Nebraska (Episode)

"Nebraska" is the eighth episode and the first of the second half of Season 2 of The Walking Dead (TV Series). It originally aired on February 12, 2012 at 9/8c on AMC.

Synopsis
Emotions run high in the aftermath of the barn walker massacre. Beth Greene goes over to her mother Annette to mourn, but Annette is still alive and attacks Beth. Andrea drives a scythe through the zombified Annette's head to end the struggle.

As the Greene family walks back to the house, Shane accuses Hershel of knowing Sophia's whereabouts, but Hershel denies knowing that she was in the barn, speculating that Otis had likely put her there before he died, and angrily orders Rick's group to leave the farm. Rick ridicules Shane for his actions, but Shane mocks Rick's failed diplomacy with Hershel, and criticizes his decision to continue the search for Sophia.

Carl talks to Lori about Sophia, saying that he wanted to be the one to find her alive, but thinks that Rick did the right thing, and that he would have done the same in his place.

The survivors decide to bury Sophia and Hershel's wife and step-son, and burn the rest. Rick seems to be questioning his own leadership capabilities, admitting to Lori his frustration that he had everyone searching for Sophia when she had died long ago.

Tensions worsen between Shane and Dale. Carol refuses to attend Sophia's funeral, which angers Daryl. Hershel packs his wife's possessions in cardboard boxes, and digs out an old flask from his wardrobe, searching for the means to cope with the reality that there is no cure and he had been hanging onto a fools hope.

After the funeral, Andrea and T-Dog pile corpses into Otis's truck, saying that Shane did what needed to be done. Dale protests, suggesting that a new problem with Hershel was created in the wake of resolving the safety concern of the barn walkers.

Maggie asks Glenn if he would stay if the rest of his group were to leave, but Glenn is unsure how to answer. Beth suddenly grows ill and collapses. She suffers from a Fever and other serious symptoms, and seems to be in some state of shock. The group looks for Hershel to care for Beth, but discover that he has vanished, leaving behind his empty flask as a clue. Rick decides to look for Hershel at the local bar, and takes Glenn as backup.

Shane is washing up at a water pump when Carol emerges from the forest, muddy and scratched. Shane cleans her cuts and apologizes for what happened to Sophia. Meanwhile, Dale reveals to Lori that he believes Shane shot Otis and left him as bait to cover his escape, and that it's only a matter of time before he kills someone else.

En route to town, Glenn confides to Rick that Maggie told him she loved him. Rick says that they need more good things like that in their lives, and that he should embrace those moments.

Beth's condition creates concern, prompting Lori to send someone to find Rick and Hershel. Daryl is the best choice, but he is still upset over the sacrifices he made in vain to collect Sophia, and snaps, "I'm done lookin' for people." Lori decides to look for Rick herself, but crashes her car after unexpectedly hitting a walker in the middle of the road.

At the bar, Rick finds Hershel and tells him about Beth. Hershel reflects that he had robbed his daughters of a normal grieving process by giving them a false hope, and allowing himself to believe it too. Hershel also says that Rick must relate, saying he saw the same feeling wash over Rick's face when Sophia emerged from the barn that there is no hope. Rick argues that nothing has really changed, and people are counting on them to be strong.

They are interrupted when the bar door opens and two strange men walk in, giving their names as Tony and Dave. The five men converse cordially at first, but the strangers become impatient when Rick's group will not divulge information about the Greene farm.

"We can't stay out there," Dave says. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I hear Nebraska is nice," Rick replies.

Dave reaches for his gun on the bar, but Rick quickly draws and shoots Dave in the head. Rick then quickly pivots, putting two bullets in Tony's chest before he can train his gun on Rick. Rick then finishes him with a bullet in the head.

Co-Stars

 * Jane McNeill as Patricia
 * James Allen McCune as Jimmy
 * Michael Raymond James as Dave
 * Aaron Munoz as Tony

Reception
The episode Nebraska broke the show’s previous records with 8.1 million viewers and 5.4 million viewers among adults 18-49. That’s TV’s biggest drama series telecast in the adult demo in basic cable history. That’s up 12 percent in the demo compared to the show’s previous record, October’s season 2 premiere. Combined with its encore, Walking Dead had 10.1 million viewers for the night.

Trivia

 * This episode marked the final appearance of Madison Lintz (Sophia) as a recurring guest star.
 * Sophia only appears a corpse in the episode, having been killed in "Pretty Much Dead Already".
 * Sophia's corpse appears in a different position than what it had fallen in the previous episode.
 * This is the first episode made entirely under the leadership of Glen Mazzara, who replaced his former boss and Walking Dead creator, Frank Darabont, as showrunner after Darabont was fired last summer.
 * Time Magazine wrote: "Intentional or not, the show’s title alludes to one of pop culture’s strongest references to Nebraska, the 1982 album by Bruce Springsteen. In the title track, the Boss tells a first-person narrative of Charles Starkweather, who went on a rampage, killing 11 people in 1958. The song’s narrator sees humanity plagued by existential doom, which may be catching up with Rick and the gang." Robert Kirkman stated, "Evan Reilly [who] wrote [Nebraska is] a huge Springsteen fan."
 * The rule "bury our loved ones, burn the others" introduced in the first season Glenn is again used and mentioned by Andrea in this episode.
 * The term that Dave and Tony called the walkers is Lamebrains (Chupacerebros). This episode marks the third name for the zombies in the series.
 * The name of the episode, Nebraska, may refer to the fact that Dave and Tony said they were heading to Nebraska due to the fact that it has a low population and plenty of guns.