Walkers wreaked havoc in the prison, livestock was offered up for sacrifice, and a mysterious firebug had a field day burning sick survivors. Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead offered plenty of chills and questions that were left unanswered. So what happened this week on AMC’s hit series? Was the unknown illness contained? Was the infamous arsonist revealed? Find out below with this week’s recap of episode three of The Walking Dead.

Isolation

Fresh off the heels of the latest calamity, episode three opens with Glenn, Maggie and several others digging a mass grave out in the yard. Tending to the sick inside, Hershel and Dr. S declare that the illness spreading like wildfire through the prison has taken the life of another victim. And at the site of yet another tragedy, Tyrese, Rick, Carol and Daryl survey the scene of the two burnt bodies.

Tyrese is visibly angry. But who could blame him? He just found his girlfriend was overcooked via gasoline and fire, and there’s no one around to take the blame. Trying to defuse the big guy’s anger, Rick empathizes with him, expressing that he has been in the very place where Tyrese and his anger are heading and that it’s much too dangerous a place to go. Naturally, Tyrese doesn’t listen. First he charges Daryl, pinning him against a wall. Then, as Rick tries again to calm his fuming, Tyrese charges Rick, socking his leader once with a strong right hook and again as Rick tries to regain his feet.

His own anger getting the better of him, Rick retaliates to Tyrese’s strikes by giving Tyrese the sort of beat down that the big guy surely has never experienced. When Rick comes to his senses and ceases his attack, his right hand is left mangled from the fight and Tyrese (either because of grief from Karen’s loss or shame from the beating he just took) is left weeping on the ground.

Back inside, Rick gets his hand patched up by Hershel, though he appears to be fighting his own bout of grief and shame. He has lost 12 of his people due to the Walker attack, two more from cold-blooded arson, and an unseen amount from a sickness that is scattering across the prison. What’s more, he momentarily allowed his anger to take control of him, resulting in the injury of himself and a fellow comrade. As always, Hershel is there to offer sound advice, expressing to Rick that everyone “falls off the wagon,” but that he needs to focus on his responsibility to keep everyone safe.

As more and more of the group become sick (notably Sasha and Dr. S), Hershel, Glenn, Carol, Daryl and Michonne meet to discuss the next course of action, deciding on isolating cell-block A as a quarantine for the sickened populace. Accepting that the illness can’t be stopped, Hershel’s only recommendation is a steady dose of antibiotics–something the group doesn’t have. Realizing that all the hospitals and pharmacies have long since been raided, Hershel suggests that an animal hospital fifty miles from the prison might have been overlooked in the looting. Daryl doesn’t waste any time. He immediately works to assemble a group that can embark on the dangerous task of retrieving the medicine. Due to his unfortunate one-leggedness, Hershel humbly shelves his pride and is forced to stay behind, instead drawing up a map for the team to locate the medication.

Back outside, Rick and Carol work at pumping water for the sick, only to realize that the waterline to the creek has been clogged (hopefully with mud only). Gathering up what little water they pumped, Rick and Carol notice poor old Tyrese on the last leg of digging graves. Voicing that they should both pay their respects to Karen and David and that he should bury the hatchet with Tyrese, Rick heads over. But Carol suddenly flakes out, deciding to bring the water back to the prison instead, and leaving Rick to wonder what the ardent do-gooder is avoiding.

Accepting both Rick’s condolences and apology, Tyrese admits that he too shares some of the blame of their recent bout. But he’s not laying off the issue by any means. Tyrese quickly presses Rick to find the person responsible for torching his gal pal. Promising that the person guilty of the crime will eventually be brought to justice, Rick stresses that the number one priority now is saving lives and keeping the prison going. Tyrese is still ticked though, leaving Rick with the duty of keeping the place safe and taking on the mission of finding the killer for himself.

Hunkered in his cell, Glenn comes to terms with the symptoms he has been experiencing, finally accepting that he has contracted the virus that is taking so many. Forced to keep her distance, Maggie has terms of her own to meet with, namely that her boyfriend/husband will surely die without medicine. Maggie finds her own version of “Hershel advice” from none other than her little sister. Speaking safely with a door between them, Beth tells her big sister to man up and take care of business.

Outside, Daryl and Michonne share a word as they prepare for their next mission, with the former unintentionally stinging the latter by expressing that he’s glad she isn’t “running off.” Slightly offended, Michonne shrugs off Daryl’s words, insisting that they need another person. After determining that Tyrese is one of the last in the prison who isn’t sick, Daryl seeks to recruit him.

Still seething from the recent misfortunes, Tyrese barely gives Daryl the time of day. His sister is one of the sick now, and there is no way he is leaving her unguarded and vulnerable to another fiery assault. Having the last word though, Daryl lets Tyrese know that his efforts are pretty much futile unless they come back to with medicine, telling him that he will be waiting by the fence if he changes his mind.

Feeling helpless in the administration wing with all the other young and elderly, Hershel tries to sneak out of the prison for some unknown mission in the woods. Mr. Nosy Pants, A.K.A. Carl Grimes, catches him at the exit, telling him he can’t go alone. At an impasse, Carl insists that the only way he will allow Hershel to leave the prison is if he accompanies him. Reluctant, Hershel complies, and the two depart the prison for the woods.

Leading more and more people into the isolated cell-block, Carol is approached by Lizzie, her pseudo-adopted daughter. Lizzie too is showing signs of the illness, forcing Carol to lead her into the cellblock as well. Promising that everything will be OK and shutting the door behind Lizzie, Carol loses it a bit, and is forced to watch another daughter possibly lose her life.

In the woods, Carl, having donned Rick’s old deputy’s hat again, keeps watch as Hershel collects berries. Commenting on the peace of the forest a moment too soon, Hershel prevents Carl from killing two nearby Walkers, insisting that it isn’t necessary. His bag full of the mysterious berries, Hershel allows Carl to lead him back to the prison.

Inside, Tyrese and Sasha (with a plate of glass between them) share a heart-to-heart. Struggling to maintain a lively demeanor, Sasha eventually breaks down as she realizes that the sickness is killing her. Tyrese does what he can to calm his despairing sister, sharing Daryl’s plan to retrieve the medicine. His sister’s spirits lifted slightly, Tyrese finally decides to help the cause and seeks out Daryl to join the mission.

On his way to collect his gear for the expedition, Tyrese runs into Carol, who is busying herself with the task of collecting water for the sick. Exhibiting a tremendous amount of trust, Tyrese asks Carol to keep an eye out for his sister until he returns. Carol agrees, but as Tyrese leans in for a friendly hug, she awkwardly avoids his embrace, instead sharing her sympathies for Karen’s loss. After Tyrese walks away, Carol blows another gasket, tipping over the group’s water supply and succumbing to tears once again.

Caught carrying his berries into the isolated cell-block (which he will boil into a fever-reducing tea), Hershel is confronted by Maggie, who doesn’t want her daddy risking his life aiding the ill. Overhearing the family feud between the father and daughter, Rick sides with Maggie, telling Hershel that going into the quarantined cellblock is suicide. Hershel isn’t hearing it though. He gives perhaps the most touching speech of the season thus far, declaring that every moment of their lives is a risk and nothing is within their power save for one thing: the choice of what they are risking their lives for. Against Rick and Maggie’s wishes, Hershel determinedly heads into the prison.

Not long after his encounter with Hershel and Maggie, Rick investigates the burn site. Finding a bloody handprint on the exit door, he realizes that the print is much smaller than his own, indicating that it was most likely the hand of a woman.

Trying to replenish the water she spilled, Carol recklessly attempts to clear the mud from the prison’s waterline. Alone and outside the prison’s fence, she is extremely vulnerable. However, she seems to have things under control. At least until she starts banging the hose on the side of the bridge like a madman, garnering the attention of all the Walkers creeping nearby. With only a knife and a machete, Carol is no match for the swarm of hungry Walkers. Fortunately for her, Rick is nearby, but he isn’t too happy about finding her outside the fence. After he gets Carol to safety, he expresses his anger, which Carol shrugs off with a quick one-liner before showing Rick her heels.

Daryl and his crew seem to be making good time on their mission for medicine. Tyrese and Bob sit in the backseat silently while Daryl and Michonne chat quietly in the front. They seem to have picked up where they left off in their earlier conversation. Daryl insists that he knows Michonne simply isn’t “running off.” He even admits that if “the trail hadn’t gone cold” that he would be out there, too (obviously indicating the ongoing search for the Governor).

Letting the issue rest, Daryl turns on the radio, and the group hears garbled voices mixed in with the radio static. But taking their attention off the road even for a moment proves to be dangerous. Daryl is blindsided by a roadway full of thousands of Walkers, with the animal hospital just beyond them. Trying to reverse from the oncoming Walkers, the car gets caught up on a pile of Walkers, forcing them to abandon the car and flee into the woods.

A hand-to-hand battle with the Walkers ensures, but Tyrese seems to be done trying to survive. While the others slay Walker after Walker, he sits resolutely in the car, seemingly waiting for a Walker to take a bite out of his flesh. All of the sudden though, Tyrese springs into action, demolishing Walkers with his framing hammer as the other three escape into the woods.

Still on the run, the tide seems to be turning for Daryl, Michonne and Bob. Turning to take out the last of the Walkers, Tyrese makes his triumphant return. Exhausted and covered in Walker guts, he seems to be OK. Regrouped, they continue their flight into the forest.

Back inside cell-block A, Hershel is administering his herbal tea to the sick. First he visits Dr. S, whose falling ill has apparently left him completely void of manners and etiquette as he openly coughs blood all over Hershel’s face. Accepting that his fate is already written, Hershel removes the cloth covering nose and mouth, then visits Glenn for a little teatime. Frustrated and angry, Glenn vents to Hershel that being killed by a “glorified cold” is unfair. But old Hershel has yet another pep talk, telling Glenn that everyone has a job and his is to believe he can survive.

Outside the prison, Rick is still teed off with Carol and her latest stunt, declaring it both stupid and careless. Carol doesn’t want a fight though. She agrees with Rick and admits that she was wrong. Before she can get away though, Rick acknowledges just how much Carol does for the group, asking if there is anything she wouldn’t do. After getting a firm negative for an answer, Rick asks the ultimate question: Is she the one that killed and burned Karen and David. Carol answers with a simple, indifferent ‘yes,’ then walks away. Thus, the third episode ends.

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