Notes

Interview Analysis:

I broke down the interview, and it was interesting to say the least. Once you get to the interview breakdown, the format is as follows:

What Romance for Daryl Isn’t v. What It Is
What Bethyl Isn’t v. What Bethyl Is

And you know what’s crazy? It follows this structure perfectly, as if he planned to do that. I thought I would have to really wade through his words to try to unearth his message, but in reality it was right in front of my face. I have not taken one sentence out of place. Every snippet appears in the order it was said. I have not twisted the words. I typed it out from the interview and started breaking it down, only to notice the pattern. This stuff is crazy. Apologies if there are typos, I wanted to get this up as soon as possible and I don’t have time to revise. Let’s start with that ridiculous question before we get to breaking down NR’s response.

Question: After all the characters were separated last year, you spent a lot of time with Emily Kinney who plays Beth. A lot of people started thinking was maybe a romance between those characters. I did not see it that way. I saw it as maybe the writers putting two characters that are complete opposites together and showing that in an apocalypse like this you don’t pick who your friends are, you know you can’t choose who you get to stay with. But some people saw maybe a romance that I didn’t see. What is your take on the Daryl and Beth relationship?

I don’t know what he was thinking or why he thought that was appropriate or professional, but it just isn’t. I find the wording of this question kind of disrespectful and offensive. It is rude to impose your point of view on the person you are interviewing, and it is disrespectful to Emily Kinney and her character, basically downgrading it to ‘you didn’t get to pick who you got stuck with and this is what happens’. NR did a good job with what he had to work with regarding this question, though.


Before I start breaking down NR’s answer, here is the transcript as I heard it in full:

NR: "I think I’m more with your train of thought. You know…the thing with Daryl is people have been trying to “hook him up” left and right since episode 3. So uh I don’t want to play him as the type of character that just meets somebody and throws the girl against a tree in the moonlight and has passionate stuff happening. I wanna play him like he doesn’t know what that means. I wanna play him, like all the awkward moments in between a boy and a girl or a girl and a girl or a boy and a boy, when they meet, if there’s romance involved they’re awkward at first. It never just goes like this (hand gesture) right away. I think especially with his background, to play those awkward moments are important. I think that’s almost more interesting than two people doing this (hand gesture). You know, so. As far as Beth and Daryl. I didn’t see it like that. I think that if there were feelings like that its because he doesn’t quite understand those feelings and he might say the wrong thing or he might be shy to make a move in either direction. I don’t think he’s like “hey Beth, come here”, he’s more like “I might like you, you know, I don’t know, maybe, if I’m doing this right, if I’m not doing this right, but it was more, you know…the prison was just taken. Daryl was starting to feel comfortable with who he was as one of the group members and one of the group leaders. And I think as that was taken away it was all back to square one. They were lost in the woods again. You know I spent the first half of that episode just growling. I barely…barely spoke just an audible word. But as the episode progressed he saw something in her that was like a little candlelight at the end of a dark tunnel. And she was saying, you know there are good people left in the world and there are, you know, reasons to go on and don’t give up hope. And I think she was that little glimmer of hope for him and I think that’s what he was attracted to. If he misconstrued those feelings as possibly like a crush, then that’s even better. But I don’t think he went in there like “hey me and you”. I think he like “there’s something good in you and I havent’ seen anything good in forever. It’s being like lost in the woods for miles and miles and starving and finding and apple tree with an apple on it. It’s like there’s something good out there and maybe that’s you. Maybe you can show me what you know and you can make Daryl have those hopeful feelings too. I think some people might have interpreted that as you know “he thinks you’re cute” or “he wants to be with you”. But I think it was deeper than that to be honest."

He addressed what Daryl is like and what a relationship would entail for him and what it wouldn’t in that interview. NR seems to get a lot of people pushing for Daryl to “hook up” and that is always part of his token relationship question response. People want to see things play out a specific way on screen. In that quote I mentioned above, he equates the nature of romance to what people have been pushing for – people hooking up, making out, etc. I want to look at this interview bit by bit, then as a whole. That is the only way I can do it without my head exploding. This interview has two sections, each with two parts. I have divided them accordingly.


What Romance Isn't for Daryl v. What It is


What it isn’t

“I think I’m more with your train of thought.”

I’m sure all hell broke loose here for some. Parties started for the Carylers. Meanwhile there was weeping and gnashing of teeth from some upset Bethylers that perhaps shut down after hearing those words. Take a closer look. “I think I’m more with your train of thought.” Much like the shipper rant article I referenced, I think NR wants people to get that this show isn’t about romance or who is gonna hook up, and what relationships look like may not be what is expected. Two things are at play here – what Daryl will be like in a relationship as opposed to any other man, and what the general plot of the Walking Dead involves. Romance is a small portion of that, and I think that is one point NR really wants people to get. His hard work, along with EK’s got overshadowed by some nasty comments and hardcore shippers, which prompted him to rant in that Daily Beast interview. The general point of the Bethyl episodes, specifically Inmates and Still, had little to do with romance. Some may see tension and I won’t argue that. That isn’t really the point for the purposes of this post. I think NR wants people to look at the work they did in 4b as a whole and appreciate what it is and the paths these characters took. Daryl had a lot of development the whole season, particularly in 4b, and I think that is what he wants to showcase more than anything. This is also true for Beth. We got to know her, she who she is and how she thinks, and that shouldn’t be minimized for the sake of romance or hooking up or anything. Romance was a part of it. There was foreshadowing all throughout the season and we got some real moments, particularly in Alone, but to just look at Daryl and Beth and see only a love story is to miss the whole world.

What the interviewer said, however, is incorrect. Daryl and Beth were put together because of their ability to draw certain things out from one another. Their stories furthered and their relationship deepened through this. It wasn’t some trivial thing, like he made it sound. To hear his question and listen to the previous ones about Carol, you would think that he was implying that Daryl would have chosen to be stuck with Carol but instead got stuck with this Beth person. Not cool.


“You know…the thing with Daryl is people have been trying to “hook him up” left and right since episode 3. So uh I don’t want to play him as the type of character that just meets somebody and throws the girl against a tree in the moonlight and has passionate stuff happening.”

What is this we have here? The token romance question answer. We’ve seen it in some variation over and over again. In the questions regarding Carol, he only discussed their bond as damaged people and also their significant scenes in season 2 WITH REGARDS TO HOW THEY FURTHERED DARYL’S STORY. Based on what we know about Daryl, we know what the Cherokee Rose and the search for Sophia meant. That is referenced in this interview as well. Carol is friendzoned in this interview. She is a dear friend, but she didn’t even get the romance spiel this time. Beth did. Still, that is not the main point. He is talking about what people have wanted to see, just like I already mentioned. I think we all agree with that assessment. This is not what Bethyl is all about. What does Norman want to see with Daryl?

What it is

“I wanna play him like he doesn’t know what that means. I wanna play him, like all the awkward moments in between a boy and a girl or a girl and a girl or a boy and a boy, when they meet, if there’s romance involved they’re awkward at first. It never just goes like this (hand gesture) right away. I think especially with his background, to play those awkward moments are important. I think that’s almost more interesting than two people doing this (hand gesture). “

Basically, we aren’t going to get the typical love story when it comes to Daryl. That is nothing new. He wants to see Daryl as awkward and stumbling through this process that he doesn’t understand. It is significant because it is how he will stay true to his character while navigating a relationship. Now, let’s move on.


Beth and Daryl: What Bethyl Isn’t v. What Bethyl Is

Up until this point, he has only discussed his general idea of what romance is/isn’t for Daryl. Now he gets specific.


What Bethyl isn’t

“You know, so. As far as Beth and Daryl. I didn’t see it like that.”

Oh boy. I’m sure some people had a field day with that one. What does this reference? I see this interview as being cut into two pieces. I just covered the first half – what we won’t get with Daryl v. what we will. So this line I think is a reference to that first part. His moonlight tree sex speech. This statement is a dividing line.

What is Bethyl? How does he see it? Yes. THE SECOND PART. THE REAL PART.


What Bethyl is

“I think that if there were feelings like that it’s because he doesn’t quite understand those feelings and he might say the wrong thing or he might be shy to make a move in either direction. I don’t think he’s like “hey Beth, come here”, he’s more like “I might like you, you know, I don’t know, maybe, if I’m doing this right, if I’m not doing this right”

This solidifies that I think this interview is split in two. If you don’t believe me, take a look. Where did we just see a general reference to this? “I wanna play him like he doesn’t know what that means. I wanna play him, like all the awkward moments in between a boy and a girl or a girl and a girl or a boy and a boy, when they meet, if there’s romance involved they’re awkward at first.” He just described what he was feeling with Beth as awkward, confusing, and progressive.

“but it was more, you know…the prison was just taken. Daryl was starting to feel comfortable with who he was as one of the group members and one of the group leaders. And I think as that was taken away it was all back to square one. They were lost in the woods again. You know I spent the first half of that episode just growling. I barely…barely spoke just an audible word. But as the episode progressed he saw something in her that was like a little candlelight at the end of a dark tunnel.”

Here we cover what happened, how they ended up in that situation, and address the events of Inmates and Still. It also references the major storyline that I mentioned earlier. Daryl was in a bad place post-prison. He also puts an emphasis on the storyline and development of his character. Why? Because that is what ultimately matters. It is better, and more interesting (see above) to watch these characters grow individually and together than to have hot passionate tree sex. He is showing how this isn’t a romantic thing “like he is trying to bone Beth”. It is beyond that.

“And she was saying, you know there are good people left in the world and there are, you know, reasons to go on and don’t give up hope. And I think she was that little glimmer of hope for him and I think that’s what he was attracted to. If he misconstrued those feelings as possibly like a crush, then that’s even better. But I don’t think he went in there like “hey me and you”.”

He just said that he didn’t want Daryl to know what he was doing, that he doesn’t know what he is feeling, and we know that he doesn’t want Daryl to have game. So naturally, this is not what we see with Beth. He is showing us how this relationship isn’t like the first scenario – the hooking up one. It wasn’t a plan for him, and it wasn’t even necessarily something he was really aware of or understanding.

“I think he's like 'there’s something good in you and I haven’t seen anything good in forever. It’s being like lost in the woods for miles and miles and starving and finding and apple tree with an apple on it. It’s like there’s something good out there and maybe that’s you. Maybe you can show me what you know and you can make Daryl have those hopeful feelings too.'”

This is what he ultimately sees their relationship at as of now. This is the impact she has had on him and what she means to him. She is light in the darkness. She is food to a hungry body and soul. It is so beautiful I don’t even know if I could find a different way to say it, and it is my job as a writer to use words to paint pictures. This is the epitome, the realization of that second scenario. This is what begins to happen when those steps, those awkward moves, get taken. It is about what is inside of her, not a physical attraction. That is stronger, more intimate, and lasting.

“I think some people might have interpreted that as you know “he thinks you’re cute” or “he wants to be with you”. But I think it was deeper than that to be honest.”

I read this as – no, it isn’t romantic in the sense that I mentioned in the beginning – that Daryl has game and goes into this wanting her. It isn’t what people might expect to see and how relationships typically work. IT IS MUCH DEEPER. It is on a level Daryl has yet to experience. It is something he is trying to figure out how to broach with her. Season 5 will be interesting. To sum things up, this whole interview - whenever he talks about what Bethyl isn’t - it always pertains to those acts that would require game and a knowledge of matters of the heart that Daryl does not have. When he describes their actual relationship: Bethyl is exactly what he expects Daryl’s love interest to be.


I kid you not, that whole interview, as jumbled and mixed up as it sounded (perhaps he was channeling Robert Kirkman, who I think is the king of gibberish when it comes to interviews), was a compare and contrast. As I said, I didn’t change one iota. You can read the transcript and look at the order I addressed everything if you’re interested. I don’t know how planned out it was for him. I’m sure he has to know these kind of questions will come. We know he has a specific formula. It would have been a compare/contrast regardless of the order the words fell, because the content is there. He just made my job easier. Looks like we got an interview that told us that Bethyl is basically the incarnate love story NR hopes Daryl receives.

General Observations


His token romance spiel went to Beth and not Carol
Nothing new for Carol/Caryl in this interview as a whole
Interviews should not be conducted by personally involved shippers, specifically ones that can’t keep their opinions to themselves.
We did get some new Bethyl info in a way, but it is more along the lines of confirmation of what we already suspected and know. They have a deep bond, and it isn’t a typical love story. But the relationship itself is still there, and he basically confirmed it in his own roundabout way.
Don’t jump to conclusions. Things don’t always mean what we think at first. What some saw as a bad event ended up being a great one.
Caryl is probably having a field day. They can take these lines out of context and hold on to the same speech he’s given over and over. When you look at the interview as a whole, things look very bright for Bethyl.
Regardless of what you hear or what people post, he did not dismiss or disregard Bethyl. He only clarified what it looks like. Which, incidentally, is exactly what he thinks a relationship for Daryl should be.
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From "Spoil The Dead Forums". Written by user "ahepburn"