The Walking Dead S2E9 "Triggerfinger" (2/19/12)

Lori regains consciousness in her crashed car as a couple of zombies slaver and crawl over the windows.  What a dumb ass - I so hope she gets eaten.

In the aftermath of the shooting at the bar - and it's now nighttime, when I don't think it was before - Rick checks to see if Glen and Herschel are okay.  Rather than being pissed off about all the shooting, Herschel seems grateful that Rick defended the farm like that.  Then they see headlights and duck out of sight.  It's Dave and Tony's people, coming to check things out after hearing the shots.  Amazingly, they don't go into the bar but spread out through town, including sending one kid up on the rooftops.

At the crash site, the hungry zombies begin to force themselves in through the shattered windows.  Lori can't find her gun but manages to grab a screwdriver (?) and stick it through the zombie's eye, killing it.  She climbs out of the car and another walker grabs her.  She whacks it with a hub cap, then sees her gun in the car wreckage.  She grabs the pistol and finishes off the second zombie.

Back at the farmhouse, folks are sitting down to dinner.  Then they realize Lori isn't there and dinner is forgotten as everyone runs around looking for her.  Stupid Lori.

Dave and Tony's compatriots finally decide to check the bar.  They call out that they don't want any trouble, they're just looking for their friends.  Rick decides that the only way out is to announce that Dave and Tony drew first and now are dead.  Herschel watches in disbelief as Rick lies through his teeth, saying it was self-defense.  Then Dave and Tony's friends start shooting up the bar.  Which is worse: having to kill the dead walkers or having to kill the living survivors?

Carol runs out to where Darryl is camped by himself, informing him that Lori is missing.  Darryl:  "That dumb bitch must have gone out lookin' for 'em.  Told her I was done bein' an errand boy."  Carol stares at him, then pleads with him to rejoin the group as she's already lost her daughter and doesn't want to lose him.  "That ain't my fault neither," he spits.  Carol reports to the group that Lori went to town after the guys and Shane immediately jumps into another car and rushes off to save her.  He soon finds the wreck and the dead zombies, but no Lori.  He tries calling for her but hears something - gunfire? thunder? - and runs back to the car.

Back at the bar, Rick tells Herschel and Glen to sneak out the back and get their truck while he covers the front.  Glen is not happy about this plan because he'll be the one doing the sneaking; Herschel grumps that he can actually shoot but doesn't like to.  Glen makes a run for it and one of Dave and Tony's pals shoots at him.  Herschel shoots the shooter, who falls screaming.  Rick goes to check on Glen - who is fine but freaked out - as dozens of zombies start closing in, drawn by the gunfire and the screaming.  The rest of Dave and Tony's friends skedaddle, leaving the screaming shooter (who is soon torn to shreds by walkers) and the kid on the rooftop.  The kid jumps off the rooftop to try to catch up with his friends but instead manages to impale his leg above the knee on a wrought iron fence.  Herschel thinks they should just perform a mercy killing on the impaled kid; Glen suggests that they amputate; the kid hates both of these suggestions. Finally, running out of time as the walkers lurch closer, Rick just rips the kid's leg off the spike and drags him off to the truck.  There is now much more screaming.

Shane finally finds Lori staggering down the road.  He wants to get her back to the farm so when she asks where Rick is, he lies and says he's already back safe.  When they get to the farm, however, his lie immediately comes out and she calls him an asshole, furious.  He replies that he's trying to take care of her and, in front of the whole group, says he has to make sure the baby is okay.  Everyone is like, baby?  Later, when Shane tries to explain his actions, Loris comes out and asks him what really happened with Otis.  Shane: "What happened with Otis was because I love you and I love Carl."  Then she tells him that Rick knows about their affair.  He freaks out a little: did you tell him you thought you were a widow?  Did you tell him it was a mistake?  Then Shane backpedals and says that no, it wasn't a mistake, it was real.  Lori won't look at him (but won't deny it, either) and he stomps off.

Carol goes back to Darryl's camp and finds his grisly collection of severed ears.  He yells at her, lashing out, feelings hurt.  She takes his abuse, holding back the tears.

Morning comes and Rick, Herschel and Glen are still not back.  Beth is still pretty much comatose so Maggie and Andrea sit with her as Maggie relates a family story.  Andrea reassures her that Rick and Glen will bring her dad back.  "Glen's a good guy," says Maggie.  "Yeah, he is," Andrea agrees.

Later, when Shane is organizing a rescue party to go after the missing three, Dale tries to talk Andrea out of going, saying Shane is not to be trusted.  She retorts that Shane has done more to keep this group alive, even more than Rick.  Before the rescue party can take off, however, the three missing men return.  Maggie runs out and throws her arms around Glen, but he pushes her away, too upset.  T-Dog points into the truck: "Who the hell is that?"  Glen: "That's Randall," blindfolded and dazed but alive.

Then everyone fights about what to do with Randall: keep him here, kill him, fix him up and set him out on the road with a canteen.  The concern is that his group of people will come after him and there'll be a big ol' survivors war.  Rick points out that nothing is going to happen today so everyone should just chill.  They all disperse.  Maggie tries to get Glen to talk to her.  He says that he froze under pressure because now he has to think of her as well as himself - he's got something to lose and it's messing him up.  He walks away and Maggie slumps against the wall, unbelieving.

Herschel tends to Beth when Maggie finds him.  She accuses him of drinking again and shouts that he left and she didn't know what to do without him.  He just sits there.

Meanwhile, Lori tells Rick that Shane thinks the baby is his: "No matter what, it's yours."  She says that Shane is delusional and dangerous, a liar.  She says that she thinks he killed Otis, not just to save Carl but because he thinks he is supposed to be with her.  Rick confesses that he killed Dave and Tony to protect her.  She whispers that Shane thinks that she belongs to him, and the baby too, and that Rick can't protect them.  Rick stares off into the distance, knowing that a showdown with Shane is in his future.

Meh.  Started strong with some decent action and then everyone just talked about everything again.


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