'The Walking Dead' Season 2, Episode 8 Recap - 'Nebraska' and Changed Men

An event as jarring as the barn massacre in "Pretty Much Dead Already" is bound to have some lasting effects on your characters' psyches. And if it doesn't, well... your writing isn't very good.

The writing on "The Walking Dead" is good, so we saw a lot of changes in our heroes this week in "Nebraska." Here are the three big ones:

Daryl

No one put as much effort into looking for Sophia than Daryl did. We fully expect to see Carol pretty shaken up after the barn massacre (and sure enough we find her unwilling to attend the burial and wandering in the woods, destroying the Cherokee roses), but it affects Daryl heavily too.

For most of the season to this point, Daryl had become a hero whose selflessness rivaled even Rick's: he saved T-Dog during the herd incident, went to look for Sophia on his own more than once, and did all he could to comfort Carol as well. But when Lori approached him to ask him to go into town, he snapped. To be fair, Lori had no right to call him selfish... but how will Daryl feel when he learns about the car crash?

Hershel

Hershel's first reaction is anger. "Get off my land," he says sternly to Shane and Rick directly after the massacre. "I mean it." But we find soon after that Hershel used to have a drinking problem, and this is just the trigger to send him right back to his old bar.

When Rick arrives to try to talk him back home to help treat Beth, who collapsed back at the farm, Hershel surprisingly starts taking the whole thing out on himself. "I robbed her of mourning," he admits. "I see that now." He goes on to call himself foolish for ever holding out hope, or believing there was a cure. It's a really wonderful performance from Scott Wilson, showing us a man who has completely lost his faith in God and in humanity.

Rick

Speaking of humanity, Rick is facing a pretty serious crossroads here. We've already seen Shane go off the deep end and become a Walking Dead of another kind, abandoning his humanity for the sake of survival. Already Rick's new doubt in his decision and his guilt (or lack thereof) over having to shoot Sophia has affected Carl: he tells Lori he would have shot Sophia too, if he had to. Lori is shocked to hear it, but honestly, Carl's starting to get a pretty good, pragmatic head on his shoulders.

For a while we wonder if Rick will continue with his old ways, maintaining his code of honor and his reluctance to kill unless absolutely necessary. But his conversation with Hershel sets something off, and when he encounters Tony and Hustla from Philadelphia, he doesn't hesitate to go all old west quick-draw on them when they get threatening.

Does it mean that Rick is closer to losing his humanity, like Shane? Maybe. Does it mean he's also a total badass? YES, GOD YES. Expect to see more decisiveness from Rick going forward.

Other notes:

-Maggie said she loves Glenn. Will Glenn stay at the farm if the rest of the gang leaves? It sounds like the fort is dunzo, so they might stay put longer. Maybe Maggie will go with them?

-Dale said outright to Lori that he thinks Shane killed Otis. Either Shane is going to get ostracized soon, or he's going to kill Dale. One of the two is going to happen. This kind of tension can't keep long.

-Speaking of tension, that scene in the bar was one of the more tense scenes we've seen so far in this show, and without a single walker! Nicely done.