The Season 4 premiere of the “The Walking Dead” opened with Rick Grimes starting his day off in the prison. He splashes his face with clean water and begins to work in the garden, trying to block out the moans and groans of the walkers piling up on the fences. While digging, Rick finds a loaded gun buried in the dirt. He picks it up and tosses it in the wheelbarrow.
Later on, we see Rick and his son Carl looking at one of the pigs in the stable. It looks sick and Rick criticizes Carl for naming it “Violet” but eventually starts calling it Violet as well.
Daryl goes to see Carol and is greeted happily by the other survivors. Carol shows Daryl the fence which is piling up with walkers. She tells him they need to do something about it before it gets worse.
Down at the fence, a few survivors are killing the attracted walkers by stabbing them in the head. Tyreese then approaches Karen about skipping fence duty. They appear to be in a relationship and Tyreese admits that killing walkers at the fence upsets him and when he’s outside the prison killing them is easier. Karen understands, they kiss and go back to work.
Prison newcomer Bob Stookey volunteers to go on the next supply run, but Sascha is wary, saying that they found him alone and she’s not sure how he’ll do in a group. Glenn points out that Bob was an army medic, and Sascha eventually agrees to let him come.
Michonne arrives to the prison on horseback, bringing back comics for Carl and an electric razor for Rick commenting on his scruffy look. Rick asks if she’s going to stay awhile and she says yes, noting that she “didn’t find him.”
Later, Rick is back in the garden with Hershel. Hershel is showing Rick gardening tips. Rick says he is going to go outside and check the animal traps. Hershel then tells Rick that their newly formed “Council”, made up mostly of the original prison crew, (Glenn, Carol, Daryl, etc.) thinks he should carry his gun when outside the prison. Rick thinks that his gun isn’t going to help him if surrounded by walkers, but agrees anyway.
Rick is now outside the prison collecting dead animals they’ve trapped. He comes across a near-dead boar. As he approaches it, a woman comes out of nowhere. Rick hides and tries to get away quietly, but is seen by the woman. The woman pleads for his help and Rick sees that she looks like one of the walkers, but is clearly human. She begs that Rick bring her and her husband back to the prison but Rick is apprehensive. He says that if they can answer three questions they can come with him.
Daryl, Glenn, Sascha, Bob, Michonne, Tyreese, and Zach arrive at a big box store that used to be a shelter for survivors. Daryl bangs on the windows of the store to lure the walkers to the front. While waiting, Zach tries to guess what Daryl did before the apocalypse. He guesses homicide cop much to the laughter of Michonne. When the walkers show up, they all enter the store ready to kill. Bob notices half of a walker on the ground as they enter and the camera pans up to show dozens of walkers on the roof where a helicopter crashed.
Inside, our survivors are shopping. Glenn looks at baby products nervously, while Bob walks past the liquor aisle, shaking his head. He approaches a wine bottle takes it off of the shelf, clearly showing signs of alcohol problems. He thinks twice, but puts the bottle on the shelf a little too hard, breaking it and sending the entire shelf on top of him trapping him. The others begins helping, but the walkers on the roof hear the noise and begin crashing through the weakened roof.
We go back to Rick and the mystery woman, who explains that she was travelling when the world ended. She tells him about the terrible things her and her husband have done. She asks Rick, “Do you think you get to come back from them?” Rick doesn’t answer.
Back at the store, everyone is doing their best to kill walkers. Bob is still trapped with a crawling walker approaching. Daryl notices the helicopter teetering inwards. They eventually are able to save Bob, but Zach is bitten and killed. Just then the helicopter comes down just as the group escape.
Rick and the mystery woman arrive at her camp. Rick soon finds out that her husband is a walker and the woman tries to stab Rick so she can feed him to her husband. Rick stops her and points his gun at her. The woman stabs herself saying she wants to be a walker with her husband. As she lays in the grass dying, she asks Rick what the three questions were. Rick says “How many walkers have you killed?…how many people have you killed?… and why?” The woman dies and Rick leaves her and her husband behind.
Meanwhile at the prison, Carl is struggling with the other kids. We previously saw him arguing with them about the walkers having names. He says they’re dead and nothing else. He also thinks that storytime is something that little kids do. He sneaks in on a session anyway and midway through, Carol stops and pulls out a box of knives. She is actually trying to train the kids on how to defend themselves. Carl is spotted by Carol who tells him not to tell his dad. Carl runs out.
Rick arrives back at the prison. He sees that Violet, the pig from earlier, is dead. Rick is clearly emotional about it.
The others are back as well. Maggie tells Glenn that she is not pregnant. Glenn is relieved, but Maggie says she could have had a baby. Glenn disagrees but Maggie says that she is not afraid.
Daryl tells Beth about Zach, who Beth had a small romance with. She doesn’t seem to mind saying that she doesn’t cry anymore and she was glad to know him. She changes the “days without an accident” sign from 30 to zero.
Bob lies in bed emotional from the events at the store.
At night, a young boy about Carl’s age, stumbles out of his cell clearly sick. He gets to the shower but collapses. Eventually his eyes open and it’s revealed that he is dead and now a walker.