The Walking Dead [1] kicked off season eight [2] with a bang. Actually, make that multiple bangs, since the premiere packs in explosion after explosion [3] in a huge assault on Negan's Sanctuary. Before all that goes down, however, there's a much quieter scene featuring Carl. He drives up to a remote, abandoned gas station, where he meets a mysterious, babbling man [4] who begs him for food before Rick swoops in and scares him off. If you felt a strange sense of déjà vu while watching the scene, you're not going crazy: the entire sequence is a shot-for-shot re-creation of a very similar moment from the pilot with Rick.

Skybound cut both of the scenes together [5] in one epic side-by-side, which shows just how far both the characters and The Walking Dead [6] as a whole have come. As you can see in the video above, both Grimes men go searching for gas and encounter a dangerous stranger. Later on in the season eight premiere, Michonne makes a comment about how Carl is going to lead Alexandria one day. Clearly this callback to the pilot is a very obvious nod to how Carl is well on his way to becoming his father.