Welcome back to Comic Booked as we continue our full episode of the Walking Dead Season Two. This installment covers Episode Seven. Sophia is still out there. The group is staying at Hershel’s farm but everyone is uneasy with the current situation. Glenn found out that there is a group of walkers locked in the barn and, of course, he told Dale. Dale talked to Hershel and now Maggie is mad at Glenn. Anyway, that is just a messed up situation right now. Oh, and Lori told Rick about being pregnant and about her and Shane. Fun Stuff.
Season Two: Episode Seven – Pretty Much Dead Already
Another morning on the Green’s farm and breakfast is sizzling over the fire. Everyone seems caught up in their own thoughts this morning. A lot of stuff to think about. Glenn is caught between a rock and a hard place. He looks to Maggie on the front porch who shakes her head at him, forbidding him from saying anything. Then he glances to Dale who nods an encouragement to him to go ahead and tell Rick. Finally, “So, umm… Guys. The barn’s full of walkers.”
Needless to say, this does not sit really well with the group. They walk over and investigate and then begin the discussion of what to do next. Rick argues that since it is not their land they have no say in what Hershel does with the walkers. Shane wants the group to head out to Fort Benning like they had been planning. Carol says that they can’t leave until they find Sophia, and Daryl agrees because he thinks that there is still a good chance of finding her. Shane just wants them all dead. Rick agrees to talk to Hershel and see what can be done.
So, Maggie thinks that “Talk to me” means put an egg in my hat and squash it on Glenn’s head. Strange, but it reminds me of the way boys and girls treat each other in elementary school when they like each other, flirting, teasing, and playing tricks on each other. And Lori and Carl are working on Math, but Carl says he will not leave until they find Sophia, and even after. He wants to stay and thinks it could be a home for the group.
Daryl is taken to task by Carol who doesn’t want him to hurt himself in the search for Sophia. Daryl is still recovering from his wounds. Carol says she is not even sure that they will find Sophia, but does not want to lose Daryl as well. You can tell that emotions and emotional attachment are not something regularly in Daryl’s repertoire, as he gets mad and storms off, calling Carol a stupid bitch. He is just doing this to hide his own feelings, but it is interesting that he finds it necessary to stay hard and strong and distant from everyone.
Dale and Andrea have a talk about Shane and her involvement with him. Dale wants Andrea to be safe and not get hurt and, especially, not to become like Shane. It hurts him because he cares for her like a daughter.
Hershel is eating a meal and reading his Bible, feeding his body and spirit. Rick comes in to talk about helping. “It’s my field to tend” is Hershel’s response. Rick brings up the barn and Hershel reacts to this by saying that Rick’s group must be gone by the end of the week. Rick continues to try to convince Hershel by talking about the first walker he saw, the bike walker. Finally, he tells Hershel that Lori is pregnant. this does not change Hershel mind.
Shane is ready to plow into the barn and take out all the walkers, but Rick tells him they are negotiating. When this does not get through, he tells Shane that Lori is pregnant. This is meant to give Shane something to want to protect and to think about. Not sure what he is thinking at this point, but it does make him consider things.
Back at the farmhouse, Hershel asks Maggie how this group is his responsibility. Maggie hits Hershel with a little of his own medicine, “A new command I give to you: love one another as I have loved you.” Her plea is that Hershel not have a double standard just because this is inconvenient or it challenges the way that he believes about the walkers. She explains that Glenn saved her life “when one of the people that you think is sick tried to kill me.”
Jimmy comes running in and says “It happened again.” Hershel goes out to get Rick to help with something. Meanwhile, Shane comes to Lori and confesses his feelings about wanting to kill Rick. He goes on a rant about how he is the one who saves them and Rick is just not built for this world. Then he tells Lori that he knows the baby is his and that is why she didn’t tell him. She says it is Rick’s and even if it was Shane’s it will always be Rick’s. Shane walks away, but still tries to be a father to Carl. His feelings are hard to hide. He wants what Rick has and may be willing to do whatever it takes to get it.
Shane heads for the RV to get a gun. When he gets there, we see that Dale has taken them somewhere. Probably because he knew it was just a matter of time before Shane snapped and did something stupid.
Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy walk down by the river and see two walkers. Hershel recounts their lives and the memories he has of them. They are there, not to kill them, but to catch them and put them in the barn. Hershel says if they are going to stay this is the way it has to be. These are just people not in their right minds.
A short scene between Daryl and Carol is his way of apologizing. He takes her out next to the pond and shows her another group of Cherokee roses. Carol really just wants to know why Daryl is so dedicated to the search. He thinks she is still out there, but truthfully, “What else I got to do?” This renews Carol’s hope of finding her.
Hershel and Rick have lassoed the walkers and are pulling them out of the silt. They are wild and just want to kill and eat, but Hershel tells Rick to lead them out. “You’re the carrot, not the stick.” A nice way of putting.
Glenn goes to Maggie and makes his plea. “I forgot. Forgot that they are dangerous.” He does not want Maggie to be in danger and just wanted to do what was right by his group and by the farm. In the end, Maggie kisses him and all seems to be forgiven.
Shane catches up with Dale and things are about to turn ugly. We know that Shane has been slowly descending into the darkness in his soul since he shot Otis and left him to die, and probably since before that when Rick returned to the group and he lost his new “family”. Dale won’t give him the guns and Shane says “Well, you are pretty much dead anyway.” Dale threatens to kill Shane, a bluff that Shane is willing to call. Dale will not stoop to this level, the level that Shane has descended to. “At least I can say, when the world goes to shit, I didn’t let it take me down with it.”
Shane starts handing out the guns. He asks if people are with him and they can keep this place safe. It comes down to a separation of those who are for Rick and those for Shane at this point. Then Rick and Hershel return with the walkers and all hell breaks loose. Shane goes in, full bore, screaming that these things are not people, they are dead, and he attempts to prove it. He shoots the female walker, Lou, in the chest three times and it still comes after him. Then once in the heart, once in the lungs, and it still comes. Rick yells, “That’s enough” and Shane says, “Yeah, it is enough” as he pops off the last shot in the head of the walker, stopping it.
It is clear in Hershel’s face that his beliefs, at least about the walkers, and maybe some of his personal beliefs as well, are crumbling before his eyes. Shane grabs a pickaxe and runs for the door of the barn as Rick yells for Hershel to take the snare pole so he can run to stop Shane. There is no stopping this. Shane lets them out.
Walker after walker comes flooding out of the barn, intent on eating and killing and spreading the sickness they carry. Shane and Andrea step to the front to take on the horde. One by one they are dropped. T-Dog joins in, then Glenn, and Daryl. Killing these walkers, the people that Hershel and his family knew and loved. Rick can’t stop it, all he can do is watch.
Jimmy holds Beth, Hershel kneels on the ground. All is quiet. All the walkers lie dead, save one. A small growl breaks the silence as one last walker staggers into view. Sophia, dressed in the same clothes but with a large bite on her neck, stands outside the barn door growling and snarling at the group. She slowly shambles towards them. Carol runs to her but Daryl catches her. Lori holds Carl. Everyone is lost, their hopes dashed. All this time of looking for her and she has been in the barn the whole time.
Rick moves into action. He is the leader and he knows what needs to happen. He draws his gun and points it at her, staring down the barrel at the little girl that he had failed to keep safe. This is Rick’s burden and he bears it like a leader. He pulls the trigger and the walker falls.
This is one of the toughest episode so far. Very sad and yet now things can move on as the group has to decide what to do next. We shall see. Join us for the next installment of The Walking Dead on Comic Booked.
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this episode is where i really started to care about all of the secondary characters. really good writing and acting by all.