“Secrets” (Season 2, Episode 6)

After last week’s big reveal that Hershel has been keeping zombies cooped up in his barn, I went into this week’s episode thinking things would kick off big time, with the group being exposed to this discovery. However, “Secrets’ became very fitting to its title as only Dale learned of this news and things at farm carried on regardless. Instead, the attention in this episode was paid to some pretty awesome character developments and overall made for another well-scripted episode.

To start with, it seems as if Lori and Maggie were playing a game of psychological buckaroo with Glenn, burdening him with the secrets of the zombie barn motel, Lori’s pregnancy turned abortion and the fact that she hasn’t told Rick yet. After a couple of very poor and obvious awkward scenes Glenn finally kicked the lot and unloaded his secrets to Dale in the most direct way possible “There’s walkers in the barn and Lori’s pregnant!” – annoying fumbling reveal averted.

This was exciting to see, but what most of us wanted to happen next, didn’t, as instead of telling the group, Dale took it upon himself to play the wise old man and spoke to Lori & Hershel independently. Both of these scenes were performed well but were not half as great as the scene between Shane & Dale later on. Hershel did give us some reasoning as to why he would keep walker’s in his barn, revealing that he not only had friends in there but also family. His naïve hope for some way of curing them is very plausible given the situation, after all they are in a very remote location and he appears to have contained them well, for now anyway.

Maggie and Glenn’s trip to the pharmacy this time around didn’t go as well as expected, given the ‘success’ of the last visit. Maggie’s hand getting pulled through the shelving was a real scare and a brilliant sequence, Glenn appeared petrified and somewhat hesitant as he took a moment to choose the perfect weapon to fight the zombie off with. Selecting a piece of shelving was a great choice for a near decapitation but what really quenched our thirst for some zombie slaying was Glenn’s beat down afterwards.

What I like most about this scene was that it shows that Glenn can bring it when he needs to and that he isn’t just the show’s live bait or comic relief. Maggie really made this point hit home after she let loose on Lori, telling Glenn that he’s a leader and nobody else sees it or wants to recognize it. This was fantastic and hopefully that seed of doubt will develop later on, especially if Andrea nominates him for some more zombie fishing. Maybe next time instead of making a trip to the pharmacy they should just bring the pharmacy to them, given that they’ve got two, sorry three, horses now that Daryl’s steed has found it’s way home – I wonder if he saw Sofia on the way back?

A lot of fans would agree that this season might have been better if the group had left Andrea back in the soon-to-explode CDC. Her constant demand for a weapon was becoming increasingly annoying and I’m glad to see it’s been answered. During her and Shane’s exploration of the deserted community it seems we must have missed the part where she found a PS3, complete with the latest installment of Call of Duty. What other reason could there be for her vast improvement in shooting? 20 minutes beforehand she could barely hit a swinging log and now she’s picking zombies off with headshots. No wonder she was so turned-on returning to base. Shane Walsh – Kill Confirmed.

Finishing off the episode was a brilliant bit of acting from two of the show’s leads and the double reveal of both the pregnancy and Lori & Shane’s affair was very satisfying. Rick acknowledging her fling with Shane wasn’t something to be expected to makes sense in many ways.

As we approach the mid-season finale next week I’m really hoping things escalate quickly. It’s a great improvement to see how this season has slowed down and found a consistency compared to the extremes of the first season. It would have been nice to go out with some sort of a bang to make next week’s installment more eagerly anticipated but that shouldn’t take anything away from this being another solid episode. One thing is for sure though, we all now know the answer to the age-old joke, “why did the chicken cross the road?” – to get the hell away from that barn.

8/10

Scene of the Episode – Dale questioning Shane’s story on the night of Otis’ death and him pointing the gun at Rick in Season 1 made for fantastic viewing, very dramatic and full of intensity – just what the show’s about.

Reviewed by Rich Jepson, cult TV enthusiast and author of 24: Terrorism Through Television.