Warning: spoilers for the latest episode of The Walking Dead, which aired Sunday, follow
Just when you thought that The Walking Dead had killed off their last major character for the time being, they came in with a doozy on their mid-season return. I’m grateful that I was able to watch this show during the day, because it was incredibly hard to take. I had nightmares about it last night.

I’m not going to do a full recap of episode 509, What Happened and What’s Going On, I’m assuming you’ve seen it already. There’s an excellent recap on i09 if you’re interested.

The episode was a departure from what we’re used to seeing. It was full of bizarre scenes and dream sequences and kept teasing a burial, which I assumed was Beth. The burial was in fact of fan favorite character Tyreese (Chad Coleman), who was bitten by a walker and succumbed. Much of the second half of the show was taken up by Tyreese’s fever dreams. Tyreese hallucinated that there were other departed characters in the room, like The Governor telling him he had a debt to pay, that douche Martin warning him that he was weak, and Beth, Mika, Lizzie and Bob telling him that it was ok to let go and go to the other side. Just remembering the episode has put a pit in my stomach again.

This was a powerful episode and while Tyreese’s death makes some sense in the scheme of the plot (he was too sensitive, he was conflicted) it still feels so manipulative. I wish they would have killed off Eugene, Abraham or the sneaky preacher, but of course no one would have cared about any of those people.

There’s been criticism that Walking Dead is killing off too many black characters. Remember that poor first guy, T-Dog? T-Dog was a cardboard cutout of a character, and WD has worked to diversify following criticism of how they handled T-Dog’s death. Other black characters who have died include of course Bob, and at least one secondary death, Oscar (killed after Tyreese was introduced). So now that Noah has been introduced it seems a little suspicious that Tyreese was just killed off.

Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd addressed the criticism that the show is quick to kill black characters. She said that they don’t discriminate when it comes to who lives and dies.

“Look, this is something in this world that we should be cognizant about, so my feeling is: Sure, let’s get it out there, let’s talk about it,” Hurd told me. “We’ve killed a lot more white characters than African-American characters. And not only that, I think it’s important to point out that we did cast two African-American actors in roles that were not African-American. In the comic books, Bob was white. And the character of Noah was not an African-American. We just cast the best actor.”

Hurd wouldn’t comment on any new actors coming on board, but pointed out that, “Noah is still alive and so is Seth Gilliam, playing Father Gabriel. And obviously both Sasha and Michonne. And let’s not forget the character of Glenn has been on the show since the very beginning.”

[From E! Online]

It’s worth nothing that Tyreese was also killed off in the comics, and earlier than he was here, so that surely factored into the decision to let him go. However, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) is a character that never even existed in the comics and he’s still around. I was starting to warm to Tyreese to the point where I considered him on par with Daryl. I was as upset by Tyreese’s death as I would be by Daryl’s death.

Cinema Blend has an interesting take on the Tyreese/Daryl dynamic. They claim that Daryl’s existence could have necessitated Tyreese’s death, because they have the same place in the hierarchy with Rick.

On Talking Dead, Coleman seemed touched by all the fans upset over Tyreese’s death. He said that Andrew Lincoln called him after taping wrapped to congratulate him on his acting and let him know that he’d miss him. Talking Dead also had on WD director Greg Nicotera, who explained this arty episode as similar to a Terrence Malick film. I just found it sad and pointless and I’m questioning whether I want to keep watching the show.

You can see a bonus clip from Talking Dead here. Chad Coleman sings at about 2:30 and it’s glorious. I hope he gets another reoccurring role on a major TV series soon. He’s an incredible actor.