The mid season finale for the fifth season of THE WALKING DEAD did not end with an all out blood bath like the battle of Terminus that opened this season, but that bullet going through Beth's has to be one of the most traumatic moments ever in a series filled with them. And the amazing thing was that it hurt so bad despite it not being that much of a surprise: Beth, like her father, Herschel Green, and even further back, Dale, was a character who had managed to hold on to their humanity and keep their moral center. And on this show, those characters have a very high mortality rate to say the least.
Beth had gone through quite a character arc from the farm girl who attempted to slit her wrists back in Season 2 to the girl who got drunk with Darryl and held her own against Officer Dawn Lerner, the cop who doesn't realize there is no more job to do. If she wasn't one of TV's stock "strong women," then certainly she was a great "brave woman." All praise to Emily Kinney for a terrific performance.
The other thing to take away from this mid season show is just how brutal Rick Grimes has become; after the way he dispatched Officer Lamson, I think Shane would be impressed. Same for the rest of the group, they are a truly hard core and brutal family of survivors (just ask Gareth and the Termites) and anybody who crosses them had better beware. In there own way they have become as frightening as any of the villains they've encountered in past seasons.
What the hell was Father Gabriel doing going to that school? To see Bob's leg? This fool nearly got himself, along with Carl, Michonne and Baby Judith killed, but seeing the Walker get its face split was one of the highlights of the show. I think everyone caught the irony of him having to beg to be let back into his own church after baring the doors to his desperate flock during the Zombie Apocalypse.
Wouldn't it have been a better to have followed Rick's original plan and sneaked into the hospital, slit a few throats if necessary and resort to guns blazing if it came to that, rather than Tyreese's idea to capture and exchange hostages.
And Christine Woods's Officer Dawn will have to go down as one of the all time great control freaks, if only she hadn't pushed the issue of Noah just to prove she was in charge, everyone would have gone their separate ways only slightly worse for the wear.
Now the group is reunited (yet again), but the future looks more grim than ever; how far to the Alexandria Safe Zone? And Negan? And when is Morgan going to catch up to the group? Not until the season finale by the way things are going.
Beth had gone through quite a character arc from the farm girl who attempted to slit her wrists back in Season 2 to the girl who got drunk with Darryl and held her own against Officer Dawn Lerner, the cop who doesn't realize there is no more job to do. If she wasn't one of TV's stock "strong women," then certainly she was a great "brave woman." All praise to Emily Kinney for a terrific performance.
The other thing to take away from this mid season show is just how brutal Rick Grimes has become; after the way he dispatched Officer Lamson, I think Shane would be impressed. Same for the rest of the group, they are a truly hard core and brutal family of survivors (just ask Gareth and the Termites) and anybody who crosses them had better beware. In there own way they have become as frightening as any of the villains they've encountered in past seasons.
What the hell was Father Gabriel doing going to that school? To see Bob's leg? This fool nearly got himself, along with Carl, Michonne and Baby Judith killed, but seeing the Walker get its face split was one of the highlights of the show. I think everyone caught the irony of him having to beg to be let back into his own church after baring the doors to his desperate flock during the Zombie Apocalypse.
Wouldn't it have been a better to have followed Rick's original plan and sneaked into the hospital, slit a few throats if necessary and resort to guns blazing if it came to that, rather than Tyreese's idea to capture and exchange hostages.
And Christine Woods's Officer Dawn will have to go down as one of the all time great control freaks, if only she hadn't pushed the issue of Noah just to prove she was in charge, everyone would have gone their separate ways only slightly worse for the wear.
Now the group is reunited (yet again), but the future looks more grim than ever; how far to the Alexandria Safe Zone? And Negan? And when is Morgan going to catch up to the group? Not until the season finale by the way things are going.