Walking Dead Recap S2E5: Chupacabra

Back before Sophia was missing, when there was still hope that the zombies would be contained quickly, before the Atlanta camp, before Lori knew Rick was alive, Lori depends on Shane and he makes promises to keep her and Carl safe. They watch the helicopters head towards Atlanta, the place everyone thought was safe. They bomb it, burning the lost city, as groups of people watch hope die.

Now, Lori tries to go about her day, trying not to think about what she just learned. She helps Carol with the laundry, and Carol turns her thoughts to cooking, anything to take her mind off Sophia.

Rick rallies the troops on Sophia watch. He hands out new search plans for everyone, everyone is more optimistic especially after Daryl’s recent discovery, but I just don’t think she’s coming back. Daryl may have been able to survive as a child in the woods, and the worse thing having happen was getting a bad case of itchy butt, but Sophia was never strong willed, and the weak perish in this zombie filled world.

Glen is not on Sophia duty, and he tries to have another moment with Maggie, she plays hard to get.

Shane marks their path, and Rick tries to get a closed off Shane to open up. They talk of old girlfriends to pass the time, but Shane suddenly turns dark. He doesn’t want to talk about everyone that’s dead and gone. Shane is ready to give up on Sophia, but Rick sees hope. Rick isn’t ready to give up on her yet, because she counted on him to keep her safe, and he let her down.

Daryl passes his time collecting squirrels as he looks for the girl, and with a keen eye he spies her doll in the stream. At some point she was close to the farm. The animals all spoke, and Daryl pushes on. A snake scares his horse, and he’s thrown down the side of a hill into the stream. He’s alive, but injured, skewered on his own arrow. The arrow is clean through him, and alone he’s forced to stabilize the thing. Although he easily gets out of the stream, there’s no easy way to get back up where he was at. And there’s way too 

much movement in the bushes for Daryl’s comfort. Daryl is forced to climb, even with the excruciating pain.

Glen confronts Lori about the bun in her oven. Lori begs for his silence, and Glen is shocked she hasn’t told the daddy yet. Rick and Shane are at odds over Sophia, and Rick is taking his way of thinking hard. There are plenty of hard decisions to be made, and he’s doing the best he can.

Daryl gives himself a heck of a pep talk, but loses his footing and goes for another tumble.

Hershel confronts Rick about a missing horse and allowing Jimmy to take part in the search. Rick was under the impression Hershel had okayed both. The men decide to deal with each other directly in the future to avoid these misunderstandings.

Daryl comes to, staring at his brother Merle. Merle asks him why he hasn’t pulled out the wound, and he’s as sweet as ever. He belittles Daryl and his good intentions; he’s got nothing nice to say, claiming that no one will ever care about him but his brother. Merle tries to cajole Daryl to his feet and he finally comes to for real this time, as a zombie tries to eat his feet. Daryl manages to kill the one, but there’s another staggering his way. Daryl pulls the arrow from his side, and fires it into his would be attacker. And that display is just one of the reasons why Daryl is the man, who else would have the strength to pull an arrow through his body and fire it off. Not me for sure, I’d have been zombie chow surely.

There’s no rest for the wicked, it’s time to go. He binds his wound tighter, eats his squirrell, collects a few trinkets and is off once more. Damn if Merle wasn’t right, it’s time to buck up. Daryl climbs up once more, he sees his brother again, taunting him once more. His bitter teasing only pushes Daryl harder, and finally Daryl makes it back to the top.

Hershel walks in on the women cooking. And he’s less than pleased to see Lori and Carol cooking. He wants the boundaries clear, but Maggie doesn’t see the harm in them cooking a meal to say thanks. Hershel asks Maggie about Glen, and she makes it clear she’s not a child. Hershel tells her not to get close, because Rick’s group isn’t staying.

Andrea takes watch, she’s not interested in washing clothes anymore. Glen tells Dale that the women are acting weird. Glen suggests it’s a hormonal thing, and Dale tells him to keep that thought to himself. Finally Glen brings up Maggie, and her school yard behavior when he makes a small slip about Lori. He side steps the Lori question, and Glen admits that he slept with Dale. Dale sees the danger, and Glen leaves a little more wounded. Andrea spots what she thinks is a walker, but with the glare she doesn’t see it’s Daryl. The guys tell her to stand down, that they’ll take care of it, but stupid Andrea is out to prove something, and takes aim. Can someone please kill her already, she is getting on my damn nerves! A bloody Daryl staggers back to camp, the men run towards him, Dale begs Andrea not to take the shot.

The guys finally see that it is Daryl, and he’s a chipper little guy at the moment, but he’s definitely stil himself. They breathe a sigh of relief and a shot takes him down. Andrea is happy for a moment,  until the guys start screaming. Now someone please take the gun out of her hands and beat her with it.

Everyone comes from the house, Hershel is pissed.

Rick and Shane pick up Daryl, who is still alive, but injured, well more injured. T-Dog finds the Sophia’s doll that Daryl had brought back with him. Hershel patches up Daryl, and Daryl tells them where he found the doll. The horse that threw him was Nelly, as in Nervous Nelly, seems she had a habit of throwing people, which Daryl would have known had he asked. Shane thinks Daryl’s near death is a sign they should give up. Shane doesn’t care about anyone but Lori and Carl, but Lori doesn’t want to be his problem or excuse.

Dale goes to Andrea with Daryl’s update. She feels bad about shooting Daryl, and she should. But Dale cuts her some slack, saying that they’ve all wanted to shoot Daryl.

Lori sits at Carl’s bedside, shedding tears, and Carol walks in on her. She quickly pulls herself together for dinner. Dinner is a tense and quiet affair. Maggie slips Glen a note, and Hershel knows something is up. Carol brings some dinner to Daryl. She gives him a kiss, and pays him a great compliment, probably the first one he’s ever been given.

Maggie reads Glen’s reply, and his answer for a meeting place shocks her a little. The hayloft, remember that place that seemed like a great place to put Rick’s group, but Hershel was adamantly against. Just what is he hiding in there?

Glen heads out to the barn, it’s locked up tight, but he finds a way up to the loft. Maggie desperately runs to stop him. The smell inside awful there, and then Glen finds the source of the smell. A barn full of zombies. Maggie tells Glen he wasn’t suppose to see them, well no shit. The zombie barn is a huge problem.