This article will contain spoilers for the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead.

Sunday Nov. 30 marked the mid-season finale of the fifth season of The Walking Dead, and it garnered critical reception for the death of a main character.  For many people it was not a surprise as the network, American Movie Classics (AMC), spoiled the episode on their Facebook page immediately after the episode aired on the east coast.  Senior Laura Castro, however, would have welcomed the spoiler because she feels it would have prepared her for how the episode ended.

“I would have actually been able to watch it and not get emotionally impacted by Beth’s death,” said Castro.

There is much unrest in The Walking Dead fandom because a good portion of the season had been spent building up Beth’s character.  Some fans feel that the decision to kill Beth off was a last minute decision to stir up drama and keep people watching watching the show.

“I feel like someone hasn’t died in a while, and they needed someone to die so they choose Beth,” said junior Daniel Kim.

Beth’s death has sparked controversy because fans believe she did not need to die, and a huge part of her character development happened this season.  They feel that the other half of the season could have developed Beth’s character even further.

“They [the writers] could have shown that people can be weak and then become strong.  An emotional girl can be a strong girl.  They could have also continued with Daryl’s character development that started because of Beth,” said Castro.

Beth had been held captive by Dawn, who was previously accused of abusing her leadership as an officer.  A compromise was made in which Dawn would let Beth and another character, Olivia, go, and, in exchange, Shepard and Licari would take their place.  The compromise would have gone smoothly if Dawn had not insisted that Noah also be exchanged for Beth and Olivia.  Dawn made a scathing remark to Beth when she hugged Noah goodbye.  The remark prompted Beth to grab a pair of scissors and say “I get it now”  before stabbing Dawn, who retaliated by shooting her in the head.

There has been much speculation about what Beth meant by her last words as well as why she would shoot Dawn.  The Walking Dead talk show The Talking Dead aired an episode touching on the storyline in the mid-season finale featuring Emily Kinney, who played Beth.

“I think it was just a mistake that Beth just randomly stabbed her [Dawn].  I feel that Dawn wasn’t a bad person.  I just think she was scared, and she thought she was doing the right thing.  I was watching The Talking Dead, and [Emily Kinney] said that Beth thought ‘oh I finally got what I wanted, so she wanted to test her limits,’” said sophomore Tiffany Pham.

Daryl’s reaction to Beth’s death, according to fans, was the next most heartbreaking event of the episode, but most fans also agree that it was well-written.  Fans of the show know that Daryl generally does not show emotion or handle his emotions, yet Beth’s death had him reacting with tears.

“I really liked Daryl’s reaction because he doesn’t really know how to react to multiple things.  When Merle got left behind in the first season, he [Daryl] overreacted and was really mad.  Darryl really cares about Beth, so I really like how they wrote him reacting,” said Pham.

Much to the dismay of the fans of The Walking Dead, the series will not return until Feb. 2015.