Over the past few years, one of the most polarizing events of October has not been related to pumpkin-flavored drinks, college football, or candy and costumes. Rather, the month of October has come to mean the return of our national obsession: “The Walking Dead.”

On Sunday night, the most-watched cable television show in America premiered its fifth season to its usual fanfare. Despite the show being maligned viciously by critics over the past few seasons, we Americans still need have our fill of flesh-craving walkers eating slightly disheveled survivors.

When we last left Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his merry crew, they were reunited at last but trapped in a shipping container by a band of cannibals. Rick, uttering expletives and grimacing profoundly, had regained his resolve that months of farming at the prison had sapped from him. No longer did we see Rick the pacifist but rather Rick the “Ringleader” and walker-killer we all love.

For the past few years, critics and fans alike have disparaged “The Walking Dead” for focusing too much on character development and preaching about the human condition instead of on the brutality and gore. Even though I personally have always loved the philosophical aspects of the show, it definitely can have the tendency to stagnate in the middle of the season, plodding along at the same pace of its ever-present villains.

However, it seems for season five that the show’s executive producers—Scott Gimple, Gale Anne Hurd and Greg Nicotero—have listened to their critics, accepted the feedback and ratcheted up the stakes far past anyone’s expectations or even desires.

The premiere opened with a flashback to Gareth (Andrew West) trapped in a similar storage container as Rick and talking with a fellow prisoner. Quickly cutting back to the present, we see the Rick and the Rickettes forming makeshift weapons in the train car, followed by a knock on the door. After a tear gas container is dropped in and leads to mayhem, we find Rick, Glen, Daryl and Sam along with four other unknown men bent over a metal trough.

What follows is easily the most horrific scene in “Walking Dead” history. In a brutally realistic portrayal of a metaphor introduced later in the episode—“you’re either the butcher, or you’re the cattle”—the four unknowns are knocked out, killed and bled out in the trough.

While some may argue that having the episode’s most memorable scene in the first five minutes is poor judgment, the trough scene encapsulates the show’s new direction perfectly. Gimple and company are still illustrating how the survivors are always more dangerous than the zombies, but they also introduce a new, unseen industrial nature to it. The Governor was evil out of necessity, but he always seemed human; Gareth and his band of cannibals are completely unfeeling and almost robotic in their wickedness.

Luckily, Rick and the others are saved by a well-timed explosion (just accept it—you knew they would get out of it somehow) by none other than Carol. After wandering through the woods with Tyreese and Judith, Carol realizes that Terminus is not what it seems and goes to destroy it. By exploding a propane tank with some MacGyver-level ingenuity, Carol sends a horde of flaming walkers into Terminus. Through the chaos, fighting and walkers, Rick and his band escape entirely unharmed and congregate in the woods.

Nothing that happens after the trough scene is particularly important, but it is immensely entertaining to watch. Glenn seems to be the only remaining member of the gang who is constantly consumed by preserving humanity. When Rick vows to kill every remaining member of Terminus, Glenn advocates to leave them be.

“The Walking Dead” set the bar high with this episode, and while the future is uncertain, the gang finding itself back in the woods does not bode well for copious amounts of action every week. However, Beth is still missing, and there are still many living members of Terminus, so this season could end up being the most thrilling of all.

“You’re the butcher, or you’re the cattle,” Terminus Mary says to Carol as she lies wounded, “and you are the same as me.”

“We aren’t the same,” Carol replies, opening the door to a horde of walkers. Will this season be the same slow plodding as the last, or have the producers, like Rick, changed their minds to adapt to their new circumstances?