Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Black Doves; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Dexter: Original Sin; Dune: Prophecy; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Way Home; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, December 1, 2014

The Walking Dead 5.8: Killing the Non-Killer

Well, The Walking Dead has been difficult for every family we've come to know and care about. That's one of the reasons why our people have a become a family of their own. But as episode 5.8 makes clear, some families have it worse than others in this post-apocalyptic world.

Hershel's family was in pain from the get-go, with Hershel at first holding on to the hope that walkers could and would be eventually cured. But the killing of Hershel was probably the worst thing the Governor did. And now we have Beth gone the way of her father, leaving just Maggie as the last survivor.

Dawn had some kind of feelings for Beth. Her insistence on keeping Noah after the exchange had been successfully concluded only makes sense because Dawn was thinking Beth wouldn't want to leave without Noah, and would therefore stay with Dawn's group. Beth figured that out, but tragically, she was never a killer. Pushing someone who's attacking you down an elevator shaft does not really make you a killer. And so Beth's stabbing Dawn didn't do the job, if the job Beth wanted to do was kill Dawn. And so Beth was the one who was killed - by Dawn - leaving it to Daryl to kill Dawn.

That was also a highly significant move for Daryl, who had become more reasonable and less reactive of late, being a moderating influence on Rick of all people, who had become more aggressive, as we saw again tonight. So the death of Beth closes the book not only on her innocence, but maybe the dawn of Daryl's as well.

In the end, as shocking as Beth's death was, it wasn't as palpably traumatic as Lori's, Shane's, or, again, Hershel's. That's because Beth had an innocence that was always a little too much for this wicked, bloody world. Her loss makes sense in that sense, but will rob The Walking Dead of a rare, gentle, and tough character.