‘The Walking Dead’: Daryl Dixon Finally Got a Real Romance (But Still No Smooches)

It’s been 10 long seasons for Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) on The Walking Dead; even longer, thanks to the six bonus episodes currently airing on AMC. And throughout those episodes, despite seeming flirtations, our favorite crossbow wielding bad-ass hasn’t had a single official romantic relationship. That is, until this week’s episode, “Find Me,” which finally gave Daryl a confirmed romance…

…Or at least, we assume, since he still got nary a kiss on the lips, and it was never confirmed officially in dialogue or on screen, just strongly implied.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 18, “Find Me” past this point.

In the hour, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl are teaming up for a hunting mission in the “present,” despite the divide that’s only widened between them since Carol enacted her plans to kill villain Alpha (Samantha Morton) way back at at the beginning of the season. It’s surprisingly fun and light-hearted, until Daryl comes across an abandoned cabin in the woods.

There, we flash back to two years post-Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) disappearance in Season 9’s “What Comes After.” Canonically, we know that Daryl was in the woods for almost a decade by himself looking for Rick, and then came back with a new canine companion named Dog. What we learn throughout the course of this episode is that Daryl wasn’t completely alone — not only did Carol visit him several times with supplies, but over the course of a couple of years he sparred, then seemingly fell in love with a fellow loner and survivor named Leah (Lynn Collins).

Despite the show’s best efforts to deglamorize Collins, it’s hard not to recognize a movie and TV star when you see them. In case you couldn’t see past the light layer of dirt, Collins is probably best known for her roles as Dawn Green on True Blood, Alicia Kent on Bosch, and Natalie Rogers on Manhunt: Unabomber. She’s also appeared in plenty of genre-friendly movies like X-Men: Origins – Wolverine, playing Hugh Jackman’s love interest Kayla Silverfox, and John Carter, playing Taylor Kitsch’s love interest Dejah Thoris. Particularly with the last two, you can see how TV’s favorite Wolverine/John Carter amalgam Daryl Dixon ended up with Collins as a romantic partner.

Anyway, the flirtation lasts for several years. Three years Post-Rick (PR), Daryl meets her in her cabin, kills a walker, and gets tied up. She lets him go, but declines to give him her name. Six months later, Dog — who he finds out from Leah is named “Dog” — comes by Daryl’s camp, so he returns the pooch. Eight months after that, Daryl is surrounded by walkers, Leah saves him, they get awful close while hiding next to a tree (shades of Carl and Enid from Season 5, perhaps?), and then he gets pissed and walks off on his own.

And then, as all classic romances do, things start to heat up three months later when Daryl throws a fish at her door. Fellas: this is the way to win a lady’s heart… If you throw a fish at her door, and then she throws the fish back at you? That’s love, baby!

It does work, though, and while sleeping on Leah’s floor he gets a tearful confession of her entire backstory. Short version, she was with a group, the undead attacked, the all died (including her de facto sister), and the boy she had adopted as her son got bit. It’s the latter’s birthday, so she’s particularly vulnerable. Leah’s backstory is a pretty clear amalgamation of Daryl and Carol’s stories: Carol has had to deal with multiple kids dying; Daryl is trying to find his “dead” “brother” Rick. So naturally, he softens, and we get a montage of them walking through the woods, lying on an abandoned refrigerator (?) and watching an eclipse, and ultimately the sexiest moment in Daryl Dixon’s entire time on the series: Leah fetchingly looks back at the camera while sitting in front of a fireplace, and we see Daryl’s hand clasp her own.

Hoooo boy, someone cool me down, because Mr. Darcy has nothing on Daryl Dixon! A hand clasp? What’s next, Leah shows a little bit of leg above the ankle???

In all seriousness, though, we’ve been through 10 seasons and Daryl can’t even get a little kiss on the lips? It is a little frustrating that, beyond the fan inference that Daryl has shown interest in everyone from Carol, to Beth (Emily Kinney), to Connie (Lauren Ridloff), the closest we get to an actual romantic encounter and the show is still playing coy. Is it an artistic choice? Does Reedus have a “no smoochies” clause in his contract? Or perhaps it was because of COVID safety, which is totally reasonable and okay fine it’s probably the last one.

But still, even knowing that Daryl was almost definitely getting a little something with Leah — 10 months later they’re eating dinner together in silence like an old, married couple — it’s annoying from a viewer perspective that we didn’t get that (sorry to use the term) moment of release that a kiss would bring.

It’s entirely possible, though, that we will see Leah again. After their blow-up, Daryl returned to their cabin to find Leah gone, and left her a message that said “I belong with you. Find me.” In the present, Carol and Daryl have a blow-up of their own, but he’s clearly not given up on maybe finding Leah again some day, and we know that after the final season of The Walking Dead, Carol and Daryl are getting their own spin-off series. We could see Leah pop up there again as a plot point, though that’s years away from now.

Regardless, as we enter these final few episodes of the series, we have only one request: can Daryl get a little kiss, as a treat?

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.