Story by Joshua Leonard, for The Muleskinner—

After months of waiting in anticipation, “The Walking Dead” is back on our television screens with all new undead-loving episodes.

The mid-season premiere, however, was a little bit of a disappointment to say the least.

Normally when it comes to premieres for everyone’s favorite zombie show, we get to see some intense action scenes with a whole lot of zombie killing.

The mid-season premiere was more like an everyday ‘filler’ episode.

Spoiler Alert: The mid-season premiere starts off right where we left off a few months ago.

Daryl and Merle are in the zombie pit about to be forced to fight one another to the death. Rick and Maggie save the day by rescuing Daryl and Merle.

After the group gets out of Woodbury, Glenn, Maggie, Rick and Daryl decide on what to do with Merle and Michonne.

Rick and the crew came to the conclusion that Merle was not an asset needed for their group, and Daryl left with Merle. Rick confronted Michonne and told her she was not welcome either.

Andrea decided to stay in Woodbury after finding out Glenn and Maggie were being held captive by The Governor.

With The Governor distraught and wrangled up due to him losing an eye and his town in peril, Andrea steps up to the plate to try and calm down the people of Woodbury.

Back at the prison, Rick is introduced to Tyreese and his crew.

Tyreese practically begs Rick to stay when Rick starts to lose his mind, yet again.

This time, he sees a woman, whom I believe is a zombie version of Lori. Rick goes crazy and the episode ends.

Overall, I was not impressed with the mid-season premiere. The episode felt more like a filler episode rather than a premiere episode.

For those who might try and start watching the show that have not seen it before, last night’s episode is not a good place to start.

I understand everything is set in motion with the war between Rick and The Governor, but I really wanted to see a small glimpse of that in Sunday’s episode.

The most disappointing part of the episode dealt with Merle and Daryl. Really, Rick? You’re going to just let Daryl go like that?

I mean, Daryl is honestly a better leader character at the moment than Rick is. So Merle is not the nicest guy ever; he would be a great asset to the group and can kick some major zombie butt.

I really hope this is just a set up for the episodes to come. I also hope Andrea’s character changes back to the awesome cocky marksmen instead of The Governor’s mistress.

Needless to say, I am still excited to see what is in store for the rest of season three. Make sure to check out next week’s Muleskinner for more on “The Walking Dead.”