Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Season premiere review: 'The Walking Dead' - 'Seed': The parting glass

Rick and the group seek shelter in an abandoned prison

By Alan Sepinwall Sunday, Oct 14, 2012 10:00 PM

Danai Gurira as Michonne in "The Walking Dead."

Credit: AMC

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"The Walking Dead" is back for a new season. I reviewed the beginning of the season on Thursday, and I have a few specific thoughts on the season premiere coming up just as soon as I eat an owl...

As I wrote on Thursday, "Seed" is a terrific episode, continuing the show's pattern of excellent premiere episodes. What I particularly liked was the way Glen Mazzara let so much of the story unfold in silence, whether it was the wordless pre-credits sequence that told us just how depressing our heroes' lives had become, or the sequence where Rick and company cleared out the prison yard. The latter was as exciting because of how everyone's body language and teamwork told us how much better they had gotten at zombie-fighting as it was because of specific methods they used to kill the walkers. The world has changed, and these people have changed (as have the show's opening credits), and those action scenes were very welcome in the way they illustrated that transformation. Rick's group isn't happy, but they are a damn machine at this point. Even Carl has become much more of an asset than a hindrance at this point.

We also get some cool action elsewhere, as Andrea's katana-wielding new pal takes care of the local walkers — and gives us evidence that a decapitated zombie head won't die until you damage the brain itself. (And that's only the second-grosses image of the hour, after Rick removing a zombie's helmet and peeling the skin off its face along with it.) We still have to learn more about her, and the armless walkers she keeps on a leash, but at the very least, it looks like Andrea's in capable hands.

Because so much time is spent finding the prison and beginning to clear it out, we only get a few snippets of the emotional places the characters are in. Hershel has adjusted to losing his farm, for instance, and Carol has become a productive member of the group again after her grief over Sophia. And Rick is holding the very pregnant Lori at a distance, understandably holding a grudge for all that went on with Shane. Not sure how my interest in the interpersonal parts of the show will work if/when the action slows down, but the balance here was just fine.

More to talk about next week, including the fate of Hershel after Rick chops his infected leg off, and what's up with those prisoners our heroes found at episode's end, but for now, let's go to the comments, after the usual warning.

Once again, let me remind you again of this blog's No Spoiler rule and how it applies to this show, as I've had to delete a bunch of comments the last few weeks that violated it. Basic things to remember before commenting:

1. No talking about the previews for the next episode.

2. No talking about anything else you know about upcoming episodes from other sources — and, yes, that includes anything Mazzara and Kirkman have said in interviews.

3. No talking about anything that's happened in the comic that hasn't happened in the TV show yet. You want to refer to Andrea's new friend by name, go for it, but no details about her beyond what's been seen in this episode. As with "Game of Thrones," the goal is to treat "The Walking Dead" TV show as exactly that, and not as an excuse for endless comparisons with the comics. If you want to talk about the comics, feel free to start up a discussion thread on our message boards.

With that in mind, what did everybody else think?

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Norman Reedus

Next 191 Comments

jennyh

Wow, a major improvement from basically anything in the last season, barring the Darryl/Merle episode, maybe. Loved Michonne and all the dialogueless/dialogue-lite sequences.

Loved the scene where Lori expresses her fears to Hershel, because let's face it -- every pregnant woman worries about her baby dying, either before or after it's born, and the idea of carrying a fetus in a world where everyone is infected with the zombie virus... terrifying. This episode did horror way better than last season, and obviously they were trying to make up for a relative lack of gore in the last two years with this one episode alone!
October 14, 2012 at 10:06PM EST Reply to Comment
- THEM YELLOW TOPS @anthony haha you're right. Some shows need a cold open. Although, the 'previously on SOA' bit before the S5 premiere was tedious as well.
  October 15, 2012 at 8:53AM EST
- THEM YELLOW TOPS Oops. That comment didn't go where I planned it. Sorry.
  October 15, 2012 at 8:53AM EST
- bbq_hax0r I think it's amazing what a concerted effort the show has made to improve despite still getting ratings. The producers and writers seemed to really get their crap together and make a believable and entertaining episode. I'm really excited for this season and can't wait to see where they go from here.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:28PM EST
velocityknown

Like you, I also enjoyed the lack of dialogue throughout the episode. I'm hopeful for a more focused season now that we're in reduced numbers and in a more interesting location. However, there were some moments I found bothersome in the premiere:

1) Why did it take them around 8 months to come across the prison?
2) Still not great at writing dialogue: "Carol, you've become a much better shot." Yayyy exposition.
3) Herschel's decision to step over the walker seemed pretty needless. Yayyy decisions made to complicate plot.
4) I started laugh during the amputation scene because I realized that the show has never really taken the time explain what the rules are for getting bit. Which made Rick's hasty decision to just start hacking at the leg and then act somewhat surprised when Herschel started bleeding out kind of hilarious.
5) Carl/Beth romance...Sure?

Overall, though, I did enjoy it. But I am worried that they're going to start repeating the same irritating problems they had last year down the line.
October 14, 2012 at 10:11PM EST Reply to Comment
- Sareeta #5---yeah, when Carl was in the cell with Beth checking out the top bunk, and Hershell asks him if he's found his own cell yet, I laughed.
  October 14, 2012 at 10:16PM EST
- oliver Puberty rules in Zombie Nation! When it's time to change...
  October 15, 2012 at 12:44AM EST
- Huell Goodman How old is Beth supposed to be? I thought she was around 18 or 19, while Carl is, what? 13? Still kind of weird.
  
  Still, if I'm Carl at that age...
  
  And Hershel knows it!
  October 15, 2012 at 5:31AM EST
- velocityknown (Carl watches Beth)
  Carl: "...I'll be in my bunk."
  October 15, 2012 at 9:26AM EST
- bbq_hax0r #4. They haven't explained the rules as I'm sure many people don't understand them yet. The group hasn't lost anyone so the ability to see if amputating a bite actually works would be unknown. While I have had complaints about the inconsistency in the past, perhaps having the audience learn the "rules" at the same time as the cast might make sense. Same goes for Lori's baby situation. The people don't know other than basics (scratch/bites/infected water) seem to spread it and will learn as they go. Who knows about the infected water, that could just be practicing caution rather than reality.
  
  tl;dr - Maybe they do not know if amputating will prevent infection, but they are trying it out.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:32PM EST
- Darkdoug Without going into any spoilers for anything, the usual rule for zombie stuff is that amputation is just about the only known treatment. Some works have it as a successful treatment, while in others, it only delays the inevitable, if that. In still other works, it depends how fast you get it. Actually, when Herschel got bit, I thought "Chekov's axe" recalling the tool Maggie salvaged before they jumped into the car in the beginning.
  
  Speaking of whom, is Lauren Cohen having some trouble slipping back into the American accent in the early dialogue? I have seen her in Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries with some sort of British accent (incidentally, she died of supernatural canine attacks in both shows - if there are zombie dogs in Walking Dead, like the "Resident Evil" movies, my bet is they get Maggie.
  
  Finally, why was Herschel asking for a song I always associate with death? A zombie show shouldn't have two characters sentimentally singing "that I should rise and you should not..."
  October 15, 2012 at 11:15PM EST
- Bryan Rasmussen I don't actually watch the show anymore, I just like reading the reviews to hear about what stupid thing they did this time.
  I still maintain that the only way this world works is if another, maybe related, virus went through the population a couple weeks before decreasing the intelligence of everyone infected by 30%. That explains why trained national guardsmen weren't able to efficiently kill all the zombies in Rick's hospital, and lots of the idiocy in this group. Thankfully most of this group before they were infected with the brain deadening virus were extremely intelligent, and now are high-functioning morons which is the level of intelligence a group needs to fight off zombies.
  October 16, 2012 at 4:09AM EST
- Daniel Look, it is a great b-grade series. It's best to get used to that.
  
  As for the whole zombie infection thing, keeping water pure is important not only to make sure you don't become one of them, but to keep from dying from cholera or typhoid before a Walker even bites you.
  
  Now, maybe it's just the city I live in, but I would make for any place that has solar panels on the roof. Because most good solar powered houses, let alone businesses, can provide all the hot water and power you need when the sun is shining.
  
  And, speaking of power, did someone remember to turn off all the nuclear power stations? Or do they just go into safe shut down mode automatically?
  
  Now . . . as a last thought, film and television have thought through many of the consequences of hot to cope with the end of the world since at least The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in 1971.
  
  And I am just a little surprised that The Walking Dead doesn't exist as a considered addition to this trend (answering many of the yeah, buts and what-ifs), and just strikes out on its own making many old mistakes.
  
  I certainly enjoy it, but Michone (sp?) just seems to be the only person so far (even with all her two minutes of screen time) who seems to be smarter and more strategic than I expect.
  October 16, 2012 at 6:06AM EST
mcc

WTF.... Hershel
October 14, 2012 at 10:11PM EST Reply to Comment
- Jim NFL Hershel. (As Jerry Glanville says to the ref in the old SI bloopers commercial....Not For Long)
  October 15, 2012 at 1:39AM EST
Elevation

RIP Herschel, Herschel's magic shotgun.

Very violent, action packed episode. I didn't really expect them to skip ahead nine months in the story. That was kind of cheap.

Everyone is now a Rambo-level killing specialist.

The SWAT Team zombies were tremendous.

October 14, 2012 at 10:12PM EST Reply to Comment
Sareeta

Awesome episode. Weird to see a look of glee on the group's faces after Rick secures the tower and all they have to do is pick off the walkers. This group has gone through a lot, you can see it in their eyes and their overall body language. Also chilling to see the very pregnant Lori killing some walkers.

I am much happier with the changes they've made. T Dog (lol) spoke! And he's pretty efficient zombie killer. Carol flirting with Daryl made me laugh because its like the writers were winking at fans who were wondering if they had some sexual tension last season. Rick (and Carl) hating Lori makes sense given what she did last season, including the way she pushed Rick away in the season finale, but that scene with her freaking out about the baby and her loneliness was heartbreaking.

Michonne is pretty much everything I was hoping she'd be. Can't wait to learn more about her. I love that she and Andrea have grown so close. I think removing Andrea from the group is a good thing for her character.

In an episode full of zombie mutilation, the scene that made me freak out was Hershel getting munched (you could even see the tendon getting pulled out)...followed by Rick hacking the leg off. Poor, poor Hershel.
October 14, 2012 at 10:13PM EST Reply to Comment
- bbq_hax0r Good post, agree with a lot of your points.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:34PM EST
- Darkdoug Speaking of Michonne, it's kind of pointless for Alan to refrain from using her name in the article, but there's an accompanying picture with a caption saying "(actress' name) as Michonne"
  October 15, 2012 at 11:07PM EST
Jim

I greatly enjoyed the fact that the show let the characters be competent for a change. Up until the predictable last 3 or 4 minutes, I loved the episode. I liked seeing them being pragmatic and (reasonably) smart.

Can't say I liked the "Watch out for the sleeping zombie" twist. Have we ever seen a zombie just chilling with its eyes closed before? Of course not. Because it's non-sensical.
October 14, 2012 at 10:14PM EST Reply to Comment
- steph We have seen a chilling zombie before! Season one when Rick breaks into the tank right before Glenn walkie-talkies him... There's a soldier zombie in the tank that's chilling out
  October 14, 2012 at 10:39PM EST
- Shane Leavitt The only other time I remember an appearing dead zombie show again signs of life was the "Nebraska" episode. In the early minutes a dead walker laying on the ground grabbed onto one of the daughters before being definitely killed.
  October 14, 2012 at 10:44PM EST
- Shane of the Dead Also, we saw them sitting in the church last season and in season 1 there were some sitting on buses...
  October 15, 2012 at 5:39AM EST
- Peter_the_Gr8 I, too, was annoyed by the chilling zombie, especially after several characters had walked back and forth past him. He could be a model and say things like, "I forgot to eat today!" Nice tease at the end with the prisoners. As this show so often reminds us, fear the living more than the dead.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:45AM EST
- PrunellaV Annette (Hershel's wife) was dormant until Beth turned her over.
  October 16, 2012 at 4:58PM EST
Brian

I have to be honest and say that I thought that was the worst season premiere of the show yet. 9 months go by before they found the prison that was just over the horizon from them in the season 2 finale? Highly doubt that would've happened in real life. Absolutely no answers and more questions. Rick and Lori thing was horrible. In the finale it was the opposite. Lori was mad at Rick. Now Rick's mad at Lori and Lori's the one feeling bad for it? Worst of all it was probably the slowest episode yet! Season 1 was my favorite so far because every episode was fast paced and told a lot of story. Nothing was filler, due to only having six episodes. Yet when they double it the next season and then even go further with 16 episodes in the following season, it's supposed to tell more story, not drag it out! Everything that happened in that episode could've taken 30 minutes. There must've been a dozen commercial breaks. This is certainly not The Walking Dead TV series I became hooked on in season 1.
October 14, 2012 at 10:16PM EST Reply to Comment
- sam Agreed. Felt like the episode went by way too fast, with almost nothing new happening aside from the cheap shot at Hershel.
  October 14, 2012 at 10:28PM EST
- josh s. People crying about this episode are proof that no matter what...someones always going to complain about something. This episode was one of...if not the best...episode in the entire series. If you cant see that...your looking to hard.
  October 14, 2012 at 10:35PM EST
- Billy B. @Josh S.: Until you learn the difference between "your" and "you're," and "to" and "too," please keep your comments to yourself.
  October 14, 2012 at 11:03PM EST
- LauraK A big problem the producers have to deal with is the rapid aging of the actor playing Carl. Letting 8 months go by is something they had to do to cover his growth spurt, etc. I found it OK and nothing to lose sleep over. If they turned the other way, they might not see the prison. They are kind of inching their way along.
  October 15, 2012 at 5:17AM EST
- Huell Goodman The shot of the prison last season was a teaser for the audience. If you recall the camera panned up from the group to reveal the prison and there was no indiction that they saw it.
  
  We don't know where they've been or what route they've taken. Just because it's a big building it doesn't mean they would stumble across it.
  
  And as for this episode being slow...I don't really know how to respond to that.
  October 15, 2012 at 5:46AM EST
- I agree Huell...people complain about small things, I think, just to complain. It's like the internet has become one giant scab to pick over tv shows. It's just a matter of time before the "That's it! I'm done with this show!" comments come flooding through.
  October 15, 2012 at 8:40AM EST
- GarySF Wow, Billy B, you need to stifle "you're" comments. No place for that nitpicking here. A lot of people are posting late at night, or before "they're" cup of coffee. Save your frustration for those who post in all caps or without paragraph breaks.
  
  Josh S, your comments are welcome here.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:39AM EST
- sepinwall People... rule #1 around here: TALK ABOUT THE SHOW, NOT EACH OTHER. The tone of this thread turns around quickly, or comments start being deleted.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:43AM EST
- Peter_the_Gr8 Alan "Here Comes the Boom!" Sepinwall laying down the law. I like it. The lesson I learned from Lost was not to try to give myself over to any show too completely. Even Mad Men and Breaking Bad; I just try to enjoy the episode for what it is. I'll nitpick here and there but I spent too much time researching Egyptian fertility gods than I care to share. Plus, there are just some shows that are not going to be as good as Breaking Bad, Mad Men (or The Shield or The Wire for that matter.) TWD does not even scrape the surface of my favorite shows but I enjoy it for what it is (I'm learning to do the same with SoA.) This is my new Zen TV philosophy.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:51AM EST
- MarkD Let's see, the world is infested by human eating zombies. Normal modes of communication is completely cutoff. GPS is none existent. Not to mention prisons usually aren't stuck out in the open on main roads as a tourist location. So yeah, it took them a while to find the prison. They also explain in the scene where they looked at the map that herds(HERDS) of walkers were everywhere. Meaning they were having to double back, hide, run around, whatever! Just to stay alive!
  October 15, 2012 at 10:36AM EST
- Col Bat Guano I also thought the opening scene where they were looking at the map served to explain why they may not have run across the prison yet. It sounded to me like they have been boxed in by several large groups of zombies and can't find a way out.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:44AM EST
- ponce You'd think a sheriff like Rick would have a fair idea of the location of the prisons in his areaa
  October 15, 2012 at 3:54PM EST
- HISLOCAL The shot of the prison last season finale was artistic license....showing us the viewers that it's "just over the horizon"....not meant to be literally right around the bend.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:42PM EST
- Come On They're very far away from Rick's jurisdiction. No reason he should know the location of every prison within several states.
  
  Others have said it; it seems to me people are just looking for an excuse to complain.
  
  Fantastic episode, and I never once felt like screaming "What the hell are you thinking?!" to any character. Pumped for the season.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:03AM EST
- SOMEONE Given how Daryl and Rick looked at and talked about the prison, I'm pretty sure they have known it was there for a while, but have not been willing to try to secure it, instead looking for other options.
  October 16, 2012 at 11:18AM EST
- blah I probably agree with you being the worst premiere of this show.
  
  The only thing this episode had was action and it felt way too much like resident evil this is probably the only good thing the show can do right now.
  
  Season 1 is still the damn best we didn't need resident evil action like this and the drama wasn't boring compare to season 2.
  
  The characters still hasn't developed yet I see Rick changing but he is just a cheaper intimation of Shane and is way too boring for a lead.
  
  October 16, 2012 at 4:53PM EST
Gary

I enjoyed how Rick said not to waste ammo but then they all started to open fire on the field. Then Rick wants to get into the building and says no guns. WTF! I also enjoyed how rick's gun seems to shoot walkers in the head even if pointed at their feet lol. I like how Carl can hit walkers from with his handgun from 50 yards.
October 14, 2012 at 10:32PM EST Reply to Comment
- jack_is_laughing I thought part of the reason they weren't using guns was that they (FINALLY) figured out that noise attracts walkers, hence all the yelling at the fence. But then end up shooting up that field, which you'd think would attract the zombie hoard waiting just inside. But no.
  
  Because consistent logic is the death of this show.
  October 15, 2012 at 2:02PM EST
- Lee Yeah, when Rick made that comment about being low on ammo, I was thinking, "Bet you wish you still had all that ammo you wasted back on the farm during the frequent target practices."
  October 15, 2012 at 2:43PM EST
- erik I think they all unloaded with their firearms on the contained zombies as a way to relieve the anxiety and stress they were all under. After spending a winter constantly on the run, being able to kill that many zombies would be a huge release.
  October 16, 2012 at 5:22AM EST
- Daniel How can anyone be low on ammo in the US? There are gun shops everywhere, police stations and no doubt military supply stores everywhere.
  
  Now, I understand killing with a knife is better than using a gun and attracting thousands of walkers, but any policeman would know, surely, where to find the semi-automatic guns used by at least the special ops divisions of the police.
  
  As for why no one would visit the local army base on a map is beyond me, unless they have spent two seasons never getting beyond a 200 mile radius of Atlanta.
  
  Obviously Carl is a kid who have never played a zombie game on Xbox or PlayStation. Or maybe every zombie movie/series has to assume that zombies have never played a part of popular culture or fiction (which is why I guess they call them Walkers, not zombies.)
  October 16, 2012 at 5:47AM EST
- jack_is_laughing Finding ammo theoretically isn't a problem, especially in the South (LOL) but gun shops and police stations are going to be in central areas that will be teeming with walkers. A gun shop would be the best bet (or even a Walmart) but a cop shop or a military base is going to have weapons and ammo locked down in a secure room/building that would be like getting into a bank vault. Rick was able to get guns/ammo in the pilot because that was *his* cop shop. He had the keys.
  
  But I would think ammo wouldn't be so hard, just getting it in large quantities and correct caliber.
  October 16, 2012 at 10:31AM EST
- blah This is Rick since when is most of his decisions or thinking was really smart?
  October 16, 2012 at 4:56PM EST
Robert Konigsberg

Excellent season opener, but whoo, I knew they were going to remove the leg as soon as the belt came off, but damn if that wasn't the most violent sequence yet. I can take what this show dishes out but that was a new level.
October 14, 2012 at 10:52PM EST Reply to Comment
- Sun Fast forward is my friend. I couldn't watch.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:33PM EST
Marley

Looks like the winter didn't help freeze off some of the walkers. Maybe it wasn't cold enough in Georgia?
October 14, 2012 at 11:28PM EST Reply to Comment
- jennyh Zombies are rendered immobile when frozen, but only destroying the brain will stop them permanently. So zombies can freeze and thaw just fine, and in fact colder weather will slow the natural decay of the dead flesh.
  October 15, 2012 at 12:10AM EST
- JimAbbott'sRightHandMan Not a scientist here, just somebody who took a biology class once upon a time. But I would think freezing WOULD damage their brains.
  
  Like when you put fruit in the freezer. If it has moisture (like a berries, for example), when it freezes that moisture expands and ruptures the cell wall. I think the zombies would have enough moisture left in their bodies to cause damage when they freeze and that moisture expands. The brain , if it expands, would just press against the skull (which would either crack the skull or damage the brain.
  
  Plus, the freezing process itself would damage the brain at the cellular level, wouldn't it? And not just freezing once. We're talking about, during the course of a winter, freezing and thawing and freezing and thawing multiple times. That's got to cause damage.
  
  Now, whether this part of Georgia's providing enough freezing temperatures to get the job done, I don't know. I imagine zombies up in Minnesota probably got wiped out by the winter. I could see the zombies down south making it through winter if it's not too bad a winter (and if they were lucky enough to get trapped in a favorable spot during the times when it does get bad).
  
  I think, to be safe, the thing to do would be to go out on raids during the winter when zombies would be frozen. And just systematically kill them while they're frozen.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:32PM EST
- jennyh All good points, JARH. However, TWD (comics and show) generally follows the zombie lore set out by Max Brooks in The Zombie Survival Guide. In Brooks' zombie logic, zombies survive winter just fine (they also, weirdly, survive just fine at depths in sea water).
  
  You are correct that it's easier to kill frozen zombies, though Brooks kind of pushes against the myth that frozen wastelands are better for surviving a zombie apocalypse in his novel World War Z.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:51PM EST
- bbq_hax0r I always thought the idea of "going north" or to a more chilly environment was because, a majority of humans live closer to the equator than the arctic circle, so by going to places where fewer people are, you decrease chance of coming across zombies and increase survival odds. I know nothing of this "Brooks" you speak of.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:38PM EST
- Samantha Freezes in Georgia and other parts of the deep south are usually limited to overnight frosts; a few days of below-freezing weather is possible but very rare. Honestly, I think heading farther south would be a good alternative to a cold environment, zombie-wise, and not just because I can't handle the cold! Know how many dead bodies would make it through a summer in, say, Louisiana? None. With heat, humidity, bacteria, and gators, even the feistiest zombie wouldn't make it past September.
  
  @BBQ Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide may be credited with kicking off the zombie craze in the new millennium. It's so influential, I'd go so far as to say we probably wouldn't have a Walking Dead to watch if that book hadn't been released.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:05PM EST
srpad

Amazing episode. I started to watch the reairing again, it was so good.
October 14, 2012 at 11:39PM EST Reply to Comment
unclevanya

Wouldn't you think there would be a horrible stench walking into those dead walkers in any enclosure?
This show is another that turns my head. I like it. Maybe it's the aggression of killing those walkers.
October 15, 2012 at 12:33AM EST Reply to Comment
- KansasDan Have you ever hit a skunk in your car, and smelled the awful aroma, but 30 miles down the road you think the smell is gone, only to have someone comment on it when you reach your destination? I think they have just gotten used to it.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:32PM EST
unclevanya

Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks
October 15, 2012 at 12:34AM EST Reply to Comment
unclevanya

Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks
October 15, 2012 at 12:34AM EST Reply to Comment
Elevation

It surprised me that the zombies locked in jail cells were still "alive." I guess they don't really need to eat?
October 15, 2012 at 1:29AM EST Reply to Comment
- Lee Well, now that Beth is there, she can break the legs of some chickens and feed them.
  October 15, 2012 at 2:46PM EST
- jennyh Zombies don't need to eat, they're dead. Their appetite for flesh is only a base instinct that remains in their reanimated brain matter.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:53PM EST
Jim

I just want to say F You to AMC for running the first showing from 8:00 to 9:01 and the 2nd airing from 9:01 to 10:00. Wouldn't allow the the 2 tuner DVR to record as that extra one minute ran into Homeland/Treme. The 11:00 re-air ran for 60 minutes on the button. Game playing.
October 15, 2012 at 1:52AM EST Reply to Comment
- juzdownunder Jeez Jim, ever used bittorrent??
  October 15, 2012 at 8:09AM EST
- Anthony Well luckily for you the first 5 minutes of Homeland is nothing but credits and recaps. I don't think I've seen any shows that take longer to actually get started
  October 15, 2012 at 8:27AM EST
- ron mexico it seems like networks are playing this game all the time, with cable nets maybe the worst offenders....it does make JUZDOWNUNDER's aside awful tempting
  October 15, 2012 at 12:48PM EST
- Jim Jeez juzdownunder, ever here of paying artists for their work?
  October 15, 2012 at 2:00PM EST
- juzdownunder LOL...how are you paying an artist for their work by watching TWD on your DVR? (a) most ratings don't include DVR watches, and (b) i'm tipping you FF the ads regardless!
  October 15, 2012 at 5:54PM EST
- unclevanya @JIM. Both shows are repeated many times. Record it again and do the nest show.
  Last year, watching The Good Wife you had to record two shows after because of the football.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:54PM EST
- Jim juzdownunder - Even though watching on a DVR I am still paying to watch the show. Your argument fails to explain how I am not. Watching on Bittorrent is a direct ripoff. There is no way to spin the fact that you are stealing.
  
  Thanks folks for the DVR tips. I do know how to manipulate and make the best of it. You missed the point I guess.
  October 17, 2012 at 11:07AM EST
- juzdownunder Jim, read my original reply. You gave an emotional F You to AMC for messing with your DVR. As you pointed out, you've already paid to watch the show, so how would downloading it via BitTorrent to fix your DVR mistake be stealing? There's not a court in the world that would convict you for stealing a show you'd already paid to watch. I was just trying to offer a solution to your problem.
  Finally though, if using a DVR to watch a show is fine, why do you believe AMC would "play games" as you put it with the timing of the first showing?
  October 17, 2012 at 6:52PM EST
Bob7

There's not much this show can have except good zombie killing scenes, really. It's not smart enough to be metaphor, satire or anything deep and original. So every time a good episode airs, it'll be a good action episode and minimize the strained and contrived interpersonal scenes.(The characters have no reason to fight with each other but do anyway.) I'm not sure why I still watch, except I like TV expanding to include movie genres.
October 15, 2012 at 1:56AM EST Reply to Comment
- Col Bat Guano Yeah, I really don't want to hear any more about Rick and Lori's marital problems. They are barely surviving and don't have time for crap like that. That they actually took time to mention that they might find food, medicine and ammunition at the prison was refreshing after last seasons "Let's drive into town and pick up some morning after pills" sequences. I also liked how they explained that they were trapped by the roaming hordes of zombies that were preventing them from getting out of the area. Good start to the season.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:13AM EST
- Bryan No high concept happening here. That works when the grittiness of their life shows itself. I loved how dirty and bedraggled they looked. They haven't had a warm meal, a shower of any kind or a decent nights sleep since leaving the farm. The group is a marauding killing machine that looks at their wits end. They need to keep up this kind of realism, it's the strongest thing the show has. When they are looking well groomed and happy the consistent state of anxiety will be snapped. Last year sucked, I never feared for the group on the farm, it was a big nothing burger.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:20AM EST
- Sharkytowers Bryan you couldn't be more right. This sums up my feelings precisely. I get the sense the show listened to the critics and put the realism back into the apocalypse.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:35AM EST
SlackerInc

Good episode. Interesting how they moved forward in time--wasn't expecting that given their showing the prison right behind them in the last shot last season. We definitely got a sense that they've been through a lot, have become more hardened than ever, etc.

There was something I couldn't hear even though I rewound it a few times (captions don't work with an HD setup and DVR unfortunately). Carol says to Daryl (whoa, never realised before their names rhyme), "wanna screw around?" and Darryl mumbles something to which Carol replies "All the better". What did he say? Anyone?
October 15, 2012 at 2:43AM EST Reply to Comment
- Jessie It was something like "I'm gonna go down first." as he was going down the ladder. Carol has a dirty mind!
  October 15, 2012 at 5:09AM EST
- SlackerInc Ha! Nice. Thanks.
  October 15, 2012 at 9:54AM EST
mgrabois

I've been reading the comic in bits and pieces, which I hadn't done before watching the show. In the opening when they're ransacking the house in the subdivision, I'm pretty sure that's a very compressed version of a several-issue story arc that also appears right before the prison arc (which is about as far as I've gotten so far).

Also, as we've seen before, Herschel's amputation happens to another character in the book, but Kirkman says that he does stuff like that deliberately to keep the fans of both the show and the comic on their toes.
October 15, 2012 at 3:02AM EST Reply to Comment
NoHoGreg

I'm frustrated that Hershel went with them on that "away "mission" to clear out more of the prison. You have a pregnant woman due to give birth any week now and you bring the slow moving doctor along and risk him? Hate that dumb type of thinking.
October 15, 2012 at 3:20AM EST Reply to Comment
- Vaughn I wouldn't call it dumb. The doctor goes where there's the more likely chance of injury. If something happened they couldn't send someone all the way back and then bring him, or risk dragging/carrying an injured person back. He was basically a field medic, in this case.
  
  Anyway, the human race survived plenty long enough without doctors (or vets, in Hershel's case). Lori is small potatoes compared to zombie attacks.
  October 15, 2012 at 5:39AM EST
- Silver I agree, it reminded me of original Star Trek when Kirk, Spock & McCoy all beam down into dangerous situations. I don't think you'd bring your lone medicine man on the hunt for the medical bay till the route is found & secured.
  October 19, 2012 at 5:02AM EST
Patricia

I liked it, for many of the reasons already stated (exhaustion of the group, better cohesion in the face of the marauding hordes, and, yes, some of the interpersonal stuff)

I spent much of the weekend watching season 2 again, and think the character development (and even the protracted search for poor Sophia) works pretty well when the episodes are back-to-back. At least better than when I was waiting a week. I still thought that they were pretty dysfunctional group, but actually the entire season worked to disabuse them of any notion that the world hadnt changed. Now of course we saw that in the way 6 months (not nine!) of struggle were telegraphed into the opening sequence.

I know there's been a lot of clamoring for more zombie mayhem--even from me, to some extent, but I think I need a reason to watch that includes more than just gore and guts. I don't want it to be a video game.
October 15, 2012 at 5:11AM EST Reply to Comment
Bryan L

This is one of the first times since the premiere that I felt like I was seeing a polished script. The group planned, worked together, and generally avoided the gross stupidities that have plagued the series so far. I can believe these people have been in zombie-world for a year or two. "Don't break ranks!" indeed.

Yes, I have small nit-picks (I think luring as many zombies as possible to the fence and killing them first would be smarter than the group's charge, for example), but for the most part it was very tightly plotted. And even my nit-picks can be explained (you might not want to lure all the zombies to the fence if you were trying to get that second gate closed, for example). And the baby situation increases the urgency, so waiting for days to let all the zombies walk to the fence to be killed isn't necessarily feasible. Also, I gather the group has been fleeing large "herds," so they might have gotten forced away from the prison before getting forced back toward it.
October 15, 2012 at 8:58AM EST Reply to Comment
Mike.G

Wow. What a great episode. The best episode since Season One, and maybe the best episode in the show's entire run.

Yes, they did a terrific job of showing and not telling with the opening scene. I love that Carl has more responsibility and all of the subtle cues that time has passed quite a bit.

The change of locale also seems like a winner so far as well. Rather than wasting more breath complaining about the farm, I just want to take the time to praise the prison. It's a great locale, but the way they've used it already blows away everything they did on that lame farm. The scenes where they're walking around in the dark hallways are terrifying, and are what these types of shows are supposed to do: scare you just as much with the threat of something happening as they do when something actually happens.

The show is also stronger by the omission of Shane and Dale. The writers never could seem to consistently write Shane's character, sending him back and forth from complicated person to one-dimensional villain. And while Dale's whiny moralizing was useful at the beginning of the show, it seemed to have outlived its usefulness by the middle of Season 2, when it was clear that these characters no longer could have or should have been arguing about the rules that applied in the pre-zombie world.

If this season sucked I was ready to walk away from the show, but this episode just blew the doors off.
October 15, 2012 at 9:06AM EST Reply to Comment
- bbq_hax0r Nice comments Mike.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:45PM EST
- Sharkytowers First Bryan now Mike! Great comments. So pleased when someon literally writes an opinion I share in a way that helps me suss out my thoughts more clearly. Cheers.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:39AM EST
- Daniel I think ethical or moral reflection is important in almost any show. They are already exploring the virtue of courage, having a bit of trouble understanding loyalty, getting confused about whether humans should be killed with the same ease as Walkers is something they all would have considered at some level or another.
  
  I mean, FFS, Herschel believes in the righto life of zombies and you wanna complain about Dale havinf a bit of an ethical reflection (without any bible verses) about human life?
  
  That being said, Dale was a bit a caricature. You know, "insert voice of human conscience here with character A" that is argued simplistically enough to ignore.
  
  The whole lesson (in almost any end of the world scenario in film, TV or literature) is of course whether the remaining humans can unite and work together and survive, or fight among themselves and get picked off by Walkers.
  October 16, 2012 at 6:26AM EST
- Daniel Lastly, I should just add that if the group happens to pick up an historian, philosopher, ethicist or even a soldier, the point would be made that in times of war, you don't throw out the rule book if you want to survive, but the rules have to change.
  
  That's why treason and mutiny and desertion got treated as capital offences at sea or during war. That wasn't because they discarded all ethics, but because these things threatened the whole group's survival, and placed the virtue of courage and loyalty above freedom of conscience the rights of the individual.
  
  October 16, 2012 at 6:36AM EST
- blah Disagree Shane was never a villain he was the most complex character. I do hate the rehashes between all the characters they we had to watch in season 2 the show didn't get stronger not by a long shot.
  
  It was only a action episode and remember this is just the first episode of the season you know what happen when season 2 turned to mostly shit after the first episode. this episode feels too much like resident evil it never had this terrifying feeling you spoke of it was only in the pilot where it actually feels like a horror show some what.
  
  Instead we got shitty underdeveloped characters, a boring lead who's dumb decisions will get most of these people killed.
  October 16, 2012 at 4:39PM EST
GarySF

I was bored by most of season two, not to mention infuriated by the stupid behavior of most of these characters. But I was very encouraged by this episode. As you mentioned, the group has gotten much better at killing zombies and working together to do so. I also appreciated the warning by Rick not to waste ammo as they're low on it...the first acknowledgment of this I can recall.

Then, after Herschel gets bitten, I said "they're gonna need to amputate his leg," and not only did Rick do it, but he did almost immediately. In season 2, that option would have required half an episode of the characters discussing and agonizing over it while Herschel howled in pain in another room. Decisive action was needed, and Rick went for it. This is not a democracy anymore. Hope they can keep it up through the season.
October 15, 2012 at 9:31AM EST Reply to Comment
- SlackerInc Not the first mention of low ammo: there's at least one previous. Andrea mentions it in an RV scene: something like "Please tell me this isn't all the ammo".
  
  Although I always kind of think this should not be such a great problem. They are in a "red state" where guns and ammunition should be available in vast quantities: in many rural homes, but also in pawn shops, gun stores, Wal-Mart for that matter.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:00AM EST
- Darkdoug Only problem is red states are full of people who would have no problem just up and blasting away when the zombie apocalypse hit. While there were lots of guns and ammo around when it happened, a lot of them could have been used before the owners died out.
  October 17, 2012 at 9:17AM EST
- SlackerInc Doug, I think that underestimates the truly staggering quantities that exist in those states, a lot of it not in people's homes but stored in gun shops awaiting sale, warehouses, etc.
  
  Put another way: if so much of it really had been used, there shouldn't be nearly so many zombies around.
  October 17, 2012 at 1:08PM EST
Printin' Mike

Overall a great episode. TWD has always done action well, especially silent action (the less talking from these characters, the better). And this episode did the action particularly well.

A couple of gripes: the prison makes sense only if you’re in a very infested area and need a secure location to regroup (less compelling is Rick’s explanation that there will be food, weapons and medicine there – yeah, there might be, and there will also be food, weapons and medicine in virtually every single standing structure throughout the entire country (this isn’t a nuclear holocaust, folks: everything is still standing, and most people are dead, so there isn’t a lot of competition for food and resources). Not having read any of the comics, I’m not invested in the character who acts as Andrea’s savior - yet. And, frankly, what I’ve seen thus far isn’t particularly intriguing, but I’ll give it time to play out.

Some things continue to grate – every time I see Carl in that hat I want to punch him in the mouth; I don’t understand why they’re still in the Southeastern US and haven’t moved to a less populous region of the country; the whole sequence with Hershel at the end of the episode was silly, cheap, and seemed to be there for no other reason than to serve as a completely unnecessary plot device. And, hair as an indicator of the passage of time: yeah – not necessary. Have the zombies eaten all the scissors?

Overall, I liked this episode very much. If they can keep up the action, and not worry about following silly plot devices from the comics, then the season holds a lot of promise.

October 15, 2012 at 9:31AM EST Reply to Comment
- LarryC The first scene (only dog food in the house) and some dialog implies that a lot of other places have been picked clean by the living (maybe a greater number at some earlier time?). Is this really plausible? No, the whole idea of this disease suddenly killing almost everyone, when you have to actually get bitten to get it is not plausible to begin with, nor that zombies could avoid turning to zombie-jerky at least, after months with no water, forget food. But I agree even with the basic suspension of disbelief, there's an additional question why, with cars, they couldn't find some big box ammo/gun store where everything isn't gone, and have stockpiled a big ammo cache.
  
  OTOH another advantage of a prison is that it's hard to get into. Anywhere else they hole up they have the same problem as the farm, if a big enough herd of zombies migrates through. And it's implied they've lived a hellish existence of constantly having to flee, whereas they've obviously found months worth of food, to not have to have starved or even be emaciated months later.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:26AM EST
- erik the more populated an area, the greater the risk of more zombies and malicious humans. And big box stores would be among the first places hit by looters after the outbreak went wide. Given that this season starts a fair amount after the disease struck, at this point the risk of hitting up a big store is far outweighed by staying on the outskirts and foraging. Even with such a large outbreak, there would still be enough of humanity left to scrounge supplies in the same areas, and with no chance of trucks dropping more goods off, resupplying would get more and more difficult.
  October 16, 2012 at 5:35AM EST
Bryan

I'm not certain how smart it was to have Rick run through walkers when all they had to do was pluck them off from the one tower they had access to and the very safe fence where they could pluck the walkers off safely. Isn't it a matter of percentages now? Granted it would have taken longer but it would have been more realistic for a group that has lasted this long to not make dumb chances. It was an unnecessary risk. War of attrition makes for a less dramatic TV show but it would show the intelligence necessary to make their survival realistic.
October 15, 2012 at 9:41AM EST Reply to Comment
- jdstorm Rick Had to run through the field because there was another entrance, and he had to close that gate, so more zombies from inside the prison wouldn't hear the noise and flood into the feild
  October 15, 2012 at 7:31PM EST
MeisterNJ

So, Lori wants HERSCHEL to kill her and/or the baby if they turn? The same guy who had a bar full of his own walker kin? Yeah, that doesn't jive. Otherwise thought it was a great episode. Lots of new stories/angles.
October 15, 2012 at 10:29AM EST Reply to Comment
- sue Herschel eventually admitted that he was wrong about keeping his family members "alive" in the barn. He said something to the effect that all he had been doing was feeding their rotting flesh.
  October 15, 2012 at 4:41PM EST
- Darkdoug Why do you think she was begging? He's the one most likely to have a problem with putting them down. I can't see Daryl or Maggie keeping them ambulatory out of sentiment. If they had to kill Carol's daughter, I can't see her letting anyone else stay undead. Glenn would be swayed by Maggie, Beth & Carl are just kids, T-dog is sensible enough. The only ones I really see possibly keeping zombie-Lori and/or zombie-baby active are a grieving Rick and Mr. "zombies are people" Herschel. She wanted to have that talk with Rick the night before, but he blew her off. I think it was not so much counting on Herschell to put her down, as begging one of the two people most likely to let her rise, not to let it happen.
  October 17, 2012 at 9:25AM EST
Teklanika

Here’s what I don’t understand – There was a zombie alive in a prison cell. The zombies have been around for over a year now. That zombie in the prison cell could not have eaten anything for that year. How is it still alive? If they don’t need to eat, why do they bother attacking humans?

That’s kind of my issue with the entire show. By now, zombie’s would have eaten most humans and animals they can with very little food left. And yet, there always seems to be tons of them around.

I know watching a show about a zombie apocalypse is already an absurd premise, but I’d feel better if issues like this were addressed in some fashion.

October 15, 2012 at 10:36AM EST Reply to Comment
- Bryan L It's an issue, yes, but if you assume that zombies go dormant without any stimulus (smell of fresh meat, noises, etc.), then it makes more sense. My take is that zombies don't actually need to feed -- attacking fresh meat is just a compulsion that gets triggered. Many of them don't have the necessary equipment for digestion, anyway. How do they stay active? Well, that's where the suspension of disbelief comes in.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:54AM EST
- Shagga He ate his cellmate.
  October 15, 2012 at 11:04AM EST
- rcade Zombies don't eat food to stay alive. They're dead. They eat the living because it's a craving.
  
  We've seen zombies that lack a lower torso, that lack a lower job and are just a head. They all hunger for human flesh.
  October 15, 2012 at 3:02PM EST
- Printin' Mike They also hunger for horse flesh and cow flesh, if presented to them, as we’ve seen. Although, we haven’t yet seen any shots of a zombie actively pursuing an animal. I wonder why?
  
  Also, where did all of the dogs go? Man’s best friend would be a tremendous asset in such a zombie infested world. Does Kirkman hate dogs, or is he simply unfamiliar with them (as unfamiliar as he is with common human emotions)?
  
  October 15, 2012 at 3:52PM EST
- LarryC The 'craving' rather than actual need point is a reasonable try, within a basically absurd premise as I think we must all recognize it is.
  
  The biggest problem is just longevity of the zombies, especially since most don't get many or even opportunities to eat or moreover take in water by eating live flesh, or otherwise. Without water, any flesh-like substance is going to just dry up after months, even if the virus/fungus/bacteria of the disease slows or arrests the normal putrification process. It's remotely plausible you could have an organism which was able to make a dead body function in a limited way for *awhile* without the normal need for water, like maybe days, but months is ridiculous. And the show might go on for years.
  
  I like the show but it requires a really hardcore suspension of disbelief to accept the basic situation, especially as it goes on for a long time. I think it also puts in perspective people's gripes about the realism of the living characters' reactions to things. The whole situation is completely impossible without magic or the supernatural, especially after that long.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:05PM EST
- bbq_hax0r Hey Larry, I don't mean to burst your bubble as you seem to be reasonably intelligent, but, it's a show about a totally unrealistic premise. Zombies make no sense, so if you're willing to suspend that, getting into the logistics and realities of how zombies exist is pointless. The real question is, do they poop?
  October 15, 2012 at 6:51PM EST
- Mark in Omaha Concerning lack of dogs. My theory is that the dogs are smarter than the characters, especially in Seasons 1 and 2, and got the hell out of Dodge. They are all chilling in a Petsmart somewhere waiting out the zombie apocalypse. On a practical side, they lacked a decent budget the way it was, probably didn't want to add a dog trainer to the payroll.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:58PM EST
- LarryC BBQ no bubble burst no problem. And it's reassuring you think I'm reasonably intelligent. That will help me face the world tomorrow.
  
  But seriously folks, a lot of people, not only me, seem to be given pause at times in their enjoyment of the show by particularly implausible details of the disease/zombie phenomenon, even though we all know and accept to begin with that the scenario is implausible as a whole.
  
  Some horror/sci-fi is a bit more like a canny suspect under police interrogation than this one: they have an answer for everything, though the cops still know they are guilty. For example the premise and details of a pandemic induced zombie (sort of) apocalypse in 'I am Legend' were relatively considerably less implausible than those in Walking Dead, IMO.
  
  But I still like this show overall more than I liked Legend, if one can directly compare a TV show to a a movie.
  October 15, 2012 at 7:20PM EST
- bbq_hax0r I'm glad I could help! Haha
  
  I just think that we have dead beings existing and I'm fine that they do not need sustenance to exist. I do not need 28 Days Later type zombies who will eventually starve or fade away.
  
  We've shown that only damaging the brain can end their unending cycle of energy, and that somehow this virus (or other) allows for it. It makes no sense, but I'm cool with it.
  October 15, 2012 at 8:24PM EST
- Sharkytowers BBQ-hax0r. I'm down with it as well. As to you earlier commenters discussing the zombies... We're looking for plausibility after we suspend disbelief about zombies even existing. Does that make sense? I'll buy that this world exists and ll buy some of its fantastical rules, but I insist that the players in that world act in a logical manner after that. Scrounging for supplies, shotguns that require reloading, etc.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:47AM EST
- Daniel The whole concept of the suspension of disbelief is actually very important a subject in film theory and elsewhere. Some films/series ask a lot of us in this category, then keep on asking for more, without any physics/biology pay off. Others ask of us a lot, then let us lower the bar, and just blow us away.
  
  Sure, the virus makes no sense really, even after a visit to the CDC to fill a few gaps (hell, that suicidal scientist just had to say that "the quantum physics guys in at the end couldn't even explain it, let alone the biologists"). But that doesn't mean we have to suspend disbelief in the characters' intelligence, or that the rules so far laid down should be so open to abuse.
  
  No doubt Michone has worked out a lot of things no one else has so far (cool, someone who will act smarter than we expect for the only time). We already know that if you smell the same, you are pretty much safe for a short period. We know they are attracted by noises and move in herds. We don't know yet how tear gas affects them, or countless other factors. (Hell, we even know now that a head will keep on living if the brain stem is not severed.)
  
  But as with all fantasy and sci fi, this alternate universe has rules. And we want our heroes to know them and find ways around them and then survive. And we want them to be smarter than us sometimes, as well as stupid, which is what makes people yell obscenities at the small screen often.
  
  Suspension of disbelief is required all the time, viewers just want to be rewarded for the experience, not asked for more and more all the time.
  
  October 16, 2012 at 7:22AM EST
- HISLOCAL One thing I wanted to point out....I'd imagine that some of the zombies that were infected on Day 1 would be zombie jerky by now, or complete skeletons. But, people keep getting turned every day, so the more complete/fresh looking zombies might have only been dead for a little while. Who's to say when the prison was overrun? Might have been last Tuesday.
  October 16, 2012 at 8:56AM EST
- bbq_hax0r @SHarky
  
  "I'll buy that this world exists and ll buy some of its fantastical rules, but I insist that the players in that world act in a logical manner after that."
  
  I agree with that. Which were some of my complaints through s1 and s2, people acting foolishly/unrealistically considering the circumstances. They did seem to remedy this thus far in s3 and hopefully it continues. I'm being optimistic and willing to give the new braintrust of the show the benefit of the doubt for a while. But I agree, I'm not too concerned that zombies would have died off naturally or rotted away, I've accepted that zombies make no sense and defy typical rules. I just would like consistency once rules are established and reasonably intelligent crew. Again, it's a tv show and people acting too smart would be boring, so it's about this delicate balance.
  October 16, 2012 at 12:26PM EST
- Victorycurtis I ran across one of those "Explainer" columns which explains "what if" scenarios and the Zombie apocalypse was the topic du jour. They consulted the military and other paramilitary organizations (police, etc). Basically, without going into too much detail, they all said that a zombie take over would be put down rather quickly with relative ease. Something to do with the fact that they are mindless (and slow) creatures with no weapons (other than the ability to infect other humans). Once word got out to the general population with instructions on how to protect themselves, the military would pretty much takeover and obliterate the zombie hordes.
  October 16, 2012 at 2:54PM EST
Jlara

I really enjoyed the show and the re-watch it over and overagain. I do notice the great development on the characters (even though there wasn't much dialogue wich I enjoyed as well). I didn't get it the fact that it took them several month to find the prison wich we saw at the 2nd season finale, right behid them. I understand that they cannot just put it right there for them to enter, but so long really?

I read someone commented about how they (the group) explained last night the fact that they were just moving from place to place avoiding the roaminh walkers that kept getting to them. Can someone tel me when did they say it? I didn't get it....

Now, I'm was one of the ones who DID NOT like Lori, but seeing her suffer from her mistakes is somewhat rewarding and at the same time I feel sorry for her (may be 'cause she's pregnant?) IDK)....but in general I just cannot wait until next Sunday!!! So happy and satisfied with the premiere!
October 15, 2012 at 10:40AM EST Reply to Comment
- blag@ Great development? More like half assed development.
  October 16, 2012 at 5:01PM EST
Mark in Omaha

Agree with most of the posts so far, more action, less diaolgue = better show. They have tried to fill in some of the plot holes, the characters are using more logic, all positive signs. I've never read (nor will read) the comics, but when are we going to learn something about Michon's character, have they even mentioned her name yet?

I do have a couple of questions, if anyone can give me a good answer. When they invade the home at the very beginning, Rick has a silencer, then Carl has one. Same one or a different one? Where did they find that, and why wouldn't they find other useful things like MRE's and more ammo. Did Carol pick up an AK-47 or civilian version? Carl finds a couple of cans of food in the kitchen, he opens up one, and Rick throws the other one against the fireplace? What was that about?
October 15, 2012 at 10:42AM EST Reply to Comment
- Bryan L Can't really explain the weapons, but I guess they might have found them next to bodies, rather than all stored somewhere. The cans of food were DOG food. That's why Rick threw them away. He was disgusted that they have to live like this.
  October 15, 2012 at 10:57AM EST
- LarryC Maybe they made the silencers out of some convenient material and workshop they came across at some point? Real factory made silencers are not something you'd likely come across just rooting around, anywhere, though obviously they exist.
  
  I assumed both Carol's AK-type and Hershel's-AR15-type rifles were come across in different private homes. That's plausible in rural Georgia, much more than happening to find factory-made silencers.
  
  As to food, they must of cumulatively found a fair amount of it to be alive and apparently reasonably well fed, albeit hand to mouth day to day, months after fleeing the farm. But apparently the idea is that they never came across a big store or warehouse full of packaged food goods (or ammo for that matter in a big box sporting goods store or a Walmart) that nobody else had cleaned out before. That's a little puzzling, but the writers want to tell a story of them living on the edge, and I guess it isn't so implausible relatively speaking.
  October 15, 2012 at 6:20PM EST
- Daniel Silencers, or suppressors, are pretty common in most guns and ammo dealer shops. Their availability varies from state to state, but there is a huge trade in them illegally and in certain states like Louisiana you can even get AK 47 (Sr 15?) suppressors with just a normal firearm license.
  
  Any southern 'good old boy' with a collection of firearms will have countless add-ons, from night vision scopes to suppressors to extender clips. Just go to a gun show and see all the extra stuff they sell for the "sporting shooter".
  October 16, 2012 at 7:31AM EST
- Silver I thought that was really wasteful of Rick. Dog food's last name is food..they could have made it into a stew with the owl. Look at the ingredients I found from Iams wet dog food: Water Sufficient for Processing, Chicken, Meat By-Products, Chicken By-Products, Beef, Corn Starch, Oats, Barley, Carrots. That's got to be better than the tiny morsels they were eating from the bowls. Heck, who knows what all dead animals Daryl had strung up to dry when at the farm. Maybe Carl should peel the label off next time.
  October 19, 2012 at 5:19AM EST

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Option 1

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Option 3

THEM YELLOW TOPS @anthony haha you're right. Some shows need a cold open. Although, the 'previously on SOA' bit before the S5 premiere was tedious as well.

THEM YELLOW TOPS Oops. That comment didn't go where I planned it. Sorry.

Sareeta #5---yeah, when Carl was in the cell with Beth checking out the top bunk, and Hershell asks him if he's found his own cell yet, I laughed.

oliver Puberty rules in Zombie Nation! When it's time to change...

Huell Goodman How old is Beth supposed to be? I thought she was around 18 or 19, while Carl is, what? 13? Still kind of weird.Still, if I'm Carl at that age...And Hershel knows it!

velocityknown (Carl watches Beth)Carl: "...I'll be in my bunk."

mcc WTF.... Hershel

Jim NFL Hershel. (As Jerry Glanville says to the ref in the old SI bloopers commercial....Not For Long)

Elevation RIP Herschel, Herschel's magic shotgun. Very violent, action packed episode. I didn't really expect them to skip ahead nine months in the story. That was kind of cheap. Everyone is now a Rambo-level killing specialist. The SWAT Team zombies were tremendous.

bbq_hax0r Good post, agree with a lot of your points.

Darkdoug Speaking of Michonne, it's kind of pointless for Alan to refrain from using her name in the article, but there's an accompanying picture with a caption saying "(actress' name) as Michonne"

steph We have seen a chilling zombie before! Season one when Rick breaks into the tank right before Glenn walkie-talkies him... There's a soldier zombie in the tank that's chilling out

Shane Leavitt The only other time I remember an appearing dead zombie show again signs of life was the "Nebraska" episode. In the early minutes a dead walker laying on the ground grabbed onto one of the daughters before being definitely killed.

Shane of the Dead Also, we saw them sitting in the church last season and in season 1 there were some sitting on buses...

PrunellaV Annette (Hershel's wife) was dormant until Beth turned her over.

sam Agreed. Felt like the episode went by way too fast, with almost nothing new happening aside from the cheap shot at Hershel.

josh s. People crying about this episode are proof that no matter what...someones always going to complain about something. This episode was one of...if not the best...episode in the entire series. If you cant see that...your looking to hard.

Billy B. @Josh S.: Until you learn the difference between "your" and "you're," and "to" and "too," please keep your comments to yourself.

I agree Huell...people complain about small things, I think, just to complain. It's like the internet has become one giant scab to pick over tv shows. It's just a matter of time before the "That's it! I'm done with this show!" comments come flooding through.

GarySF Wow, Billy B, you need to stifle "you're" comments. No place for that nitpicking here. A lot of people are posting late at night, or before "they're" cup of coffee. Save your frustration for those who post in all caps or without paragraph breaks.Josh S, your comments are welcome here.

sepinwall People... rule #1 around here: TALK ABOUT THE SHOW, NOT EACH OTHER. The tone of this thread turns around quickly, or comments start being deleted.

Col Bat Guano I also thought the opening scene where they were looking at the map served to explain why they may not have run across the prison yet. It sounded to me like they have been boxed in by several large groups of zombies and can't find a way out.

ponce You'd think a sheriff like Rick would have a fair idea of the location of the prisons in his areaa

HISLOCAL The shot of the prison last season finale was artistic license....showing us the viewers that it's "just over the horizon"....not meant to be literally right around the bend.

SOMEONE Given how Daryl and Rick looked at and talked about the prison, I'm pretty sure they have known it was there for a while, but have not been willing to try to secure it, instead looking for other options.

Lee Yeah, when Rick made that comment about being low on ammo, I was thinking, "Bet you wish you still had all that ammo you wasted back on the farm during the frequent target practices."

erik I think they all unloaded with their firearms on the contained zombies as a way to relieve the anxiety and stress they were all under. After spending a winter constantly on the run, being able to kill that many zombies would be a huge release.

blah This is Rick since when is most of his decisions or thinking was really smart?

Robert Konigsberg Excellent season opener, but whoo, I knew they were going to remove the leg as soon as the belt came off, but damn if that wasn't the most violent sequence yet. I can take what this show dishes out but that was a new level.

Sun Fast forward is my friend. I couldn't watch.

Marley Looks like the winter didn't help freeze off some of the walkers. Maybe it wasn't cold enough in Georgia?

jennyh Zombies are rendered immobile when frozen, but only destroying the brain will stop them permanently. So zombies can freeze and thaw just fine, and in fact colder weather will slow the natural decay of the dead flesh.

srpad Amazing episode. I started to watch the reairing again, it was so good.

unclevanya Wouldn't you think there would be a horrible stench walking into those dead walkers in any enclosure? This show is another that turns my head. I like it. Maybe it's the aggression of killing those walkers.

KansasDan Have you ever hit a skunk in your car, and smelled the awful aroma, but 30 miles down the road you think the smell is gone, only to have someone comment on it when you reach your destination? I think they have just gotten used to it.

unclevanya Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks

unclevanya Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks

Elevation It surprised me that the zombies locked in jail cells were still "alive." I guess they don't really need to eat?

Lee Well, now that Beth is there, she can break the legs of some chickens and feed them.

jennyh Zombies don't need to eat, they're dead. Their appetite for flesh is only a base instinct that remains in their reanimated brain matter.

Jim I just want to say F You to AMC for running the first showing from 8:00 to 9:01 and the 2nd airing from 9:01 to 10:00. Wouldn't allow the the 2 tuner DVR to record as that extra one minute ran into Homeland/Treme. The 11:00 re-air ran for 60 minutes on the button. Game playing.

juzdownunder Jeez Jim, ever used bittorrent??

Anthony Well luckily for you the first 5 minutes of Homeland is nothing but credits and recaps. I don't think I've seen any shows that take longer to actually get started

ron mexico it seems like networks are playing this game all the time, with cable nets maybe the worst offenders....it does make JUZDOWNUNDER's aside awful tempting

Jim Jeez juzdownunder, ever here of paying artists for their work?

juzdownunder LOL...how are you paying an artist for their work by watching TWD on your DVR? (a) most ratings don't include DVR watches, and (b) i'm tipping you FF the ads regardless!

unclevanya @JIM. Both shows are repeated many times. Record it again and do the nest show.Last year, watching The Good Wife you had to record two shows after because of the football.

Sharkytowers Bryan you couldn't be more right. This sums up my feelings precisely. I get the sense the show listened to the critics and put the realism back into the apocalypse.

Jessie It was something like "I'm gonna go down first." as he was going down the ladder. Carol has a dirty mind!

SlackerInc Ha! Nice. Thanks.

NoHoGreg I'm frustrated that Hershel went with them on that "away "mission" to clear out more of the prison. You have a pregnant woman due to give birth any week now and you bring the slow moving doctor along and risk him? Hate that dumb type of thinking.

Silver I agree, it reminded me of original Star Trek when Kirk, Spock & McCoy all beam down into dangerous situations. I don't think you'd bring your lone medicine man on the hunt for the medical bay till the route is found & secured.

bbq_hax0r Nice comments Mike.

Sharkytowers First Bryan now Mike! Great comments. So pleased when someon literally writes an opinion I share in a way that helps me suss out my thoughts more clearly. Cheers.

Darkdoug Only problem is red states are full of people who would have no problem just up and blasting away when the zombie apocalypse hit. While there were lots of guns and ammo around when it happened, a lot of them could have been used before the owners died out.

SlackerInc Doug, I think that underestimates the truly staggering quantities that exist in those states, a lot of it not in people's homes but stored in gun shops awaiting sale, warehouses, etc.Put another way: if so much of it really had been used, there shouldn't be nearly so many zombies around.

jdstorm Rick Had to run through the field because there was another entrance, and he had to close that gate, so more zombies from inside the prison wouldn't hear the noise and flood into the feild

MeisterNJ So, Lori wants HERSCHEL to kill her and/or the baby if they turn? The same guy who had a bar full of his own walker kin? Yeah, that doesn't jive. Otherwise thought it was a great episode. Lots of new stories/angles.

sue Herschel eventually admitted that he was wrong about keeping his family members "alive" in the barn. He said something to the effect that all he had been doing was feeding their rotting flesh.

Shagga He ate his cellmate.

rcade Zombies don't eat food to stay alive. They're dead. They eat the living because it's a craving.We've seen zombies that lack a lower torso, that lack a lower job and are just a head. They all hunger for human flesh.

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The Walking Dead is updated

Huell Goodman How old is Beth supposed to be? I thought she was around 18 or 19, while Carl is, what? 13? Still kind of weird.

Still, if I'm Carl at that age...

And Hershel knows it!

velocityknown (Carl watches Beth)
Carl: "...I'll be in my bunk."

mcc

WTF.... Hershel

Elevation

RIP Herschel, Herschel's magic shotgun.

Very violent, action packed episode. I didn't really expect them to skip ahead nine months in the story. That was kind of cheap.

Everyone is now a Rambo-level killing specialist.

The SWAT Team zombies were tremendous.

GarySF Wow, Billy B, you need to stifle "you're" comments. No place for that nitpicking here. A lot of people are posting late at night, or before "they're" cup of coffee. Save your frustration for those who post in all caps or without paragraph breaks.

Josh S, your comments are welcome here.

Robert Konigsberg

Excellent season opener, but whoo, I knew they were going to remove the leg as soon as the belt came off, but damn if that wasn't the most violent sequence yet. I can take what this show dishes out but that was a new level.

Marley

Looks like the winter didn't help freeze off some of the walkers. Maybe it wasn't cold enough in Georgia?

srpad

Amazing episode. I started to watch the reairing again, it was so good.

unclevanya

Wouldn't you think there would be a horrible stench walking into those dead walkers in any enclosure?
This show is another that turns my head. I like it. Maybe it's the aggression of killing those walkers.

unclevanya

Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks

unclevanya

Write a comment...check the last one! I commented! Thanks

Elevation

It surprised me that the zombies locked in jail cells were still "alive." I guess they don't really need to eat?

Jim

I just want to say F You to AMC for running the first showing from 8:00 to 9:01 and the 2nd airing from 9:01 to 10:00. Wouldn't allow the the 2 tuner DVR to record as that extra one minute ran into Homeland/Treme. The 11:00 re-air ran for 60 minutes on the button. Game playing.

unclevanya @JIM. Both shows are repeated many times. Record it again and do the nest show.
Last year, watching The Good Wife you had to record two shows after because of the football.

NoHoGreg

I'm frustrated that Hershel went with them on that "away "mission" to clear out more of the prison. You have a pregnant woman due to give birth any week now and you bring the slow moving doctor along and risk him? Hate that dumb type of thinking.

MeisterNJ

So, Lori wants HERSCHEL to kill her and/or the baby if they turn? The same guy who had a bar full of his own walker kin? Yeah, that doesn't jive. Otherwise thought it was a great episode. Lots of new stories/angles.

rcade Zombies don't eat food to stay alive. They're dead. They eat the living because it's a craving.

We've seen zombies that lack a lower torso, that lack a lower job and are just a head. They all hunger for human flesh.