The Walking Dead: New photos from Sunday's episode reveal the Dixon brothers fighting together

Last Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead, "Home," was a fantastic return to the show's frantic, left-field approach that has become the mode for its third season. It's looking like things are indeed going to be getting more intense in the back half of the third season as the war between Rick Grimes' group and the Governor's Woodbury begins to escalate. 

But before any of that happens, our heroes have to deal with the chaos the Governor's attack caused at the end of last week's episode. The beginning of the upcoming episode "I Ain't a Judas" appears to feature a bit of clean-up. And I'm not just talking about wiping Axel's brains off Carol's shirt -- the Governor did drop off some zombies on the inside of the prison. We left our heroes before they could deal with the threat and reclaim the prison. 

Some newly released photos from "I Ain't a Judas" show them doing just that. Maggie's holed up behind some slats of wood, hiding, while the Dixon brothers appear to be fighting some zombies -- though given the fact that we can't seen what they're aiming at, they might be defending themselves against members of the group unhappy with seeing Merle back (Glenn and Maggie have some pretty good reasons not to want him hanging around). If that's the case, Daryl's defending his brother. 

Here's hoping that Merle turns out to have a bit of a redemptive arc -- he's a real asshole, but it'd be great if his brother's change of heart could spur some character development. Or, you know, he could be a mole still working for the Governor and planning to destroy the group from within. (Third option: He's still just an opportunistic asshole. All of these seem very possible.)

Check out the photos below. The Walking Dead will air "I Ain't a Judas" this Sunday, February 24, at 9/8c on AMC. Will you be tuning in?