The Walking Dead S2E7: How to handle a barn full of walkers
By Wade Wainio
How does one handle a barn full of walkers? That is the basic question of The Walking Dead’s “Pretty Much Dead Already,” and everyone has their own answer.
How should one handle a barn full of walkers? That is the basic question of “Pretty Much Dead Already,” the seventh episode of the second season of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Of course, that question is stuffed full of other mini questions. Everyone has a different view of what should be done, how it should be done, and why. Some people don’t think these things through very much, and are much more crude and action oriented, feeling that a serious situation needs to be addressed immediately, and forcefully.
[Note: There are points where I discuss the show’s characters as if they’re actually people, and like the events actually happened. Try not to think of that as crazy and just read along. Thanks!]
With that last example, I am of course talking about Shane, who is in many ways a man driven to madness by the world around him. Being that he’s not truly mad, he can rationalize what he does as mere outbursts, and claim he’s just doing what’s necessary to keep people safe.
However, Sophia, the girl who went missing earlier in the season, serves as an example of someone he ultimately could not keep safe. This is perhaps one reason Shane is quicker to write her off. Not only does he not feel responsible for her disappearance, but it threatens his narrative.
Yes, Shane could ultimately blame Rick for her getting lost, but at least Rick had given her a chance at survival. Rick had run off after her and defended her against ensuing walkers, thus stealing the glory of being the protector. However, Shane doesn’t want anyone to challenge the persona he’s tried to build for himself. He’s the alpha dog, and he must be ready to bite if he has to, or to sacrifice others to save himself (as we saw with poor Otis).
When Daryl suggests calling off the search for Sophia, Daryl Dixon reacts furiously, and the two almost battle it out. In contrast to this scene, Rick does everything he can to get Hershel Greene’s blessing to stay at the farm. He even goes to the ridiculous extent of helping Hershel gather stray forest walkers for the walker corral.
Dale Horvath is another interesting character in this episode, as he is driven not by anger but by concern, and even by some philosophical constraints. While he also considers himself a protector, he is not driven by anger, greed or lust. He may take his ideas too far and jeopardize the group in some ways, but his intentions are a little less sloppy than those of Shane, or even Rick. He is also more flexible in his views. Dale certainly does not oppose gun use for self-defense, but recognizes Shane as someone who should be deprived of dangerous toys.
When he attempts to impose de facto gun control on Shane in the swamp, Dale points his gun at him and asks, “Do I have to kill you? Is that what it’s gonna take?” He does not mean this so much as a threat, but as a statement against Shane’s self-aggrandizing beliefs. He seems to know that Shane will not back away, which is exactly why Dale considers him dangerous — even more so than the walking dead.
Indeed, Shane does not back away, proving Dale right. Dale then makes a profound observation: “This world, what it is now, this is where you belong. And I may not have what it takes to last for long, but that’s okay. ‘Cause at least I can say when the world goes to [fecal matter], I didn’t let it take me down with it.”
Interestingly, while Dale sees Shane as a problem, he may actually be making Shane worse by confronting him about it, courageous though it may be. As the saying goes, mess with the bull and you’ll get the horns. For all anyone knows, this may have brought out some of the worst in Shane (along with Shane’s strained relationship with Lori, Carl and Rick Grimes). Sometimes trying to impose morality leads to problems, even if the reasoning seems obvious. Shane coldly dismissed any validity in Dale’s understanding, saying that Dale’s “pretty much dead already.” But aren’t they all?
Before long we see the sheer inanity of Hershel’s own moral views, as we see the ridiculous scene where Rick and Hershel lead walkers on snare polls toward the barn. Rick, trying to be peacemaker with Hershel, seems to know this is not only dangerous but ridiculous, but presses on in good faith. Hershel, a faithful man himself, seems to want normalcy (that is, his view of normalcy) so badly that he is utterly unwilling to understand the nature of the world around him, and does not understand change, or want to understand it.
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Shane, of course, swoops in and quickly seeks to show Hershel the error of his thinking, blasting away at zombies to demonstrate how they are dead, not human, and a threat. While just a few examples may have sufficed, this wasn’t good enough for Shane, who proves he’s willing to endanger everyone just to prove a point. He frees the walkers in the barn, creating what is essentially and “us or them” scenario, and makes Hershel out to be an absolute fool. In other words, Shane takes a bad situation and makes it worse, as someone who wants to solve a problem sometimes must make one.
The group now has no choice but to confront the walkers. And it harks back to what Glenn said to Maggie earlier in the episode: “I forgot that [walkers] are dangerous. I don’t care if they’re sick people or dead people, they’re dangerous. And then I realized something else. That I don’t want you in danger ever. So I hate to blow your dad’s big secret, but I’m sick of secrets. Secrets get you killed.” Glenn’s philosophy is more firmly rooted in realism than perhaps anyone else’s here, but all the other characters certainly have their reasons. Philosophy is about us trying to sort things out, or defending our convoluted interpretations of how we’ve already sorted things out.
Of course, secrets are not what killed poor Sophia. In fact, philosophy seemed to neither help her or kill her. In the end, life is just a bunch of stuff that happens, and conflicting views only help place us in weird places. Where we end up in life on The Walking Dead isn’t entirely rooted in philosophy, and neither is where we end up in death.