The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – What We

By: Kelly Kearney

Plummeting from their helicopter into the murky waters of marital woes, this week’s episode of “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live,” finds Michonne and Rick at odds over the idea of going home. As a storm rages outside of a high-tech apartment they use as a hideout, inside the couple battles a different storm–Rick’s dedication to Okafor’s cause and his fear of Jadis and her threats. Michonne didn’t search for her husband for years only to find him lost and afraid. Now it’s going to take all of her strength to pull him out of the sea of CRM Kool-Aid he’s been drinking and get him back home.

A Time Out

The episode written by Danai Gurira begins in that helicopter leaving Cascadia with an irritated Michonnne (Danai Gurira) and stubborn Rick (Andrew Lincoln)  on board. The chopper is swaying in the winds of a brutal downpour over the rocky shores of what we can assume is the body of water near Philadelphia. Knowing she needs time To convince Rick to leave the CRM, Michonne does the unthinkable and tosses herself and her husband out of the open door and into the swirling waters below. We don’t get to see how these two survive that cannonball into the drink, because the next time we see the two they’re drenched and standing in a techie’s penthouse apartment overlooking their watery escape.  With everything from a Roomba vac to keep it clean and a personal assistant reading out the minute-by-minute updates on the house and outside conditions, this place feels like Alexa and Sam from 2001 Space Odyssey joined together just to annoy our two favorites. Considering how annoyed Michonne already is with Rick, the constant yammering over the intercoms only raises the heat in the room. Rick should’ve known Michonne wouldn’t just follow his orders to head home and leave him behind. She felt she had no choice but to toss him out of the helicopter to get a time-out from the CRM’s influence. She is both angry and offended over him bailing on their escape plan and leaving her a goodbye letter in the getaway canoe. She mocks him and calls it “poetry” and suggests if he wants to be an author he might try writing his kids a letter and explaining why he refuses to come home. Kids–plural, and Rick catches that immediately and Michonne can no longer keep the truth from him. She tells him about R.J.–Judith’s little brother, and how she was pregnant the day he blew himself up on that bridge. Assuming a son he never knew about would help to change his mind, Michonne is stunned when Rick skips over this huge reveal and refuses to change his mind. Instead of asking about the boy, Rick explains the issue with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh)  and how she will be forced to kill their family and friends to protect her position at the CRM. Michonne jumps right to homicide to fix that problem but the woman left a trail of evidence outing Rick and Alexandria if she happens to wind up dead. It’s excuse after excuse and Michonne finally asks if Rick still loves her. “Always,” he says, “I’ve never stopped loving you.” His declaration doesn’t seem to calm Michonne’s outrage because he is still choosing these people who imprisoned him over her and their family. Even after the sun comes up and they see the helicopter they were in had crashed into a neighboring skyrise– making it look like the two of them were dead, Rick still refuses to go home. He is determined to keep her and the kids safe by making sure Jadis and her paper trail can’t find them. The fact he hasn’t even asked about R.J. but has mentioned honoring Okafor’s plans to fix the CRM from the inside is the last straw for her. If this is their break-up and he wants her to leave without him, “Your wish is granted.”

“I’m Out!”

This version of Rick is not the Brave Man she told  R.J. thought about and now Michonne is done with begging him to be the husband he once was. “I’m out” she declares as she walks out of the apartment’s door and heads down to the lobby where she sees the courtyard filled with walkers. Armed with a kitchen knife and a makeshift staff, it seems Michonne’s going to have to fight this battle on her own, because upstairs, Rick is fighting his own battle just to turn the doorknob and walk out to find her. Finally, he chooses to leave and it comes at the perfect time because outside another helicopter is circling the crash site and blasts it and the building to destroy any evidence. They can’t have a helicopter sticking out of a building for other survivors to find. They might think there is a civilization still thriving in this apocalypse. As the destruction and debris fall into the courtyard it breaks the lobby’s window and the dead come pouring in. Rick and Michonne take off running through the building for safety–from not only the dead but from the helicopter that can easily see through the building’s glass exterior. The two-run, kill walkers, argue about how much Rick has changed for the worse, but in between the chaos they have some heated and romantic exchanges. Rick can pretend they’re over all he wants but their chemistry is so present and undeniable. They hit a bit of a snag when Michonne winds up trapped by a falling chandelier, but the two tag-team the incoming walker attack and manage to free her leg in time to barricade themselves behind that penthouse door.

Love Endures

Once inside, the heart-pounding moments lead to romance and the two make love for the first time since their reunion in the woods. Rick cannot control his emotions, as he cries in the afterglow of their union. After a nap and some fluffy giggles and spooning, Michonne revisits the topic of going home. The building they’re in has been compromised by the explosions outside. and Rick–after everything, is still refusing to leave with her. Michonne can be just as stubborn and refuses to leave the apartment until the two come up with a plan together but all Rick can talk about is Okafor’s plans. He is hell-bent on being the savior Okafor knew he was–he is thinking about the bigger picture and in it, erasing his ties to his family. He does admit, after a bit of badgering, that the CRM took his dreams of Carl from him–the one thing keeping him sane during his years of imprisonment as a consignee. When Carl was gone he stayed alive for the dreams he had of Michonne and explains that he can survive being dead if he has those dreams to keep him alive. The fact is, he cannot lose her again. He would rather have her gone in reality and alive in his dreams than face whatever Jadis has in store for her and their kids. He is running from his life but has convinced himself it is the heroic choice, and Michonne couldn’t be more disappointed. Everything she has done to find the man she loves has failed, until she is reminded of what Carl would want for them–to hold on to hope and love for as long as they can.

That mention of Carl seems to clear Rick’s clouded mind and he finally agrees to use the helicopter crash as their cover to head home. They manage to escape the apartment skyrise and find a working hybrid car with a cache of ethanol in the trunk. It might be a manual car that ironically Rick can’t drive, but that’s why he married a capable woman like Michonne! She hops into the front seat and with enough gas to get them there, they get on the road to Alexndira just as the apartment skyrise collapses to dust behind them. There is nothing these two can’t do together. Jadis and the entire CRM better watch out because Rick and Michonne are locked and loaded up on love, and nobody can stop them now.