At the end of the last episode Lori gets into a car crash when she goes off looking for Rick and Hershel all alone. She isn't paying attention and hits a zombie walking across the street (insert your own "Why did the zombie cross the road?" joke here). She loses consciousness and when she comes to the same zombie she ran over is trying to eat her. It has broken through part of the windshield and is trying to force its face through. The hole is too small and its face starts to peel off. So cool. She stabs it in the eye and then kills another zombie with a wheel rim. Pretty good for a character that does a lot of stupid things. Shane finds Lori and brings her home after lieing to her that Rick has returned to the farm. When she finds out the truth they have a big argument where Shane yells about the baby letting everyone else on the farm know that Lori is pregnant. Shane tells Lori that he lied to protect her and the baby. Pretty much every decision he has made has been to protect Lori and Carl because he loves them. He is not sorry that they had the affair. He seems to have been happy for the first time in a long time when he was with them. Now all of that is gone because of Rick. Tear.
Leaving a bar isn't as easy as you might think
Rick, Glenn, and Hershel barely have any time to react to Rick killing the two creepy strangers from the last episode when a couple of friends of this new group of survivors arrive. Rick tries to explain that he was acting in self-defense. The other guys don't care and start shooting up the bar. Rick sends Glenn out the back door to get the car but as he steps outside he is shot at by a member of gang 2. Hershel shoots back, the guy falls to the ground and zombies appear out of nowhere and eat his face. The man's friend that was on the roof of a building across the street jumps down and gets his leg stuck in the fence. Rick feels bad and wants to save him from being eaten by the walkers that are fast approaching and growing in number. Hershel says they should cut off his leg. Running out of time Rick just yanks his leg up through the fence and they toss him in the car and barely get away.
Other happenings at the farm
- T-Dog got the best line of the episode (and his only line of the night): "Who the hell is that?"
- The answer to T-Dog's question is Randall. His next question should have been: What the hell are we going to do with him?
- Glenn tells Maggie he is no longer the groups "go to town guy" because now that he has someone to care about (aka Maggie) he is scared and freezes in place. So her love makes him a bad survivor. Not the response you expect when you tell someone you love them.
- Carol tries to get Daryl to join the group and he yells at her (but just because he cares and is emotionally stunted).
Post on episodes 10-13 can be found under February 2012.
I'm starting this post with the most interesting scene of the episode. Rick and Glenn go looking for Hershel who has gone into town to drink away the second deaths of his family members. Now they are dead for good. We come to learn that Hershel used to drink a lot. He has finally accepted that there is no cure for the zombie virus. Only a bullet to the head can end zombieness. Out of nowhere two strangers walk into the bar. They try to act friendly and chat up the gang but it all comes off as very sinister. They mention that they have a gang of their own and that they are looking for a place to settle down. Rick tells them that they can't stay with them at Hershel's farm maybe they should try Nebraska. Then one of them makes a move for his gun and Rick kills both of them. Rick has not looked so badass in a long time. This is one of the most interesting scenes from this episode. It introduced a new threat, other survivors. Rick has finally gotten a taste of what Hershel has been feeling. These people pose a danger to them. Zombies are a lower level threat to humans since they can't think. Zombies just want to eat. People kill for all sorts of reasons. They can plan ways of hurting people that doesn't involve killing people. They are also competing for resources. Those who shoot first survive.
Farewell Sophia
Shane angrily asks Hershel if he knew that Sophia was in the barn all along. Hershel says no. It was Otis's job to gather the walkers and place them in the barn. He must have found Sophia before the group arrived and since Shane killed Otis, Otis never had a chance to tell anyone about the zombie girl in the barn. A group funeral is held for Sophia and the barn walkers. Carol refuses to go. She says that Sophia died days ago and that walker was not her daughter. Carol's refusal to go to Sophia's funeral really upsets Daryl. He has spent every day looking for that little girl. Keeping the faith in the group that she was alive. He almost died looking for her. He did it all for nothing. This was his purpose in the group. It made him feel like he belonged and now it is gone.
Carol expresses her grief for Sophia in her own way. She walks out in the fields and tears out a bunch of Cherokee Roses. This is the same flower Daryl told her about a few episodes back that he saw as a sign that Sophia was alive. This followed an unexpected moment of tenderness shared by Shane and Carol. When Carol walks back to the camp Shane sees her hands are dirty and cut. He gently washes them. We have not seen this side of Shane. He has a little bit of humanity still in him. If he would tap into that part of him a little bit more he would find it easier to communicate with Rick, Hershel, and Dale. But then there would be no drama in the show and he creates such wonderful drama.
Other random things that occurred in this episode
- Carl tells Lori that he would have shot zombie Sophia. This really freaks Lori out because he was so calm and nonchalant about it. He is no longer that same little boy pre-zombiepocalypse. His innocence is gone. Is that really a bad thing? In a zombiepocalypse the innocent don't survive for very long. He is the new kind of person that will grow out of this experience. I think Lori is mourning for his loss of innocence, scared for what he will become, and frightened of what kind of life her unborn child will have.
- Maggie tells Glenn she loves him and he says nothing back. I think Glenn is really overwhelmed by this. He just met Maggie, the world is in shambles, and he has never had anyone say that to him before. I can understand his hesitancy in responding. Let's hope he doesn't put off responding for too long.
Remember how I said in my last post that Glenn couldn't keep a secret for very long? Well, it took him all of 5 seconds into this episode to let out the most dangerous secret for the group. Yup, the barn is full of walkers. I loved the slow pan across the group eating breakfast calmly and then each individual reaction. Now the big question is what do they do? I'm on Shane's side of this issue. Shoot them all down. Crazy Hershel be damned. He doesn't see the real danger that walkers pose. Everyone, including Hershel and his family, is better off with all the walkers dead. Rick wants to be respectful to Hershel (whose land they are currently residing on) but Hershel is out of touch with the zombiepocalypse. Hershel also wants the group to leave. Now that Carl is better he wants them on their way. Rick is trying to broker a deal to stay on the farm where is it relatively safe. Shane wants to leave. Forget Sophia, forget crazy Hershel, let's head out to Fort Benning like originally planned. You know Daryl wouldn't stand for abandoning Sophia. He has spent all season looking for that girl and by golly he is going to stay until he finds her.
Last week Lori and Rick discussed the existing love triangle, now it was time to bring in the third party into that conversation. Rick tells Shane that Lori is pregnant. Instantly Shane believes it is his baby and goes into protective papa bear mode. He is willing to stay on the boring farm for the sake of Lori and the baby. But he still wants to kill the walkers because now they are an even bigger threat to him.
Dale vs. Shane round 2
After the barn announcement and the discussion on what to do about the walkers Dale decides to take matters into this own hands. He takes the gun bag and decides to hide them in the woods. He doesn't want anyone (read Shane) doing anything crazy with them. Shane sees him and they have it out. Dale full on accuses Shane of killing Otis. Shane doesn't deny this. Shane is the new breed of man for this world. Dale points his rifle at Shane but doesn't shoot him. He is not like Shane. He still has morals and values human life. You know if things were reversed Shane would have shot Dale just for getting in his way. The old Shane is officially gone.
So that's where she was
Hershel agrees to let Rick and the gang stay if they will play by the rules. This involves taking Rick with him to a nearby swamp to grab some walkers. These two walkers have gotten stuck in the mud.
Hershel uses dog catcher poles to grab them by the neck and lead them to the barn to join their friends. He mentions that this used to be Otis's job. Rick looks like he is pacifying a mentally unstable person when he agrees to do this with Hershel. Like I've said before Hershel is not thinking clearly when it comes to the walkers. Especially since he knows them. The female walker stuck in the mud was a friend. As they get close to the barn Shane spots them. He grabs the guns and arms the gang and gets everybody amped up for a walker killing. Shane kills the walker who was a friend of Hershel. But first he shoots her in the chest several times to prove to Hershel that she is no longer human. Then he opens the doors and the zombies start coming. The gang lines up and shoots one zombie after another. When the dust clears and all is quiet a noise is heard from inside the barn. There is still one more walker inside. Slowly a foot appears. A very small foot attached to a tiny leg. As the walker appears we get a clear view of it. It is Sophia. The look on the gang's faces says it all. All those days Daryl spent looking for her. She was in the barn the entire time. Carol runs to her daughter but Daryl holds her back. The first time he hasn't shunned human contact. Rick emerges from behind the group of shooters, pulls out his gun, points it at Sophia's head and kills her. For the second time since the show started he has killed a little girl. I doubt this time it was any easier. I find it interesting that Shane couldn't kill Sophia. With all of his talk about how he is the right kind of man for this new world he couldn't kill one of their own when it was needed. And with this scene the first half of the season is over. Sophia has been found and a war is about to break out among the characters. Rick vs Shane vs Dale vs Hershel. Who will win? Nobody. In a zombiepocalypse nobody wins.
Poor Glenn, he has become the secret keeper for the group and can't take the pressure. He promised Maggie that he wouldn't tell anyone about the walkers in the barn. If he wants to keep his sex partner happy he has to keep his mouth shut. If he wants to keep the group happy he needs to tell someone. Glenn can keep a secret for about five minutes. He ends up confessing to Dale that there are walkers in the barn and that Lori is pregnant. Dale goes to Hershel to find out why this is so. Hershel tells him he believes the walkers are just sick. Given enough time a cure will be found. He compares the zombie virus to AIDS. He wants to wait for a cure for his family members now residing in the barn. This is the first bit of insight into Hershel's mind. He is a little crazy and out of touch with reality. The isolation of the farm is partly to blame. They haven't seen many walkers there and so they don't see them as much of a threat. They find one, they catch it, and it goes in the barn with the rest. They even feed them live chickens. This explains Maggie's reaction to the death of the well walker. This attitude towards the walkers is very dangerous. Any hesitation to kill a walker puts everyone at risk.
Glenn and Maggie take another trip to the pharmacy. Before they leave Lori asks Glenn to get her something and to keep it a secret. We find out that she wants a box of morning after pills (more on that topic later). As they are rummaging through the pharmacy Maggie is attacked by a walker. Glenn jumps to the rescue and uses a shelf to almost decapitate it. He finishes off the walker with his handy hatchet/knife thing. When Maggie gets back from the pharmacy she is still very upset and unleashes her anger on Lori. She yells at her for having to go back again to get "abortion pills." She tells Glenn that she thinks he is great but severely under appreciated by the group. She says they use his as walker bait. Ouch.
Wasting valuable ammunition, I mean learning how to shoot
The gang decides that they all need to learn how to shoot the guns they have. It's a very good skill to have in a zombiepocalypse. Unfortunately, it also wastes a lot of bullets that should be used to kill zombies, not tin cans. What did that tin can ever do to you? Andrea turns out to be the best of the class so Shane gives her private lessons. He wants to teach her to shoot at moving targets. He yells at her that she is too emotional and that she needs to pretend that the swinging log is the walker that killed her sister. That was going too far and Andrea walks off in a huff. Shane later apologizes and takes Andrea on a hunt for Sophia in the burbs. They don't find Sophia, but they do find some burned bodies and some walkers. As they go to leave they are surrounded. Shane turns this into a teaching moment and had Andrea shoot the walkers. She keeps missing and he encourages her to focus and shoot. And she sure does. She shoots walker after walker after walker. On the way back they stop in the middle of the road, Andrea grabs Shane' crotch, and we here the horn honk as the car start arockin'.
Shane vs. Dale
We all know by now that Shane has lost his moral compass, heck, he threw it out the window when he killed Otis. But now we come to find that other's suspect this change. Dale confronts Shane and tells him he knows that Shane lied about Otis. He also knows that Shane almost shot Rick back in Season 1. He tells Shane that it's time for him to leave. Shane's reply is really cold and calculated. He's not leaving. He is one of the best shooters (and I'm sure in his mind, survivor) of the group. He barely hesitated about shooting Rick, he killed Otis, do you think he would hesitate to kill Dale a man he doesn't even like? The look of horror on Dale's face says it all. This man is dangerous. No one is safe around him.
Secret #2 revealed
Lori decides to down the entire box of morning after pills. She doesn't discuss this with Rick (even though Glenn suggests she shouldn't be making this decision on her own). She changes her mind and runs out into the fields and forces herself to throw them up. Rick walks into their tent and sees the empty box. He goes out searching for Lori. When he finds her they finally have the conversation they have been needing to have all season long. Out comes the truth about the pregnancy and the affair. Lori doesn't want to give birth out in a ditch but she also couldn't kill her unborn child. Rick is incredibly calm throughout the conversation. He says he understands why Lori slept with Shane. She thought he was dead. A huge weight is lifted off of Lori's shoulders. Now they can deal with the pregnancy together. This brings up a big issue. Should she have the baby? There are arguments for both sides. In a world with few survivors every new life is precious and needed to repopulate the world. How will a baby or a pregnant woman survive in a zombiepocalypse? Eventually Lori is going to need more food and she will get bigger and slower. Babies cry all the time and don't know how to control that when zombies are around. These two things put all of the survivors in danger. We'll see how the show decides to deal with this issue.
Daryl decides to divide the woods into a grid to make it easier to look for Sophia. He borrows a horse from the farm and takes off to the highest point so he can get a good look over the entire grid and maybe spot Sophia. On the way up the horse gets spooked and throws Daryl off and he slips down the side of the hill and down into a stream. As he slid down he ended up with one of his own arrows through his side. Ouch. He tries climbing back up but falls again. As he lays there in pain he hears a familiar voice. Its Merle, back from who knows where. Or is it? He appears to have both of his hands and we know from season 1 that Merle cut off his own hand. Merle was used to voice Daryl's insecurities within the group: that he's being used and doesn't belong with them. As Daryl awakens from this dream/vision he finds a zombie gnawing on his foot. So he grabs a stick and bashes in the zombies head. Then he sees another zombie coming at him so he pulls the arrow through his abdomen (double-ouch and totally badass) and shoots it through the other zombies head. Awesome. Then he goes a little crazy. He hunts a squirrel and eats it raw and then makes himself a necklace from the ears of the zombies he has just killed. Daryl has crossed to a dark place. He also finds Sophia's doll by the water. Then he makes his way back up the treacherous hill accompanied by another vision of Merle. The entire time Merle is verbally abusing Daryl. This gives us some insight into Daryl's life growing up. You can tell from that and the story he told Andrea (about how he got lost in the woods as a child) that he was abused as a child. Nevertheless, he makes his way back up the hill and to the camp. Unfortunately, he now resembles a walker so Andrea shoots him from the RV. She couldn't see his face and thought she had done a good thing by killing a walker. Rick and Shane help him back to the house, but not before they hide his new necklace. Later that night he is visited by Carol who is bringing him dinner. She thanks him for all he as done in his search for Sophia and tells him that he has done more for Sophia than her own father. She then kisses him on the cheek. Daryl recoils from her touch since he isn't used to any form of affection.
Survival at any cost or keeping our humanity (aka Shane vs. Rick)
Shane and Rick go out looking for Sophia together. Shane wants to stop looking for Sophia. The likelihood that they will find her alive is slim to none. He feels they are wasting time, manpower, and bullets on a fruitless search. They should be worried about protecting those who are alive. He makes a valid point. They are weaker as a group when they separate like this. Is the survival of the group more important than any one individual? Rick seems appalled at the idea of abandoning Sophia. Having a child himself he would go to any lengths to find Carl if he went missing. He thinks every living person is important and worth looking for. What is the point of surviving if you lose your humanity in the process? Both are valid points which I'm sure will continue to be a part of the show as the threat of survival grows.
What's in the barn?!
Maggie passes a note to Glenn during dinner asking where he wants to hook up tonight. Glenn suggests the barn and makes preparations for their romp. He climbs up the side of the barn with a flashlight and blanket. When he gets inside he hears something so he shines the light down only to discover zombies!! Yes, the barn is filled with walkers. Maggie shows up and tells him he wasn't supposed to see that. What the what?! Who in their right mind keeps a bunch of zombies in their barn. This is not good news.
