A new enemy is introduced on 'The Walking Dead'

In an opening that involved feeding a rat to a walker, "The Walking Dead" brought home another entertaining episode. 

As last weeks episode ended, we saw Patrick succumb to the zombie virus yet he had not been bit. Before anyone could notice, Patrick killed a fellow survivor and now two walkers were making their way inside the prison. Things get worse when the walkers find the general population and begin to cause a panic.

It's interesting to note just how Patrick was able to make his way around the prison for so long without being noticed. The size and scope of the prison has never really been explored, but it was clear from last season many of the prison wings were blocked off for protection. It's possible the prison living areas have been extended since the Governors attack, but its never explained. 

After the commotion of the walker attack, it's surmised Patrick and another un-bitten turned-survivor Charlie died from a flu virus. With this knowledge, Rick and the survivors now have to fight an enemy they never thought possible.

It's known that everyone is either infected or something is in the air that will turn people whether they die by another walker or of natural causes. But this is the first case of someone dieing from a flu in less then 24 hours. It's the kind of enemy that is hard to fight and detect. 

It will be interesting to see how the group handles this in the coming episodes. Quarantine seems like the best idea, but that won't come easy. Having no solid medical equipment to even set-up a quarantine area makes things difficult.

As the episode continued, Rick has to sacrifice the hard work he's been putting into the garden and farm to lure away a herd of walkers threatening to breakdown the fence around the prison. It's hard to watch and you feel bad for Rick. The farm took him away from the fighting and let him focus his efforts on something positive. 

Rick ultimately does away with the farm as he straps up his gun again and decides to give Carl something he's been wanting for a while. It's sad to see Rick realize he is needed in other important areas like defense and leadership rather then farming. 

A fun aspect to the show was the little tidbits of Michonne's character development. We're seeing her grow like she did in the comics. At first, Michonne was silent and stoic but as the comics went on she opened up to Rick and the others and became an integral part to the group. She's beginning to open her emotions as she interacts with Ricks daughter and it's a nice touching moment.

In the ending, Tyreese is met with an unfortunate surprise and is left to wonder how and why it happened. With someone feeding rats to walkers and now burning bodies of suspected sick people, someone is up to no good. It's reminiscent of the comics when someone was killing random women in the prison. 

The prison group survivors are going to have some rough seas ahead of them and it will great to see how this all unfolds. 

Rating

8.5/10