Secrets

SPOILERS AHEAD...

To all those complaining that nothing has really happened this season, I hope "Secrets" shut you up.

After discovering the barn full of Walkers at the end of "Chupacabra," Glenn is too full of other people's secrets and his head is about to explode. As Lori and the now-recovered Carl are feeding chickens, Carl notes the chicks they are feeding have no mother. "Maybe she got eaten," he says. Lori looks at him and he nonchalantly says "Everything is just food for something else." Cut to Patricia breaking a chicken's legs and throwing it into a sack which she wheels out to the barn, dumping several crippled chickens down to the hungry Walkers trapped inside.

Maggie brings Glenn some peaches and jerky and he tells her he can't keep a secret. "I"m a terrible liar. I can't play poker..." She tells him he has to keep quiet. He shares the peaches with Dale and T-Bone. When T-Bone innocently asks "What's up?" Glenn nervously replies "Nothing. Nothing's up. Why?" When pressed by Dale, he spills the beans about both the barn Walkers and Lori's pregnancy. 

Andrea apologizes to Daryl for shooting him. Daryl forgives her. "You were trying to protect the group. But if you shoot me again, you better hope you kill me." Lori visits with Herchel, who tells her that he expects they'll be moving on now that Carl has recovered. She then confronts Rick, who tells he's working on a way to get them to stay.

Meanwhile, Shane is going to give shooting lessons to Andrea, Patricia, Beth and Jimmy. Carl asks Shane to teach him to shoot but Shane is reticent, especially when he discovers Carl has stolen a gun from Dale's RV. After a mildly heated discussion during which Rick convinces Lori that Carl should be able to defend himself and the group, they all head out to shoot bottles on a fence. Andrea proves to be a very apt student and she stays behind with Shane for an advanced lesson. Dale confronts Herchel about the Walkers in the barn, saying he discovered them while on a walk in the fields. Herchel asks for Dale's discretion, which is reluctantly granted.

Meanwhile, Glenn and Maggie ride back to the pharmacy to get more items requested by Lori. Maggie is attacked by a Walker, which Glen partially decapitates with a shelf and then finishes off with a wicked-looking blade. When they return to the farm, Maggie freaks out on Lori, throwing the Morning After pills Lori requested in her face and telling her that the next time she needs something, Lori should get it herself. Glenn follows Maggie after she storms off, and after kissing him, Maggie tells him "You're a leader, but none of them treat you like one. Dead guy in the well? Send Glenn." Poor Glenn has no idea just how Maggie feels about him, and her mixed signals are no help. While lunch is being cooked, Lori becomes ill at the smell of the meat and Dale tells her a story his wife's similar aversion during her pregnancy. He also tells her not to blame Glenn for spilling the beans: "The boy has no guile in him."

In the woods, Shane is trying to teach Andrea to shoot a moving target with little success. He pushes her too far and she storms off (there seemed to be quite a bit of storming off, this episode). He follows her in the car and gives her a roundabout apology before inviting her to accompany him to look for the still-missing Sophia in a nearby suburban neighborhood. Glenn returns to Lori and gives her a bag of prenatal vitamins, advising her that she shouldn't make the decision to abort the baby on her own. 

Deciding they need to search each house, Shane and Andrea enter one to discover a group of people who tried to barricade themselves inside, only to die there. They suddenly find themselves under attack by dozens of Walkers and Andrea discovers she can shoot a moving target target afterall. As they are driving back to the farm, Andrea is overcome with emotion and horniness, grabbing Shane's crotch lustily. He stops the car and she climbs on him, accidentally honking the horn as they bump uglies.

Lori swallows a bunch of Morning After pills, but realizes she can't go through with it and runs off into a field to force herself to throw them up. Andrea and Shane return and an obviously jealous Dale confronts Shane, telling him he should follow through with his plan to leave the group and indirectly accusing him of causing Otis' death "I wasn't there. But I was there when you aimed your gun at Rick!" Shane warns Dale, "I wouldn't shoot Rick. I love him like a brother. But what do think I would do to a man I didn't even like?" 

Rick returns to the tent where he finds the empty Morning After packets and seeks out Lori to confront her. Lori tells him she threw-up the pills, but can't bear the idea of bringing a baby into a world of fear and pain. Rick sees the baby as hope for the future, but presses her to tell him what else she might be holding back. She confesses to having slept with Shane, which he accepts because he knew both of them thought he was dead.

An emotionally and action-packed episode, "Secrets" leaves us hanging until February when I'm sure some questions will be answered, while more are asked. leaves us asking questions that may or may not be answered before themid-season break. What will Rick do when he discovers the Walkers in the barn? Will Sophia ever be found? If so, will she be alive? When the group leaves, the farm will Maggie join them? Are Shane and Andrea now an item, or was their car sex a one-time thing? And what will happen when the barn walkers escape (because you they will)? I'm so glad I was mistaken and that there's one more episode before the break.

More, anon.
Prospero