Sims: I hate to sound like a mean old cynic, Lenika, but I barely blinked at Beth’s death, outside of noting its gory brutality (which, of course, is very on-point for The Walking Dead). If there was going to be a casualty from this half-season, it made sense to have it be her, since as you noted the show had done a decent job of building her up to the point where you just about cared what happened to her. But still, Beth remained pretty expendable, especially considering that everything interesting about her related to her time in Slabtown. The show needed something to end on, and losing Beth hurts without having much of a grander impact. I think that’s partly why I’ve already noticed people on Twitter complaining that “Coda” ended with a bit of a thud, after such a nice run for the show—losing Beth and Dawn didn’t make for much of a showdown.

But I’m still pretty happy with how these eight episodes went. I like that as much as Rick continues to trend ruthless (the way he ran that cop down, hoo boy), the gang made the wise decision not to try and mow through the hospital. As Dawn’s lieutenant said after her boss died, “It was about her.” Power had corrupted, as we’ve seen it corrupt so many people on this show, and with Dawn out of the way there wasn’t even that much to be mad about. Yes, there’s probably some bad apples at Slabtown and yes, the inherent concept of the hospital’s operation is plenty creepy, but why throw away even more of the gang’s humanity in a bloody shootout at the hospital? Beth’s sacrifice indicated she’d reached some understanding of Dawn—and realized that she had lost sight of why she even wanted to be in charge. There’s nothing more for the gang to understand there.

Cruz: I'm glad you recognized Beth's action as a sacrifice, even if it seems at first glance like a suicide-by-cop. Remember her cutting incident back at the farm and how that was meant to signal her immaturity? Well this move indicated the opposite: That Beth realized that Dawn had to go, just like Dawn's predecessor had to go. I can't be the only one who noticed the horror etched in Dawn's face after she shot Beth; it seems like she reacted instinctively to Beth stabbing her in her bulletproof vest and tried to defend herself, but the damage was done.

I'd hate to continue to dwell just on the last few minutes of the episode at the expense of the 95 percent that came before, so just a few more thoughts. One, you're right, it seems like the Slabtown thread has been wrapped completely, so February will return with a big question mark. Two, when the prisoner exchange happened, and Carol was the first to be traded, I heard a woman in the bar blurt out "Oh, THANK GOD," reminding me (cruelly) just how much more people adore Carol over Beth. Three, let's take a moment to remember Beth's sad words to Daryl from last season:

Rick's actions with that cop earlier (Lamson?) didn't seem ruthless to me; it seemed like he was trying to restore a balance that had been upset by the betrayal. He had given the fugitive several chances to give it up and save his life. "You just had to stop," Rick said, standing over his paralyzed body, as the cop essentially accuses him of being a monster. As I've said before I still think the group, Rick included, has come back into much of its humanity. That they didn't ditch Eugene or keep Father Gabriel locked outside more than proves this point. If, as Beth said, you are who you are in this world and there's no "when-this-is-all-over," then I think the gang are pretty damn good people.