Last night’s episode gave a whole new meaning to “life in prison.”

The Walking Dead (3:1) SUPER SPOILERS! I don’t know about you, but my Sunday nights has just gotten better. The seasons premiere of The Walking Dead revealed that a lot has happened since we last seen the group in season two. The pressure to survive has increased–Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Lori’s (Sara Wayne Callies) relationship is strained–so right now she is dealing with losing both Shane and Rick–and on top of that–is over eight months pregnant. Rick, on the other hand, remains a strong leader for the group, but you can slowly begin to see his sanity waning. The situation is getting heavy for everyone, and last nights episode didn’t make what they are going through any better.

Fans of The Walking Dead comic book series have been waiting for this moment all of season two–the group finally reach “the prison” overrun with walkers. Think about it–in a better world, a prison is the last place anyone would want to go. But in a world filled with zombie walkers–a prison is the ultimate haven. A place like that will definitely keep the walkers out. But first, the group must deal with possibly hundreds of the undead that are already there. In the meantime, we had an opportunity to catch up with another long awaited reunion for the season–Michonne (Danai Gurira) and her “adornments.” Michonne made her epic debut via decapitating two twin walkers with a single swing of her katana. Andrea’s sick, and Michonne was out foraging aspirin to help Andrea get well. However, this introduction is way different from what occurred in the comic. Especially with that scene. In the comic–Andrea and Michonne did not meet as they did in last seasons’ finale. Instead, Andrea (Laurie Holden) was busy helping “clean house” at the prison. Michonne meets the group much later.

Meanwhile, walker body count keeps rising as Rick and the group decide to push forward deeper into the prison grounds. With Lori pregnant–finding a suitable shelter takes precedence. As the group battles past zombies decked out in full riot gear, in a phalanx that includes Rick, Glenn (Steven Yeun), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), T-Dog (Irone Singleton) who get’s in a bit more for dialogue than in the last few episodes of last season, and of course Daryl (Norman Reedus). The brutal walker deaths prevailed in this scene–but what’s to come is not only shocking–but a definite twist from what occurred in the comic.

Rick knows that the prison is a stock pile for supplies and doesn’t miss a beat in taking the lead into clearing out a place for them to live beyond the prison walls. What really threw me off–why the hell did Hershel (Scott Wilson) one of the group cleaning out the prison halls? I would have imagined that he would have remained behind and at least help keep an eye on Lori–the girl has gotten pretty big–and Carl (Chandler Riggs), last season it was hard to keep an eye on this kid. What I really like about what a major character role change for Carl–he is assuming the absolute persona of his comic book character. We should expect to see a lot from him as the season progresses.

Back to cleaning house, the corridors of the prison are dark as the group proceed deeper within the prison walls, and this is where things take a drastic turn for the worse–Glenn and Maggie are briefly separated from the group, and Hershel is bitten. Immediately, Rick doesn’t miss a beat–he immediately severs the bitten limb just below the knee. In the comic, it isn’t Hershel that loses a leg–its Dale, but we all know what happened to Dale in season two. From the looks of it, Hershel’s prison garden may take a little more time to cultivate.

Part of the carnage that happened in the “Walking Dead” comic at this point–we got some of it in last nights episode. Especially the end scene of last nights episode–a group of inmates of the “non walker kind” was watching the whole thing.

Smile for the camera.

At this point:

—  The relationship between Rick and Lori is pretty much broken at this point which is completely different from the comic–their relationship is solid. We can understand that after all that transpired with the Lori/Shane/Rick drama from last season. I don’t blame the man for being a little distant.

—  Glenn and Maggie is still getting to know one another. Young love blossoms in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. How romantic.

—  Maybe you all are wondering just who were those mysterious prisoners at the end of the episode? Meet Axel, Tomas, and Andrew (The Walking Dead Comic #13). I don’t know how Kirkman will reprise their roles for television and if it will be anything like the original tale–prepare yourselves for a season stunner.

— Michonne and Andrea are heading for the town of Woodbury, and it is there they will meet the Governor (David Morrissey). From a purely observational standpoint–he’s a lot handsomer without that eye patch.

Check out a sneak peek of episode 2 of The Walking Dead ‘SICK’

Source AMC