[Previously, The Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 5 – ‘Chupacabra’ Review and Synopsis]

Spoilers ahead.

This episode opens up on the Herschel Farm as if nothing has changed, so apparently Glen has kept his secret to himself. Still, it is overwhelmingly insane that these people are keeping zombies corraled in a barn. We see one of Herschel’s people carting chickens to the barn for the zombies to eat. It is all just too morbid for words really. When the zombies descend upon the chickens like feral hounds it really makes you wonder why this guy thinks the zombies are just ‘sick’ people. It defies logic. Andrea tries to reconcile with Daryl over her accidentally shooting him. Even though the bullet just grazed him, it was still a moment of Andrea’s stupidity that nearly cost the life of one of the better characters. Glen offers to help Lori obtain stuff like medical supplies or food since she is pregnant. Lori opts to keep her ‘condition’ a secret. As she has made known in previous episode, Lori does not think the present state of the world conducive to successful child rearing.

That said, Carl is up and moving around like nothing happened while Sophia is still missing in action. Carl wants to learn how to use a gun and it is interesting how he constantly keeps referring to Shane as his father figure such as when he makes it known he wants to learn how to use a gun. This becomes a point of conflict for all involved when Carl is discovered with a pilfered gun on his person. He apparently took the gun from Dale’s traveling tent. Rick totally supports Shane’s teaching Carl how to use a gun and this is enough to convince Lori to allow him to do it. One thing I have always wondered to myself about these shows is why the survivors always have cars from thirty years ago. It’s the apocalypse. Why not have a much more modern vehicle that is probably a little more reliable? Anyway, Glen tells Dale about Lori and the zombies in the barn. So much for him keeping a secret. Shane’s gun training camp acts as a gigantic waste of ammunition as well as a homing beacon for any and all nearby zombies that are shambling past.

Dale confronts Herschel about the zombies in the barn, fabricating a story about discovering them inadvertently while walking past the barn. Herschel gives him some line about people irrationally killing the zombies and not understanding that they are just sick people. Herschel then spouts off some emotional hogwash about his wife and stepson, who are now zombies in his barn, still being people. Naturally, he wants Dale to keep it to himself because, even though Rick is ‘a man of conscience,’ others in the group are not the same. In a shattering development, Herschel breaks it to Lori that they will not be staying at his farm long. Shane tries to condition Andrea to not be as emotional when shooting her gun in an effort to make her better prepared to deal with ‘walkers’ who may be attacking her but Andrea is having none of this bootcamp style method and leaves him to chill out on his own. His comment about Amy was, without question, out of line.

Lori ‘Fidelity’ Grimes offers to intervene with Rick on the group’s behalf to try and convince Herschel to allow them to stay at his farm a little longer, especially given the fragile state of Carl’s health and that Sophia is still missing but not terribly missed. Andrea is having a moment to herself because she is upset with Shane. Really, the conditions of this world do not permit for being a lone wolf and realistic hopes of survival. This far into the episode there still has not been a single zombie sighting. Lori figures out that Glen told Dale about her pregnancy and she then reiterates her concerns about bringing up a child in this kind of world because she fears that happiness is increasingly impossible. All I know is that I haven’t seen a legitimate zombie scene yet this episode and I better get something soon or I’m going to be as emotional as Lori. Lori asks Glen to make a run into town for her, taking him up on his earlier offer to help her. In a plot contrivance destined for generating drama, Maggie goes along with Glen to get whatever Lori needed. She is mad at Glen because he told Dale about the zombies being in the barn. How irrational are these people who live at the Herschel Farm? Is there lead in the well? Maggie’s self-righteousness is quite off-putting. Perhaps if she got off the farm every once in a while she would know what a danger the zombies really are.

While in the town pharmacy, completely out of nowhere mind you, a zombie attacks Maggie and tries to eat her hand off. Maybe now Glen’s point has been proven. Especially after the particularly gruesome way Glen dispatches with the zombie.

Back to our heroes wracked with the chains of palpable sexual tension, Shane and Andrea take the Hyundai out for a cruise in the abandoned suburb near the farm, looking for what who knows but they claim to be looking for Sophia. Maggie comes back and throws Lori’s things in her face including her ‘abortion pills.’ Maggie’s a crazy girl. If I were Glen I would just leave things be with her and move on with my life. What a psychopath. After all, her father is keeping packs of zombies in the barn. I don’t know how sound a method Shane and Andrea are employing in their search for Sophia but the first house is creepy enough to prevent me from searching any of the others. Then from nowhere there are legions of zombies in the streets attacking our heroes. Andrea is, of course, performing at a subpar level with her gun. Her zen moments with the gun were so much unnecessary cheese but whatever, the show is allowed a few opportunities for camp.

Andrea makes a move on Shane and the two of them hook up on the road. It was destined to happen. Dale notices Andrea’s just-been-screwed-in-the-Hyundai look and tells Shane he should leave. Then Dale delves into the Otis and Shane drama, trying to intimate that things happened differently from what Shane detailed. He tells Shane that he knows what kind of man Shane is since Dale saw Shane hold Rick in Shane’s gun’s sights. Shane then threatens Dale, kicking up the intergroup drama a necessary notch. Rick and Lori have a dramatic blowup between the two of them over Lori’s attempted abortion of their unborn child. Also Lori tells Rick that she and Shane had an affair and Rick takes it surprisingly well. This episode was bereft of action but filled with resolution. Hopefully in next week’s episode the zombies in the barn are loosed upon the world and the chaos that ensues provides for an hour of interesting television. Also, please pray the Sophia plot line is resolved – it has grown old six episodes into the season.