Fans Petition to ‘Bring Back Beth’
Beth Greene had one of the more convincingly permanent TV deaths. She didn’t die off-screen or in an ambiguous way. We watched a bullet tear through her brain, only one step below the brutality of her father Hershel’s beheading. Let’s not beat around the bush, this happened.
And then this and we all cried.
And yet, fans are passionate. Many were unsatisfied with what seemed like a quick and meaningless end to a character that still had story thread to unravel. A tearful appearance from Emily Kinney on Talking Dead also seems to have galvanized emotions and sympathy for the actress. So they started a petition to bring her back.
The petition on Change.org now has more than 6,500 signatures and it seems to be completely serious.
“Her death was far too soon and the writers threw away a perfectly good potential character. Her story wasn’t over. Emily Kinney and her character don’t deserve this. There was so much more to be done with her character and they chose to kill her in a disgusting, unsatisfying death that caused more anger and disappointment then shock and mourning,” the petition explains.
“Beth was a symbol of hope that a lot of women could relate too and see themselves in (especially self-harmers who saw her as someone who overcame their suicidal/depressive feelings). By sloppily killing her just shows that she was used to further a man’s (Daryl’s) storyline,” it continues.
The petition creator is quite aware that Beth was killed in an unambiguous way and doesn’t try to argue the wound was survivable. They just don’t care.
“I realize that the circumstances she dies in are irreversible, but this is television. Anything is possible. By signing this petition you can at least show your support for Beth. Let’s show Emily Kinney how much we love her and want her back,” the petition says.
In addition to the petition, there’s also a fan campaign to send plastic spoons with Beth quotes on them to The Walking Dead producers to show support for Beth. The spoons are a reference to a souvenir spoon Beth finds in the fourth season episode “Still.” You can read more about that campaign at its official Facebook page, which is called BethGreeneDeservedBetter.
So what do you think? Ready to start sending spoons, or do you believe dead is dead? You’ll find both sides of the debate on our forums.