The Walking Dead S2 Ep. 9 Triggerfinger- Grade: A-

"There was a fireeee fiiiightt"

Series: The Walking Dead
Episode: Season 2 Episode 9 "Triggerfinger"
Air Date: February 19, 2012






Recap: Lori is resourceful and kills the zombie coming through the broken glass (The Walking Dead has the BEST. MAKEUP. TEAM. EVER.) She kills a second one on the street with her gun (slow clap for Lori). Three men come looking for the guys Rick shot in the bar. Rick, Glenn and Herschel engage them in a fire fight. Herschel shoots one to save Glenn and the man gets eaten alive by zombies. Glenn chickens out. The two remaining gunmen flee but one impales his leg on a fence. Rick and Herschel save the impaled gunman (Randall) and rip his leg off the fence. Everybody realizes Lori is missing from the farm. Shane goes after her and lies about Rick being safe. He "accidentally" mentions Lori's pregnancy in front of everyone at the farm. Carol tries to confront the self exiled Daryl. Daryl is insanely mean to Carol. Lori tells Shane that Rick knows about the affair and that she thinks it was a mistake. Shane thinks what they had was real. Maggie tells Andrea an uneventful story about Beth. Andrea disagrees with Dale's suspicions about Shane. Rick, Herschel and Glenn get back just as Daryl, Shane, Andrea and T-Dog are about to go look for them. Randall is blindfolded in the back seat. Everyone fights about what to do with Randall after he recovers. Rick wants to let him go, Shane thinks thats stupid. Andrea tells Shane his decisions are right but he is too harsh. Glenn tells Maggie that he froze during the shootout because she said she loved him. Lori tells Rick that Shane thinks the baby is his and that she's terrified of what he might do about it. Rick glares.

Lori really needs a Tom-Tom.

Unfortunately, this episode has copied its predecessors in glossing over the secondary characters (poor T-Dog) to make room for the dominant Shane-Rick-Lori storyline. It risks angering a lot of viewers that have grown tired of the soap opera like direction the series has been taking lately. The writers need to realize that they excel the most in the little moments with the side characters (one exception: Herschel's bedridden child). This week's most poignant moment was when Carol confronts Daryl in the woods. Carol can see how much he is hurting over Sophia's death. She knows that the only way to help him is to get all of his anger out, even if it means getting herself hurt in the process.  And boy does Daryl know how to hurt. He tries his best to drive away the ever resilient Carol, hurling insult after insult at her until finally he finally blurts out, "all you had to do was keep an eye on her [Sophia]!" Carol instinctively flinches as Daryl lifts a hand at her. He stops himself and the anger drains from his face. All that's left is a lonely, damaged little boy that wants to prove his worth. He's not really yelling at Carol. He's yelling at himself and the people in his past. Carol is the only one that understands that. Her tearful response is heartbreaking; she will never forgive herself for what happened to Sophia. (Actress Melissa McBride's left eye alone could out-act the entire cast of "Gossip Girl") The bond between Daryl and Carol is complex and intriguing. I disagree with those saying they have a lot of sexual tension between them. Although I'm pretty sure no one would object to Daryl (and Daryl's sleeveless arms) getting some much needed lovin', his and Carol's relationship definitely has more of a mother-son quality to it. Hopefully the writers just leave it at that. (Maybe Daryl can find a bow wielding ninja girlfriend in the woods somewhere and they can cook squirrel dinners together by the fireside.)

Rick and Andrea work on their "Blue Steels".

Best zombie kill: Lori killing the zombie in her overturned car. Nice to see she can actually do something besides perpetuate a messy love triangle with Rick and Shane.

Will someone please give Daryl a hug?                          

Best dialogue: Herschel's "do us all a favor and keep your mouth shut" to Shane. It was the verbal bitch slap heard round the world (or at least, the farm). Slow claps for Herschel.

Glenn thinks about Maggie in those tight jeans.

Say what? moment: Did I miss something or do the laws of time not apply in the Walking Dead world? Rick shoots two strangers in a bar = daytime. Cut to shot of Rick standing over dead bodies in bar = pitch black night time. Same goes for Lori's crash scene. I can understand her being knocked unconscious for a long time but judging by how rabidly that zombie was digging through the broken glass to get to her, something tells me he didn't politely sit by car for 2 hours while Lori took a beauty nap. There's no way it took him until nightfall to go after her. Also, why did it take Rick and the gang until sunrise to get back to the farm? Isn't the town center a short horseback ride away?


Most interesting character development: It's a tie between Herschel and Lori this week. Herschel doing a 180 and shooting a man to save Glenn? Awesome. Herschel standing up to hot head Shane? Even more awesome. Lori turning all Lady-McBethian at the end, seductively planting the seeds of betrayal into Rick's ear? Fantastic television. 

Daryl spots something in Carol's teeth.

Promo for next week's episode: