The Walking Dead

9 p.m. Sunday, AMC. Viewer discretion is advised in a biiiig way.

The makers of “The Walking Dead” clearly heard some of the audience complaints about last season’s slow pacing and excessive jibber-jabber regarding what constitutes morally appropriate behavior in a post-apocalyptic climate. Perhaps that’s why Season 2 of America’s most-watched zombie-oriented TV series begins with a steady barrage of gunshots to undead foreheads, throat impalements and walker-eyeball stabbings.

That doesn’t even count the partial amputation of a key character’s leg or the murder of a defenseless hoot owl. Hey, a zombie-apocalypse survivor’s gotta eat.

Yes, seven months after the Season 2 finale in which the “Walking Dead” survivors bolted from Hershel’s farm in the wake of a rotter takeover, the series has returned, moving home base to an (almost) abandoned prison and cranking up the action to zombie-kill 11. That’s good news for those who watch this AMC drama for the thrill of the goosh-thud of walkers permanently meeting their makers.

But viewers who savor the show’s prickly tension and existential themes may find themselves pondering a question once sort of posed by Bob Dylan: How many roads filled with zombies can a fan walk down before she decides to change the channel?

The show’s creative forces are eager to give the small band of rugged survivors more to worry about than the zombie hordes. It’s a human threat, embodied most ominously by a new character known as the Governor, that awaits them.

It’s not about zombies

In less than two years, “The Walking Dead” has jumped into a crowded pop culture pool of serial killers, vampires and dragons to become a darling of the horror/fantasy set while managing to draw a broader audience that usually avoids genre entertainment. The series ranks as one of basic cable’s highest-rated dramas and finished its second season with a ratings bang. It corralled 9 million viewers and set a record among younger viewers.

The show has also become a vital franchise for AMC, home to prestige dramas “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” which are winding down.

To be fair, only two episodes from this third season – which splits its 16 installments into two chunks, October to December and again starting in February – were made available to critics. Based on teasers, as well as the events that unfold in Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels, on which the show is based, we know the prison move and the introduction of new characters (the ruthless, sword-wielding Michonne) promise to take the narrative in fresh directions.

In the meantime, don’t be surprised if these first two hours feel, at times, a little been bitten there, already zombie-killed that.

In the few months that have passed in the “Walking Dead” narrative, things have changed, but only a tad.

Perpetually conflicted leader Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is a little more decisive. His wife, Lori Grimes, is a bit more pregnant, but no one can be bothered to throw her a baby shower because, you know, zombies. Their son, Carl – a preteen whose lack of supervision last season inspired a Tumblr and a Jeopardy category titled “Where is Carl?!” – is still not being adequately supervised. But now his voice has changed, which means his sassy comments sound slightly more mature.

Why we keep watching

These hardy souls in post-apocalyptic survival-scrapping will focus episodes 1 and 2 (Oct. 21) on turning that jail into a cozy home where they can comfortably rest without fear of their faces being chewed off. Some obstacles naturally get in the way, including one that pushes a main character’s survival into the maybe category and leads to a scene that may make even the most gore-obsessed a little teary. “The Walking Dead” can still surprise us that way.

That’s one of the reasons why we must keep watching.

We also must keep watching to reassure ourselves that if faced with a global meltdown, zombie-virus-related or otherwise, we could survive, even though we dissolve into puddles when the power company can’t flick the electricity back on three days after a storm.

We’ll keep watching to find out how long our undead-battling posse can survive at the prison. We’ll keep watching to keep track of how many zombie eyeballs get stabbed during the season, since there’s a good chance this show may set a Guinness World Record. We’ll keep watching because we just know Carl is going to make some terrible decisions that will turn into hilarious Internet memes that we won’t grasp nearly as quickly if we haven’t kept up with the action.

And we’ll keep watching because we want to believe that if a time comes when the dead really do walk the Earth, attention must be paid to the living who stubbornly remain. The Los Angeles Times contributed