Rick Grimes or Daryl Dixon?

Since The Walking Dead is what makes Monday’s tolerable, I thought I should work my way through the ongoing dilemma of Rick vs Daryl. You hear it being discussed around photocopiers on a Tuesday morning, on the bus, sometimes between drunk women (and men) in the early hours of the morning or whilst waiting in line for your coffee and praying these people don’t reveal any spoilers if you happened to miss the episode. I don’t know why, but every single episode, without fail, I seem to adopt some weird zombie survivalist headspace and always find myself asking – Rick or Daryl? Rick or Daryl? If you had to choose? If you had to choose?

You know when you go to the optometrist and during the eye test they say which is clearer, left or right and you don’t know because it looks the same – but the ophthalmologist gets louder and more aggressive and increasingly infuriated with your indecision. IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE? IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE? It’s that voice that is going through my head when fully immersed in an episode.

Being 5 seasons in only makes the decision tougher. I suppose this is a little like choose your own adventure – Zombie Apocalypse version.  (How I miss those books)

Right – Rick or Daryl. Depends on what you like in men I guess. Daryl has that bad boy edge and overall hotness, can look after himself, bit of a lone wolf. His hair definitely adds to his hotness over the seasons.   We see him open up and bond with Beth and Carol (envy 101). He is the classic version of an emotionally unavailable man – you know, just because it is a zombie apocalypse doesn’t mean that men change. So naturally, I am attracted to that. It adds a whole new dimension to the phrase the “thrill of the chase” really, where the chase now involves fighting your way through zombies in order to get your man. Like it wasn’t challenging enough? Then you just have comments like this from Norman Reedus about his character – where he just merges with his character. I am quite certain comments like this make it very hard to ever be on Team Rick.

Then we have Rick Grimes-  husband, father figure, born leader, protective, loyal, fierce and you know you can’t get that Love Actually scene out of your head even as he is slaughtering zombies.

Rick is also getting better looking with every season which is largely due to his hair/facial hair. HELLO.

I had my Jerry Maguire “you had me at hello “moment when Rick cleared out the entire wing of the prison (probably only marginally less romantic than the aforementioned scene in Jerry Maguire)

My oh my.

You can see this sheer skill throughout this video but I refer to the scene at 4:48.

Both of them can protect themselves (and you) because of their ridiculously good aim and their resourcefulness of turning nearly everything into a weapon  is something to be admired – you would always feel safe. Rick can be a bit a rigid and inflexible but I like rules and boundaries and need structure. I would always feel Daryl could just abandon me at given point, but I would be forever after his acceptance and love. I feel like I would nearly have to win Daryl over more than Rick.

We all love Daryl because he is flawed ,complex and mysterious and this always engages me. I always want to know what else there is to him. Even throughout the seasons where he integrates into the group he still trails behind alone on his bike perhaps being the only one to keep his identity and adopting a “trust no one” mentality. Oh yeah and he is totally hot so yeah, that just needs no further explanation.
Nothing is ever black and white though. Daryl and Rick develop a bromance which makes separating them even harder. Remember this scene…the decision just got A LOT harder.

However, I must go with my gut instinct.I must be true to myself. I have always been on Team Rick. I think that I would choose him if I absolutely had to. I would choose him because he still maintains a sense of right and wrong and order in a world that makes no sense. I would find that especially comforting in a world that is disintegrating in front of me. I feel like he constantly evolves and adapts over each season and I like seeing each new reincarnation of Rick.

As Andrew Lincoln said about this character, ‘He’s the guy that people fall behind, whether he’s right or wrong,’ and i think that is ultimately what makes me choose Team Rick. He keeps being pushed into challenges and situations that continually force him to change and he does and that what I love.

So yeah when Daryl dies (if he does) I will be sad but I will be devastated when Rick does. I think they both really make the show and Rick is often my motivating factor for watching to see what happens to him as I view him as the/a protagonist in the series.

Don’t overlook the importance and seriousness of this question if you are a viewer of The Walking Dead.

Oh the agony of choice.

If you had to choose?

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE?