- I found the first five minutes far more shocking than anything else that happened in the episode. "Can't go back, Bob." What? Seriously?? I was just kind of stunned. Really horrible, considering the picture of the guy's kid on the dash and the line throwback to the Happy Teen Cannibals, etc. He freaking ran the guy down and capped him as hordes of zombies charged down the street. Just who are we dealing with now, Rick? But... interesting.
- Look, it's the Scooby-Doo "Funky Door" game back at the church. Who is locked inside the church? Who is locked outside? I guess it depends on just which moment you're talking about, we just needed an upbeat 70's tune to really make the game exciting! But hey, when you're not sure how to end it, throw in a fire engine.
- How hard did Abraham hit Eugene again? Those little cartoon birdies must have eaten their Wheaties this morning.
- I've been okay with the "General Psycho Hospital" episodes after Slagtown. They're not my favorite, but I think it helps when they are interspersed with sequences outside Grady (?). I think one of my problems is that I find the dialogue to be really "high level" and not really how people talk -- it's confusing for me to try to figure out what people are actually saying. In general, Delta Dawn loves to talk in really general terms without saying explicitly what she means (I literally zone out, it's like radio static), and I don't find the deliveries helpful. They're had some interesting character through-lines -- like the doctor who sabotaged the other wounded doctor's recovery so that he would remain irreplaceable -- but the execution of the sequence doesn't gel with me that well.
- I get that the point was that good ol' "Loo-ten-int Dawn!" wanted to have Beth alley-oops "Bad Cop Whose She Celebrated Cigars With" down the well / give him the shaft, so that she would be in charge without having to be the bad guy, although wasn't that a pretty risky move considering he could have killed her if Beth hadn't stepped in and/or just through sheer bad luck? Meh. Although at least that speech from the soon-to-be-ex-cop was more "tangible" in content.
- Mixed feelings about Beth. I felt nothing when she died, honestly... and might have even rolled my eyes. I knew someone would die, figured it would be her because they're not gonna kill off anyone else except maybe Sasha, Lara/Rosita Croft, or ... well, not really sure who else was legitimately on the block for a mid-season finale. It was especially clear when she (1) shoved the scissors up her cast and (2) Maggie suddenly is all excited that "she's gonna see Beth again!"
But again, it was really "dumb" Beth stuff. I still never saw Beth as very strong or very much a survivor compared to others. Even the whole death sequence is vintage "stupid" Beth -- a really stupid impulsive teenager move, which I suppose is appropriate, but I don't think you'd see Carl doing dumb shit like this. Not even Noah would have done this. First of all, stabbing Dawn with all eyes on them is going to trigger a hail of bullets in the hallway and probably get a lot of her friends killed, but did she think of that? Second of all, if you're gonna stab someone, stab them in the freaking neck, okay? A survivor doesn't stab someone with a gun in her hand in the shoulder of her non-shooting arm. I totally see what the dramatic arc was supposed to be, but it was just a typical stupid Beth move. Andrea didn't use "suicide shock treatment" back in Season 2 for you to die now from such a dumbass move; Andrea sure as hell would have handled it differently.
- End result: They gave Beth a "nice send-off" by letting her star in a few episodes before offing her... mainly as a dramatic reverberation for characters / fan favorites they plan to keep around a long time ... Daryl, Maggie, Carol. (Daryl of course out of hurt and anger capped Dawn right there in the hall.) And of course it will justify to Rick that his new-and-improved twist on diplomacy is necessary to keep everyone alive. And we just swapped in Noah, who has been marginally more interesting than Beth in only the few episodes we've seen him.
Kudos, though, on killing off a white person this time out. Considering the social climate in the USA right now, that probably dodged a large bullet.
- Okay, Bob's gone... but his leg is still here. Just sick, man. Sick. Perfect for the series, but... gawd. And Gabriel was leafing through one of those cheap fake-white-leather bibles that ten-year-olds carry to church. Nice detail.
- I think the female cop who stopped the shootout is named Shepherd. Awww.
- Morgan is really missing Rick, one day these lovebirds will be reuinted. But who will be crazier at that point? Side note: Who is leaving the marks on the trees?