Episode 2: "Bloodletting" starts with a flashback sequence, with Lori talking to a friend about Rick as she waits for Carl to get out of school for the day. Lori has a short fuse and her anger seems to get the better of her. What's worse is that Rick knows this and attempts to talk her down to prevent an argument from escalating to a point where they would both do things that they regret. It is clear that she is worried about her relationship with her husband, and unsure as to what the future will bring.
Just before the final school bell rings, Shane drives up in a police car. As soon as he steps out and starts to approach her, Lori knows that Rick has been shot-- which is one of the things she feared the most.
Shane tells her what happened, and that it is his fault, as he didn't see the third suspect in the vehicle. Lori doesn't blame him, but her heart sinks as school gets out and Carl starts walking towards them. She doesn't know how to tell him that Rick has been hurt. Shane offers to do it, but Lori refuses, and approaches Carl and tells him what happened. Here we see that she understands that when you need to talk with a child, especially about something so important, that you get down to their eye-level and speak with them.
The flashback ends, and Rick is running as fast as he can, carrying Carl through a field, struggling to hold him up as he goes. Shane and the hunter, Otis, are running behind him. Otis is overweight and out of shape, and can't keep up, so he points them in the direction of the doctor's farm house. Shane pushes Otis along, and they run after Rick.
As Rick runs up to the farmhouse, an old man named Hershel steps out onto the porch and asks if Carl has been bit. Rick tells him that he was shot, and that it was Otis that did it.
Hershel is a doctor, and quickly rushes inside, getting his two daughters and the other women with him to help get medical supplies ready as Rick brings Carl in and sets him down.
Hershel tells him to give them room to work, and Rick--numbed by shock and grief--steps back outside onto the porch. His hands are covered in Carl's blood, and as he rubs face he accidentally smears it on himself. Shane steps up to him, offering comforting words and wipes Carl's blood off of his face.
Shane supports Rick, who is clearly coming unhinged, and we see that even after all that they have been through, the two men are still good friends. Shane loves Carl like a son, and he says just what Rick needs to hear to get him to snap out of it. Rick has the same blood type as Carl, and begins donating his blood for a transfusion.
We learn how Otis accidentally shot Carl-- he didn't see him on the other side of the deer he was tracking and when he fired, the bullet passed through the deer and entered Carl's body, where it shattered into six fragments. Otis clearly feels awful about what happened, and wants to help the boy in any way that he can.
Meanwhile, Lori and the gang are walking through the woods, returning to the highway where Dale and T-Dog are waiting for them. Lori is nervous about the gunshot they heard, and worried about the men as they keep moving forward.
Andrea appears to be slowly coming to grips with the loss of her sister Amy, and sympathizes with Carol, whose daughter Sophia is still missing. Carol is worried and says that she's been praying that she doesn't wind up like Amy-- bitten and turned into a Walker. Daryl steps in, and in his own gruff way, tells her that they will find Sophia and that she'll be just fine.
Daryl is turning out to be not so bad of a guy. Unlike his brother Merl, he is capable of sympathizing with others. I think one of the reasons for this is that he is a survivor. He knows that in order to keep on living, he needs to be with the safety of a group of people, and that without someone like him around who has the right hunting skills, they would be in trouble.
Back on the sun-beaten highway, a feverish T-Dog starts talking to Dale. He thinks that they are going to be left behind, and because he is black, Daryl who is the brother of the bigoted racist Merl, will jump at the opportunity to get rid of him. Dale is alarmed by his words, and points out that Daryl saved him from the walkers when they passed by them in a herd in the last episode. He realizes that T-Dog is feverish due to the cut on his arm becoming infected. If he doesn't get antibiotics soon, the infection will spread to his blood, and that it can kill him.
At the farmhouse, Carl is screaming in agony. Hershel is pulling a bullet fragment out of his wound. Unfortunately they do not have any painkillers to give him. Rick wants to go and get Lori, but Carl needs him close by as he will need more blood. Shane tells him that his place is there, with his son. And that he would never forgive himself if something happened to Carl while he was gone to get his wife. Seeing Shane be so sure of himself and what he needs to do, Rick agrees to stay.
Hershel informs them that Carl is showing signs of internal bleeding and that he needs to perform surgery on him to remove the bullet fragments and stop the bleeding. In order to do that, Carl needs to be sedated--but if he isn't but on a respirator, during the procedure, he could die.
Otis speaks up, revealing that he was an EMT before everything went to hell and offers to help pick up medical supplies. He was working over at the local high school with an emergency unit from FEMA. The FEMA trailer is still there, and fully stocked with all of the supplies that they would need. Unfortunately, the school was overrun by walkers.
Shane says that he will go with him. It seems that when Carl was injured, he realized just how important Rick and his family are to him. In the previous episode, Shane had made up his mind and was going to leave the group. With Carl shot, he realizes that his place is with his friends, and that he is needed. Above all, he sees his chance to redeem himself and get back into Lori's good graces by helping her husband and her son.
Otis and Shane drive away in his truck, with the rifle that shot Carl in the truck bed. Neither of them are comfortable with this, but, it's the only one he has and they'll need it. Hershel's daughter Maggie, asks Carl where his wife is, and then rides off on a horse to fetch her.
Maggie asks for Lori by name, and tells her that her son Carl has been shot, and that Rick sent her to get her. She tells the group how to find the farm and rides off with Lori.
The walker gets back up, and Daryl steps over to it and says ,"Shut up." and shoots it with an arrow to put it out of its misery.
Andrea isn't sure that Lori should have run off like that, but the stranger (Maggie) knew her by name, and that's enough for the rest of the group.
We then see Rick speak with Hershel on the porch about the epidemic. Rick doesn't buy Hershel's optimism about nature finding a way for mankind to fight the disease that is turning people into the walking dead and refuses to accept that there will ever be a cure for it.
Maggie and Lori approach on horseback. Rick and his wife reunite, and Rick tells her that Carl needs surgery. Lori asks Hershel is he has done this sort of thing before and he says, "Yes, in a way." She asks him what kind of doctor he is and he admits that he is a veterinarian.
Lori doesn't want the man to touch Carl, but Rick points out that there isn't anyone else that can help him now. Begrudgingly, Lori concedes and accepts that Hershel is the one that is going to save her son.
The group reunites with Dale and T-Dog, and Glenn informs them that a woman named Maggie came and took Lori, and that Carl has been shot. They discuss what they are going to do, as they are loathe to leave the area with Sophia still missing.
Dale tells Glenn to take a car and T-Dog and head over to the farmhouse. When Dale points out that T-Dog needs medical help as he has blood poisoning from the infection, Daryl asks them why they didn't say so. He then digs out a plastic zip bag full of pill bottles and pulls out one full of antibiotics. He explains that he found them when he was fixing Merl's motorcycle, and that his brother kept them on hand to treat STDs when he caught them.
Daryl says that they will stay overnight, and leave a sign for Sophia in the morning to tell her where they are. Then he, Andrea, Dale, and Carol will join the others.
Shane and Otis make it to the high school by nightfall. They use flares to draw the crowd of walkers away from the FEMA trailer and then make a run for it.
They get in and grab all the supplies that they need. Unfortunately, on their way out the walkers see them. They are chased around the school, and make it to the front doors. Shane shoots the glass out of the doors and he and Otis slip past them and manage to shut the security gate before the walkers can get to them. The last scene is that of the two men, with their backs against the wall, with walkers trying to reach through the gate at them.
At the end of episode 2 not much has been resolved.
Carl is loosing too much blood. If he doesn't get surgery soon. He will die.
Sophia is still missing.
Shane and Otis might not make it back in time, if at all.
If you missed it, you can watch the recap of episode 2 here.
If you want to watch the actors talk about their characters and their actions in "Inside the Walking Dead Episode 202: Bloodletting" you can do that here.
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