The Walking Dead revisits a central theme in the show “Fight the Dead, Fear the Living” in season three’s second episode.  The prisoners, Rick and the group found at the end of episode one know nothing of what has happened on the outside, being locked up in the cafeteria for 10 months.  Hershel is hanging on for life, laid up in a jail cell bed while everyone watches over him and prepares for the worst.

            The prisoners’ leader, Tomas, tries to force Rick and the group out of the prison claiming it’s his.  They strike a deal: the group, along with the prisoners, clear a cellblock in exchange for half the food in the prison.             Rick arms the prisoners, but after watching them engage the zombies in “prison riot” fashion, shows little faith in their ability to survive.  One of the prisoners, Tiny, gets scratched and is brutally killed by Tomas, showing no remorse and a thirst for vengeance.

Rick kills the leader after nearly being bitten in a ploy by Tomas to kill him, and feeds his accomplice to the “walkers.”  The remaining two prisoners are given their own cellblock and left alone.

            Fearing Hershel’s death and Lori’s birth coming soon, Carol kills a walker to practice her C-section skills, while someone watches her from the woods outside the prison.             The episode ends with Lori and Rick discussing their shambled marriage and that they have no option but to make it work.