Honestly if you haven't read the books idk why you're giving this take 😭 You're entitled to your opinion of course, but this doesn't come out of nowhere.
It's important to both themes of Newt's and Thomas's characters, with Thomas in particular it's about the guilt he feels that's never quite resolved, while for Newt it's about this very carefully built persona crumbling down and his true feelings coming to the surface. It's very interesting in my opinion. No, it's not healing, but neither is the scene in the movies.
Also uhm, it's not really 'I'm not immune so I might as well die'. Newt is already suicidal. He's attempted suicide before, and he specifically attempted because of how much he hated being trapped in the maze, which he brings up during his death scene in the books. Plus, in the books the flare heavily affects people's emotional regulation. Newt was already suicidal, so the flare just made those feelings even stronger.
Why does he specifically ask Thomas to kill him instead of just doing it himself? Kind of left up to interpretation... Could be that he's afraid of attempting and failing again, could be that he sees it as a fucked up way for Thomas to 'prove himself' to Newt now that he knows he's big part of the reason why he went through everything he went through ('if you've ever bee my friend, kill me'), could be a way to have someone he deems as guity of wronging him to carry the guilt of killing him, could be he just wanted to fuck with Thomas. Idk! Have fun with that one.
And also, I really don't blame Thomas for shooting Newt. Yeah, you could say 'well just don't shoot him', but first of all, Newt was being very violent towards him, at that point it wasn't just fulfilling Newt's request but also self defense. Also, something I find very appealing about this scene is that Thomas refuses to shoot Newt until Newt begs him when his eyes are lucid. Say what you want, I think this is very intentional characterization for Thomas. He doesn't want to just go along with a crazed request from Newt, but once he feels that Newt is genuienly begging, he does it out of mercy and also because Newt had explicitly told him that it's the only thing he can do to 'pay him back' for all that he feels Thomas owes him.
Obviously Thomas feels really guilty, but why is it wrong for it to be framed as something that's traumatizing and tragic for him? He's 16 and was under a lot of pressure, felt a lot of guilt and was also being violently attacked, it would be very hard for him to get Newt to just cooperate with him. Sure, you could say that when Newt asked him to just fuck off then was the right moment for Thomas to just leave and let Newt keep going insane with the cranks until they figure something out or whatever, but like, that's not interesting.
Sure, the scene is extremely dark and obviously not healthy, but this isn't out of line for the TMR books. I mean, Alby's death in the books is really violent as well, the whole scene with the tunnels in TST, what happens to Winston, the whole lighting storm thing... It's honestly really violent for a series that's aimed mostly at tweens and teens LOL.
Newt and Thomas's relationship in the books is more complicated and strained than the one they have in the movies. Thomas really likes Newt in the books, thinks of him as the nicest, most reliable person around, and therefore always defaults to him for support. I think Thomas sees Newt as a source of stability, which is why it hits so much harder when in TDC, all the qualities Thomas admires Newt for start fading.
But Newt doesn't see Thomas the same way. Sure, he's on Thomas's side during the 1st and 2nd books, but I feel like sometimes people exaggerate just how trusting he is of Thomas. During most of the first book he's honestly really suspicious of Thomas and usually always argues against his plans at first, even though he eventually gives in. But also, something that's very easy to gather even in the 1st book is that Newt sees Thomas as a source of instability. That's why he and Alby always question him first when something goes wrong, even though both of them later admit they don't actually believe Thomas is to blame for everything, which Newt later walks back on during TDC death scene, which is obviously supposed to be understood as irrational but still being his genuine feelings.
Uhhh whatever I kind of went off topic here. I find Newt and Thomas's relationship in the books to be really interesting specifically because it's really troubled. My point with this ramble was more so that all taken into account, Newt's death scene is impactful because you know the whole tragectory these characters have been through. Anything in a vacuum won't be as impactful as it is in it's full context. I personally don't enjoy Newt's death scene in the movies because I just don't like that they don't allow neither Newt nor Thomas to be kind of messy and terrible. And I also just don't enjoy that the cranks in the movies are just zombies, as opposed as in the books where even when the most 'gone' they're still capable of organizing and communicating. I also just like how deranged Newt is during his death scene in the books, which is kind of lost in the movies because well, it's just a zombie.
Obviously, this is just my opinion, but it is a very strong one I have as a Movie Newt's Death Scene disliker and a Book Crank Newt enjoyer.
Also sorry if this is kind of messy and incoherent, I was just rambling!
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