Next scene shows where Father Gabriel went (remember last week he told Michonne he would be resting in his room) as it turns out that he slipped under the floorboards and went out the church to go to --- the schoolyard where Gareth and the rest of the Termites camped out and ate Bob. The priest was seen sifting thru the things they left behind and he saw an abandoned backpack, with a bible inside and of course, the remainder of Bob’s BBQ leg! Now, I guess he is convinced that Rick and his group did have a reason to butcher Gareth and his gang for being the brute cannibals that they were.
Then, suddenly the trapped walkers inside the school were able to break free from the glass door and started to come after him. He limps/runs back to the church and as he shrieks to be allowed inside (kinda karmic how he is now the one wanting to be let in like what he himself did to his congregation back then), Michonne breaks down the church door to let him in and kills the other walkers who came with him. But they prove to be too many so they retreat to the rectory and escape through the same floorboards Gabriel used. Outside the church, Carl and Michonne board up the door from the outside effectively trapping the zombies inside the church.
Rick returns to the abandoned warehouse where they are still holed with the two remaining cop-hostages. He feels ready to abandon the original ‘trade’ and wants to storm the hospital again but cooler heads prevailed. The two remaining officers also suggested that they tell Dawn that Bob was killed by rotters and not by Rick because they knew that if Dawn knew that Rick killed Bob, she would refuse to negotiate with them.
Dawn tries hard to establish communication with the cops who went out and admits to Beth that it frustrates her when they don’t report back to her their location. Beth and Dawn engage in a bit of heart-to-heart talk but even no matter how hard she tries, I find it hard to try to like Dawn and justify what she did (killing her former mentor) to take the leadership reins at Grady Memorial Hospital and turning a blind eye to her cops ‘misdemeanors’. She even declares about not wanting love but needing to earn the respect of her cops – something which I don’t think she knows she doesn’t really have. Her leadership, in fact, is hanging by a thread that is about to snap, she just doesn’t know it yet.
Meantime, Michonne, Carl, Fr. Gabriel and the baby patiently wait outside the church and start to get worried that the walkers may soon get out of the church. Good thing Abraham and his group suddenly arrive and when Michonne asked why they’re back, Glenn simply said that Eugene lied, that he doesn’t really have a cure. Michonne gives Maggie the good news that Beth is alive and that Rick and the others headed off to Atlanta to save her. Funny, how Maggie suddenly remembers she had a sister when in fact the entire season no mention of her was made at all – only Darryl remembers her and constantly sought to find her – oh well, maybe an oversight on the writers’ part.
Back at Grady Memorial hospital, another bad cop is shown pushing an old man for his failure to sew up something then he turns his attention to Beth who gets saved once again by Dawn who tells the cop off saying she and Beth had other things to do. The two engage in another heart-to-heart talk wherein Beth tells her that nothing’s OK with the way things are run inside the hospital. Dawn keeps on asserting the fact that she saved Beth twice – when she was brought in by Gorman after being overrun by walkers (or so they keep saying) and then again when she hid the fact that she killed Gorman while inside Dawn’s office so that the other cops won’t kill Beth in revenge.
Dawn and Beth didn’t realize that one of the bad cops (the guy berating the old guy earlier) heard what she said about Beth and wanted to tell the other guys the ‘truth’. Dawn continued to protect Beth claiming her as ‘her ward’ and therefore ‘her call’. Dawn did not take kindly to being threatened and what comes next shows the extent of how insane she truly was or maybe just misguided with her own sense of self-worth…I don’t know. But she was intent on not letting the truth come out so she pulls her gun on O’Donnel and tells him that she is not at all like Hanson (her mentor). Dawn finally steps up to berate him for scolding the old man and laughing with the others whenever a new ward is raped but a scuffle ensued between the two cops. Dawn’s gun slips out from her grasp and goes down the elevator shaft. In the end, it was Beth who delivers the final push for the cop to go down the elevator shaft.
Then, as Beth stays guard over Carol, Dawn comes in again and they continue with their stupid ‘talk’. Beth realizes that the reason why Dawn covered for her was not really to protect her but only herself. That’s the way things are run at Grady - everyone uses people to get what they want - Dawn had problems with Gorman, O’Donnel, and Jeffreys but she didn’t want to do the dirty work so she just let Beth do it for her. Dawn also realized that it was also what happened with Trevor and the Doc who used Beth to kill Trevor. Beth vowed that she would get out – just like Noah. But Dawn countered that Noah will be back, they always come back. Dawn invited her and Carol to remain instead at Grady’s, telling her that what they do is important. She also tells Beth that she did not use her and that she will remember (what Beth did) …well, I don’t think so!
So Rick and the others arrange a meet-up with two other hospital cops and tell them that he has two cops held hostage and wants to trade them with Beth and Carol now at the hospital with them. The others, Sasha and Darryl cover Rick from the rooftop with their high-powered sniper guns while Ty stands guard over the two other hostaged cops. The scene is tense…but restrained and the group managed to establish their fierce presence with the two cops Rick met and negotiated with. In fact, when Rick was asked where his people were and he replies ‘They’re close’ then a sniper shot rings out killing a nearby walker, it kinda reminded me about a scene from the comics when Rick met with the Hunters (the group of cannibals).
The trade off pushes through and the two groups decide to meet in a narrow hallway of the hospital. Everything goes as planned with Beth and Carol being traded for Dawn’s two cops until Dawn decides to be a bitch once more and demand Noah to be returned to her…WTF?!?! What stupid reason can she want for that? Maybe just to show her officers that she gets to keep the upper hand? But Rick says no and Dawn starts calling the deal off. Dawn pulls out her gun so Noah agrees to leave just so everything would not turn into a bloodbath. But Beth had to start acting stupidly and stabbed Dawn with her tiny scissors and Dawn in an instinctive act shoots her in the head. Oh no…why did Beth have to try and kill Dawn? And with her puny little scissors at that…what did she hope to achieve? Was it truly a suicide mission on her part? To try to save Noah? To free the hospital from Dawn? She could have just walked away and saved Noah some other day…what were the writers thinking??? Why Beth!?!?!?
Abraham and the rest of the gang soon arrive with Rick and the others slowly exiting out of the hospital. It was just heartbreaking seeing Maggie as she falls to the ground when she sees Beth’s body being carried out by Darryl…but I did not cry, not like when they killed off Herschel. I guess it would have helped if the entire season Maggie tried vainly to find Beth or even made mention that she misses her little sister. Also, the fact that her death was totally stupid and unnecessary made mourning so out of place…it was quite depressing really, the ending they made for Beth. But then again, I never really liked the hospital storyline anyway, and so I am just happy to see it end…I would have wanted if the series continued its strong storytelling at the start of Season 5 but things started to get boring when the feature on Beth came. I guess now I understand why her story had to be told…because she will soon be written off, poor Beth!
The series had a preview of what’s to come and showed Morgan once again, still following the group. He was previously reintroduced in the first ever episode of Season 5 but has not been seen since. I guess he was traveling too slow to catch up with the group, maybe in Season 5 B he will. In all, I guess the episode was what I can consider disappointing…not really a sad ending but a huge disappointment. There wasn’t much fireworks involved – no big shooting scenes reminiscent of past finales but then again all it needed was just one gunshot to the head…and Beth’s just gone…for no apparent reason or justification, a stupid and totally senseless end for one of the series’ most loved character. RIP Beth!
***phot grabbed from TWD FB page***
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