Pretty Much Dead Already

"Pretty Much Dead Already"
The Walking Dead episode
Rick tries to convince Hershel to let his group of survivors stay at his ranch.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 7
Directed by	Michelle MacLaren
Written by	Scott M. Gimple
Original air date	November 27, 2011 (2011-11-27)
Guest appearance(s)
IronE Singleton as Theodore "T-Dog" Douglas Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene Emily Kinney as Beth Greene Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene Jane McNeill as Patricia James Allen McCune as Jimmy
Episode chronology
← Previous "Secrets" Next → "Nebraska"
The Walking Dead (season 2) List of The Walking Dead episodes

"Pretty Much Dead Already" is the seventh episode and mid-season finale of the second season and 13th episode overall of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on November 27, 2011. In the episode, Glenn (Steven Yeun) reveals to the group that there are walkers in the Greenes' barn, dividing the group on what to do. Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) sets a deadline for the group to leave, unless Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) does a difficult task. Meanwhile, Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) slowly loses his sanity after many secrets around him are revealed and Carol Peletier begins to question whether her daughter, Sophia will be found.

The episode was written by Scott M. Gimple and directed by Michelle MacLaren. The death of Sophia Peletier is a prominent theme in "Pretty Much Dead Already"; she was killed by Grimes following her conversion into a walker. Robert Kirkman felt that killing Sophia off would add more dimension to the show, and create more flexibility in regards to the progression of the storylines, as well as leading to very different storylines, with Carol outliving her daughter, as opposed to the other way around. "Pretty Much Dead Already" generated critical acclaim, who praised the episode's conclusion and the development of the characters. Upon airing in the United States, the episode attained 6.62 million viewers and a 3.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, according to Nielsen ratings. It became the highest-rated cable telecast of the day, as well as the fourth most-viewed cable program of the week.