Review: THE WALKING DEAD 2.7 - Pretty Much Dead Already

Ok so I missed The Walking Dead off the reviews last week, no reson really other than what was there to write about?  I mean you have this group of survivours of the zombie apocalypse who at the beginning of he season were on a road trip, that stalled a couple of episodes in when Sophia went missing and they ended up on Hershal's farm.  This week the action really seemed to get going again though with Glenn (Steven Yeun) standing awkwardly in front of the group and announcing "Um, guys, so....The barn is full of Walkers", it was an impressive start to what has been a pretty mondaying experience since the season 2 premiere.

Leader of the survivours Rick (Andrew Lincoln) now knows that it's in his best interests to try and convince Hershal that they should stay on the farm as they can help protect it from Walkers as well as his wife Lori being pregnant.  Hershal has only ever seen what is going on in the outside via the news when they were still broadcasting, Rick assures him this is no longer the case and the world is not the place it used to be, the Walkers are not as Hershal thinks "sick people" they are no longer Human.  However if Rick wants to stay on the farm then he and the rest of the clan have to allow the Walkers to live in the barn, an idea or suggestion that is not seconded by Shane (John Brenthal).

All concerned parties also know about Loris (Sarah Wayne Callis) pregnancy, Shane included, finding out from Rick his mind was ticking from the word go.  Shane knows there is no possible way that Rick is the father and the baby must be his, little does he know that Rick knows about his little fling with his wife, but does Rick know that the baby may not be his, it's something that would appear not to have crossed his mind yet.

The tension has been building for a couple of weeks now, more so between Rick and Shane, there is clearly a power struggle going on and this week Shane may have just tipped the scales of power.  It was a mighty impressive outburst from former cop Shane who gathered the guns gave a rampaging speech, handed them out and then released the Walkers from the barn in front of Hershal's eyes.  Hershal at that point seemed resigned to the fact that his campers were right, the Walkers are no longer Human, after all no Human could withstand the hail of bullets that were pumped into the Walkers recovered from the bog.

Then came the big reveal, a little zombie, Sophia.  They finally found her, she has been in Hershal's barn all along and the search is now over after Rick finished her off with one final bullet to the head.  I have to say this whole sequence was porobably one of the most emotional scenes I have seen in any TV show, it was handled superbly by the director and all actors involved gave a great sobering performance to the reality of their situation.

This was by far the best episode of the second season since the premiere, it was the mid-season finale and unfortunatly The Walking Dead will not be back on our screens until February 12th 2012.  What will that bring?  Well hopefully now they know Sophia is dead they can move on and get the show back to where it was in the first two episodes, a road trip.  Should they stick it out on Herchal's farm for another 6 episodes then I think boredom may well set back in.

The Walking Dead continues on AMC Sunday 12th February 2012 at 10pm.