Review

Please note, major spoilers ahead! Read on at own risk.

With Carl out of danger the Grimes team switches to the continued search for Sophia, still missing and presumed dead. Shane questions Rick's almost obsession with the search and wonders if they aren't being spread too thin. While searching on his own Daryl takes a tumble from his horse down a cliff and finishes with an arrow through his side. Naturally zombies aren't that far away from the critically injured Daryl and he's hallucinating about his brother Merle.

Lori has discovered she is pregnant and is finding it difficult to tell Rick, the question of who is the father being utmost in my mind. This puts Glenn in a bad position as he has no guile. Speaking of Glenn, Maggie agrees to meet him late one night for no doubt some horizontal action, but is shocked when Glenn leaves her a message that he'll meet her in the barn. Glenn arrives at the barn and is in for a shock, which doesn't involve anything sexual. Daryl manages to stagger back to the camp where he is promptly shot in the head by Andrea who thinks he is a walker from a distance.

There's going to be a certain amount of dissension over this episode, you are either going to love it or hate it as the focus moves directly onto Daryl and an almost class view of the emerging society as encapsulated by Rick's group of survivors. Daryl, via the illusion of his brother, questions whether the other survivors take him seriously and whether or not they think he is their equal. Clearly Daryl is feeling somewhat on the outer, which directly parallels the thoughts of both Andrea and Shane. It's an interesting approach for the show to take, and lays bare the core of the zombie concept. It ain't about the monsters folks, it's all about how people react to the situation they find themselves in. Burning its way through the episode is the feeling of American individualism coming to the fore, people are starting to bristle to Rick's leadership, which makes a cool change from the i-product totting sheep we normally get confronted with in a horror outing. As stated the episode is either going to work for you or not, I thought it rocked out and was one of the best episodes thus far of season two.

One of the great episodes that will have true zombie fans rocking out

Before I get completely away from the whole individual versus group dynamics season two seems to be exploring, I want to spare a thought for the hard put upon Glenn. The dude is perhaps the epitome of the group member, he's happy to follow Rick's lead, but just how many diverse secrets is Glenn going to have to suffer through. While information is meant to be power, see Game of Throne's small council for example, Glenn shows in the new world post apocalypse it can be a real liability. I'm just trying to point out here that there's more going on with this show than a surface interpretation would indicate, which is unfortunate as a lot of Critics simply don't get the zombie thing and show how shallow the profession has become in the modern age.

Back to Daryl, the episode is all about my favourite character yo, nice use of the Chupacabra myth in regards the episode themes. For those that don't know, a Chupacabra is apparently a coyote or other dog like creature with a severe case of mange that goes about attacking livestock, reportedly draining the victimised animals of their blood. However the creature remains a part of the fringe Cryptozoology, hence the amusement among the others over Daryl's story of seeing one when he was out hunting one day. The interesting thing in this episode is Merle takes the place of the Chupacabra in Daryl's hallucinations, adding an almost mythical quality to the missing brother. For those with short memories, Merle was last seen handcuffed to the roof of a building in downtown Atlanta during season one. I'll leave it at that, I'm sure the Critical sites will read a whole bunch into this episode that has probably gone over my head.

While Daryl is battling his demons, and the odd zombie attracted by the blood, things are still moving along down on Hershel's farm amongst the other members of the living collective. Andrea is chaffing at the bit to do her part in protecting the group rather than just washing clothes, when this happens she almost shots dead one of them. Shane is rallying against Rick's leadership but is not prepared to step up to the base. Clearly Shane is the divisive element within the group that may put the group in danger's way, a classic trope of zombie fiction and film. And Hershel himself has to lay down the law in the face of Rick's group being a bit previous in their decisions to borrow horses etc. Clearly now that our group are settled in the one place the bitching has begun, which is human nature, so good show on the writing front.

Final warning on the spoiler front kids, don't read this paragraph if you haven't seen the season or read the comics. Still with me, okay to the barn and Glenn's surprise discovery. This came as less of a shock to me, having read the comics previously, but can imagine a lot of folk would have been surprised by the presence of zombies behind the locked and heavily fortified doors. There's a reason the zombies are there, and it goes toward the careful build up all season of Hershel's attitude to the walking dead that is diametrically opposed to Rick's views. It's a great moment in television history for mine and really nailed the attitudes season two is sending our way. Not quite sure how Glenn is going to handle the latest revelations, but I'm thinking the existence of zombies this close to the camp will be something Glenn won't be able to keep to himself.

Dropping to 6.12 million viewers, the episode shows there's a solid body of viewers who are going to tune in each week but equally there's a group who come and go depending on what is going down with their lives. Not helping was the decision to put the episodes online very close to the broadcast date which definitely cut into viewer numbers Downunder, and certainly would have had an effect in North America.

Wow my space simply disappeared during this episode write up, hence the sudden closing comments. I really jived to Chupacabra and am calling it the best episode thus far of season two. We get character developments galore, stunning themology (c) going down, and gosh a major twist that you just have to love. Full recommendation kids, yes you need to know all about the characters already, but this episode should give you the motivation if you haven't been regularly viewing to dial in big time. The Walking Dead is perhaps the best zombie outing this Century, which kind of shows you how strong the television medium is becoming.