Pretty Much Dead Already

Pretty Much Dead Already is the seventh episode, of the first half of the second season of The Walking Dead (TV Series). After this episode, the series went on hiatus, and it will return on February 12, 2012, when the final 6 episodes will begin airing. This episode aired on November 27, 2011 at 9/8c on AMC.

Synopsis
While the camp eats breakfast the next morning, Glenn, at Dale’s urging reveals to the survivors that Hershel’s barn is full of walkers. The group immediately goes to investigate with Shane taking the lead. Rick says he’s going to talk to Hershel about the barn and staying when Dale reveals that Hershel sees the walkers as sick people, and with good reason. Shane decides to leave a guard watching the barn at all times until they decide how to handle it.

Glenn, goes to speak with Maggie, but she rebuffs him by smashing an egg in his hat as Carl and Lori discuss Sophia. Carl says that he doesn’t want to leave the farm until they find Sophia and even after that. Carol pursues Daryl Dixon into the stables and tells him not to go after Sophia because of his wounds and because she wouldn’t be able to stand losing him too. Daryl, angered by this, storms out of the stable. At the RV, Andrea and Dale talk about Shane with Dale telling Andrea not to trust him and that she doesn’t really know him. Andrea asks him to stop worrying about her. As she leaves, Dale asks Glenn for water. With Glenn gone he takes the survivors weapons and sneaks away from the camp.

As Hershel reads the bible over lunch, Rick goes to him to discuss remaining at the farm again and to tell him that they know about the Walkers in the barn. Hershel demands that they leave before the end of the week and Rick confronts him about the reality that they’ll face. He tells Hershel – who only saw the apocalypse via the news – about Hannah and asks Hershel to let them stay because his farm is their only safe haven. In a final attempt he tells Hershel that the farm is special and that he needs to stay there because his wife is pregnant. As Rick leaves, Maggie and Hershel stare at one another in silence. Rick joins Shane at the barn and tells him that Lori is pregnant.

Later, Hershel confronts Maggie while she is preparing lunch and asks if she only wants the group to stay because of Glenn, citing that Carl doesn’t need their help anymore. Maggie reminds Hershel of John 13:34, a scripture he often quoted to her when Hershel decided to marry her mother about loving one another. After that she tells him about the encounter with the Walker in the pharmacy and how Glenn saved her from people her father was trying to rescue. She asks him again to reconsider saying that it is only about him and who he’s going to be. Jimmy interrupts them to tell him that they’ve found two trapped walkers. Hershel decides to ask Rick, who is planning the search grid for Sophia, to come with him. Shane confronts Lori about her pregnancy and tells her that he’s sure the baby is his. Lori tells him that the baby will never be his and belongs to her and Rick. Shane tells her that only he can protect her and Carl because Rick doesn’t have what it takes. As Lori watches, Shane walks away and is stopped by Carl. Carl tells him that they have to go after Sophia and that they have to stay at the farm. Shane agrees, but tells Carl they may have to fight for it. Lori calls to Carl to get him away from Shane. Immediately, Shane goes to the RV to gather their guns only to find them all missing. He asks Glenn where Dale has gone, but Glenn doesn’t know. Shane goes after Dale, tracking him away from the camp.

Deep in the swamps Hershel, Jimmy, and Rick are walking through the forest with Hershel telling Rick about his neighbors. He tells him about a women he knew who owned a nearby farm and an unknown person who Hershel met where he worked. As they free the trapped walkers, Hershel mentions Otis was the one that always corralled the walkers and put them in the barn. Hershel asks Rick if they’d be able to stop killing walkers and Hershel explains his philosophy regarding the walkers. He tells him flat out that if they want to stay they will have to give up killing walkers and leave the barn alone.

Meanwhile, elsewhere near the camp, Daryl and Carol are walking along a stream and Daryl points out a Cherokee Rose among the creek bank. Daryl insists that Sophia is still out there and that he’ll find her; additionally, he tells her about how he feels ignored at the camp. Carol reassures him that they’ll find her. Deeper in the swamps, the group tries to extricate the walkers that are stuck. Hershel explains that the walkers will follow them; they just have to keep hold of them. While on watch, Glenn spots Maggie walking alone and joins her. She ignores him, but he explains his reason for telling the others about the walkers. He tells her the only reason he told the group about the barn was because he couldn't stand anything happening to her. Maggie relents and they reconcile with a kiss.

Elsewhere in the swamps, Dale is tracked down by Shane. Dale is in the process of hiding the guns from Shane when he is spotted. Shane confronts Dale and Dale asks if he’ll kill him like he did Otis. Shane says he wouldn’t waste his time as he’s already dead. Demanding the guns again, Shane tells Dale the only way he’ll stop him from taking the guns is if Dale shoots him with his rifle. Dale holds the gun on him, but can’t pull the trigger. In the end he returns the guns, but says that the new world deserves men like Shane and that he’d rather be who he was than a monster like Shane.

As Maggie offers to clean Glenn’s hat, Shane returns to the farm and starts handing out guns to the group. Shane uses Amy, Jim, and Otis to spur the rest of the group to action. In the distance, T-Dog spots the group returning with the two captured walkers. Catching up with them, Shane argues with Hershel about his view regarding the walkers and starts shooting at the walker that was once Louise saying that, if it was a human it wouldn't be able to survive those shots to the chest. Hershel, in shock, watches as Shane kills the walker. Seconds later, Shane begins a tirade about how the group needs to start fighting to survive and that they need to stop wasting time on pointless endeavors like rescuing Sophia and the keeping the walkers in the barn. Shane lets the walkers free from the barn and the remaining survivors are forced to kill them as the Greene family watches in horror.

When they think it is nearly over, a final walker's timid frame steps out of the barn and into the sunlight. The group realizes with horror that it is Sophia, still wearing her shoes and blue rainbow t-shirt, but her skin pale and her face in the snarl of a reanimated corpse. All guns are drawn as she slowly steps over the bodies of slain walkers, inching toward the terrified group. Carol runs forward in anguish, desperately screaming out her daughter's name, and is held back by Daryl. Nobody dares to shoot, they agonize, as if watching for any signs of the little girl who was once there. Even Shane, who moments ago was in a furious rage over the group's inaction, is now taken aback in a stunned silence, unable to do what must be done. It is ultimately Rick who steps up with resolve. As the girl nears the group, he steps forward with his gun, points it at the little walker, and pulls the trigger.

Trivia

 * After having been missing for several episodes, Sophia is found at Hershel's barn as an infected walker and is killed by Rick Grimes with a shot to the head.
 * According to Greg Nicotero on AMC's Talking Dead, two endings were filmed for the episode. One in which Sophia is decaying (the scene used) and another where she appears normal, representing what the characters want to see.