With a lot of flaming zombies and explosions galore, the zombie apocalypse returned to AMC on October 12. The Season 5 premiere of The Walking Dead pulled in 17.3 million total viewers on Sunday at 9 PM. Over a million more viewers than the Season 4 debut last year. Before reading the review, the full episode is available to watch here.

The beginning of the episode featured the most gripping, intense moments of the episode as Rick and the rest of the survivors got gassed out of their container and then bent over a slaughterhouse trough as members of Terminus killed a line of people that led right up to Glenn. The scene of the guy about to bash his brains in with a bat sent the show’s fandom into panic mode.

But Glenn and the rest, after a few fake-outs, were spared. Thanks to Carol, who’s now shown her full potential, when it comes to getting things done. Carol’s ability to “do what needs to be done” has now morphed into a fearless, resourceful apocalypse survivor persona. And after her crowd-pleasing prison break(with zombie stealth, greatly aimed firework, and straight up ruthless killing), Carol’s now one of the show’s most hardcore characters. Putting her up there with even Daryl. Speaking of Daryl and Carol, one of the most heartwarming moments of the episode was the reunion between them after the breakout.

Tyreese also managed to get his groove back, if you’re comfortable with calling the ability to destroy a horde of walkers using nothing but his brute strength “his groove.” It was something that had to happen in order for him to survive, as he was essentially forced to kill zombies in order to save Judith and then he essentially punched a guy from Terminus too death.

It was pretty much a happy ending all around, except for the Terminus cannibals. There were not any major hero character killed and everyone joined back up together following the intense battle. Which, of course, contained flaming zombies, the cannibals being the main course(of the zombies), and Rick’s team mowing down Terminus goons with machine guns. One thing that was a surprise for everyone was the appearance of Morgan in the after credits scene, who found the “No Sanctuary” sign and began trailing the group.

It was also cool to learn a bit about  the Terminus’ backstory. Although there were scenes depicting how brutal the people were that took Terminus, I personally need a little bit more information to show me how they could go from who they were to cold-hearted cannibals who eat children. Hardening up and not trusting anyone is one step. Even raiding other people’s camps could follow. But setting up a place to lure people in for the kill is another level. So I do hope for more background.

Overall, I think the episode delivered on all fronts. It was great to see the group get back together, and to see Morgan at the end;who will presumably be in the next episode. I give “No Sanctuary” a 9 out of 10. The only minor gripe I have is some of the unrealistic dialogue between  Tyreese and his captive. It is definitely worth watching if you are a fan of horror,action, and/or drama.