The Walking Dead: Every Season 7 Episode (So Far) - Ranked Worst To Best

Coming off the brutal, depressing premiere, the second episode of the season felt like we'd stepped into a whole different show, with the Morgan and Carol-centric hour serving as an appropriate palate cleanser. The introduction of The Kingdom, King Ezekiel, and Shiva the tiger - and Carol's hilarious reactions to all of it - was something that comic fans had been looking forward to for a long time, and the episode did a solid job in making it all work on screen.

Unlike, say, Swear, the hour was world-building done right, with two longtime characters at its core whose personalities and story arcs could carry us through it. Narrative wheels never felt like they were being spun, as something new was always around the corner, whether it was Morgan's growing attachment to the community, Carol's efforts to run away from it, the revelation of Ezekiel's deal with the Saviors, or the grandiose King's backstory itself.

Despite the absence of all the other major players, the episode succeeded anyway by continually pushing forward, developing The Kingdom and its inhabitants and landing Morgan and Carol in an all-new place physically and emotionally by episode's end that paid off their tumultuous dynamic from season six, all while delivering a healthy dose of optimism, humor, and charm that many viewers needed before subsequent episodes dropped us right back into the grim reality of the premiere's fallout.