Warning: Fullfor the episode follow...

For those fearing that The Walking Dead might lapse back into the janky pacing of last spring's episodes now that our survivors were back on the road, you can breathe easy. Not only did "Strangers" (written by comic creator Robert Kirkman) feature everyone traveling together, but it introduced us to a new character, a new shelter, and brought back Gareth and the Terminus goons for more cannibal chaos. So all in all a solid episode with a satisfying mix of down time and thrills.First things first though, last week I thought the guy right at the end - the one who smacked Gareth in the mouth - might have been someone from the comics. Being brought out a bit early. I was wrong, But at least I wasn't alone in my wrongness as other fans considered the possibility as well and Kirkman himself had to tweet exactly who it was. Apparently he was the crazy tattoo-faced "We're them!" guy that Rick and Glenn let out of that one container (I didn't catch the tattoos in the flashback darkness). Okay, fine. It fits. Though if I'd been Gareth, that dude would have been the first I'd have eaten once I turned the table on my abusers. Just sayin'. I wouldn't have kept him around a second longer than I had to.Anyhow, I brought up my weird whim from last week because...I have another! Was that Martin (Chris Coy) I saw briefly sitting with Gareth and the other cannibals eating pieces of Bob's leg? Martin (now that I know his name) being the guy who threatened to break Judith's neck? The guy Tyreese claimed to have killed? Or, what was it he said? "I took care of it." Is it possible that Tyreese killed all those walkers but still couldn't bring himself to kill a human? If so, he's gonna be in deep trouble. Because if we want to know how the Terminus dudes were able to follow Rick and the rest, look no further than Martin.Of course, like last week, I could have just been seeing things that weren't there. Sure looked like him though. With his hat and everything.Also, anyone else get the feeling that the Terminus creeps aren't merely eating to survive anymore? I mean, it seems like they eat, and eat well, all the time. No one's rationing that human meat. So (and again, I'm still looking for more backstory on these guys' transformation) it looks like they may have started eating other people to get by, but now they sort of crave the meat. Like, they get off on it. No more reservations or guilt at all. Like some sort of spooky black magic tale about eating your enemy and absorbing their spirit and prowess. Wendigo s***.So, let's talk about that last bit of business. Given the TV and movie landscape (NBC's Hannibal in particular), it takes more these days to rattle me when it comes to cannibalism. But something about Gareth eating, and savoring, a crispy piece of Bob's leg right in front of him was just nasty. Very disturbing. And so, like star Lauren Cohan told me in this post-premeire interview , Rick's crew is far from being done with Gareth and the remaining people-eaters. And here's where this half-season's tagline "Hunt or Be Hunted" kicks in.The Walking Dead still has its "tells," for sure. We knew something bad was probably going to happen to Bob. Why? Because he was being overly happy and optimistic. He was in love with Sasha and tried to convince Rick that going after Eugene's cure was a good thing. But, just like in the premiere how the show played with everyone's expectations with regards to Glenn (and the pre-premiere freak out of everyone thinking he was going to die via baseball bat), it played with Bob a bit here too. So the episode set Bob up to die, and then used that to make us all extra nervous during the group's scavenging trip down into the waterlogged basement.

The Walking Dead: "Strangers" Photo Preview: The Walking Dead: "Strangers" Photos 8 IMAGES

But he didn't die there. Though he did answer, the hard way, my immediate inquiry about the situation which was "What if there was a damn walker under the water that they can't see?" But then later on, in the church, and after asking Sasha for one last kiss, he walked off into the woods. Crying. And I think we can all, as good guessers, figure out why he'd be doing that, but I won't spell it out here.In fact, I'll talk comics briefly here. Showrunner Scott Gimple has said that this season will feature a lot of stuff direct from the Kirkman comics, so if I can ask all you guys and gals who've read the comics - don't spoil what's (most likely) going to happen in the comments please. We never really had to worry about that in on The Walking Dead since the show, even when it used comic material, still deviated greatly. But now, we might need to stride lightly. However, if any of you are interested in seeing one of the comic panels that inspired the final scene click here Speaking of the comics, Seth Gilliam joined the show this week as Father Gabriel Stokes - an unnervingly foolish man of the cloth who came complete with a wardrobe of secrets ("You'll Burn For This"). And with his introduction also came the new post-Terminus question of "How will Rick deal with strangers now?" What's the protocol? How cautious is too cautious? What does it take to actually vet someone in the zompocalypse? Especially when their particular story sounds like a long line of bullcrap.I will say this though - Rick's got himself one fine lookin' crew. Not only is it big in numbers, but the majority of the gang can handle themselves really well. I mean, it's a formidable team. So how do you take them down a peg? Well, you swipe one of them under the cloak of darkness. Then, you have two of them - Carol and Daryl (the group's best hunter) - drive off in chase of the car that Daryl once saw drive off with Beth. That's three down, making the upcoming conflict a bit more even-sided.Actually, another element of how this episode reminded me of the comics was how it handled such a large group. Little scenes featuring a few lines of dialogue between two characters were peppered throughout. Rick and Michonne talking about her lost sword. Rick and Carl talking about trust and "never letting your guard down ever." Tara telling Maggie that she was with The Governor, and Maggie accepting her. And Daryl talking to a severely unsettled Carol.Oh, Carol's still a badass, but she seemed uneasy about being back with everyone. As if she believed the opposite of everyone else - that she was better off alone than in a group. And this came after Rick even, basically, asked her permission to join her back out on the road - the road he previously abandoned her on ("Will you have us?"). Maybe, after Lizzie, she fears what she may have to do down the line. With someone else she cares about. Maybe having more people around her just represents more loss.Abraham, who hasn't had much to do thus far other than be smart enough not to bring up D.C. right away, finally gave his big speech about traveling up to Washington in search of a cure. Which fell on kind, tipsy ears and a "goo goo ga ga" vote in the affirmative from Judith. So it's clear that the group's got a definite direction to head in now, but we'll have to see if the plan gets jettisoned in the wake of Bob's (and Carol and Daryl's) disappearance.