The Walking Dead S2E5: On Sacrifice and Secrets
By Wade Wainio
Instead of Chupacabra, episode 5 of season 2 of AMC’s The Walking Dead could almost be called “The Passion of the Daryl,” as Daryl Dixon takes a real beating here.
My personal theory is that it’s symbolic of what the group as a whole has gone through, and perhaps gains significance for that very reason. Sacrifice and secrecy are the name of the game.
In the beginning of the episode, we flash back to a massive traffic jam outside of Atlanta, where survivors of the zombie crisis are scrambling to for safety. Unfortunately for them, the military is dropping napalm on the city, signifying that all is not well in that direction.
Before the napalm, though, we see that all is not well between Carol Peletier and her husband, Ed, as he criticizes her sharply for offering supplies to Lori Grimes. In a way he has a point, but in a way he arguably deserves to die in a tent later in the show’s timeline. That aside, we see yet another indication that Carol was abused, and that she may have that much in common with the fan favorite Daryl.
As Rick and the gang search for Carol’s daughter Sophia, we see old man Hershel grow concerned about his visitors. Daryl borrows a horse without permission, Rick and crew take one of Hershel’s crew along with them on an excursion, and last but not least, Glenn (or “the Asian boy,” as Hershel calls him) has obvious eyes on the farmer’s daughter, which could lead to trouble. Meanwhile, Glenn is sternly told by Lori to keep her pregnancy a secret from Rick.
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While none of this seems to have a whole lot to do with Daryl at first, the meaning behind Daryl’s struggle may find depth in what happens between Shane and Rick while they’re out Sophia hunting. A macho conversation about Shane’s womanizing turns into a macho conversation about Shane being better equipped to make tough calls for the group, such as abandoning Sophia so their searches don’t endanger the group.
Of course, neither of them consider the possibility that no one person should need to make such calls, but such is the mindset of the stereotypical alpha male. When Shane later talks to Rick’s wife Lori, she stresses to him that Rick is doing the best he can, and that protecting her and Carl Grimes is no longer Shane’s problem.
Still, it turns out that Shane may have been prescient. While Daryl is out searching on horseback, he managed to find Sophia’s doll. However, his horse is startled by a snake, causing Daryl to take a tumble down a steep hill. On his way down he is significantly injured by his own crossbow.
Before long (and presumably due to his injured state, and possibly the heat), Daryl begins to hallucinate about his possibly deceased redneck brother, Merle, who quickly begins taunting him in some very non-PC ways.
In some ways, Merle himself is both a sacrifice and a secret, as the gang had essentially sacrificed him to save themselves earlier in the series, and his existence has all but passed into a secret now that the gang’s on Hershel’s farm.
An elaborate fantasy now or not, Merle’s taunts essentially echo Shane’s attitude toward Rick that they are being naïve in their quest to find Sophia, and that a real man would simply let kids get slaughtered by zombies out in the woods.
Before long, however, we see it is not Merle standing there, but actually a zombie trying to turn
Daryl’s feet and/or legs into an afternoon feast (delectable!). Daryl promptly dispatches this zombie, then another one, and in little time at all makes a snazzy necklace displaying their ears as trophies.
He then begins ascending the hill, ignoring his illusory brother’s taunts yet again, emerging at the top injured yet triumphant, and possibly more triumphant for being injured.
As he limps back to base (the farm), he is mistaken for a walker by Andrea and she shoots him. Luckily for Daryl, she is not a great shot and only grazes him. He is able to recover and tell Carol and the others about the doll he found.
Later in the story we are reminded of another character’s sacrifice — the poor Otis, who Shane had murdered in order to save himself while out getting medical supplies for the injured Carl Grimes. When Glenn Rhee asks if anyone in the group knew how to play a guitar he had acquired earlier in the season, Hershel notes that Otis had played, and that he had been quite good.
Undoubtedly, Hershel would see Otis’ sacrifice as resulting from the presence of Rick’s gang, and he regularly stresses how he eventually wants them disentangled from his farm and his own people’s lives. Because Rick wants to convince Hershel otherwise, he decides to hide Daryl’s zombie ear necklace. Again, sacrifice and secrecy are big in this episode.
Toward the end of it, Glenn leaves Hershel’s daughter Maggie a note to meet up in a barn on the farm for another sexual encounter, which sends Maggie into a panic. It is revealed that a lot of walkers are hanging out in the barn, which Rick and crew would have certainly not approved of.
Down at the Greene farm, it is believed that walkers can be rehabilitated or perhaps outright cured. However, this is a secret that could easily sacrifice plenty of lives.
The point is: Some secrets are worth keeping, others not. And, honestly, Hershel should learn to appreciate things like Daryl’s ear necklace. Appreciate the finer things in life!