18 Miles Out

"18 Miles Out" is the tenth episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the sixteenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on February 26, 2012. It was written by Scott Gimple & Glen Mazzara and directed by Ernest Dickerson.

Plot
Rick and Shane come into conflict over the fate of an outsider. Andrea helps Hershel's youngest daughter face a crucial decision.

Uncredited

 * Amber Chaney as Annette Greene (Photograph)
 * Travis Charpentier as Shawn Greene (Photograph)
 * Jewel Wilson as Josephine Greene (Photograph)
 * Dustin Fletcher as Mert County Police Walker 1
 * Jake Garber as Walker
 * Kevin Galbraith as Walker
 * Chris Bozeman as Walker

Deaths

 * None

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Annette Greene. (Photograph)
 * Last appearance of Shawn Greene. (Photograph)
 * This is the first episode of the series that is missing half of the main cast (Dale, Glenn, Daryl, Carl Niall, Jason, Carol, and Sophia).
 * Despite being a series regular, Melissa McBride (Carol Peletier) and Madison Lintz (Sophia Peleter) are not credited for this episode even though they do not appear in it.
 * The title of the episode, "18 Miles Out", refers to the fact that Rick and Shane took Randall 18 miles away from Hershel's Farm.
 * Mert County is a fictional location.
 * During the fight with the walkers, Rick survives initially by covering himself with the body of a dead walker. Daryl Dixon used this same trick in "What Lies Ahead" to protect himself and the injured T-Dog.
 * During The Talking Dead of this episode, it is stated that the fight scene between Shane and Rick took four hours to shoot.
 * The lone walker that Shane sees in the distance appears in the intro sequence for Season 5 to Season 8.
 * Rick mentions plans for the coming winter, a recurring theme in the Comic Series.
 * Rick and Shane find that walker bites may not be the only cause of the dead coming back, which is another recurring theme of the Comic Series mythology. It is likely foreshadowing the revelation in "Beside the Dying Fire" that everyone carries whatever causes the walkers and all that has to be done to become one is to die without the brain being destroyed.
 * This episode explains that the car that Lori crashed in "Nebraska" was Maggie's.
 * The song being played during the closing scene of this episode is called, "Civilian", by indie folk rock group Wye Oak from Baltimore, Maryland.
 * Making Wye Oak as one of two artists whose work featured in a trailer, and in an episode. The other artist is, Sharon Van Etten, whose song, "Serpents" was used in both trailer, and an episode, though in Etten's case, the different versions of the song were featured.

Comic Parallels

 * Rick being piled on by walkers is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 50, where Carl is piled on instead.
 * In "After", the scene is adapted with Carl.
 * Rick and Shane brutally fighting is adapted from Issue 6.