Alright, time for the Brits to step in ... well, the ones who waited for it to show on FXUK anyway... 
Dug the episode - loved the mirroring of Carl's post-shooting surgery etc with that of Rick's (excellent acting from Andrew Lincoln - when he staggers out of the house in a daze and wipes his own son's blood across his face by accident ... man ... that's some chilling stuff - excellent acting there).
Daryl continues to rock - some might say "oh that's handy" that Merle happens to have a shitload of drugs in his motorbike bag thingy, but in a world where you're surrounded by shit luck, I think it's only appropriate for them to catch the odd break - I mean heck, if you didn't you'd be shutting down plot bridges left, right and centre.
Interesting tweak of the casting for Otis - from a younger, scrawnier waste of space, to the dude with the eyes from Constantine and various other things - I like the change-up, and I agree, he's actually been useful here (well, after making the colossal bugger up of shooting Carl by accident, that is) - speaking of which, I loved the tension of Shane and Otis going for the supplies. When they craned up and revealed all the zombies milling around - ooh, loved that - and yes, I too thought "sky flowers" with the road flares ... a nice little touch there, even if it wasn't an intended reference. Also, naturally, them breaking into that building and closing that gate was TENSE - and pretty darn cool - some lovely close-ups on Nicotero and Co's zombie wizardry.
In terms of the continuing 'Dale taking Andrea's gun' thing - well, clearly the man cares a great deal for Andrea, and when in such a situation you obviously want to protect that person. Be it for selfish reasons to a certain degree or not, you care for someone and knowing full-well that they're in a suicidal state, you're not going to necessarily leave them with a handgun ... especially one that they don't know how to use properly ... it also makes sense from a practical zombie survival stand point. As was said, all these people running around with guns and not knowing how to use them - this was addressed in Volume 2 of the trade paperbacks as well, so it fits in with Kirkman's original plot - it makes sense for them to conserve the gun situation until they get a chance to lay down some basic weapons training for everyone. Indeed, with Carl having been shot, this could open up an interesting moral debate in the group regarding the use of guns, and whether or not Carl should be taught in how to use them ... something which, IIRC, was touched on in the comics.
Herschel - another quality choice of actor - he certainly feels like Herschel from the comics, and I think he's going to be a valuable addition to the cast. Plus - Maggie riding in on a horse and smacking that zombie in the face with a baseball bat was pretty darn rad ... and kinda hot. 
Lots of good character stuff - Dale continues to be a gentleman and a scholar with his head screwed on tight - the whole Shane/Rick/Lori/Carl thing was excellent - and I dig Daryl's sense of practicality and focus on the job at hand - after the awkward exchange between Andrea and Carol, it was nice to see him step in and essentially say that a bunch of platitudes and words won't help Sophia, but getting on with tracking her down in the woods will - I like his focus on the job at hand. Again, like so many are saying, he's clearly a very valuable member of the group now, which is good to see. Perhaps in later episodes we'll see a slightly softer side to him when he doesn't have to be on his guard all day long - I think that might be the reason that he's very one-track-minded in his focus at the moment ... there is no opportunity to let your guard down in his eyes. When he can take a breather, then perhaps we'll see something softer in his character - I'd love to see some further exploration of his backstory, and how he's clearly feeling that he's finally a part of something for once in his life - this group - despite the circumstances they all find themselves in.
I also agree that they need to find Sophia soon - or have a good reason for her being gone so long (which would either be she's dead ... which I doubt ... or she's been found by another family or group ... ... hmm, thinking about it, could she have stumbled upon Tyrese?)
My only problem had nothing to do with the show itself - it was the advert breaks - having FIVE FUCKING MINUTES OF BLOODY ADVERTS every 7-to-10 minutes of actual programming kept pulling me out when I was just settled back in to the show, which was annoying, but I'm determined to continue supporting the show officially on FXUK.
All-in-all - solid episode. It's TWD, so naturally I loved it, but clearly at this stage we're seeing various things getting set-up for later conflicts and story points - I look forward to seeing how this all progresses in time.
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Originally Posted by Thorn
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