Warning: Contains spoilers for the latest episode of The Walking Dead!

No way out.

This is the title of the latest episode of one of AMC’s most popular shows, The Walking Dead. After watching this episode, it does appear that there is no way out for the characters everyone has come to love.

The episode starts out with a continuation of the short clip where Negan’s biker gang confronts Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Daryl (Norman Reedus). The man, who is assumed to be Negan, takes the group’s weapons, and one of his men has Daryl take him to the back of the truck to find anymore weapons they might have.

While this occurs, a conversation strikes up between Sasha, Abraham, and Negan, ending with Negan pointing two guns at the two of them, prepared to kill them. Before he’s able to, however, Daryl saves the day by using the grenade launcher to kill Negan and his group.

While this turned out well for the three, the story of the characters back at Alexandria is much different, after the walls of Alexandria came crashing down. Most of the group was split up in different houses, praying that the zombies, or walkers, wouldn’t get one of them next.

However, Rick, holding Judith, Jessie, Sam, Ron, Michonne, Gabriel and Carl dared to go out, covered in guts, trying to get away. They ended up splitting up, too, Gabriel taking Judith to the makeshift church and the others going to get out of the walls.

This is where things go downhill. Sam begins to cry, attracting walkers, killing him. Jessie, his mother, understandably begins to scream as she sees her youngest being eaten alive, getting her attacked by walkers too. Ron, upset that Rick didn’t do anything, points his gun at Carl. Before he can shoot Carl in the head, however, he is stabbed by Michonne, but still manages to fire his gun, hitting Carl in the eye.

Rick and the remaining survivors make it to a house, and Carl begins to undergo treatment. Rick, however, goes back into the crowd and begins to kill walkers like a madman, and, eventually, the other Alexandrians help him, symbolizing their coming together.

This episode was amazing. It had action, it had lots of storytelling points, and it was beautifully shot. The actors on this show are very good at what they do, and clearly love doing it.

One of the most interesting parts, however, was the fact that all of Jessie’s family was killed off in one succinct scene. It really shows that, in the apocalypse,one must always be on guard and have to keep going. There’s no room for emotions in a situation like theirs.

The Walking Dead has always been a great show. This episode was an example of how great it really can be, as it kept viewers on the edge of their seats the whole time.

Along with that, the cinematography of the episode was beautiful, especially when it did the close ups on each of the characters’ faces while they were killing walkers. It showed their personalities along with it, to which we must applaud the actors on their spectacular performance.

The episode was very fast-paced, which gave viewers a feeling of excitement, keeping them constantly wondering what will happen next, and hoping that their favorite character will live until the episode. The show’s character development throughout the series as a whole has made people grow on these characters; the creators and writers have done an excellent job at making viewers care.

So, all in all, this episode was amazing. It was a strong mid-season opener and is one that we won’t forget anytime soon.