The Walking Dead S2E6: Secrets and Conflicting Worldviews

Season 2, Episode 6 of AMC’s The Walking Dead is called “Secrets,” as it is about various hidden facts coming into light. In the process, we get a glimpse into how the characters view each other and the world.

In some ways, this episode is a more solid introduction to the characters on the Greene farm, addressing how strangers cope with problems presented by meeting new people with different opinions. When we first met the Greenes, the problems were more obvious, with both Carl and T-Dog being seriously injured (though much less attention was paid to T-Dog) and with Otis eventually dying. Now, even with Carl and T-Dog in good health and Otis being symbolically buried, no one seems to be able to just settle in and relax. In fact, it seems nothing will ever be normal.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the Greene’s have a barn full of walkers, which almost serves as a symbol of a past refusing to stay buried. Near the beginning, we see Greene family member Patricia break some chicken legs, throw the chickens in a potato sack, travel to the walker barn and toss the chickens in to feed them. Later, it becomes even more obvious that the Greenes refuse to believe the world has changed substantially, and that they cling to their past lives.

They do not see their loved ones as the undead menace, but poor unfortunate who just happen to be ill. This is especially interesting when Hershel has a competent understanding of medicine, and presumably understands that these loved ones are not the same. However, as they say, denial is not just a river in Egypt. It’s so much easier to believe they’re just sick, that they can be cured, or maybe just contained safely and maintained like flowers that can be nursed back to health. Then again, maybe it’s not easier to think that, given all the evidence to the contrary.

See, this is the debate caused by this episode. It is essentially a clash of worldviews. Hershel is ready, willing and able to keep tradition alive, whereas Rick and crew understand that it’s no longer possible. More to the point, Hershel and crew feel that it should be their decision, because it is their farm. They ultimately have a point, and Rick does not seem to understand it. On top of that, it seems that Shane would not only disagree with the Greenes, but could potentially actually overtake the farm based on such a difference in philosophy.

This is why the relationship between Maggie and Glenn is interesting, because it acts as a melding point between the two groups. We originally get the sense that their burgeoning relationship is frowned upon, but their ability to understand each other is transformative, and an example for everyone else, should they choose to see it.

The Walking Dead: Your First Time Impressions - Rick Grimes and Lori Grimes /

Lori, Rick and Shane almost function as an opposite example to this, as they have so many secrets and emotions between them that nothing would likely ever get set right. It’s easy to find fault with Glenn for divulging secrets like Lori’s pregnancy or the barn walkers, but Glenn exemplifies the view — or maybe the gut feeling — that secrets are generally not a good idea when so much is at stake.

When Glenn’s barn walker knowledge passes on to Dale, Dale uses it as an opportunity to talk to Hershel and to better understand the reasoning why. This is obviously very different from how someone like Shane would handle it. Shane would see it as nothing but a problem to be dealt with, and fast. Dale seems to feel that there is opportunity here for both groups to learn, and Hershel does his best to explain why the walkers are being stored there, particularly that his wife and stepson are among those being kept.

It’s a view that is understandable yet ultimately impractical. Basically, Hershel represents a fear of change that is greater than the change itself, which may be his folly but also his source of strength. It is how he has coped with this world. It gives him something to cling to and defend, whereas letting it all go would make life seem amorphous and without meaning. Hershel’s weakness lies in seeing the alternate view as cruel and indefensible, when in reality it has more to do with survival and certainly has practical and even moral aspects.

Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohan) and Glenn (Steven Yeun) – The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

Glenn and Maggie further exemplify this clash when they travel to the pharmacy for Lori. The topic of how to treat the undead comes up, with Maggie offended by the mere word “walker” used to describe her loved ones. Glenn, like Dale and so many others, would note that these are not the same people she knew and loved, and in fact no longer even merit the label of “people.”

This point is driven home when she is actually attacked in the pharmacy, and Glenn is forced by circumstance to kill the offending walker. This apparently triggers a change in Maggie, because she returns to the farm holding Lori bitterly responsible for the experience. Of course, what really upsets her (apart from the attack itself) is that the experience has rattled her worldview, directly contradicting the opinion she had just expressed to Glenn that walkers were still people.

She also reveals that she has developed strong feelings for Glenn (very quickly, too), and that she feels his group does not respect him and is using him as “walker bait” to do things no one else wants to do (such as tangle with a certain walker in a well). In some ways she is right, just as Hershel isn’t entirely wrong about the farm being run his way. But, again, nothing can become normal.

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To further muck things up, Lori tells Rick she had a relationship with Shane when her husband was presumed dead. Rick conveys that he understands why and suspected as much, which could be seen as implying such problems occurred even before everything proverbially went to hell.

As if to emphasize this theory, we see how, after ostensibly pursuing Sophia and taking practice shots at meandering walkers in town, Shane and Andrea begin a sexual relationship as well. Not only does this make Shane look like a bad male stereotype, but it could also be seen as a stark contrast to Hershel’s desire for a simpler worldview. With all of these different characters coming to his farm and creating different dramas, how is he going to find peace of mind?

Dale is not entirely unlike Hershel when he confronts Shane about the threat he poses to Andrea and the group in general, noting that he had witnessed Shane raise his gun sights on Rick, and how he believes Shane had killed Otis. This was very courageous for Dale to say, but Shane’s only response is a thinly veiled threat. He hints that, if he really did aim a gun at his best friend, he could do considerably worse to his enemies.

Next: Episode 7: Pretty much dead already

It turns out that Shane is close to being diametrically opposed to Hershel and Dale, and that, in the end, worldviews only amount to so much rationalizing after the fact. While the Hershels and Dales of the world try to think things through, the animalistic Shanes go ahead and follow their gut instincts, not caring about the consequences and messing things up no matter what people believe. Allegiances are only preferences, and how we treat the dead hardly matters more than how we treat the living.

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