Rick has vowed to do everything in his power to protect his group, and boy did he mean it. Last week's season premiere of "The Walking Dead" ended with him chopping off Hershel's leg, as a group of inmates looked on. Dealing with those inmates -- as well as Hershel's recovery -- became the main focus of this episode. And Rick wasn't going to take any chances with them.
As they'd been locked in the kitchen, he proposed a trade with the inmates. If the inmates give up half their supplies, Rick promised to help them clear out a block of the prison that they can stay in. After that, the the two groups would stay out of each other's way, or Rick would rain fiery hell upon them. Well, he needn't have waited that long.
By the end of the episode, only two of those inmates remained alive. One got bitten, and was taken down by their own leader. Then, when that leader threw a zombie on Rick -- though he insisted it was an accident -- Rick put a machete through his skull. The final death came after that when one of the prisoners ran right into a yard full of zombies, and all Rick had to do was lock him out there.
This is a much more brutal Rick. Is it necessary in this new world? Buddy TV wondered, "Will Rick be able to stay on the right side of sanity or will this season become one large tragedy play?"
Follow along and make your own judgments on "The Walking Dead," Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
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