October has always been known as the month of scare. From Halloween Horror Nights to the new season of American Horror Story, this month has been anything but sunshine and rainbows. Here to join the frightening ensemble is AMC’s The Walking Dead, back for its fifth season.

This season premiere was anything but disappointing. Coming into this new season, I had low expectations for the first episode. Last season’s premiere was a flat out disappointment: it was slow, monotonous, and a really bad waste of an hour that I will never, ever get back. Well, this episode proved me wrong. Within the first five minutes it was heated. There was captivity, slaughter, and invasion. Here’s a recap of what took place.

WARNING: SPOILERS

Where we last left off, the whole gang finally reached the self-proclaimed “safe haven,” Terminus. There, they realized that it is nothing more than a slaughter house for a cannibalistic society, and they are taken into captivity. As they plan a way to escape, group leaders Rick, Daryl, Glenn and a recent newcomer are forced out of the trailer prison and sent off to the actual slaughter house.

As mentioned before, within the first five minutes, it gets intense. The group leaders are lined up with four other captured souls bound and gagged in front of a slaughter trough waiting on their impending doom. One by one each victim takes a hard blow to the head and one swift slit to the neck- as if they were cattle. As one of the main characters is about to kick the bucket, a hero saves the day.

And that hero is our beloved Carol. She’s returned to save the gang- and she does it with a bang. With fire crackers and a good aim, she blows up the slaughter house to smithereens, breaking the gates and turning the invading zombies into human fire balls. The group breaks free and begins their escape from Terminus.

Meanwhile, Tyreese is back at the pit stop in the woods where Carol left him with Rick’s baby and a stranger. Here, Tyreese fights for his and the baby’s life from this threatening stranger. This is a new character development area for Tyreese, since he is known to be the “peace, and love” kind of guy. Tyreese killing for the first time foreshadows that he will do every and anything for that little baby. Who knows, maybe he will be the first member to die this season.

To end it off, the gang escapes the now terminated camp and reunites with their beloved Carol. For me, this was the best scene of the whole episode. When Daryl saw Carol for the first time since she left, and ran into her arms crying with happiness, I ran for my tissues and cried with happiness. The ship has returned to dock, “Caryl” is back!

Next week, we will be introduced to a new character originated from the comics, Father Gabriel. Throwing religion into the mix of a zombie apocalypse already filled with corrupt people makes me question what’s in store.

UPDATE– October 20th- The second episode that released Sunday, October 19th reveals that the man that Tyreese thought he had killed in the woods is in fact alive, as well as the slaughterers from Terminus, otherwise known as “The Hunters” according to the comics.