Warning, spoilers ahead and content warning for mental health and mentions of suicide:
In Season 9, Episode 5, “What Comes After” of “The Walking Dead,” Rick Grimes, portrayed by Andrew Lincoln, was taken and never found. The world of “The Walking Dead” continued after losing Rick, but his wife, Michonne, portrayed by Danai Gurira, never stopped looking for him.
Rick and Michonne loved each other, and fans hoped they would one day get back together. That time has finally come with the release of “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.”
Episode 1, “Years,” opens with Rick being picked up by a helicopter in Season 9. In the opening shot, he holds something up to his neck implying that he wants to attempt suicide but stops when he thinks of Michonne.
Rick did not think he would survive after blowing up the bridge in the episode where he was taken. Yet, he awoke in a military hospital controlled by the Civic Republic Military (CRM), with a force of thousands protecting a city of hundreds of thousands in Pennsylvania. The catch of being in this surviving city is that no one can leave.
Rick worked in a position called “consignees,” where he worked outside the city walls to kill walkers, grow food and clean. He worked in this position for six years after he was picked up and saved. Rick tried four times to escape and even lost his left hand in the process.
The episode does a great job with special effects that make the gruesome scenes look real. From Rick cutting off his hand and cauterizing his wound to killing walkers, the special effects have grown significantly since the first season of “The Walking Dead.”
Lincoln’s acting in the spinoff is fantastic, and many of the community members also had great performances. Rick’s emotions about missing Michonne and his family are authentically portrayed.
The episode mostly catches the audience up on where Rick had been the whole time after he disappeared from the original franchise, but we eventually see Michonne in real-time toward the end. Rick has visions throughout the episode showing him and Michonne happy, which acts as a motivation to keep him going.
It is hard to tell if the spinoff series will be good after only watching one episode, but changes still need to be made to make it better. First off, the CRM is confusing. The whole explanation of who the citizens are and how one gets inside the wall throws the audience off and could have used more explanation. The acting is good, but something distracting viewers is the accents of some of the characters, even Lincoln’s slipped a bit, and he has been in the role of Rick for years.
When Rick talks about “getting back,” he never seems to mention his daughter Judith, who was alive when he disappeared and alive until the end of the original franchise. Rick wants to get back to Michonne, but what about Judith? Rick says “my daughter” but never mentions her by name, which is odd.
While the spinoff series takes place during an apocalypse, the thought of walkers and the actual apocalypse seems forgotten. Was that not the whole point of the original franchise? Survival from the walkers after the world ended? This spinoff series focuses too much on civilization, making viewers forget what is happening in the world.
Before we see Michonne for the first time in the episode, it seems like the plot went in circles. It would show Rick becoming a military member, people telling Rick he made four escape attempts and how he should not be in his position in the military.
There were also scenes featuring Rick saying that he wanted to get back to Michonne and that if he couldn’t, he would end his life. This played out in a loop, perhaps to clarify what Rick’s new life was like, but it became a bit repetitive throughout.
Michonne returns to the picture when Rick is confronted by Lieutenant Colonel Donald Okafor, portrayed by Craig Tate. Okafor tells Rick the name Michonne is unusual, especially when the CRM goes looking into the area where they picked him up. This is the point where the audience also learns that Okafor was a part of the military when it bombed Atlanta, a reference to the original show.
The climax of the episode, which should have happened sooner, comes after Rick goes on a helicopter mission. Okafor tries to make a plan with Rick to change the CRM, but their helicopter is shot down. The helicopter is attacked, and Rick survives the crash. Viewers see the attacker with a sword in the background, killing the soldiers who survived the crash, which later pans out to Rick turning to face the attacker.
The attacker grabs Rick to kill him but removes his helmet. After removing his helmet, the attacker steps back, shocked. The episode ends when Rick realizes the attacker is Michonne, and they finally see each other for the first time in years.
Episode Two, “Gone,” will be released March 2 and can be streamed on AMC+.
