The Walking Dead: 6 Things That "Alone" Did Right (And 3 It Didn't)

4. Daryl And Beth

For the first time in the second half of Season 4, "Alone" gives us a Daryl/Beth storyline that does not open with them breathlessly fleeing from a horde of Walkers. Although Beth is injured after stepping into a hidden animal trap, they oh-so-luckily stumble upon an empty but well-stocked funeral home in which they decide to take refuge until Beth's ankle heals...or, as it turns out, indefinitely. All seems to be going disarmingly well for the zombie apocalypse's most unlikely duo, and we soon gather that they seem to really be changing one another for the better. When not wandering into steel traps, Beth is learning to track and even handling the sacred crossbow. Daryl is holding hands, using utensils, maintaining eye contact for more than a few seconds without glaring, and expressing feelings. The man even smiles! Drunken arson is apparently great for team-building. Now, Daryl's transformation from silent and surly to cooperative and companionable admittedly did feel a bit sudden, and the relationship might have benefited from having an episode or two between the Daryl/Beth-centric "Still" and this week's "Alone," but the sense of plot-convenience for his character is offset by the fact that Beth is clearly as taken aback as we are when she realises that she has basically become Daryl's reason for existence. Also mollifying is that his wholehearted devotion to Beth's school of thought is just as unhealthy in its extremity as was his trigger temper of the previous episodes. As much as Daryl and Beth have become a cohesive unit, their constant exposure to only one another has caused a lot of changes very quickly. The element of "You're all I have and I therefore love you" is certainly present, but watching them adjust and grow attached to one another is oddly sweet. So, naturally, Beth gets kidnapped by the end of the episode, and Daryl ends up collapsing in defeat when he fails to recover her after racing on foot all through the night. The nature of this relationship is more than open to €“ and subject to €“ debate, and whether Daryl and Beth were going to be playing house in the funeral home as brother/sister, father/daughter, innocent friends, common law spouses, torrid lovers, or some new combination thereof, it has become one of the most unpredictable aspects of the second half of the season. Also, just to clear up any uncomfortable misconceptions about where this relationship may be heading (if the increasing intensity of Daryl's gaze is anything to go by), Beth Greene is 18 years old in the show. Although she is also possibly being murdered and devoured by cannibals, so her age may not matter so much in the end.