The mission to save Beth and Carol continued in The Walking Dead’s midseason finale. The episode picked off where it left off last Sunday. Officer Bob Lamson was trying to run away from Rick’s group, but Rick caught up to him with a police car, knocked him over, and killed him.
Meanwhile, Father Gabriel, who abandoned the church, ran into a bit of trouble near the school where Gareth and his crew were eating Bob’s leg. A huge herd of walkers trapped inside the school building were able to break the glass door and follow a terrified Father Gabriel to the church. Michonne and Carl helped Gabriel get back into the church and tried to hold off the walkers as much as they could but, eventually, had to escape the church, as it got overran by the walkers.
Michonne and Carl trapped all the walkers in the church and stood outside it, waiting for the others to return. While waiting for the rest to arrive, Abraham and his crew returned to the church with the fire truck and revealed the truth about Eugene. All the while, Michonne let Maggie know that the rest of the group went to Grady Memorial to save her sister.
Back to Rick’s group, the crew was able to bring out two more Grady Memorial cops to them, and Rick informed those cops about their plan to make an exchange - two of their people for Beth and Carol. The two cops went along with the plan and brought Rick and the others to the hospital to make the exchange.
The two sides made the exchange one-by-one. First, Carol for one of the cops, then Beth for the other cop. However, that did not satisfy Dawn, who asked for Noah as well. Rick and Daryl refused to give up Noah, but Noah agreed to go back to Dawn. Though, Beth did not favor the exchange, as she approached Dawn with a pair of scissors hidden under her cast. She got close to Dawn and quickly stabbed her near the neck area with the scissors, and Dawn immediately responded and shot Beth right in the head.
Daryl, full of anger upon Beth’s murder, pulled his trigger and shot Dawn in the head. The other Grady Memorial officers chose not to begin a blood bath. They held their fire and so did Rick’s group. In fact, the other cops offered Rick and his group to stay with them, but Rick refused to stay. In return, he offered the cops and everyone else at Grady Memorial to join them, but no one did.
In the meantime, Abraham, Maggie, Glenn, Tara, and Rosita arrived at the hospital, only to witness Daryl carrying a lifeless Beth out of the hospital doors.
A lot of tears were shed at the end of this episode, as innocent, young Beth was dead. This was absolutely an emotional episode. Beth’s character had come a long way. She changed from a weak, young teenager to a strong and brave survivor. Unfortunately, the group was unable to get her out of Grady Memorial alive.
The episode concluded with a snippet of Morgan, who was apparently wandering around the church area. He found Gabriel’s church and inside the church, he found a map to Washington D.C. that read Rick’s name on it.
Where does the crew go from here? It looks like they will be travelling on foot once again, as they drown their sorrows.
Maggie, the only one left from the Greene family, has now lost her father and sister. It will be interesting to follow her character to see if she can find the strength to keep surviving. Fortunately, she still has Glenn by her side to help her get through this very emotional time. It will also be interesting to see if the crew will ultimately run into Morgan or vice versa.
We will now have to wait over two months to see what the group will be up to next. The second half of the season will return in February.
Episode 8 - Overall Grade: 9.1/10