Walking Dead Recap S2E2: Bloodletting

Back before the dead started walking, Lori hashes over a fight with Rick with her friend as they wait for school to get out. Ahh, back when the worse thing in life was a small fight. Lori questions her love for Rick, wonders if they got married too young, when a speeding Shane and other patrolmen. Anyone else feel the foreboding in the air, this is not going to be a happy visit, and Lori realizes it too when Rick isn’t there. It’s the day Rick was shot. Lori tells Carl as Shane watches on. If only they knew the hell that was coming…

I have to pause here, and give props to the guys that came up with the into. That is the best and creepiest intro. It’s simple, and perfect, and the music eerie, all together perfectly setting the tone for the series.  

Back to the now. Rick runs with the injured Carl in his arms, if you don’t remember Carl has been shot when a bullet went through a buck he was watching into him. Shane hurries the man who likely pulled the trigger, as they head towards Hershel’s farm. Finally, they’re back on track with the comics. Happy dancing commences.

A girl watches Rick and Carl’s faster approach. Otis was the shooter, and Hershel makes a makeshift operating room. Carl is alive, but Hershel and crew need to act fast to keep him that way. Covered in Carl’s blood Rick is on the verge of losing it, and Otis never saw Carl when he shot at the buck.

Lori worries about the sound of the single gun shot in the woods, and although Daryl tries to explain it away it doesn’t ease her mind. Daryl and the others want to press forward, and Andrea bonds a little with Carol. Daryl interjects a little hope, however harshly delivered.

Dale continues gathering spare parts. T-Dog begins to worry, and his wound is infected, and they decide to give the cars another once over.

Rick and Shane wait. Rick blames himself for what happened to Carl, too many burdens on his shoulders. Shane tries to offer words of encouragement, when Rick is called in to give blood. Carl is awake and in pain as Hershel digs out the bullet fragments. Shane holds him down, even as he cries, because they have to get all of the bullet out or he’ll die. Thankfully Carl passes out. Rick supplies Carl with blood, and wants to get Lori, but he can’t leave Carl’s side. He’s stable, and Shane tells Rick that he will go get Lori. Poor Shane, he’s not a bad guy and its moments like this that we remember that, as he gives Rick the tools he needs to be strong for Carl. Hershel only removed one fragment, and there’s still several others. He’s going to need surgery, and Hershel is going to need equipment. Otis knows where to get the items they need, and Shane volunteers to retrieve everything, Otis plans on helping.

The group has found nothing in the swamp, and heads back to the RV.

Patricia gives Otis a tearful goodbye and Rick gives his weapon. Otis and Shane set out for the high school. Hershel and Rick check on Carl.

Dale finds a few items, but no drugs. T-Dog finds ibuprofen and cigarettes. He begins questioning what they’re doing as the others search in the woods. T-Dog thinks he’s the low man on the totem pole, and Dale defends the group, for better or worse they’re not all me me me. T-Dog wants to leave, to make a run for it, but Dale hasn’t lost his mind, and T-Dog is running a fever.

Andrea drags ass, and nearly gets taken out by a walker, when Maggie rides in on a horse with a baseball bat. She takes Lori back with her, but not before giving directions to the farm. 

Hershel and Rick wait, and talk about the farm to pass the time. Though the landscape doesn’t show signs of the zombie apocalypse, Hershel lost many. His wife, sons, friends, only his daughters were spared. Rick tells Hershel about the CDC, and that it’s gone, that there’s no cure. Hershel doesn’t believe it, he thinks it’s just a little plague. Well isn’t that a pretty thought. Maggie arrives with Lori, and the reunion isn’t a happy one as she sees her baby, which only adds to Rick’s guilt.

Rick gives more blood, and he’s looking like hell. He’s only given two transfusions, and he already looks like death. Hershel goes over the plan with Lori, and Hershel is revealed as a veterinarian. The surgery is out of his skill, but there is no other choice. At least Otis is an EMT.

Speaking of which, Otis and Shane close in on the high school, which is still very much over run with zombies.

Carol doesn’t want to leave, but they have to. The group decides to make a sign for Sophia and leave supplies, but it’s going to take time. Glenn and T-Dog will head to the farm, while the others make ready just in case Sophia comes back. Dale tells them of T-Dog’s infection, and Daryl just happens to have a stash of pill, Merle’s leftovers, and luckily in his goodie bag there are more than just recreational drugs, he’s got antibiotics. This redneck just came through for T-Dog yet again, maybe T-Dog will finally soften to him.

Shane and Otis plan to do the impossible. They use some flares to distract the zombies so that they can slip past them. So far, so good, and they make it inside of the medical trailer.

Carl’s pressure is dropping, and Rick wants to go rescue Shane and Otis. Lori puts her foot down. Rick is not leaving, Carl needs him, she needs him.

Otis and Shane find everything they need in short order but the zombies no longer interested in the flares are quick to give chase. There’s a lot of them, and Otis isn’t exactly fast. Zombies block them at every turn, and the guys are forced to take shelter in the school, with only a flimsy metal gate. This is going to end badly, and time is not something they have a lot of if they want Carl to survive.