The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – Years

By: Kelly Kearney

Ever since Rick Grimes blew himself up on that bridge to end the Whisperer War, The Walking Dead fans have been waiting years for the continuation of his story. Finally, the wait is over! Rick is back with a new spin-off, The Ones Who Live, that reunites him with his wife Michonne who has been searching for her husband almost as long as he has been presumed dead. In the premiere, we find out where Rick has been, why he hasn’t been able to return to his family in Alexandria, and what exactly that A and B labeling is all about. Packed with backstory, new characters, and a few shocking moments, “Years” is a reminder of why this show kept us all on the edge of our seats since 2009.

There’s No Place Like Home

We open with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) as he narrates the past and the current struggles he’s facing to get back home. We see the hopeless and dead-eyed leader staring off into the apocalyptic landscape of wherever he is being held by this zombie universe’s final villain, the CRM– Civic Republic Military. It’s clear from Rick’s tone, that his life is one of desperation–never giving up hope he will find a way back to his family but always failing at every turn. The former sheriff is at the end of his rope as we see him, like a prayer, apologize to Michonne and beg for forgiveness for leaving her behind. Seeing no way out, he takes a glass shard to his throat contemplating suicide while gazing at the drawing of Michonne on his cell phone. It is the same one she found in the original series that clued her into his survival and set her off on a mission to bring him home. The CRM is a highly secretive community, which has all the amenities of the world before the fall making it a paradise for most who stumble upon its existence. In Rick’s apartment, we see evidence of this as the TV broadcasts the news, and the top story of the hour is about CRM-connected communities falling to the dead, disease, and skirmishes among their survivors. It proves that no matter how massive your military budget is, humankind is still vulnerable to the realities of this apocalyptic world–humans are outnumbered by the dead but the living is often more dangerous. This new and unfamiliar CRM society might look like a reboot of the old world but the darkness that tore Rick’s communities apart is still thriving. When the show cuts to the opening credits we get a glimpse of the CRM and how massive this legion of cities truly is. Rick isn’t dealing with some local warlord trying to sack his community for grain and supplies, this is a thriving society that has succeeded in its survival by remaining a secret, and that includes allowing any of their citizens or consignees to leave. Anyone who flees is killed and anyone who comes in contact with them dies too. This makes Rick’s return home complicated. Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) thought she was saving his life when she scooped him up off the riverbanks after that explosion, but all she did was prolong his agony and put him in prison.

In a series of flashbacks, we see that it has been five years since Rick’s loved ones watched him presumably die on that bridge, and in that time he was enlisted as an involuntary consignee for the CRM’s army. Consignees do the military’s grunt work, and after six years, they can apply for citizenship. The military, with its thousands of soldiers and hi-tech weaponry, protects the hidden city of Philadelphia which acts as home to one of three cities that make up the CRM. Rick is now a consignee on a path to citizenship and he is tasked with something he is very good at, clearing the dead. In a voiceover, he explains how the CRM uses the dead to create energy, grow food, and harvest acres of crops that feed 200,000 citizens. This killing squad he is on is composed of men and women–like himself and Pearl Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt), people who will kill first and never ask questions later. The CRM has a rule: no leaders or A-people, only B-type followers will be accepted. Rick, who is obviously an A-leader has somehow escaped their culling, and it might have to do with the fact he can kill more walkers than the average consignee. Rick is not swayed by the safety guaranteed behind the CRM’s walls and has his mind set on escaping. Anyone would rarely want to leave such a modern society but Rick keeps trying, and to prevent this, the CRM’s army has affixed a retractable leash to his wrist. Now, when they send him blindly into the dense woods to fight off a pack of burning walkers, he can’t make a break for it. To the leaders of this army–notably, Lieutenant Colonel Okafor (Craig Tate), Rick is known as a pro at hacking and killing with an ax. He, along with Thorne, and a group of others seems confident they can clear the woods and save the farmland from being torched by the fiery walkers. Things go as planned, and the group makes easy work of the zombie torches, but things quickly change when Rick runs out of leash. Running, he is yanked to the ground mid-fight and sees his opportunity to break free. In the chaos and confusion of battle, he takes his army-issued ax and shockingly chops his hand off to release himself from the tether. Bleeding, he takes off running as the CRM soldiers comb the woods looking for him. Rick’s one-handed destiny from the comics comes to fruition in the spin-off and now fans can finally see the beginnings of the end for their favorite main character. With burning walkers littering the ground he chooses to cauterize his wound by shoving his bloody stump into the burning chest cavity of one of the fallen dead. Once the bleeding subsides, he almost instantly, and agonizingly gets lassoed again by the CRM. Now we know why he was ready to take his life, escaping this community seems impossible. Only death can free him–or so he thinks.

A Reunion of Sorts

In the hospital, in his delirious state, Rick dreams of running into Michonne (Danai Gurira) in some different timeline where the world never fell to the dead. It’s not the reunion fans had in mind, but it does point to Rick’s state of mind and how it’s falling quickly into despair. The couple might be strangers in this dreamscape but that playful banter that made them one of the best ships on the show seems very familiar. Even in this other world, these two have a connection and it’s probably the only thing keeping him alive. Well, that, and his biggest supporter in the army, Okafor. When Rick said he tried to get back home, he meant it. He talks about trying and failing dozens of times, but he is literally one man with one hand against an army, and for that, he feels ashamed. He is outnumbered in every way, and after years of not giving up, he is ready to submit. Typically, no consignee survives their first escape attempt, but Rick–who might technically be an A, has an ally in Lt. Colonel Okafor, who continues to risk his reputation to vouch for him. He even goes as far as to appeal to his boss, General Beale (Terry O’Quinn), to break the rules and let him stay. Rick has skills beyond those of the Bs that fill the ranks of the consignees and Okafor thinks he might be a future leader in their society, He also, as we soon find out, has a secret plan to change the CRM from the inside and Okafor needs a few As like Rick and his pal, Thorne, to turn those plans into a reality. Not everyone loves keeping this secret, and considering Rick keeps seeing military personnel leave the CRM and come home covered in blood, we can assume the well of CRM secrets is a bottomless pit and Okafor knows it. After his final year of survival as a consignee, Rick will have to choose between living an easy life as a citizen or joining Okafor in the army but all he wants to do is find the cracks in this new world so he can slip out of them. His partner Thorne is becoming exhausted by his attempts. Every time he tries to flee he risks the lives of his fellow consignees who do not have homes to go to. His mission is a selfish one, and we see it again when he asks his friend and new citizen Estaban (Frankie Quinones) to Risk his life by stealing a map from his new job working for utilities. Rick is determined, and as much as Esteban wants to say no he’s also loyal to Rick more so than the air conditioning in his apartment. Eventually, he agrees to help and that prompts Rick to come up with a new plan: play along with Okafor and agree to join his military program so he can have a better chance of escaping. Of course, Okafor falls for it, as Rick convinces everyone he’s given up on his escape plans. He even trains with Pearl Thorne, who has also agreed to join the Army, and as we watch her toss Rick around like a ragdoll, she has far more experience as a soldier than he does.

Rick Says Goodbye to His Old Life

In another dream Rick and Michonne meet for lunch every day on a bench and that nightly check-in from his wife is enough for him to put down that glass shard and find another way home. We see him and Thorne meet Okafar at a junkyard under the cover of night for a secret meeting about how to improve the CRM. Okafor believes that corruption will be the end of this secret society, and he thinks these two as a part of Force Command can help him weed out the corruptors and save their home. When Thorne questions why they have been chosen – after all, Rick tried to escape and in the past, Thorne tried to kill Okafor, but the Lieutenant Colonel says he believes they are the two who can lead this military towards change. They are both A’s and display strong leadership skills, but more importantly, they question authority – something that would typically get a consignee killed. That curiosity is what will root out the CRM’s corruption. The further up the ranks Rick and Thorne go the more secrets about the CRM will be revealed. These are secrets that nobody in the Civic Republic knows about, especially the Bs, who are just everyday people trying to live their lives. According to Okafor, the CRM’s deepest secrets are only known by about 10% of the military and that seems to inspire and excite Thorne, but not her partner Rick. He still has his mind set on home but she makes it clear she will not allow him to get in her way. She explains that she’s been cursed with bad luck after she tried to make it home to South Africa.  She failed four times since the outbreak and the last time Okafor found her and dragged her back. She lets Rick know that Okafor and the military will always find them and he will kill anyone with whom Rick might have shared information including his wife and family. She clues him into the fact that Okafor knows a lot more about who they all are and where they’ve come from and he would be wise to forget about his former life. She understands that Rick’s wife thinks he’s dead, and that’s the way it needs to be for her to survive.

In a voiceover, Rick talks about the scope of the CRM’s knowledge and how Okafor filled him in the working cities of Portland and Omaha forming an Alliance of Three, even though the other two do not know that Philadelphia exists. They know the Civic Republic exists, but they have no idea of its location. This leads us to an impromptu meeting Rick has with General Beale while on a run for the Army. General Beale asks Rick if there’s anything about Okafor he should know about. and Rick covers for the Lieutenant Colonel as he thinks building trust with the man is his best chance of escaping. We learn from Beale why he questions this when he explains Okafor’s past. He was a traitor to his people who were on a mission to bomb Philadelphia and kill everyone in it. Instead of destroying the CRM, he made a split-second decision to bomb his people’s hideout and join the enemy of what he saw as human progress. A sacrifice of 4000–including his wife, to save mankind was a tough choice but he did what he thought was right. This is information that Rick doesn’t reveal to anyone else, even when he meets Esteban in the park where the two discuss a secret tunnel that he uses for his escape. As the two friends talk we catch a glimpse of some people in the background holding protest signs demanding transparency from the CRM. It seems not all the Bs are followers, some of them are looking for A-people change.

Richonne

During his next mission at a chemical plant, Rick’s Machiavellian escape hits a major snag and winds up thwarted by a child whose life is at risk from a hungry horde of walkers. He makes his own split decision to pause his tunnel escape to save the girl and that is when Thorne catches him in the act. She keeps it a secret but reminds him Okafor knows everything about him and that includes where his wife and child are. If he escapes again he will kill Rick and his family because Lieutenant Colonel is not about to let his sacrifices–The killing of his wife and 4000 other people, be for nothing.

 Later, Rick and Thorne, watch the news broadcast about the fall of Omaha, and he knows the CRM was behind it even if the news covers it up. It’s a shocking truth about this place they’re in but Thorne doesn’t see it that way. According to her, secrets are what keeps them alive and it’s obvious Omaha didn’t get that memo. If Portland hopes to survive, they need to learn to be less curious and keep their mouths shut. She has been a close ally to Rick for all of these years but it seems clear that the propaganda being fed to them has convinced Pearl to fall in line. The following morning, Rick pens his final letter to Michonne as he has succumbed to his fate. He is off to tackle a new project for the CRM across the country and now thinks his time would be better spent trying to make the world a better place rather than letting it kill him and his loved ones. We flash to the future where we see Rick and Okafor in a helicopter chit-chatting about their pasts. Rick tells a story that relates to how he came to understand that sacrificing his heart is worth it for dedicating his life to rebuilding this world. It’s a story about his father risking his own life to make sure his family had food on the table and their farm thrived. At the time a young Rick Grimes never understood the sacrifices his father made, but while sitting in the helicopter he never felt closer to the man. Right when Okafor is about to take Rick down his memory lane, a bomb from out of nowhere hits the helicopter and kills Okafor instantly! The helicopter spirals down and crashes into the woods where an unknown person lobbing bombs and armed with a sword hacks their way through the soldiers who survived the crash. Covered in armor from head to toe, this warrior grabs Rick by the head and rips his helmet off and that’s when everything comes to a screeching halt. The assailant then lets Rick go and struggles to pull off their helmet and that’s when Rick Grimes comes face-to-face with his wife, Michonne!  TWD fans finally get their shocking and emotional Richonne reunion; the premiere ends on an epic cliffhanger. Next week, we dive into where Michonne has been since she left Alexandria to search for her husband and just how intertwined their fates truly are.