If this show could just follow Daryl all the time, I'd like it a hell of a lot better. He decides to borrow a horse and go out searching on his own for Sophia instead of dealing with people slowing him down. He actually finds Sophia's doll by the river, but it is too bad he didn't ask Hershel before taking the horse, because he ends up with a skittish filly named Nelly (as in nervous) who tosses him off when she sees a snake. He goes flying a good 100 feet or so down a ridge and gets an arrow skewered right through his side in the process. He awesomely bandages himself quickly and climbs up most of the rocky wall, before he slips and falls. He's in a feverish moment of hopelessness when Merle shows up (with his hand, so we unfortunately know it is a dream) and tells him to stop being a pussy (his words, not mine), pull out the arrow and get to business. Daryl listens to his verbally abusive brother, just in time to fend off some walkers, rip the arrow out (in the most painful way), tie off his wound, make a necklace out of ears and climb up. He falters, and again the Merle vision appears and yells at him to man up. It totally works and Daryl staggers back to farm, where he's promptly shot in the head by that fucking moron Andrea, who is so damned trigger happy and excited that she's shot her first walker that she doesn't even wait for a minute when everyone tells her to. She is the worst person ever. I kind of wish they'd let her die in Atlanta. Is that wrong? Anyway, this Daryl storyline was awesome… but really made me miss Merle even more. Can he come back and scream at some other people? Starting with Andrea?
I had a hard time caring about really anything else that happened, but here's the gist: Lori's having a hard time dealing with being pregnant, and Shane's not helping matters since he wants to call off the search for Sophia (amen to that) because she's probably dead. Still, Shane's lack of interest in children isn't what Lori wants to hear from her potential babydaddy.
Carol stops crying long enough to do something for other people, volunteering to cook dinner for Hershel's family. But it isn't as generous as it sounds, as she uses their supplies, their kitchen and their dishes. Still, she kindly tells Daryl that he's a nice guy and just as a good as Rick (if not better, in my estimation) because he went over and above for her daughter… so I'm giving her a pass this week.
Hershel's got his panties in a bunch because the newcomers are overstaying their welcome. He didn't like Daryl borrowing a horse, or Rick letting one of his boys help in the Sophia search, or that Maggie might be schtupping Glenn. So Hershel tells Rick to get his people in line, or they'll be kicked out. He also doesn't take kindly to having to patch up Daryl's head wound and use more precious medications. But at least Daryl's largely fine, because Andrea (for all her bitching about wanting to shoot crap) is a terrible aim and just grazed his head.
And then there's Glenn, who used to be my favorite character but the writers this season have decided to turn him into a useless lump. He's essentially a 16-year-old boy wondering (out loud) about women's periods syncing up and trying to figure out the mystery that is Maggie. They have some of the most awkward exchanges I've ever seen (and that's not even counting how dopey Glenn is during the "family" dinner), but Maggie, like any spirited young woman who might die soon, decides to ignore her father's wishes and sneak off for some more sex with Glenn (they've got 11 more condoms after all). They plan their rendezvous via a note (because apparently they are about 12) and Glenn suggests they go to the hayloft. Maggie gets the message a little bit late and tries in vain to stop him, but Glenn sees what's been hiding in the barn: it's a whole host of walkers that Hershel is keeping alive for some reason. I think we were supposed to be all excited about this reveal, but the writers have been so heavy handedly hinting at the weird barn (and talking about how Hershel likes to deal with walkers himself) that I wasn't surprised at all. If he had dead bodies from people who intruded on his land in there, maybe I would have been able to muster some more enthusiasm.
We open in a flashback that involves a pre-badass Shane and Lori... so it's really the worst thing ever. They're with Carol, Sophia and her abusive now-dead husband stranded on a road with thousands of other people. Carl's hungry and Carol offers up some of their MRE's, but she's totally going to get smacked upside the head for that when no one is looking. Despite the fact that Lori realizes Carol is in an abusive situation, she leaves her son with her and goes wandering off with Shane to see what the hold up is. They look at the most fake-y blue screen Atlanta possible (seriously, worst special effects ever), just in time to see military helicopters fly over and napalm the streets. They realize exactly how screwed they truly are.
Lori wakes up late on laundry day, and Carol's all bright and chipper and wants to cook and make dinner for Hershel and his family. Lori thinks it is a great idea, and gets volunteered to be the one to ask... as Carol considers her the "unofficial first lady." Good lord, that's so annoying.
Rick gathers the gang to start Sophia-searching, and they are joined by Jimmy who swears that Hershel told him it was fine to join the search party. Rick takes this at face value and then starts planning out a grid based on the farmhouse that Daryl found. Shane has a stick up his ass and thinks that anyone could have been sleeping in the cupboard in the farmhouse. Daryl reiterates that it was for someone particularly small, and then says he's going up on the ridge for a better view and he's taking one of the horses. T-Dog and Dale tease him about the mythical Chupacabra that he once saw when he was squirrel hunting. He doesn't take any of their grief and says in a world that is filled with dead men walking, that the bloodsucking dog seems totally plausible. I'm with him. Then again, I hate Rick, so I'd be on Daryl's side no matter what. Before they split off, Jimmy tries to take one of the weapons that Dale hands out, and Shane offers to properly teach him how to shoot. Jimmy shrugs this off, and Andrea volunteers to take him with her and T-Dog.
The formerly awesome Glennn sits on the porch strumming a guitar waiting for Maggie to come out. When she does he opens with a line about having eleven condoms left. She tells him she doesn't know if she likes him or not, and he tries to be smooth, but the whole scene just makes me cringe. Thankfully, it's rather short.
In the woods, Rick is hanging red rags on the trees, and Shane is looking all pissed off. To cheer him up, Rick asks Shane about this girl he used to bang at the Dairy Queen. There is a lengthy conversation about Shane's sexual prowess when he was a teenager and the PE teachers that he used to have sex with "on the regular." I'll take pissy Shane instead, thanks. Rick was not what you'd call a stud in high school. Big surprise. Shane starts to get weird, saying that everyone in their stories is dead and they're wasting their time talking about them. Rick says it is nice to think about the past. I'd rather see Shane and Rick in high school than flashbacks to Atlanta getting bombed and fireballs that look less convincing than Gone With the Wind, but I'm overruled here. Shane brings us around to his point, which is that they don't have time to waste searching for some little girl who is most likely dead by police standards, as it has been far longer than the normal 72 hours. He thinks they should think of the greater good, and he even brings up Carl getting shot in the searching process. Rick's not willing to give up, and then he sees a tree with a blue rag on it (which indicates it is part of T-Dog's grid) and the two head back to camp.
Daryl's out on a horse, shooting squirrel for fun. He spots something by the river, dismounts and goes down to check it out. He sees a small doll that has been washed up -- unsurprisingly, it's the one that Sophia had. She does not respond when called to, but he takes this as a sign of hope and carries it with him.
Back in the saddle, his filly gets skittish when she sees a horse, and Daryl gets tossed down the big ridge and into the water that is at least 100 feet below surrounded by some massive rocks. At the bottom, we see that one of Daryl's arrows has pierced through his side, and there's a pool of blood quickly forming in the water around him. Still, he quickly gets up, rips off his sleeves and binds off his wound. Then he gathers his things and starts back up the very sheer looking ridge... with the arrow still in his side. That's gotta hurt. He's got his crossbow and a stick that he uses for some leverage, but it is quite the arduous process.
At the farm, Glennn confirms that Lori is pregnant and she wants him to keep his mouth shut as she hasn't told anyone yet. Glennn seems to think that Rick is the baby daddy... because he is a moron who doesn't consider the odds and or the time it would take her to realize she was pregnant. But she doesn't correct him because she sees Shane and Rick returning from the woods. She wants to know what's wrong, and he informs her that Shane wants to call off the Search for Sophia. (If there were newscasters still alive, you can bet there'd be an infographic specifically about this missing girl and the brave men and women who were fending off zombies to find her). Rick explains Shane's very valid points about risking everyone's lives, wasting food and resources, slowing down their progress of getting to their final destination, etc. And Lori thinks that Rick is doing a good thing, and if it were Carl, she'd want to know for sure if he was alive or dead. Their insufferable conversation is interrupted by Hershel's daughter, who says that the doc is requesting an audience with Rick.
Back to Daryl -- a.k.a. the only thing about this episode worth watching -- and he's halfway up the ridge but at a particularly difficult part that requires a lot of upper body strength, which he has... when he doesn't have an arrow piercing his skin. So he falls... all the way back down. Poor Daryl!
Hershel is gassing up the generators when Rick finds him. He wants to know about his missing horse and the missing Jimmy. Rick says that he thought everyone had permission from Hershel. Hershel tells him that he needs to get his people under control.
Daryl is passed out when Merle (!!!!) walks over to him. We see that he still has his hand, so we know it's just a beautiful dream. Daryl smirks when he opens his eyes to see this hallucination. Merle tells his dumb brother to take out the arrow and properly tie up his wound. Merle has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face and I just love it so much. Merle is unimpressed that the little brother he trained is going to die in the woods like a wimp. He's also a mite pissed that Daryl has devoted days to finding a little girl (and turns it into a disgusting comment... as you'd expect) but that he barely looked for Merle. A bloody Daryl calls him on the fact that he left the building. Merle has some feelings about Rick, who is the one that handcuffed him to the roof in the first place. "You're a joke is what you are. Playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy asses, ni***rs and democrats. You are nothing but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They are laughing at you behind their backs. I've got news for you son, one of these days they are gonna scrape you off their heels like you are dog shit." Then he advises him to wake up and go back to camp and shoot Rick in the face as payback. This is the best pep talk I've ever heard in my entire life.
After leaving him with the thought that no one else will care about him the way that his obviously loving brother will, Merle starts kicking the hell out of Daryl in order to make him wake up. We zoom back in to see that Merle's disappeared (boo!) and there's a walker who is trying to attack Daryl. Not sure why, he wasn't moving and was laying totally still. How did the walkers know he was fresh meat? Is it because he wasn't hiding under a car? Anyway, Daryl gets to kicking some zombie ass, even in his weakened state and then does one of the grossest things I've seen on this show and rips the arrow out of his side. Doesn't sound bad, but instead of pushing it backwards, he pulls it through the front so all of those sharp little edges have make their way through his love handles. Still, he manages to shoot a zombie right in the face with remarkable accuracy, despite the blood loss and near-death experience. This is because he's awesome.
After a momentary blackout, he gets himself back up, properly ties off his wound (begrudgingly acknowledging his brother's helpful advice), guts the squirrel he caught earlier and eats it raw. Then he steals a shoelace and some ears off the walkers and makes himself a memento and climbs back up the ridge. When he's a few feet from the top, he gets stuck again. Thankfully, Vision Merle appears again to call his brother girl's names. The brothers fight about who helped who while they were growing up. Then Merle starts teasing him about his 'shroom-induced Chupacabra vision, which stirs up Daryl's anger and fuels him to the top. Fantastic. I love Merle so much. I really wish he'd find a way to comeback and haunt some other people.
Back at Little Farmhouse on the Prairie, Hershel is none too pleased to see that all of the ladies have set up shop in the kitchen and are making dinner with the food that Hershel's family has so painstakingly collected. Maggie's set up tables and says that she didn't think it was a big deal. Hershel doesn't like that everyone is getting nice and comfortable there. He then asks Maggie what is going on "with the Asian boy." He doesn't like that they are friendly. Maggie ignores his advice, even though Hershel says they aren't going to be around for long. Is that a promise or a threat?
Andrea's outside on top of Dale's RV with a shotgun saying she wants to stand guard instead of doing her share of the cleaning. Yeah, so would I, but I wouldn't be a total bitch about it.
Glennn's inside the camper returning a terrible book that he borrowed from Dale. And then comes the scene that made me completely hate the character of Glennn, who I once adored. He talks about the women and their periods syncing and not understanding Maggie's attitude. Dale, for his part, ignores most of this talk as well and just says that he shouldn't continue banging Hershel's daughter as it isn't nice manners or a good way to show respect to their host. This scene went on for a while, but that's about all I can tolerate recapping without vomiting.
Then Andrea spots a walker coming in from the woods; it's Daryl, but because of a sunspot she can't tell that. She's so trigger happy that she grabs for the shotgun, but the men would like to not draw attention (especially given that Hershel said he didn't approve of guns). The boys gather their more primitive weapons and head out into the field -- even though Hershel wants to deal with all walkers on his property -- but when they are a few feet from Daryl, Andrea goes ahead and shoots (despite direct orders/advice otherwise) and hits Daryl in the side of the head. She looks all proud of herself for hitting the walker... though she wouldn't have done more than slow down the progress of an actual walker. When the guys start screaming, she realizes that she might have fucked something up. God, I hate her and hope she gets eaten by a zombie soon.
Everyone comes running out to see what the problem is, and Glennn realizes that he's wearing ears and Rick grabs those before Hershel can see him. T-Dog realizes that Sophia's doll has fallen out of Daryl's pocket and they all get quiet and thoughtful for a minute. Shane has a great pissed off face. Inside Daryl gets stitched up and Hershel bitches about the dwindling antibiotics and his stolen horse. He says that if Daryl had asked to borrow one, he would have told him not to take Nelly (as in nervous) because she bucks like crazy. Hershel says what we're all thinking, "It's a wonder you people have survived this long." I've wondered that too, though not so much in the case of Daryl.
Lori sits outside the door waiting for news about Daryl's condition and then when Shane and Rick come out, they start fighting about continuing the search for Sophia. Rick thinks that the doll is hard evidence they should keep going, a more pragmatic Shane says that Daryl nearly died for a doll. Rick storms off and then Shane tells Lori that Rick needs to make some of the harder calls. Lori thinks that it is easier to cut and run, Shane interrupts her lecture (thank you!) to tell her than he only cares about her and Carl. Lori realizes that he's gone cold, and tells him that she's not his problem.
Andrea sits on the porch feeling like the asshole she is, and Dale tells her that Daryl's going to be fine and that its OK that she shot a man, because everyone has wanted to shoot Daryl at some point.
Lori weeps to Carl's bed, trying to figure out what to do about the fact that the likely baby daddy to her unborn child is a stone-cold jerk, until Carol comes in and tells her that dinner is ready. I think Lori's overthinking Rick's ability to calculate math in his head. Just say it is his and he'll totally buy it.
At the most awkward family meal ever, the moochers totally outnumber Hershel's family by 2 to 1, which says to me that this meal was more for them than as a thank you for Hershel & Co. I'm with Hershel that these people are a drain on his resources. Everyone eats in silence, until Glennn (who is sitting at the kids table with Beth, Jimmy and Maggie) asks if anyone knows how to play the guitar that they found. Turns out that Otis did. Awk-ward. Then Maggie and Glennn start passing notes under the table, which really goes against her whole "I'm not a teenager" stance she took with her father. She wants to know where Glennn will meet her to have sex, but her father sees something happening, and we don't see Glennn's response.
Carol takes dinner up to Daryl, who is so cute surrounded by a ton of pillows. I'm surprised he didn't take back to the woods to sleep on a log. Carol says that Daryl did a lot for Sophia, and she's proud that he did the same thing Rick or Shane would have done (yeah, those two model citizens). Carol tells Daryl that he is every bit as good as them. Wait until she finds out that Shane killed Otis; Daryl's really going to skyrocket in her estimation. She gives him a motherly kiss on the head and leaves him to rest.
Maggie waits until clean up time to look at her note, in which Glennn says they should do it in the hayloft. She understandably freaks, since we've been told about a hundred times that the barn is off limits and that Hershel likes to deal with the walkers on his own. Glennn climbs up the side of the barn into the loft area, as Maggie goes running to stop him. Once he's in the bar, he shines his flashlight down to see what the putrid smell is, and it's about 30 zombies just milling around wanting some of Glennn's fresh meat. He tries to run and has a look of horror on his face when he sees Maggie, who informs him that he wasn't supposed to see that. Really? He wasn't supposed to see Hershel's dirty little secret? At least it isn't little girls in wells, like I had presumed. Still, anyone who paid any remote attention could have seen this reveal coming from a mile away. You didn't need to climb a ridge on a skittish horse and talk to a hallucination to figure it out, with all of the heavy-handed hinting that was happening. So, it's not really much of a cliffhanger in my opinion. We'll see what unfolds as we maybe find out what Hershel's plan is? Is it to sacrifice Andrea? Because I'd be so down with that.
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