Skipping over the aftermath of Beth's demise following the mid-season finale was a blessing and a curse. It meant that The Walking Dead seemed like it would be keeping up the faster pace promised by the first half of its fifth year, but also meant that a significant character death was going by without much of a mention. Which was troubling on both a storytelling and character level. For one, it made killing off a female character seem like less of a big deal than Tyreese's death in that same episode; for another, it would've been weird for Maggie to get over her sister's death with a brief moment of sobbing and then be okay. It was refreshing that they went back to that thread in Them, and the way they handled it. Maggie had plenty of time to cry, sure, but the death also affected her in different ways: like very bluntly shutting down Gabriel when he started with his priest talk.