By Karen Moul

It was another slow week on The Walking Dead. In TWD time Sophia has only been missing three days, but in viewer time this is week four and Darryl is the only person who cares if she's still alive. More and more it looks like the search for the missing child is simply a device to develop Darryl's character. And while it seems to be working (if forum chatter is any indication, he's a very popular character), viewers are increasingly frustrated with the glacial pace of this season's storytelling.

As usual the best parts of the show were the brief moments that centered on Shane. It's not clear what he's thinking, or perhaps he's not thinking at all. Last week he wasn't exactly lying about how Otis died, he merely omitted a few key facts. But when asked to speak at the funeral he added some dialogue that never happened. Granted, Otis' widow really put him on the spot, but Shane needs to be careful. The more he talks, the greater the chance that he will slip up and the other characters will begin to notice inconsistencies in his story.

Later, Shane's conversation with Andrea confirmed what we thought last week – that he isn't crazy, he simply did what he had to do. His brief monologue here was amazing. Shane spoke about instinct, making decisions, and acting without thinking because others are counting on you. "Somebody's gonna die, you better hope that you're the one that's making that decision." He basically explained to us what flashed through his mind in the moment he decided to shoot Otis. And in that scene he didn't seem like a crazy person, he seemed like a guy who had a split second to make a tough decision, one that he's perhaps not 100% at peace with.

And it does seem that Shane feels some degree of guilt. He talked about what it is like to kill a man and told Andrea "When you get it done, you have to forget it. I guess I haven't got that last part down yet." Perhaps the reason he's talking so much is because on some unconscious level he wants the truth to come out?

The big news, however, was the revelation that Lori is pregnant. In light of this situation the feelings she expressed last week make a little more sense. It seemed inexplicable that she really thought Carl would be better off dead. Now we know that when she spoke of this no longer being a world for children, she was thinking not of Carl but of her unborn child.

The other major development was Maggie and Glenn having sex. This went down almost exactly as it did in the comic, at least as far as her matter-of-fact offer and the complete lack of romance or intimacy. The comic, however, is not necessarily an indicator of what happens on TV, and at this point it's anyone's guess if this "one-time thing" will become a romance.

A few more things to keep our eyes on:

• Rick's loss of faith was evident again this week. What do we make of him very conspicuously putting his badges away? Robert Kirkman has said that The Walking Dead is a study of how extreme situations can change people. Has Rick lost faith in his moral principles too? Is he going to relax or even abandon his personal code?
• The zombie in the well subplot was entertaining but ultimately pointless. We learned that Maggie has never seen a walker killed. Team Herschel is very sheltered, they have no idea what it's like out there.
• Why doesn't Herschel want Rick and Co. setting up camp by the barn? What's in there? And more importantly, why is he so adamant that the gang can't stay permanently? Is he worried about scarce resources or is something else on his mind?