Chupacabra

"Chupacabra" is the fifth episode of Season 2 of The Walking Dead (TV Series). It originally aired on November 13, 2011 at 10/9c on AMC.

Synopsis
Shortly after the outbreak, Shane, Lori, and Carl are trapped in traffic on an old road outside of a city. While Shane listens for broadcasts, Lori and Carl both spend time with Carol, her daughter Sophia, and her husband Ed. When Carl says he’s hungry, Carol offers him food much to the ire of Ed. Shane returns and takes Lori away to tell her about the lack of any broadcasts and what it could mean. As Carol watches Carl, Shane and Lori walk away and watch as a wave of Military gunships deploy napalm charges in the streets of Atlanta.

Today, Lori wakes up in the camp the survivors have established outside of Hershel’s Farm. Carol has already started the chores and suggests that they prepare the evening meal for Hershel and his family and that it’d be better to come from Lori than anyone. At that moment, Rick informs the group of the search pattern for Sophia. Jimmy, Beth’s boyfriend, offers to search with them to which Rick agrees as long as Hershel approves. Andrea offers for him to go with her and her group. Meanwhile Daryl Dixon sets out on horseback to look for Sophia, believing he can spot her better from the clearing. As the others plan, Glenn and Maggie discuss the pharmacy. While they search, Rick and Shane discuss Shane’s conquests in high school which leads to Shane challenging Rick about his decision to always try to help others when they should be focused on survival. He thinks that they should stop the search for Sophia.

Daryl awakes in a stream after being knocked from his horse when it was spooked by a snake, having also found Sophia’s doll seconds prior. He is injured in the fall having been impaled by one of his arrows in addition to the fall damage and is in visible distress as he tries to leave the stream, only to fall again while climbing. As this happens, Glenn confronts Lori about her pregnancy test and its results. They are interrupted by Rick who tells Lori about Shane’s claims. They are interrupted when Hershel wants to talk to him about the missing horse that Daryl took and Jimmy joining the search against Hershel’s wishes. From his injuries, Daryl starts having hallucinations of his brother Merle Dixon who taunts him because he’s looking for Sophia and not him and because he’s teamed up with Rick’s group, who will never care for him the way that Merle has. Before his very eyes, Merle transforms into a walker and he is attacked. He is able to fight off the walker, but it is soon joined by a second. Daryl then yanks the arrow from the spot where it impaled him and fires it into the head of the other advancing walker.

After his ordeal, Daryl awakens, agreeing with what his brother said. He cuts off the ears of the dead walkers and makes them into a necklace before resuming his climb, only to be taunted by Merle again. The taunts help Daryl to make it to the top of the cliff, having pushed him forward and fed his anger. Lori, Carol, Beth, and Patricia work to cook dinner, which irritates Hershel. He asks Maggie about it and she says she doesn’t understand why it’s a problem. He asks about Glenn and reminds her not to get close to any of the survivors as they are not going to be around forever. Dale teases Andrea about her taking watch and goes inside the RV to find Glenn who asks him about the women in their camp. They also discuss Maggie and his relationship with her, specifically that they had sex, and his reasons. As Glenn leaves the RV, Andrea spots a walker and Rick orders that they do nothing to it as Hershel wants to handle any walkers that come to camp. The walker is actually Daryl, who is shot in the head by Andrea.

Hershel and his family come to see what has happened and it turns out Daryl has only been grazed. T-Dog finds Sophia’s doll on Daryl’s person and they question Daryl about it while Hershel tends to his wounds. Rick, Lori, and Shane talk about what happened and Shane again says that it’s time to end the search for Sophia. Shane talks to Lori and says that Rick can’t make the tough calls. Lori argues with Shane saying that the only thing that is important to him anymore is Lori and Carl. Lori says they aren’t his problem and walks away to see Carl. Dale and Andrea talk about Daryl, with Dale telling her not to be hard on herself. In the dining room the survivors and Hershel’s family eat in near silence, but they begin to talk about Otis. While the others eat, Carol visits Daryl and thanks him for looking for Sophia.

Maggie slips Glenn a note asking if he’d be interested in hooking up which he replies to with suggesting they do it in a hayloft. Glenn sneaks away before Maggie reads the note and Maggie immediately goes to look for him. Glenn, once in the barn, discovers that it is full of captured walkers. Maggie rescues him saying that they were never meant to see the walkers.

Co-Stars

 * Jane McNeill as Patricia
 * Adam Minarovich as Ed Peletier
 * James Allen McCune as Jimmy

Trivia

 * The name of the episode, Chupacabra, may refer to the fact that on his first night in the camp outside of Atlanta, Daryl claims he once saw a Chupacabra while squirrel hunting.
 * Madison Lintz (Sophia) appears in this episode in a flashback after not appearing for three episodes. Her last appearance was in "What Lies Ahead".
 * Adam Minarovich (Ed Peletier) appears in this episode in a flashback. His last appearance was in "Wildfire", making him absent for six episodes.
 * Michael Rooker (Merle Dixon) appears in this episode as a hallucination, after being absent for eight episodes. His last appearance was in "Tell It to the Frogs".
 * This episode marks the first time Andrea uses a rifle, thus displaying her dangerous accuracy which is a large part of the comic series.
 * It is implied Dale and Hershel saw Maggie and Glenn passing the note, while in the comic series, Hershel walked in on them having sex. In the show, Hershel has shown that he is aware of his daughter's feelings for the group's supply runner.
 * This episode marks the first time that brothers Daryl and Merle have appeared on screen together in the same episode, despite Merle being only a hallucination.
 * This episode was filmed at the Cochran Mill Nature Center in Palmetto, Georgia.