Tonight marked the much anticipated return of one of the biggest hit TV shows last year, The Walking Dead. And boy did it deliver! Now I’m not going to talk about this entire  episode because I don’t want to spoil the whole thing, but I am throwing out a spoiler warning because I will be talking about the first half or so of the episode. Also I’d like to invite any of you in the Salt Lake City area to join Big Shiny Robot at Brewvies Cinema Pub as we will be showing the entire season on the big screen for free.

This episode picks up right after the events of last season with Rick and company on the road out of Atlanta. Things seem to be going fairly well, that is until they come upon a traffic jam of abandoned cars on the freeway. While moving through the cars the radiator hose on Dale’s RV breaks and strands them in the middle of the cars.  The gang decides to salvage whatever they can from the abandoned cars while Dale fixes the RV. And then it happens, one of the most tense and nervewracking moments of this episode, the herd approaches. A herd of zombies is a giant group that ends up shambling along together. Luckily our heroes see them in time to hide under the surrounding cars. But it wouldn’t be The Walking Dead if nothing went wrong, and something indeed does.  Just when they think the herd has passed them by the little girl in the group, Sophia, starts to crawl out of her hiding spot just to be spotted by a straggler from the herd. He and another straggler end up chasing her into the neighboring woods with Rick being the only person to chase after her. Rick finds her and tells her to stay in a safe spot while he leads them away. He takes cares of them only to return where he left Sophia, and she’s not there. This sets up the rest of the episode with the group looking for the missing girl. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the episode for those that have not watched it, especially the cliffhanger.  When the big cliffhanger happened you could hear a pin drop In the 200+ filled theater that Swankmotron and myself were in. There was a huge feeling of “They did not just do that!”

All in all I thought it was a strong season premier.  It had the right amount of tension, not just because of the zombies but problems within the group. One such problem is the ongoing  jealousy Shane has towards Rick because he’s back with his wife and he can’t have her. If for some reason you missed the first season don’t worry, there is a pretty good monologue by the main character in the very begining that catches you up on what you need to know.  All in all if you’re not watching this show, you should be.

Androidika’s Rating: 4 out of 5 Severed Heads