The Walking Dead S05E08: "Coda"
Whyyyyyy do you always take the good ones, The Walking Dead!?!? I'm shaking my fists at you so hard right now, I could probably shatter a Shake Weight! "Coda" wrapped up the first half of Season 5 by killing off another character, because that's what happens on The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, it was someone I'd taken quite a shine to: Beth, who's been one of my favorites since The Walking Dead decided to make her a real human being instead of blonde zombie chow. And even more unfortunately, her death was senseless, entirely avoidable, plain stupid (well, mostly stupid), and seemingly done just because the show needed someone to die.
Goodbye Beth, you finger-flipping, Peach Schnapps-wanting, moonshine-chugging, campfire-singalong-ing, baby-sitting, cabin-burning, bullshit-calling badass. You will be missed.
After starting out strong with several entertaining installments that focused on developing characters and telling tighter stories, Season 5 stumbled with last week's "Crossed" and crashed into your mom's antique China cabinet in "Coda." It'd be easy to label the decline as predictable, given The Walking Dead's history of consistent inconsistency, but so many signs pointed to the show maturing and coming into its own that an episode about storming a hospital to carry out a rescue mission should have been the easiest chapter to put together.
The good news is that I don't think "Coda" returned The Walking Dead to its old, "Eh, it's kinda good sometimes" M.O. However, it's now clear that the entire Grady Memorial Hospital storyline wasn't really successful, and I believe it was thrown together to give the second half of Season 5 some sort of goal. My dislike of "Slabtown" (Beth's hospital-centric episode) makes even more sense now, as an hour of prep work wasn't long enough to build a solid foundation for these final two episodes. It's difficult to introduce new characters in an eight-episode half-season that's otherwise focused on people we already know, and Dawn and the rest of her cuckoo Red Bland Society suffered greatly for it.
Did anyone ever really care about the folks in the hospital besides Noah and maybe that strawberry-loving Santa Claus who didn't know how to sew? I don't even think Dawn knew who Dawn was. She was a supposed tyrant who gave Beth a set of keys to the drug locker and named Beth her personal ward after Beth broke the number-one rule of Grady by trying to escape. Dawn's reluctant minions certainly didn't know who she was, as Rick's interrogations of the cops he took hostage yielded a chorus of, "Dawn might do this," "Dawn might do that," and "Who the hell knows what Dawn will do?" instead of anything interesting. And the permanently lingering question of, "Are these dopes even good enough or scary enough to face off against Rick?" hung around until the very end, when the answer was revealed to be a resounding, "NO."
While it was definitely an interesting and effective decision for The Walking Dead to quickly wrap up the cannibal storyline, trying to squeeze all of Grady into what was essentially a three-episode arc was a major misstep. Gareth's end had the element of surprise because it happened unexpectedly; The Walking Dead hadn't ever eliminated a big threat like that so early in the season, and the show executed it well. But with the fall finale generally expected to serve as another end-of-plot milestone, the Grady storyline had the burden of predictable finality working against it, and it ended before an interesting story could ever unfold and before Dawn and her pals could be established as worthy adversaries. We knew the Grady story was wrapping up in "Coda," so we wanted more. I didn't even get the bloody shootout I was hoping for. (I'm not saying a bloody shootout = good television, but The Walking Dead has built its reputation on violence, so gimme the damn bullets and exploding heads already.)
I still barely know what was going on in the hospital in the first place. Several quiet conversations in "Coda" shed no light on the situation, only adding to the confusion. The hospital crew was mad at Dawn because she forced them to stay against their will but also protected them? The cops who worked for Dawn all hated her because she didn't want them raping girls they brought in? Cops ran over people with cars in order to care for them at the hospital and then lobbied to take them off life support? I suppose the takeaway is that The Walking Dead's various micro-societies are having a heck of a time establishing any sort of rule, balance, or equality in this world, but there were much better ways for the show to get that message across than with the jumbling mess that was Grady.
And so we circle back to Beth. Along with Carol, Beth because one of The Walking Dead's most interesting characters in the series' Great Character Rebuilding of '13. So it boggles my mind to mush that the writers would decide to kill her off now rather than jettison some of the more expendable characters (Sasha, Tara, at this point even Tyreese, and Sasha again). The show still had plenty of stories to tell with Beth, and the dynamic she brought to the group—a growing woman who thought she didn't need protection, yet who everyone wanted to protect—still had juice to wring out. Emotional resonance appears to be what the writers were going for by killing her off, and congratulations, they got that. I am very sad that Beth had the back of her skull popped off thanks to Dawn's instinctive reaction to being stabbed by a sharp object.
Actually, upset might be the better word. Setting aside the fact that Beth is dead and focusing on how Beth died is akin to self-lobotomization. What the fuck was she thinking when she tried to gash Dawn with a pair of teeny-tiny suture cutters? Why, after everyone risked their lives to save her, would Beth jeopardize everything just to poke a hole in a character who ultimately never mattered or made sense? And more importantly, who would've easily been forgotten if Beth had just walked away? It's not like Dawn was going to hunt Beth down like rageaholics the Governor and Gareth. Did Beth do it to save Noah? Did she know that Dawn would attack her in retaliation and that Daryl would kill Dawn, thus breaking the shackles on Noah and freeing him? How did she know the hallway wouldn't end up in a hail of gunfire with everyone dying? That move was completely out-of-character for Beth, who was admittedly a risk-taker when it came to hunting for beer or burning down Daryl's memories but was all about survival and never as naive as she was initially portrayed to be. Heck, it was completely out-of-character for anyone in the entire Walking Dead universe, because it was absolutely the worst thing to do in that situation. Beth stabbing Dawn was so forced, so obviously a way for the show to kill someone off, that it completely undermined the emotional impact of Daryl weeping and carrying Beth's corpse out of the hospital or Maggie falling to her knees in agony. While they were in shock and grieving, I was still wrapping my noggin around how unnecessary and dumb Beth's death was.
The Walking Dead is falling into its own trap of staying relevant by killing off beloved characters. Remember, this show has no end or goal, and with its audience developing an immunity to zombie attacks due to overexposure, all that's left for the show to do is space out character deaths. That's fine, and it's what we all expect. But The Walking Dead still needs to put effort into how people die, and Dawn shooting Beth was the laziest offing yet.
A few other things happened in "Coda." Father Gabriel's temporary escape from church to visit the local school went bad (surprise!), so he came scampering back to the church like a closet hedonist returning from a Vegas bachelor party. And he ruined the safehouse for everyone else when Michonne had to hack down the secured door just to let him in, bringing in unwanted walkers and forcing Michonne, Carl, Lil' Asskicker, and Gabriel to escape through the floorboards. So essentially, Gabriel begged to be let in only to immediately leave after coming back with a bunch of dead things. Is Gabriel a housecat? Way to go, Gabe. There are times when a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse needs to take inventory and weed out those who might do them more harm than good, and now is the time to politely give Gabriel the boot. "Sorry, Father, but you have sinned by being such a dumbass. Now get." But the disastrous results of Gabriel's follies did allow us to witness Michonne going all Vitamix on some zombies and an ironic juxtaposition of scripture:
Also this:
Team Short Bus also made it back to the group, with Abraham putting the finishing touches on destroying the church safehouse by running over the stairs and external organ-pipe spike guards. It was bad enough that the church was overrun by walkers (who, let's face it, could have been cleared out in 15 minutes), but once the stairs were gone, forget it. That church was toast. Anyway, everyone reunited just in time to show up to Grady too late to save Beth's life.
The Walking Dead's fifth season has been all about showing restraint, but holding back didn't work out for "Coda." The Grady Memorial Hospital plot was already boring and underdeveloped, and it went out on a boring and underdeveloped note. The Walking Dead has had plenty of misfires in its finales and mid-season finales, and this was as big a letdown as any of them. And what was it for? To trade Noah for Beth and kick off a cycle of mourning? Season 5A still comes out ahead thanks to its first six episodes, but even with a mediocre ending it would've arguably been the best half-season of The Walking Dead to date. Instead, it's a pretty good half-season with one huge caveat. Everyone should've listened to Rick in the first place.
FESTERING BITEMARKS
– Awwww! Watching Emily Kinney cry on Talking Dead was super sad. In fact, Talking Dead was way more emotional than The Walking Dead this week. Watching the proof of Emily Kinney's connection to her character seep out of her eyeballs had more of an effect on me than the whatthefuckery of, "Wait, why did Beth just die now?" at the end of "Coda."
– Also, LOL at Robert Kirkman sitting awkwardly next to Kinney the entire time.
– The best part of "Coda" might've been the weird "bonus scene," where Morgan continued following Gareth's tree markings to the church, closing in on Rick's group. This show needs Morgan back, fast. I can't wait for him to show up next year.
– Apparently The Walking Dead's Facebook page started posting R.I.P. Beth messages well before the West Coast airing, spoiling fans who hadn't had the chance to watch the episode yet, and then reposted them just after the West Coast airing, spoiling those who didn't watch it live. Does someone need to teach the show's social media team how the internet and time zones work?
– As it turns out, Rick might be the character who's changed most and for the best in Season 5A. (Well, technically, he stayed on course from the end of Season 4.) The guy was a heartless badass in "Coda," love-tapping that handcuffed runner and then shooting him in the head. While Tyreese promoted peace and happiness, Rick was planning throat-slittings. This is Anti-Farmer Rick. This is a Rick who calmly tells a defenseless, handcuffed guy with a broken back to shut up before shooting him in the face. I like this Rick.
– Since Carol didn't have ANYTHING to do in these final two episodes, is it possible that Rick is my favorite character on the show right now? Will someone please investigate whether there's an ice-skating rink in hell?
– Maggie falling to the ground after seeing Beth's corpse was an, "Oh NOW you care?" moment, seeing as she barely shrugged when Beth went missing in the first place. Abraham's face sums up my feelings:
– I was really hoping Santa Claus was going to take Rick's offer and join up with their group.
– At least Beth died after accomplishing something I've always wanted to try: pushing someone down an elevator shaft to their death.