The Walking Dead season 5 isn’t due to return until February 8th at 9pm ET/PT, but AMC opted to release the first two minutes of the new episode, “What Happened and What’s Going On,” a little early.  The piece actually plays more like a brief teaser trailer than the beginning of an episode, but perhaps the montage format signifies that some time has passed since the events of episode 8, “Coda.”  For those of you who aren’t caught up, stop reading now because this article will briefly address what went down during the first half of the season.

Rick (Andrew Lincoln) was in a pretty grim, no-nonsense place for a while and you’d think that Beth’s (Emily Kinney) death would only make things worse, but he actually appears to have his head on straight in this clip.  There are no guarantees that the walls are still standing in Richmond, but Rick’s hopeful it’s worth the lengthy trek and, worse comes to worst, if the location isn’t sufficient, he declares, “then we keep going,” with confidence.

The Walking Dead clip via AMC.

Here’s the synopsis of what’s to come in the second half of The Walking Dead season 5:

After the tragic events of the mid-season finale–as well as losing the possibility of a cure in Washington, DC–Rick Grimes’ band of survivors find themselves on the road, surviving day to day and trying to hold on to their shredded humanity and dwindling hope. Stripped of security and without a direction for the future, some of the group near their breaking point, some find themselves hardened and cold and some just try to grasp on to what little they have left. Though they are still breathing, the line between Rick’s group and the dead is starting to blur. Could there be anything at this point that brings them back to life?

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Image via AMC