"The Walking Dead" Episode 207: Careful What You Wish For

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on November 28, 2011

Security was tight for the Zombie Justin Bieber concert

This week's mid-season finale of The Walking Dead provided more of the same throughout most of the episode - Shane snarling, baby drama, Dale meddling ... but the final five minutes proved to be a game-changer, and set up February's return nicely.

During breakfast, Glenn tells the group, "There are walkers in the barn," and most of the episode is spent dealing with each group member's reaction.

Rick: Stoic leader that he is, Rick decides to take the diplomatic route, and have a rational conversation with Hershel directly. Unfortunately, it's hard to have a rational conversation with someone who reads the bible while eating cling peaches (spoiler alert for Hershel: He dies at the end). Rick tells him that he knows about the barn, and Hershel says, "I want all of you gone within a week." Rick explains that Lori is preggers, and, "That's either a gift here, or a death sentence out there," but Hershel is adamant. "But oh, could you do us a couple of favors? The hinge on the cupboard needs fixing ... and there are some zombies that need to be fished out of the quicksand out back."

Hershel explains that Otis usually did most of the corralling (an important fact that will be brought up later), but since he's gone, they need help nabbing the zombies that wander into the swamp and become stuck (which coincidentally, is the same way that AE acquires its writers).

"Now go and snare us a recapper!""

Rick realizes he has little choice if there's any hope of being allowed to stay, so he agrees. Needless to say, the rest of the group is aghast when Rick and Hershel arrive back at the farm with new barn occupants. Especially ...

Shane: He finally goes completely off the rails when he finds out about the barn zombies. He insists that it's time to go, and when Daryl says he's close to finding Sophia, Shane mocks him, saying "If she was alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with those geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Hey! Bringing up a man's geek ear necklace is a low blow, even for Shane.

Shane tells Rick that they need to either dispatch the barn zombies, or get the hell out of there. Rick is boxed into a corner, and tells Shane that Lori is pregnant, which is why they have to stay. Shane says, "Congrats, bro!" and immediately heads over to Lori to claim paternity. She tells him, "Even if you are the father, you aren't the father, and never will be."

Daryl: Still nursing hurt feeling from Shane's diss of his geek ear necklace, Daryl takes it out on poor Carol. When she expresses doubt that they'll find Sophia, and tells Daryl, "I can't lose you, too," he can't take the sentiment and the fact that she's giving up, and runs out, calling her a "stupid bitch." Later, he makes amends by taking her to see the Cherokee Rose flowers he found, and tells her, "I think she's still out there. I'll find her." Oh, Daryl.

Dale: He realizes that Shane wants to get the rid of the barn zombies, so he decides to ... hide Shane's guns in the swamp. I'm not sure that's the best thing to do, as a Shane without guns might be even more dangerous than a Shane with guns. But it doesn't work, anyhow, as Shane tracks him down, and pretty much dares Dale to shoot him. Dale tells him he knows he murdered Otis, and that Shane belongs in this world, the way it is now, and, "at least I can say that when the world turned to shit, I didn't let it take me down with it."

Glenn: Glenn incurred the wrath of Maggie by spilling the barn secret to the group, and was punished by having an egg broken on his head. Seriously. He gets back in her good graces, though, by telling her, "Secrets get you killed. And I'd rather have you pissed off at me and alive than liking me and dead." For some reason Maggie melts at that awkwardly obvious statement.

T-Dog: "Do you know what's going on?" "Oh shit!"

Andrea: Dale asks her if she wants to become like Shane, and she tells him, "He's not a victim."

Carol: She's about to have a very bad day.

"Would you like to buy some Ghoul Scout Cookies? We have thin mints, tagalongs, and ... braaains"

All of the drama leads up to the group congregating in front of the farm house, as Shane arrives with his bag of guns, and tries to convince everyone to storm the barn. His case is made for him when they turn around and see Rick and Hershel leading the snared zombies out of the woods. Shane flips out, telling Hershel "Could a living breathing person walk away from this?," shooting the zombie that Hershel is struggling to control, before shooting it in the head.

Shane continues his freak out, screaming, "Enough looking for a little girl who's gone. Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us." He breaks the lock on the barn, and everyone forms a line, and starts picking off the emerging zombies. When the dust settles, they hear what sounds like one more zombie in the barn, and they watch in horror as the money shot comes out. Yep, it's Sophia, and as Carol runs up screaming and is stopped by Daryl, Rick calmly walks up and puts a bullet in Sophia's head.

End of episode.

A lot of people are wondering how Sophia ended up in the barn, and why Hershel never told them that they were harboring a little girl, which could have saved them a lot of time and trouble. I wasn't bothered by this development, because in retrospect, it does make sense. Hershel mentioned that Otis did all of the zombie wrangling, so either Hershel didn't know that Sophia was in the barn, or if he did know, telling them would ruin his whole "I'm keeping the barn walkers secret" plan.

Actually, I have a different question. How do they get newly wrangled zombies into the barn?

ROTTING-BEEF CAKE:

"I told you that price was just an estimate! "