REVIEW: The Walking Dead 5:8

“Coda”

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

There was not a dry eye in the house tonight, not even from Daryl Dixon himself. If the shock of Beth’s death did not get you, then the sight of Daryl carrying her limp body to her devastated sister should have hit you. If neither of those got to you, I don’t know what to tell you.

It’s funny that Dawn called Beth a cop-killer previously in the episode because she shoved a cop down an elevator shaft. Beth gave us this look of “oh, I haven’t killed that many cops.” It’s like she had to live up to the title of cop-killer during the trade scene between the cops and Rick & Co. I mean, she only stabbed her with some scissors, she didn’t deserve to have a bullet through her head. As Beth stabbed Dawn, she said, “I get it now.” Does this mean that she finally realized that Dawn must always have the upper-hand? Even though she got what she wanted, she had to one-up Rick & Co to show she is the law…even though Rick still outranked her. It’s all Noah’s fault. #BlameNoah

Beth’s death aside, the mid-season finale was not exactly eventful, but it had its moments. Rick has seriously gone crazy. Not talking to his dead wife on the phone crazy, but he has gotten pretty brutal. The opening scene of the show where he kills the police officer was a little extreme. I bet Rick Grimes couldn’t answer his famous three questions anymore. (How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why?) Rick Grimes has probably killed about 200 walkers and about 15 people, including Sophia and Shane. Why? Because he’s Rick Grimes and can do whatever the heck he likes.

Other than Rick’s new life choices, there was some wonderfully shot cinematic pieces. I particularly like the scene when Carl and Michonne were boarding up the old church. That was good use of close-ups and it conveyed the message perfectly. Another scene I liked this episode was when Rick approached the two cops, with the crew on the roof with sniper rifles. “Where are your people,” an officer asked and BAM! Sasha capped a walker in the head right behind him. Great timing and writing for this scene. There is only one thing I am really not okay with, Michonne killing walkers with Judith on her back. She didn’t need the baby on her back to chop down the wood from the door and I feel this could have been avoided.

Can someone please kill Father Gabriel already? He is a liability and does not need to be in the season any longer. He did his duties and said some words at Beth’s funeral, which is the only thing he has been good for so far. He is going to get everyone killed. He better have a good back-story or else he has just been a complete waste of screen-time and machetes.

Looking forward to the second half of the season leads to little speculation. There is just a general curiosity of what will the group do next and what is Morgan doing?  I feel that the writers will string that along a little while longer too.  There were no crazy cliffhangers and no major villains. There won’t be anything gnawing away at our brains over the Christmas Holidays. What will distract me at Christmas dinner?!  Robert Kirkman confirmed the only cliffhanger about the series every woman is dying to have answered, “Daryl Dixon is straight.”