Sadly so. I honestly thought she had became invincible and I'm bloody devastated she's gone. She was easily one of my top 3 characters and has been for quite some time now.
I appreciate no character is truly safe in The Walking Dead, and in real life scenarios they're never gonna kill just one 'big' character, but I'm bloody annoyed that Tara's and Enid's deaths are being shared. They're both big enough deaths to be felt by all communities IMO. Tara especially.
Tara had interesting growth and a unique personality that no one else had. She had a quirky sense of humour and she was an 'enemy' (I use that term loosely) turn family member which is something we only seen with Saviors since (and now we only have Laura as a notable example... joys). She became a girl on the Governor's side who didn't want to fight to the leader of a big community. And a true leader, at that, one who engaged and helped Hilltop and looked out for its people. And it's bloody frustrating that Tara's gone.
I think I'm somewhat okay with her death because I feel like they utilised Tara well, but she honestly could've done with more screen-time this season. As well as more scenes with Jesus - their leadership and bond was interesting, especially when you think about their conflicting outlooks during All Out War. That said, I'm ****ing pissed she's dead.
But that brings me onto Enid.
Enid's easily had some of the biggest growth in the show, if not explicit. She went from a girl who didn't want to live at Alexandria and with people to forming an almost parent-daughter bond with Maggie (and to a lesser extent, Glenn), a relationship (of sorts) with Carl, before becoming a doctor. Pretty interesting to compare Season 9 Enid to Season 5 Enid, but it's saddening to think of how little screentime she got for most of that development and how... not-independent she became.
Above anything, Enid was a survivor ("Just Survive Somehow" ring any bells?) and has survived on her own for a good while - heck, she voluntarily chose to be alone until she started getting closer to Maggie and Glenn. And maybe she became less of a survivor because life became 'easier' (for lack of a better word) but I just find it hard to believe Enid, someone so hardened by past trauma and an independent survivor, could end up on a pike. How was she so easily convinced to leave the fair? Was she convinced that Alpha or someone was hurt? None of it makes sense to me - especially as there was no mention of her ever intending to leave the fair (on that note, Tammy, Addy, and Rodney were all a bit random).
I could go into the "Bury Your Gays" territory if I chose to (especially with the loss of Jesus - although Tom Payne did choose to leave (I think?) but regardless, Alanna didn't want to leave - Tara was written off as a death) but I won't (Two gay characters introduced in episode 5 and within ten episodes another two gay characters are killed off? Hmm (although there were like, 8 other deaths of straight people that episode so meh) because what's annoyed me is the way they've died.
They only really needed one 'big' death, and Enid or Tara could've been that. Not both. I remember hearing both of them would die and thought "nah" because why would they kill off two of Hilltop's biggest members? Killing off Enid would impact all of the Hilltoppers + Aaron (and even some original Alexandrians) and killing off Tara would... pretty much impact all of the Hilltoppers only (I want to say Rosita but for some reason their entire friendship was neglected this season which is a damn shame because they were great together. GREATM anyone?). They said they killed off people because of who it'd impact and Tara and Enid's deaths have too much overlap that only one or the other was necessary. And even if one of them was only killed off, they'd still be sharing their spotlight with Henry. It's just so frustrating they had two well-rounded, developed, interesting characters and decided to kill them off after under-utilising them all season (and in Enid's case, past two seasons). I would've been more okay with Tara being a 'big death' and Enid following in the next finale/premiere but regardless, here we are.
It's also a tad weird that they just. Killed off Frankie. She appeared in like, 4
episodes before Season 9? She didn't appear when AOW ended, she didn't appear after the 1.5 year skip, and she didn't appear in the six year time jump until this episode technically. They decided to give her an adopted daughter which was cute but how did they meet? How did Frankie decide to adopt her?And why was Frankie only mentioned by namefor the first time all season (by Eugene, which is a nice callback to their interactions in Season 7) literally 2 seconds before her death was revealed? Frankie could've easily been a more heart-breaking death if we saw a few scenes of her forming a bond with a child and becoming a mother but nah, they just decided to show her in the background hugging a child last episode. No explanation as to how she ended up an Alexandrian or how she became a mother. No nothing. The viewers aren't thinking "aw her poor kid", they're thinking "who the **** is Frankie?"
In case you can't tell I'm a tad pissed about the lineup lmao. They should've utilised the 'red-shirts' a bit more and only had one 'major' death (a lot of this stems from feelings about Abe being brushed under the dust in favour of a 'bigger' death in Glenn). It's not enough to make me want to stop watching but it's frustrating, and it bites more knowing that Michonne's gonna be gone from the show within mere episodes and that a certain someone else is rumoured to die :eyes:
