At the end of the last episode, Lori's car had spun out of control and turned upside down as she tried to avoid hitting someone. Now, at the start of this episode, that person is trying to eat her. It's a great, thrilling scene and shows off just how good the makeup on the walkers is. While Lori is busy fighting for her life, everyone back at the farm is sitting down for tea before they notice she's missing. Shane speeds off to look for her. Meanwhile, back in town, Rick, Glenn and Hershel are dealing with the aftermath of the confrontation with Dave and Tony. When his friends turn up, things go from bad to worse. Rick admits to killing the two and says he had no choice, appealing to reason and saying that no-one else needs to get hurt. Unsurprisingly, that doesn't go down too well and they start shooting. The guys are almost out when one of the attackers spots Glenn and opens fire. Hershel takes him down and he screams out for help from his buddies. As they flee, one of their group jumps from a roof and impales his leg on a fence. As his buddy gets torn to pieces by walkers, Rick tries to save him. Hershel says he hasn't got enough time to amputate the leg and with walkers closing in, Rick just pulls his leg off the fence. Ouch.
In the meantime, Shane has found Lori and taken her back to the farm, lying to her and saying that the others had already returned. After an awkward conversation with him where he tells her he still loves her, Daryl reiterates his concerns about Shane to Andrea. Just as they're about to send out another search party, the three return. Shane, unsurprisingly, clashes with Rick and Hershel over their decision to bring the stricken man back with them. Hershel puts his foot down, telling Shane that it's his farm and if he doesn't like it, he can leave. Glenn and Maggie have an awkward reunion, with Glenn admitting that when the bullets started flying, he hid, leaving Hershel to take out the gunman. Andrea tells Shane that he's been right all along and that maybe if he wasn't such a dick, people wouldn't hate him quite so much. She has a point... In the final scene of the episode, Lori and Rick are in their tent and she turns the screws, pouring all of her fears and suspicions about Shane onto him. "He's dangerous, Rick, and he won't stop" she says, as the episode ends.
This really is an episode of two halves. The first is all action as Lori fights her way out of the car wreck and dispatches two walkers and Rick, Glenn and Hershel shoot their way out of the bar. The second is all intrigue and emotion. Carol and Daryl are spending a lot more time together and their mutual sense of loss and isolation may be driving them away from the group but it seems to be drawing them together too. Speaking of unlikely couples, could Glenn and Maggie be over? Glenn sees his moment of self-preservation as something that makes him an unsuitable partner. Grow some balls, man! Dale and Andrea may also be drifting apart as she tells him that she agrees with Shane that Rick is an ineffective leader. A confrontation between the one-time best friends is all but inevitable now.
Another excellent episode, the chaos and physical violence of the first half contrasting nicely with the war of words and scheming in the second half. It's nice to see Carol and Daryl sharing screen time together, they play off each other nicely. Lori is weaving her web, using Rick to her own ends as much as she used Shane once upon a time and they're both too dumb to see it. Bring on episode 10!
8 out of 10.
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