The Walking Dead: Coda (5x08)

Oh for the love of God. Stop reading now if you haven't seen it. I'm just... I cannot even handle it. God damn everything ever. Damn it my heart cannot even ugh freakin' UGH. Let's just start with what happened. I don't even know how to type this right now. Damn.

Back at the church, Father Gabriel is accosted by a group of Walkers. He runs back to the church and begs for Michonne and Carl to let him back in. They had barricaded the door for protection, and have to fight to get through to Gabriel. The Walkers swarm in, but they manage to escape through the floorboards that Gabriel had earlier used. Turns out, Gabriel had left to go to the nearby school. He says he had to "see it for himself." At this point, the DC crew arrives back. Eugene is still recovering, but Maggie gets some good news: Michonne tells her that Beth is alive, and that the rest of the group has gone to rescue her. So, they all decide to go meet up with them and help them rescue Beth. Michonne, Carl, baby Judith, Father Gabriel, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene, Maggie, Glenn, and Tara all head out.

Meanwhile, Rick chases down Bob Lamson. He keeps telling him to stop running, and when he won't listen he runs him down with his car, hurting him. He then shoots him dead. The two other officers say they're still willing to make the trade and help them get through to Dawn. They agree to lie and say that Walkers killed Lamson. The trade is arranged.

Inside the hospital, Beth is still horrified by all of the things that Dawn lets slide. When she accuses Dawn of doing the wrong thing, Dawn continues to insist that the ends justify the means. One of the officers overhears Dawn talking about how Beth killed Gorman. He threatens to tell everybody what's going on, and tells Dawn that she has to get rid of Beth. Instead, Dawn threatens to shoot this police officer. Eventually there is a scuffle, and Beth pushes the man down the elevator shaft. Beth believes that Dawn has only protected her thus far so she won't have to do her own dirty work. Beth is the one who has been getting rid of Dawn's problems, after all.

So - the trading of hostages takes place. Rick and his group come in to the hallway of the hospital. First, Carol (in a wheelchair) is traded for one of the cops. Then, Beth is traded for the other. All seems to be good, but then Dawn demands that Noah be returned to her. Rick says no at first, but Noah volunteers. Beth hugs him, distraught at losing him. She then walks up to Dawn, saying that she understands now what kind of person she is. She goes to stab Dawn with a pair of scissors, and Dawn fires her weapon, shooting Beth in the head. Daryl, in despair, shoots Dawn, killing her.

It looks like the two groups are in a standoff, but the people from the hospital decide to stand down, understanding that Dawn's death was the price for Beth's. Rick says that anyone who wants to come with them is welcome, but only Noah takes him up on the offer. Daryl carries Beth outside. Maggie and the others are just arriving outside. Maggie breaks down at the sight of Beth's body.

In the episode tag, we see Morgan traveling alone. He finds the church, and sees the map that Abraham had given Rick, pointing him towards DC.

So. Despite my freak-out at the beginning of the episode, I actually didn't think this installment was as strong as it could have been.

To start with - Beth's death felt like a gimmick to me. It was shocking, to be sure, but was it necessary within the narrative? To me, it felt like there was a lot more that could have been done with that whole hospital plot thread. It seems to me that this show has a problem establishing any lasting opportunities away from the core cast of characters. What would have been the problem with just leaving Noah with the hospital folks, leaving Dawn in charge, and letting the whole hospital plot thread dangle there to be picked up at a later date? Just like with Terminus at the beginning of the season, we got an awesome setup and some intriguing characters, and then we shut down the possibility to grow pretty quickly. Beth's death was there to shock us, and it did. I'm really sad to see her go. However, I'm not so sure I approve of this move in terms of the larger story structure.

Then there's the moment of the death itself. What the hell was Beth thinking? Is she an idiot? For someone so strong and resourceful, you wouldn't think she would make such a careless and risky move. She was putting not only herself, but everyone else in that hallway, in danger by doing what she did. I understand her anger with Dawn, but she nearly turned a peaceful negotiation into a total bloodbath! Beth and Dawn both died as a result of Beth's hasty and frankly moronic action. Why did she do it? Well, she's dead, so she can't exactly tell us now!

Then there's the rest of the episode leading up to the shocking ending. Kind of lackluster, truth be told. The entire sequence with Father Gabriel running from the Walkers, and Carl and Michonne helping him, felt totally boring and predictable to me. I knew with a high degree of certainty that none of these characters were in real danger, since I knew the climax of this episode, and in fact the climax of this whole first half of the season, would be coming at the hospital.

Same thing with all the buildup to the trade. It wasn't all that exciting to watch Tyreese and Sasha talk about their childhoods, or to see Rick converse with the officers about their plans. The pacing lagged and it all felt like it was just setup to the one shocking move there at the very end.

But of course I can't write off this episode. It was still pretty intense, and had a lot of important moments.

To start with, great acting from everybody at the end with Beth's death. Daryl was just instantly distraught, and you could see that his shooting Dawn was an act of intense grief, more so than anger. Rick had tears in his eyes as he offered a place among him and his people to any who wanted to come. The best of course was Maggie's reaction. What a punch to the gut! Especially considering that Maggie had only just learned that Beth was still alive, and then she was so quickly taken from her forever. Ouch!

I also like the continued exploration of Rick's character. His murder of Lamson was really intense. We have been getting all sorts of reminders lately about Rick's past as a cop, which contrasts nicely with his current behavior. (Also related to this is the fact that Dawn calls Beth a "cop killer" in this episode). It's so strange to think that there are some people still living with those kinds of distinctions in mind, when the main characters are so far beyond thinking about what they used to be.

I like that the whole group is back together, even if we did have to lose Beth for it to happen. And I'm excited to see how Noah fits in with the group. What will Maggie do now that her whole family is dead? How will Daryl handle Beth's death? I can't wait to see all the angst-y fallout from this. I should also mention that I know some people were annoyed with Maggie's reaction to Beth, because she hasn't seemed to care about Beth all this time. However, I thought it worked nicely. It makes sense that Maggie wouldn't be able to think about the possibility that Beth was still out there. There was nothing she could do about it, after all! Once she knew that Beth was alive, she did everything in her power to get to her as soon as possible. Of course, we know she was just a little bit too late.

So. Over all, this episode had some problems. I'm still not sure if I understand why Beth had to die. It's never a good idea to kill a character just because you feel like it, and I sort of feel like that's what happened here. In any case, I still enjoyed watching it. I'm really going to miss Beth!

7/10