The Walking Dead Season 5 Premiere 'No Sanctuary' Review: Back With a Vengeance

Season 4 of The Walking Dead met with mixed reviews from fans, as the first half focused on the action at the prison, the return of the Governor and the prison's destruction, while the second half scattered the characters and focused on developing them through quieter moments and conversation rather than a parade of zombie killing. It was an interesting approach that worked in some spots but came up short in others.

But the Season 5 premiere, "No Sanctuary" came out of the gate swinging and was determined to leave fans covering their eyes and screaming at what was happening on their television screens. The opening scene set the tone as Rick and his friends prepared to come out of the train car fighting with little more than a collection of improvised weapons from their belt buckles and whatever else they could scrounge together. But the Terminus residents were a step ahead of them and dropped in a smoke bomb to stop the counterattack before it ever started.

From there, we got the scene that reporters claimed was unbelievably brutal and shockingly made it past AMC's standards and practices department. The Terminus residents hog tied their captives and led them to a trough, where they knocked them out with a baseball bat and then slit their throats to make them bleed into a drain. It was horrifying to watch the unfortunate souls next to the characters we actually care about get slaughtered like lambs.

Carol's timely intervention saved the group, so let's talk about her for a few moments. What a complete and total badass this woman has become. Last season, she killed two people who had the flu to keep the infection from spreading. She also took out Lizzie, the young psychopath who killed her little sister. In the first episode of Season 5, she took down an entire compound like she was playing a game of Call of Duty. She summed up her attitude when Tyreese asked her what her plan was. "I'm going to kill people," she replied.

Carol's actions and mindset drove home the theme of the episode, as preached by the cannibal lady in the Terminus chapel or whatever the hell that creepy candlelit place was. Either you're the butcher, or you're the cattle. Tyreese had a similar conversation with gum-chewing guy in the cabin, who accurately questioned Tyreese as to why the big man was even letting him live, let alone having a conversation with him. Amid all the action and bullet and explosions and blood in the episode, "No Sanctuary" was trying to deliver a message about the world of The Walking Dead: either act quickly and put the other man down, or he'll do the same to you. There are no allies in this world. You either kill or get killed, plain and simple.

On that front, we had the continued resurgence of Badass Rick Grimes, who I think we all prefer to Farmer Rick Grimes. The man was just on fire this episode, so all credit to Andrew Lincoln for bringing out the best in his character. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Gareth asked him what was in the bag he buried in the woods, and Rick nonchalantly rattled off the list of weapons until he got to the machete with the red handle, with which he pledged to kill Gareth. Foreshadowing, anyone?

The scene in which Rick knifed the one Terminus resident and then used his assault rifle to mow down the others was also noteworthy and showed just how far Rick has come (or how far he's fallen, depending on how you look at it). But escaping the compound wasn't enough because, as he put it, "they don't get to live," Rick went from reluctantly killing humans and turning on his own kind to seeking revenge on his captors even though it would be much safer to just leave and never look back. This is an important character development that the show will certainly continue to explore throughout the season.

Notes:

-       No sign of Beth this week, but we know she's alive and apparently in a hospital of some sort. Maybe next week, we'll find out.

-       The answers about Terminus came fast and furious in this episode, but was this it for the compound, or will it and it surviving residents return? We learned, as we had suspected, that the Terminus residents were cannibals, but they apparently only became cannibals after a group of evil bastards took over their sanctuary and turned it into a nightmare. The "then" and "now" structure of the episode was a bit jarring, but it shed some light on Terminus, which was welcome.

-       Morgan's back! And he doesn't seem to be crazy!

-       Where will the survivors head now?

-       Can the show keep up this frenetic pace in Season 5?

What did you think of the Season 5 premiere of The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments section.