'The Walking Dead' Season 2, Episode 2 Recap - 'Bloodletting'

With a name like "Bloodletting," you can bet that this episode isn't going to be easy to watch.

Sure enough, the second installment in season two of "The Walking Dead" was plenty cringe-worthy, and with barely any encounters with walkers. No, the cringing was more a result of watching poor Carl scream in pain as a veterinarian dug around in his abdomen with a pair of foreceps.

Okay, let's back up a bit. Remember how Carl got shot?

Turns out that was from Otis (or as Laurie likes to call him, "The Idiot Who Shot My Son"), who lives a mile or so away and was hunting the buck for food. Luckily, when Rick arrives at the farm with Carl in his arms, he's met by Herschel, an elderly man who seems to know what he's doing. Only later do we find out that he's a vet, but it's better than nothing.

The only problem is, there are more bits of bullet still lodged inside Carl, and he has internal bleeding. Herschel needs to perform surgery, but he can't put Carl under without a respirator, which he doesn't have. So Otis and Shane have to head to the FEMA trailer at the local high school, distract some zombies with flares, and raid the place for supplies. Too bad they didn't have an exit strategy. RUN OTIS, RUN!

But interestingly, we were met with a rare introduction this week: a flashback to before the outbreak. It would be a nice, stress-free scene as everyone can mill about without any fear of being eaten, except that this flashback is on the day that Rick got shot, and we see Laurie get the news and tell Carl. This family has a serious feud going on with bullets.

Also interesting was the lack of zombies. With the exception of that chase at the end and one encounter with Andrea (who apparently just can not catch a break), there were few walkers this episode. More time was spent on the human aspect: the dynamic between Rick, Shane, Laurie and Carl, as well as the dynamic between Dale, T-Dog and the rest of the group.

See, T-Dog's cut on his arm is getting a little nasty, and the infection is giving him a fever. It's a problem that is solved by the end of the episode, but one that seems to be here to reassure us of something: Daryl is awesome. Not only has the dude been kicking ass and taking names with his crossbow, but he saved T-Dog's life during the herd incident and dug into his brother's stash of drugs to give him some antibiotics. Merle might still be a one-armed asshole out there somewhere, but Daryl seems to be a pretty good dude.

Two things that stood out to me in this episode: a fantastic performance from Andrew Lincoln (Rick) as he brought his son in. The mixture of shock and desperation was believable without being over-the-top. The other was this quote from Herschel: "Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start. We get out behinds kicked for a while, then we bounce back."

Optimism, or delusion? Is Herschel's view a little too rosy?

Meanwhile, how the heck are Shane and Otis going to get out of that high school?