(CNN) The following is a spoiler-free review of "The Walking Dead" season premiere. Promotion for "The Walking Dead" features the phrase "ALL OUT WAR," which offers a pretty good road map as to where last season ended and this one begins. The result is a premiere impressive in its scale but preoccupied with tactics and strategy, offering a sketchy blueprint as to where the story goes from here. Inasmuch as Negan's forces have thus far appeared invincible, outflanking them at every turn, nobody expects the baseball-bat-wielding psychopath to go quietly, but Rick still harbors some hope they can avoid full-scale conflict. "There's only one person who has to die," he says, during a speech intended to rally the troops in the early going.

Source: CNN October 20, 2017 10:41 UTC