Emily Kinney – Beth Greene – The Walking Dead
Critically speaking, The Walking Dead has changed a lot this year. People who openly lambasted the show for its focus on violence began praising it in Season 5 for a wide variety of reasons. The biggest of all is easily the increased attention on characters and not when the next explosive action is supposed to happen. Gone were the promises of 27 deaths that were ultimately tertiary characters we didn’t care about. Sure, this season began with Carol (Melissa McBride) blowing up Terminus in the most spectacular fashion, but that opened the door to some of the show’s best moments. Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group violently murdering the Terminians because they ruined their one chance for survival, not because the show needed more dead bodies. Bob Stookey’s (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) death being treated with the weight human loss deserves. Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) meltdown after realizing his life goal was a sham. Clearly death and loss will always take center stage, but for the first time it actually had meaning.
Beth Greene’s (Emily Kinney) passing completely ruined all of this. It was senseless, unwarranted, and worst of all, predictable. Going into “Coda”, I just knew someone was going to die. That’s the awful reputation The Walking Dead has developed. A finale is coming up? Well, looks like a major character will go. It doesn’t need to be that way though. We saw this when both Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Tyreese (Chad Coleman) wanted to negotiate for Beth’s return, and it actually worked. She was finally back with her friends after so much time apart. For once it looked like this show would turn violence away and prove that sometimes killing isn’t the only answer. That’s especially powerful when you consider Rick massacring the Terminians only a few episodes prior, the obvious polar opposite. If the first half ended in this manner, it would have opened the door for new discussions about conflict resolution.
Yet we couldn’t have that. For reasons that will likely never get a proper explanation, Beth attempts to kill Dawn (Christine Woods) in the eleventh hour and gets her head blown off. All because of Noah (Tyler James Williams)? That’s bullshit. Beth was someone who had grown so much since her debut back in Season 2. Not only was she a suicide survivor, we watched her value grow exponentially over the years. Her survival methods were properly honed, her singing improved group morale, and we actually cared about her developing relationships with characters like Daryl. It honestly looked like the viewers cared more about Beth than her own sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan). So much work was put into building her up and she quickly grew from some “extra” on the cast to a person we legitimately cared about. There was so much story left to tell. Having her attack Dawn when it was blatantly obvious she wouldn’t survive is a disgusting betrayal of her character. We know she knew better. At least, we thought we did.
Rest in peace Beth Greene. You deserved more.
–Luke Kalamar, Television Editor
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