Pretty Much Dead Already opens with tension. Rick and Lori are dealing with the fallout of her unable to keep her legs closed for Shane, while Glen keeps looking over at Maggie who is standing on the porch. He’s decided he doesn’t have a choice, to keep the secret any longer, and drops the bomb on Team Rick that the barn is full of walkers.
The barn full of walker ignites the group. Shane wants to leave while Rick and Daryl want to stay and find Sophia.
With the secret out Glen begs Maggie to talk, but she just breaks an egg over his head, not ready to make nice. While Maggie is taking her anger out on Glen, Daryl is stubbornly trying to go back out, wounded, to search for Sophia. When Carol stops him, he loses it.
As everyone is dealing with their sh*t, Rick goes to talk to Hershel.
Rick wants to talk about the barn. Hershel just tells Rick he wants his group to move on by the end of the week. He doesn’t want to talk about the barn. Rick tells Hershel that forcing them to leave would mean putting everyone at risk, including his pregnant wife. Hershel doesn’t want to hear it.
A little later Hershel tells Maggie that he gave Rick the order to leave, and Maggie uses his faith to show him what the bible would have said. Hershel struggles with what Maggie is saying but he gets pulled away when he’s told “its happened again”.
Hershel bring Rick with him to the creek. The bottom of the stream is soft and silty, and walkers get stuck there. Maggie must have an impact on Hershel, even though they didn’t really finish their conversation. Hershel asks Rick if he can stop killing the walkers.
Rick asks Hershel what they are going to do when the Barn gets full but Hershel doesn’t answer as they wrangle the two Zombies away from the stream.
Back at the farm Glen confronts Maggie, telling her he never wants to see her in danger again, and the words made Maggie realize he does really care about her – and smooching commenced.
While Maggie and Glen are making up, Dale and Shane are having it out. Shane wants the guns that Dale is trying to stash, and it almost comes to blows.
Shane is pissed, and that anger overflows onto rick and Hershel when he sees them coming back with the two restrained Zombies. This leads to Shane screaming about how a sick person couldn’t take multiple gunshot wounds to the chest – before he finally puts the walker down with a headshot.
It’s still not enough for Shane though, and he lets loose the barn zombies in a fit of rage, which leads to one of the iconic moments of The Walking Dead universe. After the team puts down the other zombies, the last walker out the gate is revealed. The team has found Sophia.
Pretty Much Dead Already Scoring
Pretty Much Dead Already is one of those episodes that you will remember for years to come. I still remember this episode when it was on the air the first time. I remember sitting on the couch with my older boys, and we all gasped when we saw Sophia. Pretty Much Dead Already scores a 100/100. It is a master class in suspense and character development.
| Season | Episode | Episode Name | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Days Gone Bye | 100 |
| 1 | 2 | Guts | 100 |
| 1 | 3 | Tell It To The Frogs | 95 |
| 1 | 4 | Vatos | 94 |
| 1 | 5 | Wildfire | 95 |
| 1 | 6 | TS-19 | 99 |
| 2 | 1 | What Lies Ahead | 95 |
| 2 | 2 | Bloodletting | 91 |
| 2 | 3 | Save The Last One | 83 |
| 2 | 4 | Cherokee Rose | 94 |
| 2 | 5 | Chupacabra | 97 |
| 2 | 6 | Secrets | 85 |
| 2 | 7 | Pretty Much Dead Already | 100 |
| 2 | 8 | Nebraska | 88 |
| 2 | 9 | Triggerfinger | 76 |
| 2 | 10 | Miles Out | 90 |
| 2 | 11 | Judge, Jury, Executioner | 70 |
| 2 | 12 | Better Angels | 75 |
| 2 | 13 | Beside the Dying Fire | 100 |
