The Walking Dead (2011) – Season Two, Episode Seven

Jan 7, 2012
Hari Navarro

The Walking Dead 2 – Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes - © AMC

This last episode of The Walking Dead before its mid-season break stitches its scattered plot strings together nicely & ends with a powerful emotional punch

Much has been made of the, at times, fluctuating pace of this second season of The Walking Dead. The first installment (October 31, 2010 – December 5, 2010) was unarguably compact and bursting at the seams having been crammed into a mere six episode run. But with success comes excess and this second outing has now been given a full thirteen 'hour-long' slots within which to spin its bitter, and increasingly dark, tale.

A lot more time has been afforded character development and the perpetuation of long running subplots and it is this that has tested those ever keen for the next bloody undead kill. This final episode in the series before its two month mid-season hiatus skilfully allays many of the fears that the show was spiraling off into melodrama and lack of focus. For here long held secrets are shared and, what had been deemed “television’s slowest subplot”, finally reaches its wretched conclusion.

The Walking Dead (Synopsis) – Season 2, Episode 7: “Pretty Much Dead Already" (Spoilers Ahead)

The group has gathered for its morning meal and Glenn (Steven Yeun), with the support of Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), lets it be known that Hershel Greene's (Scott Wilson) barn is being used as a corral for infected and decaying ‘walkers’. This immediately sparks fury in Shane (Jon Bernthal) as he spits vitriolic demand that either the barn be purged or that the group permanently leave the farm.

Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) again struggles as the voice of reason, the last echo of a humanity that even he is now forced to question. He implores the group to remain calm and proclaims that leaving is still out of the question, if for no other reason than that young Sophia (Madison Lintz), is still missing.

Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), has made the finding of Sophia into something of a personal obsession and reacts furiously to even mention of the notion that the search would end or that she is, as Shane suggests, already long dead.

Directed By Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad)

Glenn speaks to Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan), who is still angry that he told the group about the barns secret and in doing so betrayed her trust. He counters by saying that it is secrets and lies that have caused the most damage and that he would rather she hate him and be alive, than like him and end up hurt or dead. She warms to his sincerity and knows that the way she and her father Hershell have attempted to shield themselves from the realities of the outside world cannot last.

Daryl again prepares to saddle up and head out on search of Sophia though this time her mother, Carol (Melissa McBride), attempts to stop him. Even she is giving up hope and starts to express doubt as to whether her daughter is in fact even still alive. She doesn’t want to see Daryl again put his own life at risk. To this he is again incredulous that people’s faith in finding Sophia is now so weakened.

Later he confronts Carol, alluring again to the legend of the still blooming ‘Cherokee Rose’ and the notion that their appearance in some way signals that they will soon be lead to finding her daughter.

Hershel, in a private conversation with Rick, reiterates his demand that he and the group leave the farm. Rick says that this will almost certainly result in them being sent to their deaths and hedges his argument by informing Hershel that Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant. This is a pivotal and antagonistic plot point that he also relays to Shane, whom he later meets pacing before the old ‘Walker’ infested barn. A ramshackle focal point that is rapidly building toward becoming the recipient of all of Shanes pent up aggression and fury.

Hershel decides to reconsider having the group stay at his farm, though with the proviso that they respect his opinion that the walkers are still in fact human – and should be treated accordingly.

He leads Rick to a nearby swamp in which two walkers have become trapped and bogged down. He convinces him to help guide them back to the barn with snare-poles, were they can be cared for and feed. Reluctantly Rick agrees, though it becomes obvious that he is torn in his decision and that his compliance is purely to appease Hershel.

Pretty Much Dead Already

Meanwhile Shane tells Lori that he now knows of her pregnancy and that he believes Rick is incapable of protecting her and Carl (Chandler Riggs). He also believes that the child is his, to which Lori retorts that even if it were she would never allow it to be.

Dale, fearing Shane’s instability, attempts to hide the group’s weapons in the farms dense surrounding swampland. But before he can successfully do so Shane tracks him and belligerently reaffirms his authority by berating Dale and easily taking the weapons from him.

Rising tensions are further flamed as Shane returns to the camp to discover Rick and Hershel as they all but get their ‘walkers’ into the locked safety of the barn. Letting go of all restraint Shane seeks to prove his point that the walkers are now nothing but reanimated husks by shooting the first of them several times in the chest. The bullets are of coarse useless as they impact the walkers long dead flesh, but his next shot, a point blank kill shot to the head, finishes the job – permanently.

The Walking Dead – Final Walker Showdown

Shane, infused with his now rapidly infectious anger, smashes the locks on the barn doors and stands in their shadow as they slowly swing open. Raising his weapon he prepares to fire on the walkers as they snarl into the light. He is soon joined by most all of the rest of the group and a bloody massacre ensues. Hershel slumps to his knees in shock and is held by his now complicit daughter, Maggie.

The walkers lay contorted amidst the settling blood and dust as the group survey their brutally effective work. It is then that one last victim eases from the barns lifeless shadow. Sophia, the rescue of whom had empowered and driven the group from the season’s opening episodes, lurches dull eyed and infected into the suns razor glare.

Daryl manages to restrain Carol as she frantically lunges toward her daughter. But it is Rick who, without hesitation steps forward, raises his now iconic revolver, and fires a single shot.

Stay tuned for coverage of the eighth episode in this series of thirteen, "Nebraska".