Forty minutes of talking and mediocre rehashed plot and one pretty great, if somewhat predictable cliffhanger, to tide us over until February.

Glenn tells everyone about the barn o' walkers, because even though they've been there for some undetermined length of time with no issues, he all of a sudden is worried they could be in danger. Shane wants to get the hell out of Dodge (because he may be crazy but he's not stupid), but Daryl and Carol want to stay around for Sophia's sake. Presuming that she's not putting the lotion in the basket somewhere. Of course they have this great debate at the top of their lungs right outside the barn, which makes the walkers more than a little bit agitated. The idiots finally leave the barn vicinity, except for Shane who checks the locks.

Maggie is pissed at Glenn, though if she didn't stomp around and purposefully ignore him, it would be hard to tell as her facial expression is just a stare and a smirk. She went to the Lori school of emoting, where other recent graduates include Andrea and Dale. Carl is making plans for Sophia to return and for them to live happily ever after at Little Farm on the Prairie. Daryl tries to take a horse to go search, but Carol's negative attitude pisses him off. Apparently, finding this kid is his purpose or something, even if he's still largely injured. Dale gets all parental with Andrea about her choice in bed buddy. He really needs to mind his business because if I were Andrea, I'd shoot the old man in the face. Rick tries to talk sense into Hershel about the whole keeping-walkers-alive thing, but he's politely told that they have overstayed their welcome. Rick still thinks there's room to negotiate, so he tells Shane to hold tight on shooting up the barn… for a pregnant Lori's sake.

Maggie and Hershel have a really boring heart-to-heart that is blissfully interrupted by Jimmy saying that "it" happened again. The it in question is a couple of walkers (neighbors of Hershel's) who are stuck in a mud pit, and he wants Rick to help fish them out to prove that he can live on the farm by Hershel's rules. While Rick's hillbilly handfishin', Shane argues with Lori that he's a better protector because he's saved her life a bunch of times. The quibble over the details, but she tells him that it's not his baby, even if it is his baby, so he stomps off. Then he's faced with a self-righteous Carl who insists that they stay and look for Sophia. At which point, Shane is all riled up and ready to shoot something, but he discovers that Dale's decided to hide the guns and ammo in the woods. Daryl and Carol wander a bit, he sweetly apologizes and they see some more of the Cherokee Rose flowers and take that as a promising sign that they will find Sophia.

Glenn chases Maggie down, and finally explains his reasons for being such a jerk and telling everyone about the barn o' walkers. Turns out he's just freaked that something bad will happen to her. It's almost redeemable. Not quite, because he's really been an idiot, but there might be hope for Glenn yet. Shane tracks Dale out into the heretofore little seen swamps (they are getting a lot of action today), but they aren't in the same part of the swamp that Rick's in. Dale threatens to kill Shane for the greater good. Just add this to the list of reasons I hate Dale of late.

But because Shane's awesome and Dale's all bark and no bite, Shane takes off with the guns, returns back to camp and goes buckwild with a very visual demo on why walkers are dangerous (with one of the recently rescued swamp things), and then opens up the barns and makes everyone fight for their lives. Andrea, Daryl and T-Dog have no problem stepping up, and Glenn reluctantly joins in at Maggie's behest. Rick looks pissed and hopeless while Hershel looks like a broken man. But just when they think the barn is clear, out comes one last pint-sized walker… Sophia. Surprise! Or not. I mean, there was no way that kid could have survived out in the woods on her own for more than five minutes. (While watching this, I thought it was a little fucked up that Hershel knew all along that she was a zombie but still let Rick's people put themselves in danger searching for her. But during the Talking Dead after show, series creator Robert Kirkman said something about Otis being responsible for herding walkers into the barn, which was going to be explained in a scene that ended up getting cut. I really really hate it when important information like that is given to us outside the context of the show.)

Anyway, Sophia does the best acting of her life, with her fake contacts and growling and staggering out of the barn. Carol tries to run to her, but Daryl throws himself in her path. Carl is completely wrecked, and no one, not even Shane, wants to kill her, but Rick finally steps up and puts her out of her misery. And then everyone stands shell-shocked as we head into our winter break.