Pretty Much Dead Already

"Pretty Much Dead Already" is the seventh episode of the Season 2 of The Walking Dead. After this episode, the TV Series went on hiatus, and it returned when the final 6 episodes began to air.

Plot Synopsis
The next morning the group goes to investigate with Paquete taking the lead. Daniel says he’s going to talk to Hershel about the barn and staying when Ruth reveals that Hershel sees the walkers as sick people, and with good reason. Paquete decides to leave a guard watching the barn at all times until they decide how to handle it.

Daniel asks Inês and Diana if they knew about it. Inês explains that Hershel threatened to kick them all out of the farm if they told them anything about it. Daniel understands and hugs them.

Kiko goes to speak with Maggie, but she rebuffs him by smashing an egg in his head and telling him that she had lost the little respect she had left for the group. Bruno and Cristiana discuss about the group leaving the farm. Bruno says that he doesn't want to leave the farm even after they find Ana and Cristiana reassures him that they won't have to leave. Sophia pursues Gonçalo into the stables and tells him not to go after Ana with what's happening right now and because she wouldn't be able to stand losing him too, telling her that he needs him with her. Sophia starts crying and Gonçalo embraces her.

As Hershel reads the Bible over lunch, Daniel goes to him to discuss remaining at the farm again and to tell him that they know about the Walkers in the barn. Hershel demands that they leave before the end of the week and Daniel confronts him about the reality that they’ll face. He tells Hershel – who only saw the apocalypse via the news – about what his group had to face and asks Hershel to let them stay because his farm is their only safe haven. In a final attempt he tells Hershel that the farm is special and that they need to stay there because he wants to protect his friends and his brother. As Daniel leaves, Beth and Hershel stare at one another in silence.

Meanwhile, Mariana asks Cristiana if she thinks they'll be able to stay in the farm. Cristiana answers that she believes in Daniel, stating that he's very different from the person he was before the apocalypse. Mariana asks about Paquete and Cristiana tells her that she thinks Paquete killed Otis so he could get away. "What makes you say that? He might be an idiot, but he's no killer", Mariana tells her. "Think about it, he arrived the farm limping, telling us that Otis stayed behind to cover him? Otis could handle walkers, he was the one who used to put them in the barn. And how did Paquete brought Otis' rifle back? There are lots of evidences, but nobody cares. I believe Paquete shot Otis, so he could get away."

Later, Hershel confronts Maggie while she is preparing lunch and asks if she wants the group to stay, citing that Sophia doesn't need their help anymore. She tells him about the encounter with the walker in the pharmacy and how Caramelo left her for dead, and how she was almost killed from people her father was trying to rescue. She asks him again to reconsider saying that some of them are jerks and dumbasses, but not all, being backed up by Beth who had developed a friendship with Bruno. Jimmy interrupts them to tell him that they've found two trapped walkers. Hershel decides to ask Daniel, who is planning the search grid for Ana, to come with him. Fábio confronts Cristina about her pregnancy and tells her that he’s sure the baby is his, revealing that they had some kind of relationship while they were in the farm. Cristina tells him that he doesn't want him to tell anything to the group, and he tells him that he doesn't want either since he has a girlfriend.

Johanne tells Paquete that they have to go after Ana and that they have to stay at the farm. Paquete agrees, but tells Johanne they may have to fight for it. He leaves her as he heads to the RV to get some guns.

Meanwhile, elsewhere near the camp, Gonçalo and Sophia are walking along a stream. Gonçalo tells her about how he feels ignored at the camp. Sophia reassures him that he isn't ignored and thanks him for caring so much for her and Ana. Deeper in the swamps, the group tries to extricate the walkers that are stuck. Hershel explains that the walkers will follow them; they just have to keep hold of them.

Back at the farm, Paquete starts handing out guns to those who could shoot. Paquete uses Illyana, Miguel, and Otis to spur the rest of the group to action. In the distance, Cassandra spots the group returning with the two captured walkers. Catching up with them, Paquete argues with Hershel about his view regarding the walkers. Paquete draws his gun and shoots the walker that was once Louise, saying that if it was a living human, it wouldn't be able to survive multiple shots to the chest and keep charging. Hershel, in shock, watches as Paquete puts the walker down with a bullet to the head. Seconds later, Paquete begins a tirade about how the group needs to start fighting to survive and that they need to stop wasting time on pointless endeavors like rescuing Ana and the keeping the walkers in the barn. Paquete lets the walkers free from the barn and they begin to file out one at a time. The remaining survivors, who can shoot, are forced to kill them as the Greene family watches in horror.

When they think it is over, a final walker's timid frame steps out of the barn and into the sunlight. The group realizes with horror that it is Ana, still wearing her shoes and white t-shirt, but her skin pale and her face in the snarl of a reanimated corpse. All guns are drawn as she slowly steps over the bodies of slain walkers, inching toward the terrified group. Cassandra runs forward in anguish, desperately screaming out her seemingly adopted daughter's name, and is held back by Leandra and Carina, while Johanne and Sophia cry. Nobody dares to shoot and barrels begin to waver. They agonize as if watching for any signs of the little girl who was once there. Even Paquete, who moments ago was in a furious rage over the group's inaction, is now taken aback in a stunned silence, unable to do what must be done. It is ultimately Daniel who steps up with resolve. As the girl nears the group, he steps forward with his gun, points it at the little walker, and pulls the trigger. Daniel, in the end, was the one who had the strength to do what had to be done in the post-apocalyptic world.

Deaths

 * Greene Barn Inhabitants
 * Shawn Greene (Zombified)
 * Ana Margarida Picado(Zombified)

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Ana Margarida Picado. (Zombified).
 * Ironically, Ana's shirt said "Sweet", representing the sweet little girl she used to be.
 * This episode marks the first time in the TV Series where Bruno kills walkers.
 * Executive producer Glen Mazzara stated that the barn massacre is referred to as, "Barn-ageddon."
 * This episode serves as the end of the first half of Season 2.
 * The name of the episode, "Pretty Much Dead Already," refers to the fact that Paquete told the group that Ana was already dead.
 * The Cover of this episode features a zombified Ana. It respresents Ana's death.
 * In the cover, Ana seems to have fed recently, having blood falling from her mouth, but in the series, Ana has no blood in her mouth or teeth.
 * In the cover, Ana's bite is concealed by her hair.