Kelly Lawler

USA TODAY

Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 2, "The Well." To read our recap of episode 1, click here .

All hail the king.

If you thought that after last week’s excruciating, potentially too graphic season premiere, the show was going to jump back to Rick, Maggie, Negan and all that grief and despair, you were sorely mistaken. The Walking Dead has been many things, but it has never been a show that ran when it could walk. And so, true to form, we ended up with a slow, contemplative episode checking in on Carol, Morgan and the Kingdom.

Yes, we’ve got a new post-apocalyptic society to suss out (will it have a seedy underbelly?), a new leader to interrogate (he’s got a better pet than the Governor) and a whole lot more gardens in file cabinets and tires (tires always figure in heavily).

At this point in the series, a new place doesn’t make us wonder when our heroes will be safe -- it makes us wonder how long it will take our heroes to destroy it. Sorry, Kingdom! Your choir was nice, though!

My kingdom for a tiger

If you were worried about Carol and Morgan last week when it was all Negan all the time, you shouldn’t have been -- as horrific as they were, Glenn and Abraham’s deaths will probably keep the show casualty-free for a while, at least as far as the core characters are concerned. Our favorite bosom buddies were rescued by the citizens of the Kingdom at the end of last season, and now they’re getting the full-on guest treatment from the royal folks. The only catch? “Drink from the well, replenish the well." That is, you have to work for what you take.

Who thought up this great system? Enter King Ezekiel, stage left. Yes, here is a man who calls himself “King,” who’s got a tiger as a pet and who talks like Shakespeare’s annoying younger cousin (more on him later). He rules his Kingdom, which seems to have a pretty good thing going (don’t worry, we’re sure that will change soon).

To pay back the medical treatments the Kingdom has given Carol, Morgan joins Ezekiel's hunting party, going after wild pigs. It’s totally chill and normal except that it’s a secret hunting mission and they feed the pigs Walkers. Nutritious and delicious, I’m sure. The reasons for the undead kibble become clear when we see who the pigs are for: the good old Saviors (they’re like ants). Even though he’s a King, Ezekial is still paying tribute. But that tribute is not exactly FDA approved. This brings up so many questions: How far does the Saviors' territory go? How does a community as well-armed as the Kingdom end up subservient? Have they done the pig thing before? Will the whole season end when Negan has a barbecue next episode?

But hey, at least Morgan has a new project! I just wouldn't get too attached to that cute kid and his cute little brother.

Carol, you in danger girl

Don't think we (or the show) forgot about Carol. Oh, Carol. Her journey from battered housewife to cold warrior was one of the things that made The Walking Dead great. But last season Carol went through a deconstruction, a traumatized victim who seeks solitude. The woman who wakes up in a bed in the Kingdom is somewhat of a hybrid of those two. She's still playing games, playing the "golly gee whiz" fool with strangers to earn their trust and steal their clothes and knives. But she's also distant and broken, not looking to fight nor to rest. And so her first instinct is to flee the Kingdom, no matter what Morgan or Ezekiel say.

It's significant that the fruit Ezekiel offers Carol when they first meet is a pomegranate. If you know your Greek Mythology, you'll remember that the beautiful Persephone became trapped in the underworld with Hades after she ate pomegranate seeds. Ezekiel may not be the devil, but he is a trickster, hiding behind the tiger he befriended as a zookeeper and the pomp and circumstance he learned as a community theater actor to fool people into following him. The Kingdom may not be hell, but there's something erie about all those singing people and all the secrets that have already been uncovered.

Carol tries to leave the Kingdom but soon after comes Ezekiel, showing up at her door with a tiger and a piece of forbidden fruit. What could possible go wrong?

You can scroll through more photos from this season below.