The Walking Dead - Midseason Finale 2014 - Recap: Beth March

In a lot of ways, "Coda" illustrates what a good job the show has done in characterization over the past two seasons. I couldn't imagine being moved by the death of a character like Beth (Emily Kinney) as recently as this time last year. But the show has taken great pains towards fleshing out Beth, so that she felt like a real character, and not just a warm body filling out Rick's crew. Granted, part of the shock appeal of Beth's death is just how suddenly it occurs. In retrospect, I could see how the episode had been building to it, with Beth facing Dawn's accusations about not understanding how the system works, or how she hasn't killed anybody before. By episode's end, not only will Beth have killed somebody (shoving a corrupt guard down an elevator shaft at Dawn's behest), she'll come to understand just how Dawn's "system" works. It's a fragile enough system as it is, particularly once we learn, from the officers Rick (Andrew Lincoln) has taken hostage, just how much Dawn is loathed in Grady Memorial. She's the one who's causing all this unrest, and she's the one who's fostering all these psychotic personas under the guise of protecting and helping people. She turns a blind eye to rape and abuse in order to hang onto her tenuous power.

Credit: AMC

In short, Rick negotiates a deal with Dawn that will allow her to trade Beth and Carol (Melissa McBride) for the two officers Rick has in his custody (minus the other Bob, who gets killed by Rick at the start of the episode). The trade goes off without a hitch, and both sides are about to leave without a single shot being fired. But then, Dawn pushes her luck. She adds a new condition on the deal: Noah (Tyler James Williams). If she doesn't get Noah back, the deal is off. Rick tries to argue that Noah's life is his own, but Noah tells Rick to stand down, offering to return to the Grady Memorial crew if it'll mean no one dies. As Noah rejoins the Grady Memorial prisoners (because, let's face it, that's basically what they are), Dawn says, "I knew you'd be back," echoing an earlier conversation with Beth in which she declares that no one ever really leaves Grady Memorial -- they always return. Beth finally gets that Dawn is less about helping people, like she claims, and more about exercising control over others, to validate this B.S. community by keeping people trapped in it against their will. Basically, the community isn't about the community, it's about Dawn, and to hell with what anybody else wants. This is, understandably, the straw that broke the camel's back for Beth, who confronts Dawn and tells her she gets it now. She then stabs Dawn with a pair of scissors, at which point all hell breaks loose. A gun goes off, and suddenly, Beth is dead in a puddle of blood on the floor. In retaliation, Dawn takes a bullet to the head, and time suddenly stands still, with one of the Grady Memorial officers claiming that no one else has to die: Dawn was the problem.

But it's not nearly that simple. I almost feel like part of the tragedy of the Grady Memorial arc is that nothing, really, is accomplished by the end of it. The group doesn't make any meaningful progress, nor do they come out of this with any reasonable direction for the future. Basically, it feels like a plot designed to trade Beth for Noah, killing off one character while saddling us with a new one. On the plus side, Noah is a fine addition to Rick's crew, though I find myself wishing that the show hadn't deemed Beth's death necessary, because I'm not sure it was. The show seems to want to stress, through countless plotlines every season, that the walkers aren't the threat, the humans are. Yet I'm not sure how much more weight that story is going to carry, unless the show wants to continually figure out new ways in which to illustrate human depravity and desperation. Either way, it's beginning to feel a bit old.

Credit: AMC

Still, The Walking Dead manages to find interesting moments within those well-worn storylines. Beth's death is wonderfully done, as there's a rush of shock, confusion, anger and sadness, all in the span of a few seconds. Seeing Daryl (Norman Reedus) completely break down was more powerful than just about anything else we could have seen, and it's topped only by Maggie (Lauren Cohan) absolutely falling to pieces when she sees Daryl carrying out Beth's body. The show has often forgotten to bring up that Maggie and Beth are sisters, leading some to wonder if Maggie even cared that Beth was missing. But that sisterly relationship is brought back, as we're reminded just how much Maggie has been hoping for Beth's safe return. To see her hopeful smile dissolve into unfathomable sadness, in just a handful of seconds, was utterly devastating. It rivaled Rick's reaction to Lori's death, and is among the most emotional moments of the entire series. I just wish the Grady Memorial arc had been more consequential. However, I suspect the show will still manage to find some narrative momentum out of this. Even if it feels like little was accomplished, Beth's death could finally be the spark that forces the group to develop a real goal beyond the Pie in the Sky hopes represented by Eugene's lie, or the false security of the prison walls.

Despite my issues with the episode, few as they were, "Coda" is a great midseason finale. I mean, I could have completely done without Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), who is a complete drain on the narrative (although I did enjoy the karma of him being locked out of the church while walkers approached. At the risk of sounding morbid, I kind of wish the show had gone all the way and just killed him off there). But everything related to Beth's demise and the fallout from her shooting was outstanding. And that post-credits tease with Morgan closing in on Rick's group has me excited for February. Sure, the show dabbles a bit too long in the "humans are worse than walkers" trope, often to its detriment. But this at least resulted in an emotionally-gripping collection of moments that were among the most poignant in the show's entire run. Hopefully, the second half of season five has more of these moments. This isn't the kind of episode the show can do every week, but I'm interested to see how The Walking Dead will move forward in the wake of what happened here.