Our favorite moments from The Walking Dead season 2

Sophia Comes Out Of The Barn

Season 2, episode 7, “Pretty Much Dead Already”

Joe says:

While the first season was fantastic and had its own shocking moments, the reveal of Sophia as a walker in season 2 was an absolute game-changer that totally shifted my perception of the show.

As someone who is scared easily and refuses to watch horror movies but has grown up watching The Walking Dead, this was the first time where the brutality of the apocalypse really hit hard for me. I was a little older than Sophia when I watched this episode, so to see a kid like suffer such a horrible fate had a big impact on me.

The survivors’ reaction to a zombified Sophia emerging from Hershel’s barn shows just how mind-blowing this scene was. Whether it was the pained reluctance on Rick’s face as he has to put Sophia down, the shocked look on the usually-tough Shane or the despairing cries of Carol it was clear that the show would never be the same after this episode.

While I wasn’t aware of it when I first watched the episode, Sophia’s death was a massive and risky diversion from comics. This was one of the first occasions where the show really established itself as separate from the comics, and it worked to great effect. While Sophia survived at the end of the comics with a satisfying conclusion in the final issue, this decision helped the show carve out its own identity in a big way.

Last, but most certainly not least, this moment dramatically changed the arc of one of the show’s leading protagonists going into season 10: Carol Peletier. Sophia’s mother was often relegated to the background in the first two seasons after suffering from abuse at the hands of her now-deceased husband Ed. Seeing her daughter as a walker shook Carol at her core, transforming her from a timid, weak character into one of the most badass women in the whole apocalypse.

If you had told me that the Carol from this scene would be the one who fans are clamoring to take down Alpha one-on-one in season 10, I would not have believed you. That is exactly why this moment is the most memorable of season 2: Sophia’s death had massive ramifications on the characters and direction of the show for years to come.