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 death of Sophia Peletier is a prominent theme in "Pretty Much Dead Already"; she was killed by Grimes following her conversion into a walker.

Shane criticizes Rick for continuing the seemingly pointless search for Carol's daughter Sophia, infuriating Daryl.

Dale, witnessing this, warns Andrea about Shane's erratic behavior, and then distracts the others long enough to take the weapons from the camp and to hide them in the swamp.

[2] It features recurring appearances from Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, IronE Singleton, Madison Lintz, Emily Kinney, Jane McNeill, James Allen McCune, and Amber Chaney.

[2] Following the initial broadcast of the previous installment, "Secrets", writer Robert Kirkman teased the following episode "Pretty Much Dead Already".

"[3] The death of Sophia Peletier is a major incident in "Pretty Much Dead Already", largely affecting the themes of the episode.

Although he didn't question who the biological father was, Robert Kirkman felt that Rick was "smart enough to know that the kid's either his or Shane's and there may not be any way of ever finding out that definitively.

The episode became the highest-rated cable program of the day, obtaining significantly higher ratings than Kourtney and Kim Take New York on E!

[9] In the United Kingdom, "Pretty Much Dead Already" received 666,000 viewers, subsequently becoming the most-watched cable program on FX of the week dated December 4.

Eric Goldman of IGN evaluated the episode as "completely depressing", and added that the dark nature made the series excel.

[13] Writing for The Grand Rapids Press, John Serba opined that "Pretty Much Dead Already" was a delightful ending to the first portion of the season.

"[15] Handlen lauded the character development in the installment; "The episode puts a lot of effort into heightening the tensions between Hershel and Rick's people, and while it’s not exactly subtle, it makes enough sense to be effective.

[15] Digital Spy's Morgan Jeffrey avouched that "Pretty Much Dead Already" was "excellent", and added that the tension "slowly ratchets up to an almost unbearable level.

Janet Turley of The Huffington Post asserted that the sequence was "fiction not afraid to provoke",[19] while Goldman described it as an "absolutely horrific scenario".

"[20] New York's Starlee Kine asserted that it contained cinematic qualities, and felt that the scene was "satisfying, sad, and fun".

And how great was it that Sophia was dead instead of impossibly alive somewhere, holed up with Merle or Morgan or those warmhearted gang members in Atlanta.

"[21] Jen Chaney of The Washington Post echoed synonymous sentiments; "Really, the final moments of the last episode before the AMC series' December/January hiatus played like a fireworks finale on the Fourth of July, assuming your Fourth of July celebrations typically involve zombies and a pile of corpses.

[18] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly affirmed that the scene reestablished The Walking Dead to full form, as well as redeemed the season's "general gutlessness thus far.

"[23] HitFix's Alan Sepinwall reflected similar thoughts, and observed that it was effective enough to keep the viewers chattering until the succeeding episode.

[24] Handlen summated: "The Sophia reveal is a punch in the gut, because narrative fiction teaches us the longer someone stays missing, the better the chance they'll turn up alive; otherwise, where would the drama be?