Lenika Cruz and David Sims discuss the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
Cruz At the risk of sounding naive I have to say that I didn t quite see that end coming. Maybe it was the fact that for the first time I watched an episode of The Walking Dead in a bar with about a dozen other people sipping $5.55 Zombie cocktails so I was a little distracted. Maybe it s because I didn t want to believe that someone had to die before the show reached its winter break. After all there are worse (and more interesting) things that can happen to a person other than dying right
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Looking back now it makes perfect sense that Beth died. The show took a character that admittedly few people cared about and gave her depth over the course of a couple episodes in a truly standout season. But the show managed to catch me off guard with the way it executed (sorry) the moment. With less than 10 minutes left in the episode I think everyone was wondering the same thing Okay when s the showdown coming That immense breath holding paid off albeit in a few sickening jets of blood catalyzed by Chekov's surgical scissors. And is there anything more upsetting than seeing Daryl s face crumple like that again I still need time to process this a little David. Beth wasn t my absolute favorite character but I d be lying if I said I didn t clasp both my hands to my mouth in horror when that gun went off.
Sims I hate to sound like a mean old cynic Lenika but I barely blinked at Beth s death outside of noting its gory brutality (which of course is very on point for The Walking Dead). If there was going to be a casualty from this half season it made sense to have it be her since as you noted the show had done a decent job of building her up to the point where you just about cared what happened to her. But still Beth remained pretty expendable especially considering that everything interesting about her related to her time in Slabtown. The show needed something to end on and losing Beth hurts without having much of a grander impact. I think that s partly why I ve already noticed people on Twitter complaining that Coda ended with a bit of a thud after such a nice run for the show losing Beth and Dawn didn t make for much of a showdown.
Why throw away even more of the gang s humanity in a bloody shootout at the hospitalBut I m still pretty happy with how these eight episodes went. I like that as much as Rick continues to trend ruthless (the way he ran that cop down hoo boy) the gang made the wise decision not to try and mow through the hospital. As Dawn s lieutenant said after her boss died It was about her. Power had corrupted as we ve seen it corrupt so many people on this show and with Dawn out of the way there wasn t even that much to be mad about. Yes there s probably some bad apples at Slabtown and yes the inherent concept of the hospital s operation is plenty creepy but why throw away even more of the gang s humanity in a bloody shootout at the hospital Beth s sacrifice indicated she d reached some understanding of Dawn and realized that she had lost sight of why she even wanted to be in charge. There s nothing more for the gang to understand there.
Cruz I'm glad you recognized Beth's action as a sacrifice even if it seems at first glance like a suicide by cop. Remember her cutting incident back at the farm and how that was meant to signal her immaturity Well this move indicated the opposite That Beth realized that Dawn had to go just like Dawn's predecessor had to go. I can't be the only one who noticed the horror etched in Dawn's face after she shot Beth it seems like she reacted instinctively to Beth stabbing her in her bulletproof vest and tried to defend herself but the damage was done.
I'd hate to continue to dwell just on the last few minutes of the episode at the expense of the 95 percent that came before so just a few more thoughts. One you're right it seems like the Slabtown thread has been wrapped completely so February will return with a big question mark. Two when the prisoner exchange happened and Carol was the first to be traded I heard a woman in the bar blurt out Oh THANK GOD reminding me (cruelly) just how much more people adore Carol over Beth. Three let's take a moment to remember Beth's sad words to Daryl from last season
Rick's actions with that cop earlier (Lamson ) didn't seem ruthless to me it seemed like he was trying to restore a balance that had been upset by the betrayal. He had given the fugitive several chances to give it up and save his life. You just had to stop Rick said standing over his paralyzed body as the cop essentially accuses him of being a monster. As I've said before I still think the group Rick included has come back into much of its humanity. That they didn't ditch Eugene or keep Father Gabriel locked outside more than proves this point. If as Beth said you are who you are in this world and there's no when this is all over then I think the gang are pretty damn good people.
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