The Walking Dead

“The Walking Dead” season four premiere was a very good episode, but as a premiere, it fell short.

This episode, titled “30 Days Without an Accident” was solid but did not provide what past season premieres have: a new chapter.

The episode started off wonderfully. The opening sequence shows Rick (Andrew Lincoln) farming and adeptly reflects what life has been like since we last saw our heroes.

While I don’t know why on earth Rick was listening to an iPod, I enjoyed what was a genuine human, regular moment.

This normalcy is what the prison is giving them. At least for now.

However, unlike the premieres of seasons two and three, this premiere didn’t establish a new leaf.

Season two introduced the farm, and season three introduced the prison, but this season premiere did not introduce a new setting.

All we got in this premiere was more prison and more of the new characters, many of which we met last season.

What this episode did bring is a new conflict: disease.

It seems as if now there is another way for our beloved characters to die.

While the type of disease is still up in the air, my best guess would be that it is some sort of superflu.

Another part from the premiere I expect to recur throughout the season are the questions “Can we come back?” and “Are these people too far gone?”

I predict that this, which has always been a theme of the show, will take a forefront this season. I’m hoping that, with this, the writing returns to real human conflicts.

It is great to see Michonne interacting with the core group so well in this episode.

I cannot wait to see what she does to the governor when she finds him.

Whatever it is, I bet it is going to be a crazy episode.

As a whole, the now very large group living at the prison seems to be meshing well.

Overall, I am very excited to see what this season brings.

However, I am worried we are going to get a lot more of the same we did last season.

Rather than a new chapter, it seems as if we are just getting the second half of what should’ve been one action-packed, gripping, powerful third season.

But I trust there are going to be some crazy turns ahead, and I look forward to being dragged along.