18 Miles Out
Directed by Ernest Dickerson
Rick: We are. 18 miles out.
The episode opens In Medias Res with Rick and Shane fleeing from a group of walkers. Shane locks himself in a school bus, while a bound Randall crawls towards a knife laying on the ground...
Some time earlier, Rick and Shane are driving, with Randall tied up and locked in the car's trunk. They've headed 18 miles away from Hershel's farm to the municipality of Mert County to let Randall go. Before reaching their destination, Rick stops the car and tells Shane he knows the latter's secret - that Shane had an affair with Lori. Rick indicates, in no uncertain terms, that he will do whatever it takes to protect his family.
At the farm, Maggie talks to Lori about the conversation she had with Glenn in the previous episode. Lori tells Maggie (after hearing about Glenn losing his confidence) that he needs to "man up". Later on, Lori brings Beth some food. Beth asks Lori how she can raise a baby in such a cruel world, and Lori tells her she doesn't have a choice.
Rick drives to a public works station, and goes to survey the area with Shane. A walker (who used to be a police officer) approaches the fence that surrounds the facility. Although Shane wants to shoot it, Rick shows him an alternate method, via drawing it in with a blood smear and stabbing it in the head. Shane dispatches another walker in this way, and Shane notes that neither of the walkers were bit, leading Rick to hypothesize that they were scratched.
Meanwhile, Lori discovers that Beth hasn't touched her food, is crying about how pointless life is, and has stolen a knife from the tray. Fearing what she could to do herself, Lori confronts Beth and takes the knife back.
Rick and Shane bring Randall out of the trunk, lay him on the ground and set a knife near him. Randall begs for his life, and reveals that he went to school with Maggie. Rick then realizes that Randall knows where the farm is, and Shane attempts to shoot Randall, narrowly missing after Rick throws his aim off. Shane accuses Rick of putting Lori and Carl in danger, and begins to physically fight with the latter, while Randall begins to crawl over to the knife. Angered, Shane grabs a wrench off the ground and throws it at Rick, who dodges the projectile. The wrench ends up breaking a window, which alerts a horde of walkers inside to being pouring out. Freaking out, Shane runs away, Rick kills several walkers who pile on top of him, and Randall frees himself and kills a walker.
Maggie, having heard about Beth's actions, scolds her for considering suicide. Andrea (who has been listening in to the conversation) tells Lori that Beth has the right to choose how to live, but Lori counters by explaining how Andrea got through her "death wish" by being lazy and not contributing to the group. Meanwhile, Beth tries to convince Maggie that they should both end their lives, and a frustrated Maggie leaves. Andrea approaches Beth and tells her that "the pain doesn't go away". Sometime later, Lori checks up on Beth, only to discover that she broke a mirror and cut her wrist, but couldn't go through with the act.
Shane locks himself in a school bus, while Rick grabs Randall (along with the two officer's handguns) and runs off. Shane looks on in despair as the walkers attempt to open the door. As he resigns himself to death, Rick and Randall barrel in with the SUV to rescue him. Shane runs out the back of the bus and jumps into the SUV before it speeds away.
Andrea, having learned of Beth's suicide attempt, is happy to learn she couldn't go through with the act. However, Maggie (having learned of what happened from Lori) is furious, and tells Andrea never to set foot near her or the house again.
Rick and Shane drive back to the farm with Randall tied up again in the trunk. Rick admits to Shane that he'll probably kill Randall, but he still wants to think it over. He then indicates to Shane to either follow his lead if he wants to stay with the group.
Tropes:
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Shane is hellbent on killing Rick... until the wrench he throws at Rick's head breaks a window and causes a horde of walkers to start spilling out. Cue Shane giving an Oh, Crap! face and running away.
- Berserk Button: When Shane tells him that he can't keep his family safe, Rick loses it and starts whaling on Shane.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shane looks resigned to dying while he's trapped in the school bus... until he hears a horn blaring and looks out to see Rick and Randall barrelling into the parking lot at top speed to save him.
- Boom, Headshot!: A variation - after three walkers pile up on top of him, Rick sticks his weapon in the mouth of the one attempting to bite him, lines up the heads of the other two (who are right on top) and pulls the trigger, killing all three at once.
- Bottle Episode: The majority of the episode takes place in an isolated location, while the only characters to appear are Rick, Shane, Randall, Maggie, Lori, Andrea and Beth.
- Call-Back: Rick pulls a walker over himself to hide from the horde coming through the broken window at the public works building, much like Daryl does with T-Dog and himself in "What Lies Ahead".
- Chekhov's Gun: Rick and Shane kill two walkers (who were police officers) near the beginning of the episode. When Rick flees from the horde exiting through the broken window, he stops to pick up the handguns off the two officer-walkers' bodies, then returns to save Shane while firing both guns at the same time.
- Continuity Nod: When Shane tries to make amends with Rick at the beginning of the episode, he references himself trying to save Rick at the hospital (which was seen in the pre-apocalypse flashback in "TS-19".
- Driven to Suicide: Beth wants to do this because of her view that the world is hopeless and there is nothing good that can come out of it. Subverted. She tries, but ultimately fails, to carry out the deed.
- Foreshadowing:
- Rick indicates to Shane that they should start amassing supplies for the winter, which is later done in "Better Angels".
- The discussion where Shane notes that the two officers turned without being bitten is followed-up on in "Better Angels" and "Beside The Dying Fire".
- After Shane throws the wrench at Rick and smashes a window, he looks at his face on the window's reflections. His face resembles that when he dies and reanimates into a walker at the climax of "Better Angels".
- Hollywood Healing: Randall being able to run after what happened to his leg is stretching it just a bit.
- The Idealist: Rick believes that he can let Randall go without the latter finding out where the farm is, and bring Shane back in line. He ultimately fails when he realizes Randall knew Maggie from high school (thus knowing the location of the farm), and begrudgingly admits that Shane was right.
- In Medias Res: The episode starts in the midst of the walker attack at the station, then flashes back to Rick and Shane driving Randall out to the location.
- No Communities Were Harmed: The fictional Mert County in Georgia.
- Oh, Crap!: Shane realizing a horde of walkers is pouring out of the window he broke, and are coming for him.
- P.O.V. Cam: Randall as the blindfold is taken off his head at the beginning of the episode, and again when he's tied up and put in the trunk again.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Everyone understandably gave Andrea flak for letting Beth attempt at suicide. The thing is, the vast majority of suicide victims that choose methods that aren't immediately lethal instantly regret the act the moment they commit to it. Some of them can't commit to the act at all just from the anticipation of pain. There were far better ways at getting her to see that living was the better choice, however.
- Saying Too Much: While begging for his life, Randall reveals that he went to high school with Maggie...which means that he knows where the farm is, which means he could potentially lead his people there, which is the exact reason that Rick and Shane were considering killing him.
- Stealth Pun: Shane arguing that they should finish off Randall while Rick tries to shield him. And they're both cops.
- Wham Line: Randall revealing that he knew Maggie from high school sets off a chain of events involving Rick and Shane's conflict.Randall: I went to school with Maggie, for God's sake!
- What the Hell, Hero?: Maggie calls out Andrea for giving Beth the means to attempt suicide, and tells the latter not to set foot near the house again.
