Season Two - Episode One: What Lies Ahead

Lori and Carol hide under a car to avoid a herd of Walkers

Shortly after the group leaves the CDC they run into many cars stopped and blocking the road.  While they are deciding what to do, the group begins to rummage through the cars for food and supplies and it doesn't take long for a herd of Walkers to descend upon the group.  Everyone hides and survives, but Sophia, the young girl, is forced to run off and is chased by two Walkers.  Rick leaps at the opportunity to help and when he catches up with Sophia, he hides her by instructing her to stay where she is while
he takes care of the danger.

Before not too long, she is pronounced missing, even though all the danger has been cleared.  The group arranges search parties for her and tensions are high between many members of the group.  Andrea is upset with Dale, because from her perspective, her choice to commit suicide was taken from her.  Shane and Dale are at odds because Shane knows Dale thinks he is untrustworthy.  Carol is angry with Rick because she thinks it is his fault her child is missing; and of course Shane and Lori are undergoing much unrest.

Rick looks for a place to hide Sophia

Sophia's disappearance creates three distinct purposes.  The first is that Daryl is able to take charge and step up because tracking is something he excels in.  It gives his life purpose in a world where people ha
ve all lost their identities, because their jobs do not translate into this world.  Daryl's happens to.  Rednecks hunting down animals (or little girls as the case may be, hahaha) is an important skill to have so the group rallies behind Daryl and his optimism and enthusiasm to find her is infectious to the
audience even if it is lost to the characters.

The second purpose Sophia's disappearance creates is the constant reminder that Dale is the superego, or for lack of Freudian garbage jargon, he's the group's ever nagging conscious.  He admits to Tdog (who had to stay behind because he sustained a wound during the herd scene) that he had already fixed the radiator but was lying to the group about it to stave off the possible conversation about "the needs of the many vs. the needs of the few."  Dale is not about to allow a Utilitarian argument get in the way of saving Sophia's life, so he continues to give an excuse for why they are unable to leave.

Rick distracts Walker away from Sophia

And finally, Sophia's disappearance leads the group to church to question God.  The group must confront God in his own way.  Rick admits he's not much of a church goer as he faces the alter and even questions God's existence from time to time, but he begs God for a sign.  Some sign of hope, or direction, about Sophia but also about the broader situation.

And through the randomness of existence, Carl, Rick and Shane see a beautiful deer in the woods, and as Carl reaches out to touch it, the deer is shot through the torso, and the bullet passes straight through Carl as well.  Leaving us all with the question of was the sign from God the beautiful deer or was the sign from God Carl's shooting?  Are the two connected or disconnected events?  And how bizarre and twisted is it to die in this world by a random accident instead of by a Walker?

Watch the full episode here: