The Walking Dead S2E7 "Pretty Much Dead Already" (11/27/11)

The group of survivors is having breakfast out at their tent site.  Maggie catches Glen's eye from the farmhouse porch and shakes her head; Dale catches his eye and nods.  Glen speaks to the gang: "The barn's full of walkers."  Everyone but Dale: WTF?!!?  Then they all go out to the barn and peek in through the gaps in the barn siding.  Shane is like, it's easy - we make this right or we leave this place.  Carol protests, not wanting to leave until Sophia is found.  Darryl backs Carol up, saying he's sure they're close to finding the girl.  Everyone starts shouting while Rick says wait, let me talk to Herschel about this.  Dale says he already talked to Herschel  and it won't do much good.  Everyone starts shouting again and the noise and the live peoples' proximity get the barn zombies all riled up.

Later, Shane circles the barn, looking either for a way for him to get in or for the zombies to get out.  This riles the barn zombies up some more.  Glen tries to talk to Maggie but she's mad at him for bringing his group up to speed, because now her dad is totally going to kick them out.  Darryl goes out to the horse barn to saddle up another mount to continue the Sophia-search.  Carol follows him out there and tells him to not go until he's healed more: she doesn't think they'll find her daughter and she doesn't want to lose Darryl too.  Instead of making Darryl feel good that someone cares about him, he gets pissed that she's giving up, calls her a stupid bitch and stomps off.  He's obviously using finding Sophia as a means to assuage his guilt over losing Meryl.

Dale tries to talk to Andrea about her burgeoning relationship with Shane, whom he doesn't trust.  She asks him to stop trying to protect her but she's gentle about it.  After she leaves the RV, Dale starts fussing with the big bag of guns.  He looks troubled and like he's up to something.

Rick tries to talk to Herschel, but the old veterinarian doesn't want to talk about the "really sick people" he's got in his barn.  When Rick presses the issue, Herschel tells him that his group has to be gone by the end of the week.  Rick protests that if he kicks them out, it could mean death for many of his group - Herschel was never out in the new world, he only saw what was shown on t.v.  He begs Herschel to let them stay: "We can't go back out there!"

When Rick comes out of the farmhouse, Shane pounces, saying that they either kill all the barn zombies or they get the hell out of here.  Rick finally tells him that they can't leave because Lori is pregnant.  Shane pauses, then says okay, but we should be allowed to carry our guns here on the farm.  Rick agrees with him but doesn't want to anger Herschel during their "negotiations."  Inside, Maggie is mad at her father, quoting some relevant scripture when he protests that Rick's people are not his responsibility.  They are interrupted when Jimmy runs in to tell Herschel that "it's happened again."  Herschel heads outside and asks Rick if he will help him.

OMIGOD WILL THESE PEOPLE EVER STOP TALKING?  I read an article about this show calling it "The Talking Dead" and jeezum, that's about right.  Shane goes to find Lori and basically tries to convince her that he's a better man for this world than Rick is, Rick isn't tough enough and can't make the hard decisions, Shane has saved Lori's life more than Rick has ... and he knows that she's pregnant and he thinks the baby is his.  Lori's like, no, it's not yours, it's never going to be your and even if it is yours, it isn't yours, and nothing you can do will change that.  Shane: "I don't need to."  Ooh, that was vaguely threatening. He stomps off to the RV, looking for his big bag of guns.  But Dale has taken them.

You have got to be kidding me: what Herschel needs help with is rescuing two walkers who have gotten themselves stuck in some quicksand-like mud.  He tells Rick that if he's going to stay on the farm, he's going to have to get used to treating walkers like very sick people.  Then he hands Rick a long pole with a noose on the end - like you'd use for an aggressive dog - and they haul the zombies out of the mud, leading them back towards the barn.

Darryl takes Carol out to a creek where he's found more of those Cherokee roses.  He apologizes for his behavior earlier - he just wants to find Sophia.  Shane has tracked Dale down out in a swamp and demands the guns back.  Dale tells him no, and he'll shoot him if he has too.  Shane calls his bluff and of course Dale doesn't shoot him.  He gives the guns back to Shane, saying that this shitty new world is exactly where Shane belongs.  Maggie and Glen make up and smooch.  That probably means she'll get killed off soon.  Which would be sad but seriously?  Someone needs to die because this is all b  o  r  i  n  g.  The stakes need to be raised a bit.

Most of the gang regroups on the farmhouse porch.  Shane storms up and starts handing out guns.  He's decided that it's time to clean out the barn since Rick won't do it.  Then they all see Rick, Herschel and Jimmy bringing the two muddy walkers out of the woods.  Oh hell no, screams Shane, furious.  They all run over to the dooryard of the barn, circling Herschel, Rick and the leashed walkers.  Shane starts ranting about how these aren't living people, because living people couldn't take this: he shoots a bunch of bullets into one of the walker's torsos.  Then he puts one in her skull, dropping her.  Herschel falls to his knees, shocked, horrified, powerless.

Shane runs to the barn and busts open the doors.  Rick shrieks at Herschel to take the leash of his walker so he can stop Shane but Herschel just mutters and stares.  The barn zombies pour out of the barn.  Shane, Andrea, Darryl and T-Dog line up and start shooting.  Glen looks at Maggie and she gives him a terrified, tearful nod and he joins the firing squad.  It's a slaughter.  It's long overdue, in my opinion, but it's like shooting fish in a barrel.  Our survivors are grim and scared, Herschel's people are simply overwhelmed and cringing.

Then, just when you think all the barn zombies have been killed, Zombie Sophia lurches out of the barn.  Carol screams and tries to run to her but Darryl tackles her and holds on tight.  Andrea sobs; Carl and Lori sob.  No one can shoot her, not even big-talker Shane - all they can do is watch her stagger closer.  Until Rick, the guy everyone thought couldn't make the hard decisions, steps up and puts poor little Sophia down.  Who's weak now, Shane?

Okay, the last five minutes was super-cool but it was a long time coming.  Pluswhich the emotional payoff is meh: I just don't care that much about Sophia because we didn't really get to know her and she was disappeared for too long.  They need to kill off someone we've connected with.  But not Darryl - I kinda lurve Darryl.


Previously on The Walking Dead / next time on The Walking Dead