The Walking Dead "Coda": Finally, The Show Lives Up To Its Own Hype

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

"Triumphant" is really not the word I'd use here, not sure where you came up with that. Beth's death did make me sad, it certainly accomplished that. But I wasn't shocked so much as off-put. Why did that have to happen? There was really no purpose to killing her that way other than "Surprise! Betcha didn't expect that!"

I get that Beth had really found her spine and wasn't the kind of person to put up with Dawn's shit anymore. But that was literally the stupidest thing she could have done at that moment. And I knew she was going to, because there was no way that the writers would allow that deal to go down without violence. Beth dying there didn't seem to serve any purpose beyond sudden shocking drama.

They definitely have the opportunity now to make her death impactful on the characters, especially Daryl, but it just seems like a waste of a cast member who was finally hitting her stride.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I like Beth, damnit. It would've been nice if she lasted at least a few more eps. I guess they ran out of stuff for her to do beyond impact people with her death? Really sucks, that.

Dawn is a hell of a shot to have shot Beth through the head at that range on such short notice. Even if she had the gun ready. I'd swear Dawn fired from the hip. I might not be remembering right though.

It would've been nice if the trade went smoother than it had.

Something's bothering me, though!
A few episodes back, an episode ended with Daryl walking out of the woods near the church, then looking back, and saying it's okay and that someone should come out. I guess this episode pushed it back even farther? I was really expecting it to happen with the hospital rescue, but I guess not.
It feels kinda wasted to use on Morgan.
Still a lot of mystery around that scene for me.

 

[DugMachine]

I like Beth, damnit. It would've been nice if she lasted at least a few more eps. I guess they ran out of stuff for her to do beyond impact people with her death? Really sucks, that.

Dawn is a hell of a shot to have shot Beth through the head at that range on such short notice. Even if she had the gun ready. I'd swear Dawn fired from the hip. I might not be remembering right though.

It would've been nice if the trade went smoother than it had.

Something's bothering me, though!
A few episodes back, an episode ended with Daryl walking out of the woods near the church, then looking back, and saying it's okay and that someone should come out. I guess this episode pushed it back even farther? I was really expecting it to happen with the hospital rescue, but I guess not.
It feels kinda wasted to use on Morgan.
Still a lot of mystery around that scene for me.

Pretty sure that's Noah Daryl tells to come out of the woods.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I like Beth, damnit. It would've been nice if she lasted at least a few more eps. I guess they ran out of stuff for her to do beyond impact people with her death? Really sucks, that.

Dawn is a hell of a shot to have shot Beth through the head at that range on such short notice. Even if she had the gun ready. I'd swear Dawn fired from the hip. I might not be remembering right though.

It would've been nice if the trade went smoother than it had.

Something's bothering me, though!
A few episodes back, an episode ended with Daryl walking out of the woods near the church, then looking back, and saying it's okay and that someone should come out. I guess this episode pushed it back even farther? I was really expecting it to happen with the hospital rescue, but I guess not.
It feels kinda wasted to use on Morgan.
Still a lot of mystery around that scene for me.

Pretty sure that's Noah Daryl tells to come out of the woods.

That doesn't make a ton of sense. He's saying it's okay to Sasha, IIRC, who went to the hospital. Why would Noah need reassurance if that were the case? I may not be remembering correctly, though.
We never saw who Daryl was giving the okay to.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Wait, Carol is undeveloped? Did anyone watch season 1 and 2? I'll admit the latter can be boring. However, Carol passed from abused victim who loses everything to sort of a possible sociopath if you get on her wrong side.

But yeah, this episode was pretty awesome.

 

[Laughing Man]

Finally someone. All the opinions I read on various forums keep on repeating how Beth went out bravely, meaningfully, "on her own terms". What she did was stupid, like an action of a 8-years old who doesn't know/care about consequences and about people around her.

Well technically her story has come full circle, the first real scene or development we had of Beth was way back on Hershell's farm when she tried to kill herself. Here we saw a weak child who in the spur of the moment tried to do something very silly with no real thought about how her actions would affect those around her. During that time we have seen her grow, having to cope with the death of her friends at the farm, moving to the prison and becoming almost a mother to Judith, having to deal and help with the virus outbreak, coping again with the death of her father and the splitting of her group having to learn to survive with Daryl, her very small story arc in this season where she is alone amongst some potentially very bad people and coping with a situation where stupid, rash and unthoughtout moves wouldn't seem out of place and instead she came through, she helped Noah escape, she helped Carol and she seemed to be coping and then her story arc ends back where it began with her doing something silly and off the cuff with no real thought of the out come and how it would effect those around her.

Looking back on it it's quite a character development arc she has gone through and like I said the ending was really heartbreaking.

Am I alone in thinking that Rick crossed a serious line by killing an unarmed, incapacitated person who was just trying to escape captivity?

He asked him to stop several times, I guess he could have stopped the car and maybe put him down with a bullet to the leg but watching that scene and saying Damn, son you got f*cked up. worth it every time. As for killing him, well the guy was pretty f*cked up, he actually said I think you broke my back? What was Rick to do? Haul him in to the car by himself while the walkers approached, then what? Rick did him a favour, given his injuries the options where to leave him and let the walkers have at him or kill him. The bit after that where Rick says 'shut up' suggests that we are seeing a new side to Rick. For the most part he has always had an idealist sort of view of things but the last half of Season 4 and especially Season 5 is showing that he is very clearly moving it the region of 'do what I have to to protect me and my own'. (Oh yeah he had his moments in other seasons but he tended to sway from protect me and my own to help those who need help on an episode by episode basis.) We are now seeing a very clear and very specific fuck with me even a little bit and I'll end you vibe.

 

[Evonisia]

Beth is yet another example of giving characters interesting story elements and just dropping them as soon as said story is finished. It wasn't as bad as just dropping the two girls at the drop of a hat last season, but it was still pretty pathetic. And all the filler in the episode like well all of Cowardly McPriest's screen time took away from things which could have been good like Maggie's reaction to Beth's end (which gets less than thirty seconds of screen time at the very end).

 

[EeveeElectro]

Shame that the shows official Facebook page spoiled the major death in the episode before the show had even finished airing in the US. I in the UK woke up in the morning and scrolled down Facebook whilst I ate breakfast and was spoiled to the big event by the shows official Facebook. I haven't watched the episode yet and I don't think I want to ever again given the plot point was so utterly ruined by contemptous social media managers. Big mistake by AMC there.

Arg, yes! It was pretty much straight after the episode finished, I was still up and they posted it on twitter. The fuck, AMC? Not everyone gets to see the episode at the same time! We shouldn't have to "avoid the internet" to keep away from spoilers straight after an episode airs. It would have been so much better if they tried teasing us with something rather than outright spoiling it.

OT: I agree with some others, Beth was just stupid. Maybe she just wanted to go out in a blaze of glory but what did she expect would happen?
Daryl and Maggie's reaction was heartbreaking. Reedus is a wonderful actor. Maggie seemed to have forgotten about Beth though, I assume she thought she was dead?
Hope the next half of the season shows us a bit more Michonne and deMary-Sue's Rosita a bit.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Honestly the first part, it felt like a typical mmorpg in that Gabriel was some noob who aggro the mob and idiotically went back to the church thus luring them all the way to the group! Geez I think they had left some of their food inside? Good job Gabriel!

Yeah Beth death was so tragic especially for Maggie since she will never get to say her last word to her and she official the last of her family now.

I am just hoping that Noah doesn't become another token character seeing how Beth gave her life for him (which kind of fill the quota in a way). Seriously they better make a better character development out of him unlike T-Dog, Bob and that black prison character (sorry I forgot his name eventhought he was cool in my eyes). Speaking of Beth, if she really wanted to killed Dawn, shouldn't she had aim for her neck not her chest especially when she has a small surgeon scissor?

 

[DugMachine]

That doesn't make a ton of sense. He's saying it's okay to Sasha, IIRC, who went to the hospital. Why would Noah need reassurance if that were the case? I may not be remembering correctly, though.
We never saw who Daryl was giving the okay to.

Think you're remembering it wrong. Sasha does go to the hospital with Rick and crew but the scene when Daryl comes out of the woods and gives the okay to the unseen person is almost certainly Noah. After Carol is hit and taken to the hospital, Daryl and Noah are seen driving in a van ending with "Yeah, well we have people too", and in the next episode there they are back at the church. The whole season only takes place over a few days you have to remember and the episodes kept jumping ahead and then back again until the last two where the timelines sync up again.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

That doesn't make a ton of sense. He's saying it's okay to Sasha, IIRC, who went to the hospital. Why would Noah need reassurance if that were the case? I may not be remembering correctly, though.
We never saw who Daryl was giving the okay to.

Think you're remembering it wrong. Sasha does go to the hospital with Rick and crew but the scene when Daryl comes out of the woods and gives the okay to the unseen person is almost certainly Noah. After Carol is hit and taken to the hospital, Daryl and Noah are seen driving in a van ending with "Yeah, well we have people too", and in the next episode there they are back at the church. The whole season only takes place over a few days you have to remember and the episodes kept jumping ahead and then back again until the last two where the timelines sync up again.

I think you're right on this one. The jumping around threw me off. I know the time line events are rarely shown in order, but it takes some getting used to, even after watching from day 1. lol

 

[Silvanus]

Loved the episode, though I was expecting to love it-- I'd noticed some internet hype about it beforehand, though thankfully no spoilers.

Did anyone else notice that the legend above the arch in Gabriel's Church read something along the lines of, 'Eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, and have eternal life'? I noticed it in this episode, as the arch was framing a group of zombies, and found it pretty hilarious.

 

[Lizmichi]

It would've been nice if the trade went smoother than it had.

Something's bothering me, though!
A few episodes back, an episode ended with Daryl walking out of the woods near the church, then looking back, and saying it's okay and that someone should come out. I guess this episode pushed it back even farther? I was really expecting it to happen with the hospital rescue, but I guess not.
It feels kinda wasted to use on Morgan.
Still a lot of mystery around that scene for me.

Part of your confusion might be because this season is playing with time a lot, even more so then any of the other seasons; So something we see in one episode happened sooner or later then we think. Noah was the one with Daryl because in Consumed we see them going back to the church after Carol was hit. The whole reason they went missing was because they saw the Grady car, and chased after it before the Hunters attacked the church; after the attack Daryl comes back with Noah, and they go after Grady. Hope that helps clear up the time line for ya.

 

[personion]

"Holy hell I did not see that coming."

The last time I had that reaction was at Lori's death, about two seasons and a half ago. No decision this show has made since has made me even so much as raise an eyebrow in surprise. Beth's death was not only completely expected, it was also forced in ways worse than I thought possible. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for characters dying--in fact, I wish they'd do it more often. But Beth's death felt like the script writers said "whelp, it's the season finale, Beth's gotta die somehow," and they didn't actually think about logistically how she would die. Her death makes me fear that no character will be able to die without an entire subplot being dedicated to them.