By John Keegan and Paul Pearson
As AMC shows go, The Walking Dead seems more determined to take after Mad Men with its contained season arcs, rather than the intense serialisation of Breaking Bad; most of the premiere episode’s run is about getting the audience caught up, not just on what’s happened in previous seasons, but on the sweeping changes that both the prison and the core group of characters have undergone. It helps to reset any concerns that viewers might’ve had from previous seasons, but there’s also the sense of a new showrunner determined to prove his mettle and introduce us to his version of The Walking Dead.