Wow yea holy shit! What an episode. It really did feel that the episode went by fast and left me wanting more. But the episode had so much action and it definitely continued off the season 2 finale. Of course this blog post has spoilers, this whole site does, so don’t read on if you don’t want to read spoilers.

You can see the season 3 episode 1 video summary here.

As the episode starts you can tell that some time has passed since the season 2 finale story. Lori’s baby bump is much more noticeable now as she is now 8 1/2 months pregnant (Maggie said this in the season 3 episode 1 summary video), some of the guys have more facial hair (Glenn with some mustache facial hair and Hershel with a beard and mustache). There’s also mention of the winter, that they’ve been searching going from house to house for things so this episode picks up after the winter.

Here are some of the interesting things from the episode: Carl seems to have a crush on Beth; Carol flirts with Daryl but Daryl seems like he doesn’t want anything in that nature with Carol; walkers in riot gear and gas masks which was cool to see; Carl is more grown and has more responsibility; Rick and Lori’s marriage is broken; Andrea is sick and Michonne is taking care of her; Hershel gets bit on the lower leg by a walker and Rick chops off Hershel’s leg to stop the infection. At the end of the episode, the survivors see five prison survivors as Daryl points his weapon at them.

So will Hershel survive? He has to right? He has to deliver the baby and marry Glenn and Maggie, right? We’ll see.

Many people were hoping that there would be prisoners, especially Axel, and now we know there are as at the end of the episode they showed them watching Rick and the others tending to Hershel. Some even thought that maybe one of the prisoners was Tyrese, but no sorry to disappoint, it doesn’t appear they’re doing that.

Axel is a popular character from the comic book and some were hoping the character would look more similar to the comic book character. And from the look we got at the end of episode 1, it’s close. With all of the commercials of Comic Book Men, it got me thinking what if that show gets cancelled, can they get Bryan Johnson to play as Axel? Just joking.

Here’s a little info about the five prisoners, courtesy of showrunner Glen Mazzara, from insidetv.ew.com.

“We changed some of these names around,” says Mazzara. “There was a Dexter in the book. Obviously there’s a TV show named Dexter so we changed some of the names to feel more specific to this show.” Here’s a photo identifying all five inmates, plus more from Mazzara on the prisoners’ backstory and individual notes on each character.

Tomas (played by Nick Gomez)
“Tomas is the leader. Tomas is the alpha male. He’s the one who is in charge and he is the one who has set the rules and he did before the apocalypse, he’s been doing that since, and suddenly, here’s Rick telling him, ‘This isn’t even your prison any more.’ Tomas is not going to stand for that.”

Andrew (played by Markice Moore)
“Andrew is really Tomas’ right hand man. These guys are really the ones who have been intimidating Axel and Oscar.”

Axel (played by Lew Temple)
“Axel is a great character. He’s someone who was probably a two-bit criminal who finds himself in a bigger mess. He’s probably happy to be freed by Rick because he realizes he’s not as cutthroat as Tomas and Andrew.”

Oscar (played by Vincent Ward)
“Oscar is another guy who has had to go along with Tomas’ rule.”

Big Tiny (played by Theodus Crane)
“Big Tiny is the muscle of the group. The idea was that all of these guys together are a formidable force. These are hardened convicts who have survived living together for almost a year, almost in the same way that Rick and his group have. So this is a surprising force for Rick to come up against. And they are formidable. And they are scary. And they are dangerous. Just as dangerous as Rick’s group.”
Source

The Making of Episode 301, Seed: Inside The Walking Dead