Over the past five seasons, The Walking Dead has given its viewers an unflinching look into a world that is slowly unraveling in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. As the show follows former Sheriff Rick Grimes and a small band of survivors, they struggle to make sense of the increasingly brutal world that surrounds him.
One of TV’s best-rated programs, AMC looks to capture lightning in a bottle once again with spinoff series Fear The Walking Dead, which will take place in the same world, but will be set much earlier in the timeline of the outbreak 2,000 miles away in southern California.
Whether you’ve never watched the series or are looking to catch up before the spinoff premieres, let’s look back at some of the defining moments that made the show’s first season so intriguing. Warning, there are some light spoilers here.
Rick wakes up to a terrifying new world
Badly wounded after a shootout early in the show’s first episode, Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma in a hospital room with wilted flowers, a stopped clock, and seemingly no one in sight. As he stumbles through the halls, he sees the remains of a brutal, catastrophic event, complete with a Romero-esque warning across two large doors reading “DON’T OPEN – DEAD INSIDE.”
Morgan’s tragic realization
As Rick leaves the hospital, he’s discovered by a survivor named Morgan and his young son, Duane. After Morgan tells Rick about the horrible state of the world, Rick ventures off to find his family. As Morgan and Duane return to their adopted home, Morgan attempts to humanely end his wife’s presumed suffering, only to understandably and heartbreakingly struggle with the act.
Rick’s journey into Atlanta
While in his old house, Rick notices that the family photo albums have been taken, which is enough to convince him that his wife and son are out there somewhere. Rick proceeds to head toward Atlanta, where he finds a horse outside a farmhouse after his car runs out of gas. It’s an uncommonly calm and tranquil scene as Rick rides down the abandoned highway into Atlanta.
Against all odds, Rick finds his family
After finding himself trapped in a tank and surrounded by walkers, Rick is rescued by another group on a routine supply run. After he helps devise a plan to get them safely out of the city, he finds that the camp is also home to his wife, Lori, and their son, Carl. While the three of them embrace each other tearfully, Shane, Rick’s former partner (and, in his absence, Lori’s lover) looks on, setting the tone for their now adversarial relationship.
Shane snaps, shows his temper
Shane’s anger over Rick’s return is exacerbated when Carl is called back to the camp when he’s trying to show him how to catch frogs. Nearby, Ed, Carol’s abusive husband, strikes his wife, causing Shane to unleash his frustration on Ed, who he beats severely. It gets to the point where Shane warns him that, should anything like this happen again with Carol, he won’t hesitate to beat him to death.
Merle’s hand
Escaping downtown Atlanta proves more difficult than planned thanks to Merle, a headstrong, antagonizing racist, who Rick leaves handcuffed to a pipe on a roof. Once they return to camp, Rick vows to return to rescue Merle despite having just been reunited with his family. What they end up finding is their first indication of the severe conditions that define the new world that they live in.
The camp is attacked
With some key members of the camp away on the Merle rescue mission, those that stay behind enjoy a lavish fish-fry, along with the care-free bantering that had been lost in the wake of the outbreak. With their guard down, the camp is attacked by a horde of walkers, changing the course for the first season dramatically.
The loss of one of their own
Amidst the piles of bodies and the grotesque site of the walkers, the show reminds us that there is a very human toll taken when someone gets bitten by a zombie.
“We don’t kill the living.”
Cleaning up the dead (and undead) the morning after the camp’s attack, it’s discovered that one of the survivors has been bit. While Daryl, still reeling from the failed endeavor to rescue his brother Merle, attempts to act swiftly, it’s Rick who intervenes, asserting himself as both the leader and voice of reason.
Dr. Jenner whispers the truth to Rick
With the group smaller after a few elect to head off on their own, Rick and company head to the Center for Disease Control under the assumption that they’ll find not only safety and shelter, but some kind of answer to help undo whatever has been done to their world. Instead, they meet lone scientist Dr. Jenner, who it turns out has his own grim agenda. In a chilling moment that wouldn’t be fully revealed until the end of the following season, he whispers something to Rick that shakes him and his concept of hope down to its very core.
