Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes wakes from a coma in a hospital in King County, Georgia, and discovers a world overrun by walkers. After meeting Morgan Jones and his son, Rick heads for Atlanta to find his wife Lori and son Carl, but a walker horde traps him in a tank until Glenn leads a rescue. Rick joins the survivors at a camp outside Atlanta, where Lori and Carl have been travelling with Shane Walsh, Rick’s partner. His return exposes the relationship Shane began with Lori while he believed Rick had died. The group’s supply run also leaves Merle Dixon handcuffed on a rooftop; when they return, he has escaped by cutting off his own hand.
Walkers overrun the quarry camp before the group leaves, and Amy is bitten. Andrea stays with her sister until she turns, then puts her down. Jim, also bitten during the attack, asks the others to leave him behind. After burying their dead, the group heads for the Centers for Disease Control on Rick’s hope of finding a cure. Dr. Edwin Jenner is the last scientist there; he shows them a brain scan of an infected person and explains that the facility will destroy itself when its fuel runs out. Jenner initially locks the group inside, but Rick persuades him to allow an escape. Jacqui chooses to remain with Jenner, while Dale stays with Andrea; Andrea changes her mind and leaves with Dale. Jenner whispers an unexplained message to Rick as they escape; moments later, the CDC explodes behind them.