"Triggerfinger" is the ninth episode of Season 2 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It originally aired on February 19, 2012 at 9/8c on AMC.
Plot Synopsis
The episode begins with Lori unconscious after a car accident. She regains consciousness just as a walker is forcing its head and arms through the cracked windshield of the car. Lori stabs it in the face and escapes. She is then set upon by another walker which she kicks to the ground and hits across the head with a hub cap before shooting it. At the farm, the group is about to sit down to dinner and realize that Lori has disappeared. Daryl tells Carol that she had asked him to find Hershel, but he had refused. He speculates that Lori has gone on her own to town. Shane goes to find her but when he arrives at the crash site all he finds is the two walkers Lori has killed. He eventually finds Lori still heading into town despite her accident. To get her to return to the farm, Shane lies to Lori by saying that Rick has already returned. When they return to the farm, Lori finds out that Shane lied, and she confronts him, but he defends himself to the group, saying he was only protecting the baby, revealing to everyone, including Carl, that Lori is pregnant.
Meanwhile in town, after killing Dave and Tony, Rick, Hershel, and Glenn are about to leave Patton's Bar but instead get pinned down in the saloon by Dave and Tony's group. Rick tells them that Dave and Tony pulled their guns out on them first, and that it was jsut a regretful mistake everyone can just walk away from, but the group begins to shoot at them to avenge their friends. Rick tells Glenn to check the back exit. As Glenn walks down some creaky steps and approaches the door, a shadow outside reaches for the handle and begins to twist it but Glenn shoots through the glass and scares him off. Rick tells Hershel to cover Glenn while he makes a run for the car. A man named Sean, who was part of the group, sneaks up behind Glenn and attempts to shoot him but Hershel shoots and wounds Sean, who starts crying out in pain. Rick asks Hershel what happened, he says he thinks Glenn was hit. Rick finds Glenn is just frozen behind a dumpster. Walkers begin to devour Sean and he is left for dead. When they head towards the car they are shot at by Randall on the roof of a building across the street and retreat behind the dumpster again. A truck races up, and the driver, Nate, yells that walkers are heading their way and tells Randall to jump down from the roof. When he does this he accidentally falls and impales his leg on a fence spike. Nate apologizes to him and leaves him to die but Rick, Hershel, and Glenn argue about saving him and how to do so. Hershel suggests to put him down from misery. The walkers slowly begin to close in on them so they decide to try to amputate his leg, but do not have enough time. Before the walkers can devour Randall, Rick forces Randall's leg off of the spike, tearing his calf muscle and reducing Randall to tears.
Back at the Greene Farm, Carol goes to check on Daryl, finding many dead squirrels and severed walker ears hanging on a clothes line. Daryl catches her and confronts her. After their argument Daryl walks away from Carol and she yells out that she will not let him push her away.
In the farm house, Beth is still in a state of shock, not being able to react to anything. Maggie tells Andrea a story about Beth finding her birth control pills and how she lied to their father to keep her out of trouble.
The next morning, the group starts getting ready to go into town to get Rick, Hershel, and Glenn. Dale tells Andrea that Shane is dangerous and that Shane doesn't want Rick or Hershel to come back so he can be leader but Andrea doesn't believe him and walks off. The car with Rick, Hershel, and Glenn returns to the farm with Randall blindfolded in the backseat as a hostage. The group argues on what to do with Randall, Rick says they will fix him up and then drop him off to fend for himself but Shane thinks that he will tell his group where the farm is and this will start a war. Hershel reminds Shane that it is his farm and while he is there he needs to keep his mouth shut.
Maggie pulls Glenn aside and asks him if anything is wrong, he explains how her father saved his life, and that he froze and could not do anything to help. He had frozen because she told him that she loved him, and he was afraid to die because of how it would affect her. She tries to embrace him, but he pushes her away.
Outside Shane and Andrea discuss what the group should do while Lori tells Rick that Shane thinks the baby is his, and that she thinks Shane killed Otis, that he is dangerous, and if Rick doesn't do something about it, they may all be in danger. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
Other Cast
Co-Stars
- Jane McNeill as Patricia
- James Allen McCune as Jimmy
- Aaron Munoz as Tony
- Phillip DeVona as Nate
- Keedar Whittle as Sean
Uncredited
- Michael Raymond James as Dave
- Jewel Wilson as Josephine Greene (Photograph)
- Joe Giles as Car Walker
- Michael Jaegers as Walker
- Anthony "Chopper" Rinaldo as Walker
- Kevin Gailbraith as Walker
Deaths
- Sean
Reception
Ratings
Upon its initial broadcast on February 19, 2012, "Triggerfinger" was watched by estimated 6.89 million viewers, down from the previous episode which reached 8.10 million viewers
Critical Response
Zack Handlen writing for The A.V. Club rated the episode B on an A to F scale. Eric Goldman at IGN gave the episode 8.5 out of 10.
| A.V Club | IGN |
|---|---|
| B | 8.5 |
Trivia
- First appearance of Randall.
- First (and last) appearance of Nate.
- First (and last) appearance of Sean.
- Last appearance of Dave. (Corpse)
- Last appearance of Tony. (Corpse)
- Executive producer Glen Mazzara stated, "'Triggerfinger took place within a day of the Barn-mageddon, as we call it. Daryl is rocked by that. He wanted to be Carol's knight in shining armor and take up this quest and be the one to find that girl. He now questions his self-worth. Was he a fool to ever take on that quest? This brings up issues of his upbringing. He actually is going to hit Carol and pulls back his fist because that is his learned behavior and her learned behavior is to take it. Her generous spirit is willing to take that because she cares about him so deeply."[1]
- The name of the episode, "Triggerfinger," refers to the fact that Rick, Glenn, and Hershel were in a shootout with members of Dave and Tony's gang.
Goofs/Errors
- In the previous episode when Dave and Tony are shot and killed by Rick, there is still sunlight yet when the episode begins, (presumably immediately afterwards) it is nighttime.
- When Rick, Hershel, and Glenn came back to the farm, Randall had no rag covering his eyes. After T-Dog asked who he is, there is a rag covering Randall's eyes.
References
- ↑ Natalie Abram, The Walking Dead Boss: Lori Has Become Lady Macbeth, TV Guide, (February 19, 2012)