| "Secrets" | |||
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| The Walking Dead episode | |||
Glenn comes to the rescue as Maggie is attacked by a walker |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 6 |
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| Directed by | David Boyd | ||
| Written by | Angela Kang | ||
| Original air date | November 20, 2011 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Walking Dead (season 2) List of The Walking Dead episodes |
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"Secrets" is the sixth episode of the second season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, which aired on AMC in the United States on November 20, 2011.[1] In the episode, many revelations occur. Glenn (Steven Yeun) tells Dale Horvath (Jeffrey DeMunn) that Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant and there are numerous walkers in the Greene farmhouse; Dale in turn confronts Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) about the latter. Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) attempts to teach Andrea (Laurie Holden) how to use weapons. Lori agonizes over whether or not to keep her baby, which is possibly Shane's.
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Carl (Chandler Riggs), regaining strength after his gunshot wound, is back on his feet and helping Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) feed chickens on the Green farm. Meanwhile Patricia (Dianne McNeill) breaks the legs of several chickens before putting them into a potato sack, and carrying them to the barn to feed the walkers being kept there.
Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Lori argue about how to tell the group of Hershel's (Scott Wilson) refusal to let them stay on the farm once they get back on their feet. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) begs Glenn (Steven Yeun), already struggling with being the only one to know about Lori's pregnancy, to keep secret the presence of walkers in the barn. Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) quickly notices Glenn's nervousness and after being questioned Glenn blurts out both secrets. Dale goes to Lori and promises her that he will not tell anyone about her pregnancy. Dale also confronts Hershel about the walkers in the barn. Hershel asserts that all walkers are still people, and that they are just "sick." He explains that among the walkers in the barn are his wife and stepson. Dale argues that they are not human beings, and explains that they are too dangerous to be kept alive based on what he has seen in them. Hershel however considers killing the walkers to be 'an atrocity.'
Glenn and Maggie go off to the pharmacy to pick up additional medical supplies for Lori. Glenn, like Dale, expresses his opinion that the walkers need to be killed. Maggie is annoyed at his use of the word 'walker', saying that she knows those in the barn by their real names, as they were her friends and family. In the pharmacy, Maggie is attacked and nearly bitten while retrieving the supplies - she narrowly escapes after Glenn kills the walker. Returning to the farm with the supplies, Maggie angrily confronts Lori about her lies, saying that they almost got her and Glenn killed. After Glenn intervenes, Maggie tells him that she cares about him but that the rest of the group do not respect him and that they use him as 'walker bait.' Glenn however tells Lori that he is her friend, and again urges her to tell Rick about the pregnancy. Unwilling to bring a child into a world that she sees as without joy, Lori takes the Morning After pills Glenn gave her, but immediately throws them up. She ultimately confesses both her pregnancy and her previous affair with Shane (Jon Bernthal) to her husband, who reveals that he had already known about both.
Meanwhile Rick, Shane and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) give gun training to Jimmy, Carl and the women on the farm - after Andrea impresses Shane with her shooting skill, he takes her for advanced training. Despite her previous prowess she proves unable to shoot a moving target and storms off. The two then go off to town after Shane finds a lead on the missing Sofia, but find it overrun by walkers. They escape after Andrea rediscovers her shooting abilities, and the two subsequently begin an affair. Upon returning however, Dale quickly guesses that something has happened between them. Feeling protective, he warns Shane to stay away from her, and tells him that he witnessed Shane aim his shotgun at Rick in the woods near their old camp outside Atlanta, as well as raising suspicions as to what happened to Otis while he and Shane went searching for medical supplies. Shane denies ever intending to kill his best friend, but threatens Dale, hinting he would kill him should he make any more 'wild accusations.'
Compared to the previous episode of the show, "Chupacabra", the ratings "Secrets" received with adults 18–49 were down one tenth of a point. It was still the highest rated cable show that Sunday, with a rating of 3.1 in that group.[2] It was also the most watched non-sporting cable show of the week, with 6.8 million viewers.[3] While viewership was still high, TV by the Numbers commented that the continuing ratings slide of the show – along with that of AMC's other Sunday show, Hell on Wheels – was cause for concern for the channel.[2]
Scott Meslow of The Atlantic described the episode as one focused on love and relationships. He considered it wise to underplay the tryst between Shane and Andrea, which he predicted would not lead to anything serious.[4] Starlee Kine of New York magazine's Vulture blog complained that, even though she had high expectations about story lines that could emerge from the zombies in the barn, these were not met. She was disappointed about the amount of time instead spent on watching characters go through gun training.[5] IGN's Eric Goldman was also expecting further developments on the barn story, but he found that "quite a bit of strong character drama" made up for this omission. He also found the final scene between Rick and Lori both well acted and well written.[6]
Several commentators criticized the episode for being potentially misleading about emergency contraception.[7] Erin Gloria Ryan on the website Jezebel pointed out that morning-after pills do not cause abortion, as the episode seemed to imply. An actual abortion pill, the so-called RU-486, "is administered by medical professionals and wouldn't be available in a pharmacy", she wrote.[8] This criticism was echoed by Amanda Marcotte, writing for Slate's XXfactor blog. Marcotte explained that morning-after pills simply "work by stifling ovulation before any sperm can make their way toward the Fallopian tubes".[9] Glen Mazzara, the show's showrunner, responded to this criticism with the following statement:
"The producers and writers of 'The Walking Dead' are fully aware that the morning-after pill would not induce an abortion or miscarriage, we exercised our artistic creative license to explore a storyline with one of our characters, not to make any pro-life or pro-choice political statement. We sincerely hope that people are not turning to the fictional world of 'The Walking Dead' for accurate medical information."[10]
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