The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – Bye

By: Kelly Kearney

On Sunday’s episode of the third installment of “The Walking Dead” spinoff,  Rick and Michonne devise a plan to escape the CRM. Little does his wife know that Rick has an ulterior motive for forgetting Michonne to agree, but in the end, his wife’s stubbornness as well as her dedication to her husband nukes the plan resulting in a plan B that leads to a shocking cliffhanger.

A 500-Year Plan to Rebuild Civilization

We begin in a flashback where we see a consignee Rick (Andrew Lincoln) run into his old pal Jadis strolling the streets of the CRM and snacking on ice cream. These two frenemies have a connection that neither of them seems to Keen on but breaking it would result in the loss of everyone Rick loves back in Alexandria. While Jadis (Pollyanna Mcintosh) saved Rick’s life on that bridge explosion by swooping down in the helicopter to rescue him, Rick is anything but grateful. “You brought me somewhere I can’t leave, quote but all things considered the ice cream is good and the safety is better so that rescue wasn’t too bad. Besides, Jadis believes in the CRM’s plan which we find out is a 500-year plan to rebuild civilization and make it better than the ones that were overrun by the Dead. Now we know Jadis is all in on the CRM and she assumed Rick would be too but as we know he’s attempted to escape many times and failed repeatedly putting their connection and Jadis’ security at risk.

Next, we jump to the present where Rick asks Pearl Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt) to back Dana which is Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) new identity in the same way Okafor (Craig Tate) backed the two of them. He saw something in them both and Rick claims he sees the same in the news A masquerading as Consignee B., He thinks Dana has what it takes to help them fix the CRM from the inside, and now that Okafor is gone it’s up to the two of them to fulfill his wishes. As he ropes Pearl into ensuring Michonne’s safety, he is simultaneously plotting ways for his wife to escape. Unfortunately, that flies in direct opposition to Jadis’s palms to force them both to stay–knowing that if either of them escaped she would have no choice, she tells Rick, “to go and kill all of you.” Jadis is not interested in paying any price for Rick’s insubordination. The two have spent the last few years covering up for their past encounters and keeping the CRM in the dark. So, the second their past comes into question, she loses her high-ranking position and in turn, he and everyone he loves will lose their lives. She goes as far as to say that if Rick thinks he can turn his anger on her and kill her,  she has an insurance policy he should consider first. She left a note among her things that explains who Rick and Michonne are and where they come from. What’s a little blackmail between frenemies? Jadis and her ever-changing haircuts–which Rick calls “stupid” are not scared to play fire with fire. This is an insurance policy that not only keeps them all alive but protects that 500-year-long plan she believes in. This place exists because of its secrecy and adherence to the rules, and she isn’t about to let marital love ruin that.

The Poison or The Cure?

After Okafor’s funeral we see General Beale (Terry O’Quinn) tell Pearl and Rick that he did not trust them before but they must be growing on him. He likened them both to, “the poison and the cure” and points out Rick was definitely the poison. He doesn’t trust Okafor’s new underling and still seems suspicious but he has come around to Pearl, He promotes her to Command Sergeant Major and gives her that top-secret Echelon briefing Okafor promised them. He also puts her in charge of getting the Cascadia Forward Operating Base ready for opening day–her first major assignment and now she is questioning her deal with Rick. Is Dana worth risking her career? Thorne is struggling with that and let’s Rick know the woman landed on General Beale’s radar and that isn’t a good sign.

That reveal sets Rick off on another mission to get his wife out of the CRM before she winds up dead. He fills MIchonne in, letting her think his plan is for them both to escape, but in reality, he sets her up and has no intention of leaving the community. Michonne finds this out when she escapes and makes it to their rendezvous only to find a letter from Rick in their getaway canoe stating he isn’t coming with her. He also manipulates her feelings by ending the letter with, “If you love me, you will go.” Rick massively underestimated his wife and her dedication to their family. Michonne didn’t search for him for years to give up now; the husband she loves is still missing– lost within the trauma of this place and those invisible shackles imprisoning him in despair. The following day Rick thinks he has covered his tracks and tells Jadis he posed a scalpless body as Dana’s–torn apart by the dead on a failed mission. Of course, he is shocked when he spots her in the line of consignees, stabbing walkers back like the pro everyone seems to know she is. It’s tough for this A to hide her warrior-like personality, and Rick knows these battle-pro slip-ups could end her life. We see her easily dismantle a series of walkers, including decapitating one and using their head to kill another. She is not your average CRM wannabe citizen and there isn’t much she can do to hide that. Angry, he sneaks off with Michonne to let her know how upset he is. He tries to get her to understand that the only way she can escape is with help from someone on the inside, and he is that someone. He can’t leave but he basically orders her to and the look on Michonne’s face is both of shock and determination. He might have been brainwashed by this place, but she must think she can reverse that and cleanse his system of the CRM’s Kool-Aid because she doesn’t listen. Later, her mind is even more made up after a run-in with a local artist who drew those photos on the cellphone of her, Judith, and Carl, She finds out Rick requested those drawings, and this to her is proof the man she loves is only lost, not gone forever. Rick has just broken down and now he needs someone to show him that all hope is not lost.

Jealousy is Deadly

Next, we cut to Pearl, who seems to be harboring her confusing feelings about Rick and his new protege, Dana. She is both equally impressed with Dana’s skills but also doesn’t trust her. Some of those suspicions might have to do with Rick’s insistence the woman protect this newcomer, and Pearl can’t figure out why she means so much to him.  Something is off, but Pearl agrees to rope Dana in on their plans by offering her a chance to work at Cascadia and get the base ready to open. This is a big job for someone who has only recently been added to the consignee team, so of course, Michonne warily accepts. She has no idea the entire time Pearl was waiting for an answer the woman had her hand on her gun ready to execute Dana on the spot. Likewise, Rick spotted Pearl’s behind-the-back trigger finger and was ready to kill his friend if she tried anything. Pearl had no idea but Michonne spotted his worry, and now all three of them seem to be operating on half-truths, jealousies, and deadly suspicions that could get any one of them killed. Luckily, Dana plays along with Pearl’s need to feel superior, but watching her husband say, “Yes, Maam” to that woman is a real eye-rolling experience for her. Who is this man and what has he done with Rick?

At Cascadia, Pearl practically neuters Dana and arms her with an electric staff–no guns, while ordering her to stand back and out of the way while the real soldiers get the job done. This is not how Dana is going to prove herself, so Michonne disobeys Thorne and uses a ramming shield to clear the woods of walkers. Rick joins her and the two make easy work of the mini-horde threatening the Base’s opening. Thorne watches on in intense anger at the threat she now thinks Dana is. Whether she is worried this impressive woman will unseat her as a leader in the army or replace her as Rick’s right-hand woman, it is hard to say, but jealousy is what fuels her next decision. As Dana clears a hundred or so walkers, we see Pearl aim her gun at her ready to shoot. Rick spots Thorne’s deadly move and before the woman can pull the trigger and execute his wife, he steps in her line of fire. Thorne lowers her weapon and lets Dana live but later she tells Rick she regrets agreeing to help him. She risked her career for him and this Dana woman, and she won’t do it again. That said, his actions at Cascadia have impressed General Beale, who requested to see him for a briefing.

As the episode wraps up, we find out Jadis has been transferred to Cascadia Rick and Michonne will be seeing a lot more of her. We also learn just how Jadis managed to rise in the ranks and it all goes back to that bridge rescue and her trash heap community. Jadis was trading people– As and Bs, for supplies, and in return for her service she was given entry into the CRM’s elite. She worked hard to make a name for herself and Michonne is a big risk to that security.

Deprogramming Rick

Speaking of Michonne, she spots the two talking and she is shocked to see the leader of the trash heapers conspiring with her husband. She had no idea Jadis was there, Rick failed to mention that during their secretive hook-ups. Before she can freak out and blow their cover, Rick pulls her aside and tells her, “Everything we had is broken…It’s over.” He couldn’t be less convincing if he tried and this does nothing but inspire Michonne to come up with her own escape plans, only this one includes her unwilling husband. On a helicopter ride out of Cascadia, a thunderstorm acts as the perfect cover for Michonne’s plan. As the chopper sways in the wind, Michonne does the unthinkable and grabs Rick and tosses them both out of the open door. It’s an accident, or she hopes the CRM sees it that way, assuming the two are dead. Even if they search for them they will, now she has time to deprogram Rick. It’s going to take a miracle to get him on board for an escape that doesn’t end in mass murder in Alexandria, as long as the two survive that deadly fall.