The Walking Dead midseason finale ended with Rick’s group and Dawn’s group exchanging their hostages — two officers for Beth and Carol — only for it to not go as planned when Dawn decided that she wanted Noah back as the others were turning to leave. Beth stepped forward and stabbed Dawn with the pair of scissors she had hidden in her cast, only for Dawn to then shoot her in the head. At the end of the episode, Daryl carried her out to the rest of the group, as you can see in the photo, AMC used below to promote the series’ February return.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , the second half of The Walking Dead Season 5 is going to see the characters “go through even more hell.” Specifically for Daryl, Beth’s death is going to lead to depression, as Norman Reedus told the Hollywood Reporter .
“I think it puts him into a depression. Sophia was like hope. You remember Glenn saying, ‘This is Sophia !’ It was different. She was the bright hope of the future. It was an honest and true person.”
Daryl Dixon And Beth Greene; unlimited possibilities that never came to be.
Reedus went on to say that Beth’s death is going to affect everyone, and the second half of this season will see larger storylines for Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, Carol, and Noah.
“Beth’s death is like Sophia’s; she sings songs and was always hopeful. Of course she tried to kill herself at one point, but besides that, for the most part, she was this sweet songbird, and that represents a part of humanity that you don’t see anymore. So when you put that candle out, it goes dark for everyone.”
As you can see in the promo for the show’s return below, things aren’t looking hopeful for the group of survivors, though there is the possibility of “someplace [they] can be safe” 100 miles away.
Meanwhile, Emily Kinney has spoken to IGN about the Walking Dead midseason finale , and she pointed to the move she made that led to her death — stabbing Dawn with the scissors — as “a moment of overconfidence.”
“I think she suddenly felt like she not only wanted to reunite with the group but she needed to step up in this physical, violent way. It was a mistake. In a way she got what she wanted still, with the Noah thing … I think she almost got this moment of like, ‘Now I want everything.’ She is a lot stronger mentally and physically by the end of episode eight and her time at the hospital … She just pushed it too far.”
Before stabbing Dawn, Beth told her, “I get it now,” and Kinney has explained that that has to do with her understanding what she has to do in order to protect herself.
“Early in the episode, she pushes the cop down the elevator, and I think that was something she didn’t realize she was necessarily capable of doing. I think she meant, you don’t even know how terrible you can be until you’re pushed in that way … So I think that moment is saying, ‘Oh, I get it now. I have to protect myself, and sometimes I have to go that extra bit, that’s maybe not morally right.’ It’s kind of like telling her, ‘I get it now. I’m going to take you down.’”
Watch that final confrontation between Dawn and Beth from the Walking Dead midseason finale below.
The Walking Dead Season 5 returns Sunday, February 8 at 9 p.m. on AMC.
