Minicap: The Walking Dead

Hello, Walking Dead-ers! Welcome to the minicap for Season Two Episode 9, (or if you prefer, Season Two Part II episode 2…which you should not prefer), entitled “Triggerfinger”.

We got three stories going on this week, and the two major plots build directly off what happened last week. So first, we return to Rick, Glen, and Herschel, who are in a bar in the town near Herschel’s farm. Rick has just gunned down two shady characters named Dave and Tony who were looking to rob them.

It would seem all they have to do now is get in their car and head back to the farm, but of course complications ensue. Outside the bar they hear voices. A group of armed men is looking for the guys Rick just shot…those guys were part of their crew! Rick, Glen, and Herschel are trapped.

So, shit. Rick, being Rick, first tries to reason with the strangers: “Hey, so I know I just killed your friends Dave and Tony, but I didn’t really have a choice, so could you maybe leave us alone and NOT exact revenge like exactly 100% of everybody would do in this situation?” Yeah, no. Both sides exchange fire and it’s clear this isn’t going anywhere.

For Plan B they will try to sneak out the back of the bar to their car. Glen, being Asian, is elected to run to the car while Herschel covers him from the back doorway. Sure enough, the moment Glen sets foot outside, one of the strangers appears and opens fire. Herschel guns the guy down (it is as awesome as it sounds) but it looks like Glen may have been hit, because Herschel can see his legs behind a dumpster and he isn’t moving. False alarm. Glen is fine, but he’s clearly shaken up.

Fortunately for our guys, the strangers lose interest at this point…but unfortunately, they lose interest because a horde of zombies is descending on the town. The strangers haul ass to get out of there, and Rick and co. are about to do the same…except that one of the strangers has fallen off a roof and impaled his leg on a fence. Now they have a choice to make: do they assist one of the guys who was just trying to kill them, or do they leave him to the zombies? The zombies are closing in. Glen and Herschel run to the car. But Rick, as always, does the moral thing. He yanks the guy’s leg off the spike and takes him with them.

Our B-story this week is way less action-oriented…Lori has just crashed her car in a ditch while on her way into town to retrieve Rick and was knocked out, and now a zombie is trying to get inside the car to eat her. She barely manages to fend this one off, plus another one nearby—so it looks like she’s pretty much unhurt, and most likely her fetus is fine as well—but she’s still in the middle of nowhere, at night, alone.

Since she never told anyone she was leaving the farm, nobody realizes she’s missing until dinnertime. Shane jumps in their remaining car and zooms out to find her. Finding Lori isn’t a problem, but getting her to come back to the farm is…Lori still wants to retrieve Rick from town, so when Shane finds her, he has to lie that Rick is already back to get her to come with him. She isn’t happy when she learns the truth. This isn’t the first time Shane’s lied to Lori about Rick’s wellbeing. (Remember the pilot?)

So Shane and Lori have some issues to sort out. She is sick of Shane’s lies, even if they are intended to protect her; she’s also worried about the more forceful posture Shane’s taken this season. Shane is becoming a threat to the group. Shane on the other hand dredges up the relationship they had while Rick was still in the hospital…he still loves Lori, and he’s not entirely convinced the baby isn’t his. The point is, he puts Lori, Carl, and her unborn baby above everything else, even the other members of Team Rick. Lori just can’t get through to him. This isn’t going to end well.

(Oh, and Shane also accidentally lets slip to everyone on Team Rick and on Team Herschel that Lori is pregnant. That leads to an uncomfortable scene where Lori has to explain to Carl why they never told him).

The third story of the week is much shorter and concerns Daryl and Carol. Lately Daryl has been walling himself off from the rest of the group, building his own separate campsite and refusing to participate in group activities. Carol wants to bring him back into the fold. When she tries to talk to him he lashes out, (and heaps all sorts of abuse on her, like blaming her for her daughter’s death), but Carol endures it all. Eventually Daryl comes around.

“Triggerfinger” ends with a whole bunch of fallout, which I’ll thumbnail out here…Rick, Herschel and Glen bring the wounded stranger, whose name is Randall, back to the farm. They’ve blindfolded him so he won’t know where the farm is located, but Shane is furious. By sparing Randall, Rick has once again failed to make the tough choice. Shane predicts that once they heal Randall and send him on his way, Randall will find his buddies and return to the farm with a vengeance, blindfold or no. Andrea is in total agreement, and she and Shane gripe about being the only two realists in the group.

Other fallout: Herschel has decided to allow Team Rick to stay on the farm, but he still confronts Shane for his reckless behavior and reminds him he’s a guest; Glen tells Maggie about freezing up when he was under fire, and tells her the reason—because she told him she loves him; Maggie confronts Herschel for abandoning her and Beth to go off drinking; and finally, Lori tells Rick about the conversation she had with Shane earlier. They already know Shane is dangerous and will do anything to protect himself and his loved ones. And now they know Shane has refused to let Lori go, and refused to believe Rick is the father of her baby. Lori senses showdown between Rick and Shane that’s been two seasons in the making.

Full recap tomorrow!

Brains,

SCOA