Time to get back to our full episode reviews as The Walking Dead on Comic Booked continues. We are into Season Two now, so the group has moved out of Atlanta and has met Hershel and his family on their farm. The search for Sophia continues, so let’s see what happens.
Season Two – Episode Four: Cherokee Rose
It’s a new dawn on the Green Farm. The rest of the crew of survivors trail down the road and turn into the driveway of the farm led by Daryl Dixon on his motorcycle. Things look just a little bit brighter for this ragtag band.
In the house, Carl wakes up after the surgery. T-Dog is looking much better with some drugs in him, but Rick is looking pretty rough since he has given a lot of blood to help Carl during the surgery. All positives, though, right?
Out front, the group gathers with Hershel to say goodbye to Otis. The prayer speaks a lot about Hershel who, through all that he has seen and lost, is still a man of faith. He asks Shane, because he was the last one with Otis, to speak for Otis. Shane immediately declines, but Patricia pushes stating that she needs “to know his death had meaning.” So, Shane proceeds to tell the story of what happened, leaving out certain parts of the story like where he shot Otis in the leg, took his bag, and left him to be eaten. To make the story sound selfless, he talked about how Otis insisted that Shane take the bags and that he would stay and hold them off while Shane got the important medicines and surgical supplies back to the farm.
“If any death ever had meaning, it was his,” says Shane, ending his tale.
As the rest of the group gets settled at the farm, Hershel comes to Rick and gives some rules, one of those being that they don’t carry guns on the farm. Rick shows himself to be a true leader as he presents the conditions to the team and tells them they have to comply, for now. All of this while Daryl and the rest are making plans to go look for Sophia. Daryl takes off alone to search along the river. Maggie brings a surveyor’s map to help in the search.
Rick and Shane continue their plans, agreeing that they are both too weak and tired to be any good now. Rick wants to grid off the area and is happy that they can now be more organized in their search. Shane, always the ray of sunshine, asks what they will do if they find Sophia but she has been bitten. Rick says that they will do what needs to be done. Maggie asks “what will you tell her mom?” Andrea says “The Truth!” Maggie looks like she wants to protest, but Hershel gives her an almost imperceptible head shake. What can this mean?
Rick pushes from someone to stand lookout and we shift our view to Lori and Shane. After the unpleasantness in Atlanta, they have not had much to do with each other, but Lori is grateful that Shane did so much to save Carl. Shane wants to leave, but Lori tells him that she wants him to stay. Part of me feels like it was the right thing to do, but another part feels like this is just part of Lori’s messed up emotions, not being completely over Shane or completely comfortable with herself now that Rick is back.
A supply run is needed, so Rick volunteers Glenn and Hershel says Maggie will lead him. They each go to find out what the groups need. Lori hands Glenn two lists, one of things for the camp and one for her personal request. He doesn’t know what it is, but she tells him to look in the feminine products. Glenn has an embarrassed look on his face and hurries away. It is at this time that Hershel delivers an ultimatum to Rick. As soon as they find the girl and Carl is better, the group must leave. Rick understands but he still thinks that Hershel should just give it some time, since this is a safe place and they are tired of fighting for their lives.
Before the supply run, Maggie tells them about the water wells and which ones they can use. They head to one of the wells, and, opening it up find a little surprise. Turns out that a walker has fallen in the well and they want to get him out so he does not contaminate the well any more. The team rigs up a pulley system using the pump and some rope and lowers a canned ham down to bait the walker. Turns out walkers are not fond of canned ham. Instead, the team decides to lower Bait, I mean Glenn, down into the well to loop a rope around the walker so they can pull him out.
A big problem arises when the pump pulls out of the ground and Glenn slides down into the well, almost in gnawing distance of our waterlogged flesh-eater. So much for living the dream, huh, Glenn? As they pull Glenn up to safety, the group is stumped as to how to proceed. They know they can’t lower anyone else down and have no idea how else to get a rope around the walker. Glenn smiles and tugs on the rope, at the bottom of which is the walker.They all pull and almost get the walker out, but with a gushing splorch, the walker tears in half, spilling his rotten guts down into the well. Oh, well.
We switch to Daryl’s exploits as he explores an abandoned farm house. Inside he finds evidence that someone has been there. A cupboard made up like a bed, open sardine can, and other clues. Perhaps Sophia was here?
Meanwhile, Carol, Shane, and Andrea head back to the highway to look for any sign that Sophia had made her way back to where the crew were when she ran into the woods. It is at this point that Carol seems to have turned that corner from hope to the reality that her daughter will not be found. Shane launches into an intense lecture about killing and turning off “The Switch”, knowing when it has to be done and cannot be an emotional thing. Overall, an interesting scene, but I wonder if the lecture were really just Shane’s way of trying to convince himself that what he did was to Otis was necessary.
At this point, Glenn and Maggie finally leave for their scavenger hunt. A short ride into town and the two are at the pharmacy. They have talked a little and gotten to know each other a bit. They split up once inside to get their separate lists filled, and Glenn goes in search of the “special” item. As Glenn is fumbling around, he realizes that Lori sent him out for a pregnancy test. He stuffs it into his duffel just as Maggie comes up behind him and he grabs the first thing he lays his hand on and jumps up turning around. She asks what he has and, when he looks and sees it is a box of condoms, she says he must think an awful lot of himself. Glenn gets all flustered and says that he would not have sex with her, and Maggie asks “Is there something wrong with me?” At this point, it is a battle that Glenn is ill equipped for, but it does not end the way he would expect, as Maggie removes her clothes and they have sex. I did not see that one coming…
Back at the ranch, as they say, Rick and Hershel continue their discussion, this time with Rick telling Hershel that he should reconsider allowing them to stay. Hershel promises to consider it. There is concern in both their eyes for their families and friends.
Daryl returns with the episode’s namesake, a Cherokee Rose for Carol. He explains that this rose was named for the Cherokee who were forced to walk the Trail of Tears and had lost their children. The legend says that wherever a mother’s tears fall, this rose grows. This is a touching scene and shows that Daryl has some compassion and humanity after all.
That evening, Carl wakes up and Rick goes into talk with him. Rick gives him his hat. Carl is now in the club, only for those people who get shot and survive, and he gets to wear his father’s hat. This is an important moment, because we see that Rick understands that Carl will have to be allowed to grow up in order to survive this new world.
In the end, Rick, preparing for bed, put his badge away in a drawer, symbolically putting away that old life and accepting his role as leader of these survivors. Lori heads outside and opens the pregnancy test. She squats and pees on the stick. Then, in the waning light, she looks at the test. Let’s just say that she is none too happy with the result.
That’s it for another episode of The Walking Dead on Comic Booked. Come back for more full episode reviews as we countdown the days to October and the release of Season Five. If you missed any episodes, you can click here to be taken to a list of all of them, and please share and comment on this article to let me know what you liked and did not like.
i really like glenn and maggie.