Review

The rest of the survivors arrive at Hershel's ranch and begin to setup camp. With Carl on the mend thoughts turn to Sophia, but with Rick weak after giving blood and Shane still suffering from a swollen ankle Daryl is the only one capable of continuing the search. He heads into the woods and discovers a farm house that looks to have been used as a refuge, though Sophia isn't about. Daryl finds a flower called a Cherokee rose and picks it for Carol to help her keep her strength up. Meanwhile Hershel insists that the gang give up their guns, as he's not comfortable with armed people on his farm, Rick agrees as he views his group as guests. Hershel later points out to Rick he should not consider the current situation permanent, when Carl is able to travel and they find Sophie Hershel expects them to move on. Rick gets Hershel to reconsider if they follow Hershel's rules.

Dale and T-Dog are retrieving water from one of the farm's secondary wells when they discover a zombie has fallen into the well and needs to be pulled out in one piece to avoid contaminating the water. A plan is hatched where Glenn is lowered into the well as bait to snare the zombie, naturally that doesn't go as expected. Later Glenn joins Maggie in a trip to the local pharmacy for supplies where the two have sex, and Glenn secrets a pregnancy test kit for Lori. Guess who has a bun in the oven! Shane is still pretty shell shocked over the High School Otis thing, and pretty much Andrea may have worked out what happened from a couple of hints Shane inadvertently drops while training her in gun handling.

Anyone else have the feeling this was an episode that pretty much worked as padding for the season? Don't know, just had the feeling there was a bit of treading water going down as things sort of moved forward in slow motion. Glenn getting together with Maggie, Daryl showing some signs of compassion with Carol, Lori being pregnant, and Carl recovering, all good developments that move individual storylines forward while not advancing the central plot out of neutral. While I'm all for an episode taking time out to allow the audience to breath, not so sure over the three preceding episodes that things have been moving at a breakneck pace.

Shane is definitely showing signs of post shock trauma, which is being slowly developed. During the episode he starts to build a case for his actions in his own mind, the needs of the many I guess, but Jon Bernthal nails a character who knows he is simply mouthing words and doesn't believe them. There's going to be a price to pay for his actions, psychological at least, and I've got the feeling Shane is rapidly approaching breaking point. I should point out the television show is giving a lot more depth to the character than the comics did, Shane is a tortured tragic figure that brings to mind Macbeth to be honest. I've also got the feeling Andrea is wondering just what went down at the High School and Dale is looking perplexed to say the least. Shane may find keeping this secret harder to do as the days run down.

A slower episode that progresses some of the minor plot arcs without pushing the season forward

I was happy enough to see some black humour enter the show finally, we're getting a bit too intense on the interpersonal dramas for mine and for sure we need a break from the zombie hordes waiting round the next corner. Dale discovers a zombie down the well and T-Dog thinks they should just shoot it, naturally this plan of action doesn't meet with total agreement which leads to Glenn being lowered into the well as bait. The best laid plans and such, the water pipe they are using to anchor Glenn's rope gives way and it's mayhem as Glenn is left dangling tantalising close to a hungry hungry zombie. You really need to see the scene to get the full impact. Needless to say it ends up gross and will have you gagging while trying not to laugh, especially with T-Dog's comment (quoted above).

For those in the know, i.e. have already read the comics, the barn is starting to take on ominous significance. The structure appears in the background of a lot of shots, with Rick contemplating it at one stage and Hershel adamant that Rick's group shouldn't go camp near the barn even though that would give everyone more space. For those of us who know what's coming there's a sort of delicious appreciation of the quiet way the barn is being imposed as a dominating structure, for everyone else the second half of the season has quite the surprise.

Lori's pregnancy is likely to throw up some curly developments over the rest of the season; she's already a pain in the arse at the best of times so I don't have a good feeling about everyone playing nice through the next nine months. As stated previously it would take a hard edge to survive in the new world order and characters like Lori and to a degree Shane simply aren't going to be there for the long haul. I'd be sticking close to Daryl, the dude's been throw the ringer and is prepared to do the tough things that Rick can't be counted on doing every single moment of the day. To be honest I can't see everyone making it through this season and am already laying down odds on who's not going to be returning for season three, assuming the television show continues to diverge from the comics.

The show attracted 6.29 million viewers in North American which thankfully halts a slight slide in numbers we're been witnessing over the last couple of weeks. Mid season is always tough if you don't have your plot arcs making your show a staple viewing requirement, fingers crossed the Writers of The Walking Dead have done enough to keep people tuning in.

I got the feeling this episode was simply underlying a few concepts that had been developing thus far this season, so was pretty happy overall. While there's no major advancement in terms of tone or pace the additional information on differing characters is going to prove solid for no doubt understanding their actions in the second half of the season. I would expect a couple more slower episodes from here prior to the season kicking into top gear and delivering some jolts. Recommended to folk who don't mind their dark genre stew on the slow full flavoured setting rather than the attention deficit who need something happening every single moment of running time. Conflicts are building, and for sure there's going to be a clash of cultures by the end of the season, I'm pretty hyped to see what might stagger our way next.