found her or someone ask to be in their group. So maybe Leah decided to move on while knowing Daryl would rather live by the river or something. Like she knew he wouldn't choose her. Idk

I also thought Leah was fine with Daryl leaving for a few days here and there during their time together as a couple (because that is what they did as friends). Like I thought it was something they're fine abd understand with. But it does make sense if it was like a thing she didn't like, Daryl leaving Leah to search Rick, as a couple. Like it's finding Rick/Tf or be with Leah.

I wonder what happened to her and what will happen for Caryl.