What We – The episode opens with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne Hawthorne (Danai Gurira) making their way to what appears to be some smart apartment. Both still fuming from their situation, they speak very little while checking out the apartment. Rick notices the ‘X’ scar as she changes out of her wet clothes but chooses not to address it at the time. Once Michonne is dressed, she pockets the CRM radio (PRB) and attempts to appeal to Rick by reminiscing about Judith. Although Rick remains teary-eyed and silent for most of the conversation, he calls her out when she lets the word, ‘children’ slip. This leads to her telling him all about the now 8-year-old RJ.

When Rick finally does speak, he stuns Michonne by asking for the PRB. This sends her into a maniacal rage, which is followed by several minutes of arguing. At one point, Michonne encourages Rick to not let the CRM win. After he claims they’ve already won, he reveals the entire truth about Jadis Stokes (Pollyanna McIntosh). He shares everything from Jadis saving him at the bridge to her threats and fears that Rick and Michonne can do anything together. She responds by practically trying to get him to realize what he just said.

Michonne poses several viable exit strategies for dealing with Jadis, but Rick has a counter for every one of them and continues to ask for the PRB. After telling her about Jadis planting evidence that will go straight to the CRM if anything happens to her, Michonne asks if he honestly thinks the two of them can accomplish anything together. His silence leads her to ask if he still loves her, which he does respond to with a, ‘yes.’ When she gives him the PRB, they realize that their helicopter crashed into the side of the adjacent building, giving them a viable out. Michonne points this out and is left speechless when Rick still refuses to return home.

Michonne continues her attempts to appeal to Rick by sharing more stories about Judith and RJ referring to Rick as ‘The Brave Man.’ Rick maintains his stoic silence as she continues on with the stories for several minutes. When Rick finally does speak, it is to claim that what he’s doing is to protect her and their kids. As she remains unconvinced, he attempts to explain how he dedicated himself to Donald Okafor’s (Craig Tate) mission to change the CRM from within. She’s quick to point out his wording again, ‘Okafor’s mission.’ Although she makes another attempt to get him to realize that his family is his responsibility, not the CRM, she becomes so frustrated that she gathers her stuff and leaves. She leaves by claiming that he is lying to himself and will realize it soon enough. Once apart, they both stop and consider going after each other, but it is Rick who ultimately caves. When he leaves a CRM helicopter is shown in the background of the apartment’s view.

By the time the arriving helicopter unleashes several missiles into the adjunct building Rick has reached Michonne on the ground floor. He later explains to her how the CRM never leaves behind evidence of their existence. The shockwave and close proximity from the blast not only blow out ground floor windows but cause the foundation to slowly buckle. As walkers flood in Rick and Michonne eventually barricade themselves in what appears to be a gym.

Michonne finds humor in the irony of a suicide note left by Lakshmi Patel, who couldn’t go on watching his mission fail. This eventually leads to more arguing, with Rick claiming that Michonne doesn’t understand his intentions and Michonne claiming that he isn’t acting like himself. He asks how his willingness to sacrifice everything to keep her safe isn’t him. Michonne appears to think she might be getting through to him when she points out that she only feels safe when he’s around. She changes her mind seconds later when Rick tells her that he’s not the brave man and she should have never come looking for him. Her claims that the ‘Old Rick’ would never say something like that to her suggest that she may believe has actually changed. A clattering at the door puts their focus back on escape.

Rick and Michonne make their way through the now thinned-out horde. As the building continues to collapse, Michonne becomes pinned under a massive chandelier in the stairwell leading to the apartment. Although she later walks away unscathed, it immediately becomes clear she isn’t going anywhere fast. Rick ultimately has to disassemble part of the massive chandelier before they can lift it off her. While he does this, she has a few close calls with several walkers.

As it turns out, adrenaline and a near-death experience were all it took to get them in bed together. It appears that Rick might have problems performing at one point but easily overcomes it. After the encounter, they lie in bed where Michonne regales Rick with tales of the kids until he becomes startled by the Roomba. Michonne gets a good laugh out of it while explaining the device.

Although they spend several minutes discussing everything from the ‘starved appearance’ of the walkers to the ‘X’ scar on Michonne’s lower back, the conversation ultimately comes back to Rick trying to change the CRM. Michonne’s frustration immediately returns and she accuses him of lying to both her and himself. Michonne soon turns her attention to Rick’s injured hand and asks if that was the result of him trying to get home. When he responds with a yes, she not only claims that he’s still looking for a way to come back home, but he can’t go back to the CRM either. She further explains by pointing out him having the PBR this entire time and has yet to use it.

A distance creaking and rumbling indicate that they are going to need to move before too long. Despite the urgency, Michonne refuses to leave until they know where they are going. After several unsuccessful attempts to get her to leave, she asks why he came for her earlier when she left. He says it is because she’s the love of his life. The discussion eventually leads to Michonne’s teary confession about how she met Nat (Matthew Jeffers) and hasn’t spoken with Judith in nearly a year. Shortly after that, Rick gives a teary confession of his own, revealing that the CRM stole his dreams of her and Carl. She gives him the phone with Carl’s picture drawn on it and asks what he would want Rick to do with this second chance.

Rick appears to be a completely transformed man with a whole new outlook on life as he and Michonne work their way out of the building. Outside they are even lucky to find a hybrid Nissan with several extra containers of Ethanol. The only problem is, it’s a stick shift so Michonne has to drive. The episode ends with the apartment building collapsing in the rearview as they drive away.

 

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Review

I honestly don’t know how to take the episode. It certainly had some neat aspects but it was far too long. I am just glad to see that it won’t take nearly half a season for Rick to sac up like it did back in the prison when he had to overcome the loss of Lori and do battle with the Governor. I did enjoy the Roomba bit and the apartment’s AI voice. The flashbacks with Carl were a good throwback as well, although I’m not sure if the CRM taking Rick’s dreams away is a sufficient way to explain his newfound submissiveness.

Rick’s mention of the ‘starved look’ of the walkers could open the door for something new, although I doubt it will be further explored. I could have easily seen this episode being a finale. It would have been lackluster, but from here, the story could really go anywhere. For that, I’d have to give the episode a 4.8 out of 10.

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