"Kill your darlings" only applies if you're holding onto something that actually hurts your story. But jerks sometimes use "kill your darlings" as a weapon to try to break you. Don't wantonly kill what you love the most about your story. That's why you're writing it. Make it work.
Audience side, but I was already on the fence about continuing to watch The Walking Dead after Glenn but when I saw the showrunner say 'at this point we're trying to break our fans' I was out. Why would I want characters suffering and dying for no actual reason? Give me relevant plot.