The death of Emily Kinney's character, Beth, in the mid-season finale of "The Walking Dead" was predicted long before the episode aired on Sunday. But it still managed to shock a number of Kinney's fans, who weren't happy to see the character die towards the end of "Coda."
Beth's death came about during the trade-off, soon after Dawn started insisting that Rick return Noah to her. Although Noah agreed to turn himself in, Beth stabbed Dawn with a pair of scissors she had tucked inside her cast after the officer snidely remarked, "I knew you'd be back."
Dawn's immediate reaction was to shoot Beth directly in the head. Although she appeared shocked by her action, Dawn did not get much time to analyse her actions as she got killed by Daryl even before Beth's lifeless body hits the ground.
One of the most heartbreaking scenes of the episode was Daryl's grief over Beth's death, and speculations have once again started over the nature of their relationship.
Addressing their relationship dynamics, Kinney told TVLine: "They never really told us what it was supposed to be… I think it was a situation where they were getting to know each other. First, they were just trying to get along at all, because I don't think that they saw each other's point of view very well. And then as the story went along they maybe became friends, and I do think that it started to sort of go, 'Oh, what more could this be? Could it keep going into something else?'"
Kinney has been essaying the role of Beth for four years, and although she would have gladly said goodbye to her character a few times in the previous seasons, this time around she was unprepared.
"I think the writing throughout has been great, but I wasn't ready for it to be over. I think the Beth character, in particular… more could've been done with a teenager growing up [in that world]. I did not see it coming at all, especially this season. It's weird, because I would've been OK with [this happening] in the second season or the third season... But now I feel differently… I feel like there was still so much more to [explore.]"
