The Walking Dead: 11 Best Introductory Episodes

2. "30 Days Without An Accident" (Season 4, Episode 1)

"30 Days Without An Accident" is a peculiar episode of The Walking Dead, in that life is going so well for the survivors at the prison that the situation is altogether disconcerting for viewers accustomed to mayhem and misery. Crops have been planted in the prison yard. Rick is a farmer. There is a Council. The original population has expanded to a community of more than forty people. When Daryl leads a team out on a supply run and Rick goes beyond the fences to check snares for captured animals, there is a sense of business as usual. Everything is remarkably organized and even calm. Sadly for them, however, there is a series of mishaps along the way that guarantee that they will not be making it to thirty-one days without an accident, and that they will not all be making it out alive. The Season 4 premiere was pretty great. We are re-introduced to the characters, and the episode almost feels like a second pilot designed for latecomers to the series. There's a real sense of stability throughout, and when things go bad, they legitimately feel like accidents rather than fate conspiring to make the lives of Rick and Co. as awful as is physically possible. People are forming relationships and rebuilding an actual society. It's beautiful, in a way, to think that such a thing could be possible (in the event of a zombie apocalypse). Of course, this is The Walking Dead, so everything begins to fall apart at the seams by the end, but it's a good way to start the season.