So I watched the episode last night, after hearing all weekend that the show was going to have a shocking death that would devastate fans of the show.
So let me get into this real quickly.
From all the build that I was hearing about how it was going to be this big death to a main character I was thinking it had to be someone really important to the group. To be quite honest Beth is not important to the group at all. She has always just sort of been a character who was there. She was neither important or someone who you really give a second thought about. It was always like...oh yeah Beth is there. Just sort of a glorified secondary character, IMO.
So right out of the gate I can tell you I wasn't moved by the fact that she died. It did absolutely zero for me personally because I have zero emotional investment in the Beth character. It was basically like if the girl with Abraham died or even that girl that has been helping Glenn since they left the prison died I'd be like...meh. Whatever. Next.
So from that standpoint it was a huge let down after all this talk about how it was so shocking and important.
Now beyond that let me make some points about the whole situation as it pertains to the other characters and the reaction it gave me to their reactions. I'll start off with Darryl as he's important to the show.
I was far more moved and saddened by Darryl's reaction to the death than I was to the death itself. Seeing his look and the tears and how it shocked him was very sad. I felt bad for his character just because they wrote it perfectly, IMO, how he reacted. The scene at the end with him carrying her out was just so sad because I just see that hero character whose just had something so horrifying happen to them and you can just see it in his reaction and his body language. I thought that was very well done.
Carol and Rick - Their reactions to the death are also pretty good. Carol's wasn't quite what I expected it might be but to see her crying and trying to help Darryl I liked that. The look of shock on Rick's face was perfect, IMO. I think it sets up exactly what I was saying before I feel is the situation they're going to go with when it comes to Rick. He's going to now be questioning the fact that once again he chose to do things in the kinder way, trying to allow everyone to live, and once again it's cost one of his people. I think it's going to be one of those things where Rick is going to step much closer to the point of being saying "To hell with this. From now one we're going to do things the way I say and we're not going to worry about doing it the nicest way anymore." You couple that with the fact that when he was on his own he ran into, and killed the cop, cause he wouldn't listen shows he's stepping toward that already.
Now to the reaction of Maggie....
It was stupid. All the way around. When they first tell her they found Beth and they've went to get her the fact that she's suddenly happy like she's been concerned, in the least, about the well being of her sister was dumb. It was also stupid because at that very point it gave away instantly who was going to die. As soon as they were all "Oh they've found Beth and they've went to get her" I knew she was the one that was going to die.
The main reason being that Maggie has shown absolutely zero care, or concern, for whether her sister was alive or dead the whole time since the prison. She hasn't brought it up, hasn't cared, didn't bother her and was only concerned about Glenn. It was dumb that she was written to have absolutely no care or concern about her sister and then to write it like I'm supposed to believe she's so happy or it's a relief to know she's alive was dumb.
Then you get to the end and you watch her collapse and cry and all that. BS. I'm not buying that. Why would I? You haven't cared for even one moment since the prison and now I'm supposed to believe you're completely devastated by this turn of events? Get out of here.
That was just a terrible job done by the writers in regards to her character this whole time and then to tie it up like that...even more ridiculous. I mean for Christ sakes she showed far more concern for Eugene and his well being than that of her own sister.
Now all that said I sort of liked the first half of this season but not nearly as much as other seasons. I felt like they dragged way to much stuff out, did way to much slow build on some stuff that wasn't important, and just basically seemed to drag their feet and waste time.
Just like all this stuff with Beth this season. Now you're going to try and build her into a secondary character I'm supposed to care about? Please. It was boring. It added nothing and I didn't like or feel anymore for the Beth character than I had prior to that stuff.
Oh and on top of all that the reason that Beth died was just stupid. It made absolutely no sense and there was seriously zero reason, and made no sense, that she even did what she did in the end. It was just thrown in there for no reason.
