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The Walking Dead Recap & Comic Comparison: Season 2, Episode 5 "Chupacabra"

Our recap of the fifth episode of The Walking Dead, season two. Warning: There are major spoilers in this recap!

Last night's episode of 'The Walking Dead' ended with a bang, and something predicted by every fan of the comic book. Obviously, the show and book will have a few similarities and a few differences. Last week, the group all settled in at Hershel's ranch, and life seemed to be getting back to normal. Sophia was still missing, Carl finally woke up after being shot, and got to wear his dad's sheriff's hat, and Glenn and Maggie got busy in the drug store. The big shocker was that Lori found out she was pregnant, but has yet to tell anyone. Check out last week's recap for all the info.

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As it is stated every week, this recap is filled with MAJOR SPOILERS, and they will not be blocked out, so you all have been warned.

== TEASER ==

Flashback

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Before Rick joined up with the group, Shane, Lori, and Carl were with Carol, Sophia, and her now dead husband. They are all stuck on a highway and Shane and Lori decide to move forward to see why they're stuck. The get to the forest and get a clear view of the city. Shane, Lori, and many other onlookers who were also trapped on the highway watch as the Army napalms the streets.

Cut to current day, Lori wakes up in a tent alone. She's slept in. She gets out and helps Carol with the laundry. Carol tells Lori that she wants to make dinner for Hershel and his family for being so hospitable, but she wants Lori to ask since she and Rick are closer to Hershel and the family after the whole Carl ordeal. Meanwhile, at the house Glenn and Maggie have a bit of an awkward moment. Glenn seems smitten with Maggie, but she couldn't care less.

The Search Continues

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The group splits up for another day of searching for Sophia, and Jimmy, a member of Hershel's camp goes with them, after saying it's ok with Hershel. Rick and Shane team up together. Shane is very quiet, and Rick knows the only way to get him talking is to bring up women in the past that Shane slept with. They have this surreal moment where they actually have this real conversation about Shane's sex life in this very unreal situation. While on the search, Shane voices his opinion that it's been three days since Sophia ran away, and in the "cop world," after 72 hours, all you find is corpses. Shane and Rick have differences on opinion.

Daryl's Search

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Daryl took a horse from Hershel and is on the search by himself. While riding, he spots a doll in a pond down a steep hill and ventures a bit closer to see what it is. A snake scares the horse Daryl is riding and bucks him off. Daryl falls to the bottom of the hill and into the water, and sees that one of his arrows has pierced his torso. Daryl is bleeding quite a bit.

Daryl slowly pulls himself out of the water, and he makes his way to shore and looks for a way out. He rips the sleeves off of his shirt and ties off his torso in hopes of slowing down the blood loss and grabs the doll, which was Sophia's. He begins to climb back up to the top.

Drama All Around at Camp

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Back at the camp, Glenn quickly realizes what he grabbed for Lori, the day before, at the pharmacy, and that Lori is pregnant. Lori hints at the fact that no one knows yet, not even Rick. Lori bumps into Rick and Shane is brought up and how he does not want to stay and find Sophia. Lori tells Rick to keep doing what he's doing.

Hershel is not happy with Rick one bit. He is not happy that Jimmy went on the search with them and that Daryl took a horse. All without his permission. Hershel tells Rick that he needs to know everything about what is going on at the camp. Tension builds between the two leaders.

Daryl and Merle

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Daryl falls down the hill, again, and he gets knocked out. He wakes to see his brother, Merle, above him. (Merle cut his own hand off after Rick handcuffed him to a rooftop in the first season, and hasn't been seen since) It's not truly his brother, just a vision, since Merle has both of his hands. Merle gives a Daryl a pep-talk about pulling the arrow out and to stop being a wuss.

Daryl fully wakes up to see a walker trying to bite his foot, and another one coming through the woods. Daryl bashes the head on the first one in, pulls the arrow out of his side, and uses said arrow to shoot the other walker in the head. Daryl makes his way back to the farm, where Hershel tells Maggie not to get close to Glenn because they won't be around forever. Dale and Glenn have a talk themselves about love and ladies, and Glenn reveals to Dale that he and Maggie had sex.

Walker Comin!

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Andrea is hanging out on top of the RV on watch... with a gun. Andrea spots what she thinks is a walker off in the distance. She wants to shoot it, but Dale insists she shouldn't, as Shane, Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn go to handle the walker face-to-face, so they don't need to shoot.

As the guys get to the walker, they realize it is a battered and bruised Daryl, but before they can say anything, Andrea shoots Daryl. Hershel runs out of the house pissed off. Daryl is just grazed by the temple. He'll be fine.

The Barn! (Finally!)

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During the incredibly awkward and quite dinner between the two camps, Maggie hands Glenn a note asking where he wants to meet up. Glenn responds and hands it back to him, but Maggie doesn't read it because Hershel is watching her closely. After dinner, Maggie opens the note and it says, "ever done it in a hayloft?" Maggie's face turns to horror.

Glenn strolls to the barn, and tries to open up the front. It's locked up tight. Glenn finds a way to get to the hayloft from the outside and tries to find a good place to settle down. He hears something in the barn and peers down to see it's filled with walkers. Maggie runs in and says "you weren't supposed to see this."

Compared to the Comic

Hershel: Issue #11
Hershel: Issue #11

If you've read the comic, then you know the whole ordeal with Carl getting shot and Hershel fixing him up is about 6 pages long.

However, the best comparison to the book is the ordeal with the barn. In issue #11, Hershel gets confused to why Rick's group is shooting the walkers, and he quickly reveals that he just puts them all in the barn. Cue walker blood bath.

There are some smaller moments, within this episode, like Glenn and Maggie growing closer, Lori's pregnancy, and Shane becoming a cold and hostile human being that are, in one aspect or another, in the comic book, but they happen at different times. We also get some foreshadowing of Andrea as a sniper.

The show is mixing up the chronological order of events from the book a bit, but it's worth it. Shane, although you may hate him and want him to die, is still alive and a great character to have on the show. What did you guys think about the episode? Anyone else excited to see the next episode for the walker blood bath?

26 Comments

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Iron_Turtle

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Edited By Iron_Turtle

Andrea. Dead. Please.

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perry_411

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Edited By perry_411

@Ganthetsward20: Shane is there to show how "noble" Rick is. Shane and Daryl are the only interesting arcs

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Osiris1428

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Edited By Osiris1428

I want Carl to put a bullet in Shane's neck!!!!

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Eyz

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Edited By Eyz

Haha! Awesome!

All around good adaptation.

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NXH

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Edited By NXH

The scenes with just Daryl were no doubt the best in the whole episode.

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Xaviersx

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Edited By Xaviersx

I liked the episode and the direction the show is taking, though the logic of characters is still of the head scratching nature . . . the moving about areas as if danger didn't lurk around most corners kind of thing. I appreciate the extended presence of Shane, something Kirkman agrees went too quickly in the books, and the addition of at least Daryl. These changes make what would almost be dull to be fresh enough . . . though the little girl lost padding of the episodes does not seem worth whatever payoff could come of it. If she's found as a zombie who takes out her mom, maybe . . but that's depressing, and if shes in the care of someone else, it better lead to an interesting arch in the survivors continued trek . . . whether for bad or good because up until the barn, . . .it's been kinda boring and sometimes irritating but still entertaining. What other zombie show do we have to see weekly, . . .

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CATPANEXE

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Edited By CATPANEXE

I was lacking in adjectives. Also I was having tremors after watching it and didn't want to be alone.

This show is worth it's ability to move and impact alone. That's the kind of thing that grace Little House the power to gain

the accolades it did. Most shows currently can't really pull that off when they're even trying.

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Mutant God

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Edited By Mutant God
@Thunderscream said:

@Mutant God said:

I say Sophia was kidnapped by Merle

What if they do fill Merle in as the Governer...if that's the case, would Sophia fulfill the role of the little zombie girl he, uh, kisses and stuff? blech

That idea made me sad because I could actually see that happening: Merle turning sophie into a zombie to get back at the others and using her like a guard dog/weapon
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fodigg

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Edited By fodigg

I blogged about something that came up in this episode. Walking Dead and Charged Language in Writing:

During last night's episode of The Walking Dead TV show (season 2, episode 5 "Chupacabra"), the character of Merle made a pseudo-return to the show via fevered hallucination (I'll say no more to avoid spoilers) and in that appearance the character used a racial slur to describe the rest of the group that his brother Daryl is traveling with. This term was almost certainly aimed at the one black member of the group, T-Dog. One of my twitter buddies who also watches the show immediately commented on this:

I think we all remember that he was racist. Was that really necessary? #walkingdead

This is an important topic. Should writers use charged terms--hate-speech terms--in their fiction?

Keep reading...

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The Impersonator

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Edited By The Impersonator

Anyone else excited to see the next episode for the walker blood bath?

H*LL YEAH!

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@inferiorego said:

@Ganthetsward20:as much as I want Shane to die, I kind of like him just being an antagonist. I'm growing to love how horrible of a person he is.

QFT. In my opinion he's one of the most interesting characters in the cast.

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Thunderscream

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Edited By Thunderscream

@Mutant God said:

I say Sophia was kidnapped by Merle

What if they do fill Merle in as the Governer...if that's the case, would Sophia fulfill the role of the little zombie girl he, uh, kisses and stuff? blech

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haydenclaireheroes

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This was a good episode for Daryl. A lot happened to his character and can't wait to see if they find Sophia. I thought they were going to find her since we saw her doll and since Daryl almost died. But I guess we are going to have to wait and see what is going on with Sohia. Also the ending was a great cliffhanger. My guess the reason the zombies are locked in the barn is because the zombie are family members of Hershel. When we first met Hershel he said, "we lost a lot of people", and I am guessing the people he lost got bitten by zombies and as they started to transform he locked them in the barn. I guess we will have to wait and see.

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RedheadedAtrocitus

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The barn thing was AWESOME! I was all cheers knowing they'd bring it about. Kinda disappointed Merle's return wasn't what we all thought it was, but what an episode! Wow.

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inferiorego

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Edited By inferiorego  Staff

@Mutant God said:

I say Sophia was kidnapped by Merle

I love that theory.

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Ganthetsward20

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Edited By Ganthetsward20

@danhimself: thats is probably a good way to look at it

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Mutant God

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Edited By Mutant God

I say Sophia was kidnapped by Merle

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danhimself

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Edited By danhimself

@Ganthetsward20 said:

i thought the episode was great for the show, but i'm really wishing Shane was dead, i cant stand the ass >:.( I think the search for Sofia is important, they keep finding things of hers so she must be close. Even if she has turned lets put to rest one big thing, after all we're still wondering about Merl, and what cause all of this, and where Duane and his dad are in all this crazyness. I want to know what happened to her to end that unanswered question.

just think of the show as a What If...Shane had lived? universe...that's what I've been doing

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Bruce Vain

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Edited By Bruce Vain

Oh and more thing. I get this feeling that Carol & Darryl might hook up. Which is good, because Carol went a little crazy in the comics obsessing over Lori. So she needs that kind of solid structure from a man that doesn't beat her.

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Bruce Vain

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Even though Darryl isn't from the comics. I absolutely love his character, and hope he'll be included into the comics. Similar, to how Harley Quinn started out. I honestly love Shane, and that's a guy I don't want to see die. Do I agree with what he did to Otis? Not too much, but do I think he's a strong character that can make calls that Rick can't? Hell yeah I do! I just hate to see him starting to unhinge, and Lori isn't helping. I think with these flashbacks, help give a better look at who Shane is and how he DID try to save Rick when he was in a coma, and the great good he's done to save Lori & Carl. As far as this Sophia being lost crap. I'm getting pretty bored of this storyline. It's starting to take its toll on being boring and played out. I mean seriously, how is that they can't find her? I mean why couldn't she just listen to Rick and STAY WHERE HE TOLD YOU TO STAY AND FOLLOW THE PATH HE TOLD YOU TO FOLLOW? I mean shit finding that highway is not impossible. If that was her that found that abandoned house & eating those sardines. I'm pretty sure she could find her way back. My only other logical idea that could've possibly happened to her, besides being attacked by a walker, is her being kidnapped. Like you said, the show is starting to jump around chronologically a little bit. So maybe it's those cannibals or the Governor's people. Now for Andrea. I'm just going to flat out and say it. The bitch is starting to get on my nerves. I love her in the comics, but right now I'm not loving her as how she's being portrayed. Just the constant bitching about wanting her gun and not wanting to be a victim, and not listening to the group leaders. But f%$king panicking everytime she sees a walker or has to fight one. Like seriously if you'r going to bitch about it and preach on that crap about not being a victim and wanting a gun, then don't act like a chicken shit when you confront a zombie - SERIOUSLY,MAN! I mean you can see it on the clip they showed on the Talking Dead. Like with when she thought Darryl was a zombie, and Rick told her NOT to fire the gun. What did she do? She didn't effing listen, what a surprise. I mean use your head woman. You have 4 guys with weapons in their hand going to take out of what they thought was a zombie. Do you really think they need your "help" taking it out? And another thing, don't you think that gunfire could attract more? I mean seriously I want someone to tell her knock off her shit, and shut the eff up. Anyways, overall a good solid episode. Highlight of it was Darryl, and his surviving skills, and the very end with the barn. I just hope they start picking up the pace by finding Sophia, cause shit is getting old, and Andrea knocks her crap off.

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inferiorego

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Edited By inferiorego  Staff

@Mucklefluga said:

I don't remember a Daryl in the comics?! Who is he or am i just forgetting him?

He's not in the books, but he's super-awesome

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Ganthetsward20

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Edited By Ganthetsward20

he does keep things interesting and makes the show less predictable if you have read the comics

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Mucklefluga

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Edited By Mucklefluga

I don't remember a Daryl in the comics?! Who is he or am i just forgetting him?

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inferiorego

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Edited By inferiorego  Staff

@Ganthetsward20:as much as I want Shane to die, I kind of like him just being an antagonist. I'm growing to love how horrible of a person he is.

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Ganthetsward20

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Edited By Ganthetsward20

i thought the episode was great for the show, but i'm really wishing Shane was dead, i cant stand the ass >:.( I think the search for Sofia is important, they keep finding things of hers so she must be close. Even if she has turned lets put to rest one big thing, after all we're still wondering about Merl, and what cause all of this, and where Duane and his dad are in all this crazyness. I want to know what happened to her to end that unanswered question.