The following contains spoilers for Tales of the Walking Dead Season 1, Episode 1, "Evie/Joe," which aired Sunday, August 14 on AMC.

The first episode of Tales of the Walking Dead definitely fluctuates in tone. It relies mostly on comedic moments with hints of drama, which is definitely experimental for The Walking Dead universe. But when Joe's dog Gilligan is killed by walkers within the first 10 minutes, the audience knows they're in for an emotional ride.

The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead are no strangers to death, but deaths of pets are especially rare in its universe. Still, it's been done before. Season 8 hit the nail in that coffin by killing off Shiva, Ezekiel's pet tiger. Despite over a dozen characters having been killed in that same episode, Shiva's death hit the hardest because of her sacrifice to save her owner. Her death proved that no matter what, an animal's death is always sadder than a human's. Knowing this, the six-episode anthology series is willing to keep viewers watching by killing off a dog.

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tales of the walking dead Joe and gilligan

There are moments when it's difficult to get attached to these characters in Tales of the Walking Dead. Sandra's death means almost nothing because it's hard to imagine she would've ever been a good guy in the first place (someone has to be the villain of Joe and Evie's story). Joe and Evie are the equivalent of characters introduced in the premiere of a multi-season show; it could be easy to become emotionally invested if given more time, but not in the time-crunching case of an hour-long anthology series. To that end, Tales of the Walking Dead has a hard time relying on the emotional and character-driven backbone that defines The Walking Dead. The only way to get a moving reaction out of fans is to take drastic measures -- like killing off an innocent dog.

Gilligan's death does exactly as it intends to. While Tales of the Walking Dead spares viewers from having to watch the heartbreaking scene, the camera still leans towards Joe's devastating reaction while he listens to Gilligan's dying whimpers as a way to connect to the audience. At that moment, viewers relate to and understand Joe. The audience wants Joe to succeed and be happy in his next journey because he lost something dearest to him -- something that the audience wouldn't want to lose themselves.

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tales of the walking dead Gilligan dog

The choice to kill off Gilligan has consequences for Joe's character: without Gilligan, Joe is completely and utterly alone. No amount of reading old online messages can rekindle the feeling of having a companion by his side. The death of his best friend presses Joe to find Sandra (his online girlfriend), but Joe is so caught up in his grief that he doesn't take the time to run through the possible outcomes of this situation. One being that Sandra is not as kept together as Joe is and that her loneliness has made her downright paranoid. It's a valuable lesson for Joe to learn: that people can easily hide behind a mask for survival. In some ways, if Gilligan had never died, Joe would've never learned the hard truth of the apocalypse.

Maybe Gilligan's death doesn't have such a big affect after being spoiled by an exclusive first look, but it keeps the audience rooting for Joe. Gilligan is brought up every once in a while as a reminder of why Joe is finding Sandra in the first place. What's more is Evie praising Gilligan indirectly by saying that Dobermans are good dogs, dispelling the reputation that Dobermans are naturally aggressive. Tales of the Walking Dead might have a long ways to go to prove that it's a worthy addition to the TWD universe, but at least it's shown it's not afraid to turn on the waterworks.

New episodes of Tales of the Walking Dead air every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and are streaming a week early on AMC+.