This episode of The Walking Dead titled “Find Me” tells the story of what Daryl was doing for those five years while he was looking for any clues about Rick Grimes. I must say this. The opening between Daryl, Carol, and Dog is one of the best openings to any Walking Dead episodes I have seen within the last few years since “A New Beginning.” I thought it was charming, light-hearted, and warm to see them all in a care free spirit. Any fan of The Walking Dead will love that scene.
But the nice mood stops here as Daryl is faced with the conflicting past once they go to the cabin. We learn here that Daryl lived with a woman named Leah a few years ago. It is told in flashbacks during the episode that spans five years. At first, Daryl is by himself doing anything that he can to search for Rick. Daryl goes through a lot as he tries to survive even during the worst of the weather that destroyed his map that got him really angry.
Dog is also in these flashbacks and the original owner of Dog is Leah. In fact, Leah is the one that gave Dog the name “Dog” and I thought that Daryl was the one who named him. Leah’s backstory is that she was part of a group with her sister and her sister’s son. After she lost her sister, she adopted her son. And she eventually lost her son due to a walker bite and had him buried behind the cabin.
I think that Leah was just thrown in for the sake of expanding Daryl’s five year journey. When they first met, she was about to kill him. And in due time, it becomes a will they/won’t they situation to be together. Daryl told Carol that he told her about Leah a while back, but Carol did not know the full story until now. This did upset Carol as she found more pieces to the puzzle such as a note Daryl left for Leah, and some of her belongings that she found. More on that in a few paragraphs.
I think that Lynn Collins did a great job portraying Leah. But I am not too invested with the new character yet. It is also implied that Leah had sex with Daryl and that their bond grew closer towards the end of “Find Me.” But unfortunately, Leah gives Daryl the ultimatum to be with her or not. She decided to not wait as she left Daryl. But it was not all about Leah and Daryl in these flashbacks as Daryl and Carol also meet up several times during that time. Carol was still with Ezekiel, and Henry was still alive during this time. She updates Daryl about Michonne, and what is going on with the communities.
After all the flashbacks, things take a turn for the worst between Daryl and Carol. Daryl finally told Carol off about her reckless behavior while Carol told Daryl off about him trying to be a hero all the time. This was raw and emotional as real life couples or best friends argue like this from time to time. You can feel it when it comes out of their mouths and it is one of the most heartbreaking conversations in the history of The Walking Dead. Norman Reedus really pulled it off here. But at the same time, I feel that there was an unbalance during the argument as I wished that Carol would have had an equal amount of words to fire back at Daryl. Put it like this, Daryl had more time to let his frustrations out while Carol had little time to do the same.
I really see the point across of Daryl finally letting his anger and frustrations out on Carol. That is because they have not talked about the backlog of issues ever since the cave incident. But I really wish that there was some balance in between the argument for the viewers to see both side of the point of view because Carol also needed to drop some truth to Daryl at the same level that he did. But overall, it is a great acted scene!
Personally, I liked “Find Me” more than “Home Sweet Home” because the story on “Find Me” felt like it advanced the character development over “Home Sweet Home” as that episode was an episode to set up the mood for the next season. Also, I find it more believable now that Daryl stayed in that cabin for years over him being in that tent back in season 9 after the time skip. At that time, it was believed that he was there the whole time. These two episodes are really solid and I am looking forward to the next round of episodes.
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