Continuing our series of full episode reviews, The Walking Dead on Comic Booked brings you Episode Five of Season Two. Carol’s daughter, Sophia, is still missing. Rick and Lori’s son, Carl, is recovering after being shot at the beginning of this season. Daryl is still kind of a jerk to everyone, except Carol. And Maggie, Hershel’s daughter, and Glenn, the pizza delivery guy, had sex in the pharmacy. Now, you are all caught up.

Season Two: Episode Five – Chupacabra

The lead in to this episode shows us a flash back from before Rick wakes up in the first episode of this series, with all the people fleeing to Atlanta to find shelter. As Lori and Carl stand around and wait for the traffic to move, they meet Carol, Ed, and their daughter Sophia. Carl is hungry and Carol mentions that Ed is “into that survival stuff” and has some M.R.E.s, Meals Ready to Eat. She goes to get one and Ed stops her proving once again why everyone was happy to see him eaten by a walker. Shane and Lori decide to walk ahead and do some recon to see what they can see.

Helicopters, explosions, and all around panic are what drive Shane and Lori to run forward through the woods to see what is going on. The final scene of this intro is enough to show the feeling of utter hopelessness that grips many of the survivors in the coming episodes. Lori and Shane watch as planes and helicopters drop napalm, liquid fire bombs, into the streets of Atlanta, destroying their hope for a refuge.

Back to the now, Lori, waking up a little later than she likes, gets out of the tent and helps Carol hang laundry. They discuss wanting to do something for Hershel and his family, after all they have done for the survivors. Carol makes an interesting statement that people see Lori as the First Lady of the group because Rick is basically the leader. It seems like there has been some reluctance on Rick’s part to take up that mantle, but he is a natural and has really fought to ensure the safety of those who have followed him.

Rick, Shane, and the group gather near the camp to begin planning the day’s hunt for Sophia, who is still missing. We see the bond of family and community here as they all join together for this common cause and commit to saving one of their own. Darryl especially has shown a different side of himself in this part of the story as he goes that extra mile to try to find Carol’s daughter.

This is also the first time we really see Jimmy, one of the members of Hershel’s group that is not a relative. We find out later that he was Beth’s on and off boyfriend. He says that Hershel said it was okay for him to join in the hunt, so Rick allows it. Darryl is going to take a horse and ride the ridge to see what he can find while the others will begin using the map that Maggie provided last episode and search grid square by grid square. Also. we first hear about Darryl’s encounter with the legendary vampire dog, the chupacabra.

Speaking of Maggie, back at the farmhouse Glenn is sitting on the porch strumming a guitar when Maggie comes out of the house. Glenn jumps up and saunters over to her. He says “You know, we still have 11 condoms left.” Her response is priceless. “You see 11 condoms and I see 11 minutes of my life I will never get back.” What a burn… Does she like him? Doesn’t she? All I can say is that as Maggie walked away, Glenn looked like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football away for the first time.

As Rick and Shane walk through the woods, the reminisce, mostly because that is the only way that Rick can draw Shane into a conversation. Suddenly, Shane says they shouldn’t talk about this stuff anymore because all those people, all of that life, is behind them now. In a way, it is further away for Shane because of what he has done to survive. And the discussion delves into the biggest difference between Shane and Rick. Rick is about the people and his word and what it means to be a responsible leader. Shane is focused on survival and tactics and the lives of many at the expense of the few.

Darryl’s exploits through the rest of this episode can be seen as one of two things, either his commitment to saving this little girl or some sort of judgement on him for going off alone like some sort Lone Ranger. After climbing down to the river to find a doll, that may have been the one Sophia carried, he gets back on his horse only to be thrown when a snake spooks it. Rolling down a hill into the shallow river bed, he gets up with an arrow sticking through his side. Retrieving his crossbow, Darryl painstakingly, emphasis on pain, makes his way up the steep cliff, arrow still protruding.

At the camp, Glenn confronts Lori about the pregnancy test. She walks away and talks to Rick who has begun to question his stand on this search. Is Shane’s way of thinking, “basic math”, the best way to survive in this new world? In the end, he is saved from having to dig too deeply into this by Beth who was sent by Hershel to ask for Rick. The message from Hershel is “I’ll control my people, you control yours.”

Daryl continues to run into problems, passing out then hallucinating that he sees his brother. This does motivate him to wake up just in time to take out two walkers. He passes out and wakes up, cleans himself up and replaces the bandage, takes some lovely trophy ears from the walkers he killed and starts the long climb back to the farm. Daryl is a trooper, but out of all this, we get an understanding of the problem between Daryl and Merle. The internal struggle reveals resentment of Merle and a strength within Daryl that makes him a survivor.

Hershel is really not happy about the liberties that people from Rick’s group are taking with his life. It is clear that he has established a certain safe life and that this incursion is causing chaos that he does not want to deal with. This is especially clear as Lori and Carol are preparing dinner with Beth and Patricia. And he lectures Maggie about “that Asian boy”.

In the camper, Dale and Glenn have a similar discussion. Dale can see Hershel’s perspective. He is the host and they should treat him with respect. And not screw his daughter… or at least not let him find out.

Daryl comes staggering out of the woods and Andrea, who is the lookout on the RV, calls out that there is a walker. Rick’s first words are that they need to wait because Hershel wants to deal with walkers. But Shane is already on the move . Rick grabs his gun and runs along with them. As they get there and realize that it is Daryl, they are all relieved, until Andre, trying to prove that she can do something better, shoots Daryl.

Still alive but just grazed by the bullet, Rick and Shane drag the unconscious Daryl back to the house. T-Dog picks up on the small hope that Daryl found on his trip, Sophia’s doll. Hershel helps to stitch him up, but it really not convinced they can keep this up. Lori and Shane have it out over the fact that Shane wants to give up the search and uses his need to protect Lori and Carl as his excuse. Meanwhile. Dale and Andrea sit together on the porch and Dale says “Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ve all wanted to shoot Daryl.”

Through the dinner and what follows, we see the relationships that are forming and deepening or thinning. Maggie and Glenn, Carol and Daryl, Dale and Andrea, Lori and Shane. These things, especially the words that Carol says to Daryl, that he is every bit as good as Rick or Shane, are important as we move through this season.

During the diner, Maggie had passed a not to Glenn, “Tonight Where?” He had written back “Ever do it in the hayloft?” And the look on her face is one of dread and fear. As Glenn climbs up into the loft, Maggie runs out to the barn to stop Glenn from finding out the secret that lay behind the locked barn doors… a horde of walkers.

What an ending. This is the first time we see how “Hershel handles the walkers” and it makes you wonder what his intent is or what his feelings are about these creatures. I guess we will find out next episode. Thanks for joining the Walking Dead on Comic Booked.

Catch up on all the full episode reviews for Season One and Season Two.