they no longer seem to try to make us think that "anyone can die but your favorite characters are just lucky that they haven't faced impossible odds yet." You know?
I think that's a cheap thrills way of approaching the show. And when they do follow that model, you get people killed off for shock value. Which is not the same as dramatic value. Beth was not a surprise. They practically told us she was going to die, even going so far as to throw a bold faced diversion like Carol walking in front of a car in a bid to make it less obvious.
But her death had dramatic value for the effect it will have on the characters of Maggie and Daryl (as well as the morale of the group). As has been pointed out, Daryl's arc relating to Carol is fairly well spent. There is no romantic potential there at this point, and Carol has matured to the point where she can mirror Daryl's level of self-sufficiency. Daryl's true point of weakness was Beth and it has been torn wide open. He has managed to achieve a whole lot, but he failed miserably at saving her.
Why? This is why...
Khev said:
It seems like they've strayed from that verisimilitude and kind of throw it in our faces that Rick and especially Daryl are immune while others only are immune until their death would make for good shock or some weird artsy episode. Do you disagree?
Yea, I disagree. It is not realistic to expect Rick or Daryl to be especially in danger (though both still have character traits that could bring them close) at any point or for any reason. Not after what they've got themselves out of thus far. Tyrese was a different story entirely. He was not the same guy who fought off that hoarde any more. The softness that had been growing in him since Lizzie got put down had reached critical mass. It is what got Beth killed. Buying into the reasonability of his counsel while Rick planned the rescue introduced all kinds of options for failure. His moral dilemmas have destroyed his ability to focus on the goal of protection and survival and in the end, it just walked up behind him and bit his ass.
As for how quickly it went to his head, leaving aside the fact that the show runners have made clear that everyone reacts differently, a man that size panicking is not going to be able to keep an infection isolated to a limb without a tourniquet. As for how long he sat there waiting for help, Noah ran to that house. How far they were from where the group separated was not clear, but it was not a brief stroll and the others were foraging multiple houses. It's not a stretch to assume that they covered some distance as well. Ultimately, it didn't matter because he got swarmed and trapped.
As for the greater purpose of the story, what was the theme of the episode? Glenn pointed out how killing Dawn, "didn't matter." Just another death. Beth was a major death, framing the whole episode. By the time the episode is done, Tyrese is dead too, and for not much of a reason. Beth thought it was an important reason; she risked her life for it. But it was ultimately meaningless. Risking life to save life is becoming worse than a zero sum game. Rick was ahead of the curve in that regard. Daryl was already slipping (listening to Tyrese) and even Michonne is getting road weary.
I don't know. What else was wrong with it?
