Previously on The Ones Who Live, tension got high between Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), along with Rick and Pearl Thorne (Lesley Ann-Brandt). Jadis knows that he’s planning on escaping, especially now that Michonne is there. But, she threatens him that if they do try to escape, she will expose him and have their Army go after everyone in Alexandria. At the end of “Gone”, Michonne and Rick ride in a helicopter to go back to the community after their mission. But, Michonne has the two of them jump off the helicopter.
After Michonne and Rick jump out of the helicopter, they find a building and hide. Michonne tells him that she did that because they need a timeout, they need to find a way to be on the same page about things. As Michonne is changing her clothes, Rick notices the scars on her body. They had been away from each other for so long.
Michonne tells Rick about their son RJ. She was pregnant when Rick “died.” He tells her that Jadis was the one who brought him and that she was working for them when she took Rick and left Alexandria. Michonne believes that they can defeat her, stop Jadis, and bring her down. Rick seems like he’s given up on everything and he tells Michonne that they need to go back. Michonne asks him if he still loves her and Rick says, “Of course I do. I’ve never stopped loving you.”
Michonne gives Rick her pager. After seeing their helicopter, which was damaged, Michonne has hope that they’re free to go home. But Rick thinks otherwise. He won’t go back home, he doesn’t want to. He’s scared to lose everything. The two of them argue about him wanting to stay and her wanting to leave. Rick tells her that it’s not something he wants to do, but it’s something he has to do to protect the ones he loves.
Michonne gets mad at him and decides she’s leaving him. As Michonne walks away, she hesitates, deciding on whether she should turn around or not, but she ends up walking away. Rick goes after her.
A group of walkers are trapped in a room and as a helicopter shoots a bomb at the building, the glass doors break open. Michonne and Rick run to escape. As they’re finding a way to escape the building, they bicker. Michonne stops at a room, where there’s a suicide note on the table. The people who were there thought that they had found a way to end the apocalypse, to save the world.
The couple then continue to find a way to escape, choosing to fight off the walkers to leave the building. The building gets worse as it continues to collapse. Michonne gets her legs trapped under a chandelier. She tells Rick to go on without her, but he decides to help her get out. He wasn’t going to leave her behind. He can get her out and they continue looking for an escape. They end up going back to the room they first were in at the beginning of the episode.
They make up for the time being talking about their son. Michonne tells Rick that RJ is so much like him in many ways. Michonne asks about his hand and she tells him that she can see it in him, that he still wants to go back home. He wants to, but he can’t. As they’re talking, the building begins to crumble even more. Michonne tells Rick that they need to decide their next move before they leave.
She asks Rick to be honest with her. He tells her that he would dream of Carl and when things started happening to him, those dreams got taken away from him, just like his dreams of Michonne. He’s just scared to lose her. He wants her to leave so that he knows she’s safe. Michonne shows him something. She got a drawing of Carl on a phone from the young man.
It’s now time to leave the building. They find a car and Rick hops in the driver seat, but it’s a stick shift, so they have to switch. They’re able to escape. Once they drive off, they decide it’s time to go back home.
Overall, this episode was a good one. With the two of them having tension and being able to have a heart-to-heart, so much of their dynamic was missed in The Walking Dead franchise that the fans got back. With only two episodes left of this season, it will be interesting to see how it ends. Within the franchise, as time has passed and the years have gone by, it’s clear that many of these walkers have adapted to being able to do things they weren’t able to do at the beginning of the apocalypse. It’s cool and scary to see how smarter they’ve become.
Rating: 9/10