‘The Walking Dead’ season 5, episode 8 (midseason finale) review: Beth, Carol, survival, and woe
Tonight, “The Walking Dead” looked to settle many scores, in between the state of things at the church, if Glenn’s group would meet up with anyone else, and ultimately whether or not Beth and Carol could be rescued from the hospital.
Let’s go ahead and start with the latter story, given that this was the most surprising one of the entire night. Beth’s gone. Dead. Eliminated. We wondered if someone was going to die tonight, but it almost seemed like she was going to make it through. This is extremely devastating for Daryl, and he wasted basically no time at all in killing Dawn. This was his retribution, but there is no replacing her. Carol is back with the group now and safe, but that is not a huge success rate. It was Noah that ended up being such a sticking point, and Dawn’s insistence on having him is what created so much chaos.
As for the other characters, Father Gabriel eventually survived, though we still don’t know what exactly he is up to. He is, however, reunited with Carl and Michonne, who in turn reunited with the likes of Glenn and Abraham. Unfortunately, this reunion led to the news to Maggie that her sister was dead, which is putting her in one of the most devastating positions out of everyone on this show.
The only criticism that we can offer something like this episode is that we wish there was less of Gabriel at the start, and then more time at the hospital at the end. That was obviously what mattered most.
We’re going to have more on the show soon, but what about that Morgan shocker at the end? (Update: Check out the video below!) We’re still looking forward to seeing where his story goes from here, and to see how we can press on. For now, though, this was great, albeit devastating, television. Grade: A-.
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