Previously on The Ones Who Live, Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) reunited. The viewers are also reintroduced to Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), who was the one who brought Rick there to CRM. Now, Rick and Michonne plan to find a way to escape and return home to their families.
Sometime before Jadis ends up in Rick’s apartment the two of them talk. While he’s in the city, Rick runs into Jadis. She tells him that she brought him there because she owed him. She made a deal with them and considered him a “lost cause,” so in her eyes, she did him a favor. Rick tells her that he’s going home and Jadis tells him he can try, but he has to remember the deal they made when they first got there.
Rick knocks on Pearl Thorne’s (Lesley Ann-Brandt) door just a few hours before running into Jadis. He tells Pearl that Jadis will be sent away, but he wants Pearl to make sure she doesn’t make that happen. He wants Jadis to stay because she saved him.
Going back to the present time, it starts at the end of the previous episode where Jadis is in Rick’s apartment and confronts him about Michonne and his plan to escape. Jadis brings up an arrangement. She has ways to file in all of Rick’s information about his home, family, friends, and everyone he’s associated with. She threatens to use all of that against him if he tries to leave.
Michonne meets a woman named Cleo (Tessa Slovis), and they’re assigned to kill the walkers as partners. Cleo tells her that she looks like someone who knows how to handle the killings. She can tell just by the way she carries herself. They continue talking when there are two undead walkers in the pile and Michonne kills them both. Afterward, Rick walks past them staring at Michonne, who keeps her head down. She didn’t want it to be obvious that they knew each other.
The Army holds a memorial for Okafor (Craig Tate) and shortly afterward, Beale (Terry O’Quinn) pulls Pearl and Rick to the side, telling them that Okafor spoke highly of them, taking them under his wing. Beale gives Rick a book that he gave Okafor. He confesses that he’s unsure about Rick, not knowing if he can be trusted or not.
After Pearl leaves with Beale to talk privately, she goes to Rick’s apartment, letting him know that she’s been promoted to Command Sergeant Major. She tells him that Beale told her everything and she decides to have Rick take place in Logistics so that he can have an inside on things. Pearl tells him that Beale has his eye on Michonne.
Rick begins to start writing everything down, making a plan. The next day, he briskly gives Michonne a note. He tells her that tonight will be their start on escaping. The note contains directions. She goes to a locker and finds a map he leaves for her, along with her Katana.
They both go to their designated spot, but Michonne notices that Rick isn’t there. He leaves her a note in a canoe, telling her that he’s not leaving but she is. If they were to both stay, they’d die. He wants to make sure that she makes it safely home to their daughter Judith (Cailey Flemming). The next day, Rick goes to Jadis, letting her know that Michonne is gone and that she needs to make sure it stays that way, that no one finds her.
Pearl pages Rick and when he goes to her, she tells him that he’s in a lot of trouble because his plan didn’t work. He then notices that Michonne is still there. They go to a corner to talk privately. He tells her why he did what he did and she looks at him, in disbelief of his actions. She walks away from him and the couple seperates with thick tension.
As Michonne is walking through the city during her orientation, she notices a similar drawing to the one she found on a boat, a drawing of her and Judith. She speaks with the guy with the drawings and he tells her that Rick always asked if he could draw Carl (Chandler Riggs) but he could never get it right. He tells her the same thing he told Rick, “Believe a little bit longer.”
Pearl and Rick take Michonne to one of the places that Okafor bombed. She tells Michonne that Rick is her only family, and then asks who Michonne really is. Pearl doesn’t believe Michonne’s story. Rick notices as Pearl reaches behind her back, slowly pulling out a weapon and he does the same as he stands further away from the two women. Pearl lets go of her weapon, which relieves Rick and tells him that Michonne will be joining them for clearing bases.
The three of them go on their first mission together. If they make any mistakes during the mission, they’ll go back down the bracket, having to start everything over as a group. The Army had a big day coming up and there was no room for any mishaps.
Michonne ignores Pearl’s order to stand down when their plan goes wrong. Michonne’s much stronger than Pearl and isn’t scared of anything. Even if Pearl is upset with her, she does what she knew was best, because she isn’t just going to stand there and watch them fight all the walkers off.
As the group’s killing the walkers, Pearl points her gun at Michonne. She doesn’t trust her. Rick notices and distracts her, making her not pull the trigger. After the mission, Pearl and Rick get into an argument about Michonne. She tells him that Beale wants to brief him, he’s going to be promoted. But before that happens, Pearl assigns him to do all the bad work, which is stuff that no one else wants to be assigned to do. She was upset with him for taking Michonne’s side.
Michonne notices Jadis and Rick pulls her to the side. Rick’s making Michonne go back to the community and she’s staying there. Their plan wouldn’t work anymore. There would be no way for them to escape. During a thunderstorm, they fly back to base. As they’re in the helicopter, Michonne quickly unbuckles her seat belt, opens the door, and pulls her husband with her as she jumps out.
Overall, this episode was good. There’s a lot of tension between Rick and Michonne right now as his plan doesn’t match hers. It will be interesting to see how Rick explains to Michonne how Jadis is there, a part of the Army.
Rating: 9/10