Walking Dead Recap S2E1: What Lies Ahead

It’s a new season of the Walking Dead, and first there’s a little recap of everything that happened in season 1, which is just long enough to do a little happy dance and settle down for the first episode of season two.

In Atlanta, the streets are all but deserted, some walkers here and there, and Rick still talks on the walkie with a faint hope that Morgan is still out there. And Rick almost says out loud what the scientist whispered into his ear, but that doesn’t matter right now. What lies ahead right now is a stretch of road that will hopefully lead to salvation, but likely more death and loss. The group prepares to leave Atlanta.

The roads leaving Atlanta are empty, not many travelers. And how bad ass is Daryl, riding his hog? Lori and Rick reminisce about almost seeing the Grand Canyon, and Carl and Sophia wish they could see it. Andrea watches Shane reassemble his gun, and he promises to show her how.  There’s way too much reminiscing going on so far. And then there’s trouble, the group hit a spot congesting with cars, but there’s no turning back, they can’t spare the fuel. Daryl on his bike navigates the caravan through the wreckage, when Dale’s RV blows a belt or something. Surrounded by cars, and bodies, Daryl starts looking for supplies. Lori is a little tenderhearted about the situation, but Rick agrees with Daryl, and so the group begins to look for things to salvage, because dead people don’t need crap but living people do if they want to keep on living. Dale leaves fixing the RV to Glenn, and things just got tense, something bad is about to go down.

Dale is on top of the RV on look out for danger, Rick patrols on ground, Andrea goes inside to toy with a disassembled gun. Shane finds a jackpot of bottled water, and with that little bit of happiness, danger shuffles in. A single walker finds its way into Rick’s sights, and just as he’s about to take it out, hundreds more are spotted. It’s a mad scramble to get everyone hidden beneath cars to safety as the herd of walkers shuffle through, only Andrea is caught unaware. Sophia and Carl are separated from their mothers, and T-Dog injurers himself on some wreckage, spilling blood everywhere. A walker makes it into the RV and Andrea hides in the bathroom desperately trying to piece the gun back together, and she braces for the incoming attack. Dale hears her cries, but there’s little he can do atop the RV, but give her screw driver.

A walker closes in on T-Dog, and help is delivered in an unlikely place, Daryl stabs the zombie with an arrow. Andrea does the same with her attacker, as Daryl piles rotting corpses atop he and T-Dog masking their scents. The walkers are all but gone, and as everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, but just like a horror movie, the danger returns, a straggler finds Sophia. She crawls away and a pair of them gives chase, with Rick following close behind. He manages to close in on Sophia before the zombies do, and he places her in a good hiding spot, as he lures the walkers away. Anyone else see the danger here, Sophia is too scared to listen to Rick. Rick does as he says and takes the zombies out so Sophia can get away.

Rick goes over with Daryl, the resident redneck tracker where he left Sophia, because surprise, surprise she didn’t make it back to safety. They retrace her steps and all the men except Dale follow her tracks. Sophia was headed in the right direction when she suddenly veered off. Rick sends Glenn and Shane back as he and Daryl continue to follow her trail. The rest of the group takes the task of clearing the road. Carl spots some tools, and scares the beejesus out of himself as he pries them free. Carl shares his spoils with Shane, but he’s a total prick to the kid, and Lori takes offense to Shane giving her the cold shoulder, and he tells her he plans to leave. Seems Lori wants her cake and Shane too.

Rick and Daryl find a single walker wandering the woods. Rick gets his attention, and Daryl takes him out. There are signs it fed recently, so the guys don’t have any choice but to see what’s inside. Fun right? Daryl takes the honors of gutting the thing, and I feel as queasy as Rick looks as Daryl goes to work. Thank goodness for gloves, as they rip into zombie guts. There’s a small relief when they find a woodchuck skull.

Carol keeps watch and hope, and Andrea confronts Dale about her missing gun. You know the one that almost got her killed since she couldn’t put it together. Shane actually agrees until everyone can get trained that gun remains locked up. The guys come back empty handed, and Carol is panicked, but with the sun fading fast, the search will have to wait until morning. Carol blames Rick, but at least he tried to save her which is more than she did. The entire group feels Sophia’s loss.

The group sets out once again to look for Sophia. Andrea tries to force Dale to give her her gun, there’s a little anger over last season’s decision at the CDC. Andrea wanted to die, but Dale made her live, and she’s less than happy about losing that choice, Dale is remorseful, but he doesn’t hand over the weapon.

Carl tries to bond with Shane, but again he gives him the cold shoulder. Lori tries to assure Carl he didn’t do anything wrong. The group finds a campsite, but no Sophia. The group hears a church bell ringing, and they all rush towards the noise. It’s nice to have hope, but seriously, that would be too easy, and nothing is easy when zombies are walking.

Dale keeps watch, and T-Dog harps on him to finish the radiator, but Dale did that yesterday. He was giving Sophia more time, fearing she would be left behind too soon.

The group comes across the church, the bells no longer ringing, and the dead sitting in pews. Rick, Darryl, and Shane quickly dispatch the zombies, taking out a little aggression on them, before the group heads out in search. The bells start ringing once more, and they find they’re just on a timer. Disheartened the group goes on. Lori still worries about Shane leaving, but Shane is trying to do the right thing for once. Andrea overhears everything.

Carol prays to Jesus, begging Sophia’s safe return, but Sophia isn’t coming home. Andrea tells Shane she’s coming with him. She needs to get away, not for romantic reasons, but she needs to start over. She gives him something to think about. Shane urges Rick to go have the group return, but Rick isn’t ready to throw in the towel. Shane gives the marching orders, and Carl begs to stay out with the search party longer. As the rest head back, Rick has his own personal chat with Jesus.

Andrea continues her little temper tantrum, upset that Lori was given a gun. And during their little rest Lori’s had enough. Lori has the balls to say what no one else does, that Sophia being missing isn’t Rick’s fault, that Carol needs to stop blaming Rick, because Rick did and continues to do what no one else dares, and he was to only one that even tried to save her in the midst of all the walkers. Andrea comes to her senses a little and gives Lori back the gun, feeling a little sheepish.

Rick, Shane, and Carl continue their search for Sophia and come across a stag. They look at it with wonderment, and joy, and instead of shooting it, they give Carl a normal moment. He approaches the beautiful creature as the men watch proudly, not seeing the danger until both are shot down. Every moment of happiness comes at a price.