It was in 2018, during Season 9, Episode 5, of The Walking Dead, that we would last officially see Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead universe. It was in that same year that a movie trilogy explaining Rick Grimes’ whereabouts would be announced. This unfortunately got cancelled due to a lot of changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and got reworked into a limited series that would feature Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira returning in their respective roles.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is a limited series that tells an epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world. Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the Walking Dead?
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live immediately throws you into all the action and drama that you can possibly imagine. We find Rick at rock bottom and see him fighting his suicidal thoughts. Bert and Bertie, who directed the first two episodes, do a good job of showing this. This show doesn’t only visually look different from the previous spin-offs in The Walking Dead universe, but its tone feels different too.
This show has the highest budget that has been seen in the entirety of the franchise, with it totaling a whopping $82 million, which is roughly $18.7 million per episode. It’s hard to say whether this show had a high budget due to it previously being planned as a movie or not, but you can see the money on the screen.
As it’s known from the synopsis of the show, this is a show that’s about Rick and Michonne. It’s about them finding each other, and it’s also about them finding themselves. Years apart, the world around them has changed them, and it has been for the worst. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is structured in such a way that it takes advantage of this and executes it perfectly within its storytelling.
The Walking Dead franchise is known for its many deaths, from Glenn to Carl, and the grief it causes our characters. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live also tackles this theme of loss, but in a way that no other The Walking Dead show has been able to do. The show takes its time to explore not only the loss Rick and Michonne are suffering but also the newly introduced characters and even previous characters who make their return.
The best single thing about this show is episode 4. I can’t say much about which characters are in the episode or what takes place, but what I can say is that Danai Gurira herself wrote this episode. It’s always a pleasure to see someone who has worked hard on a show for most of its lifespan finally become a creative on it. Danai Gurira not only wrote the episode; she produced it and helped edit it with the editors.
All the love she poured into this one episode is evident once you watch it. Not only is it the best episode of the four episodes I’ve seen, but it might be one of the best The Walking Dead episodes yet. It’s packed with so much emotion, drama, and action; it takes everything great about The Walking Dead and honours it with just this singular episode.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon gave us our first look at different variations of Walkers and is what I thought was the start of seeing more like it in future spin-offs such as this one. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any new variations like its predecessor. In fact, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live seems to take a slight step back from the heavy zombie action as it focuses on the CRM, Rick, and Michonne.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live takes the major decision of shifting the tone as they tell the love story of Rick and Michonne. It might not be what people want from a zombie franchise, but these four episodes have proven the tonal shift is exactly what this franchise needed.
Andrew Lincoln and Dani Gurira provide the best performances for both Rick and Michonne, respectively, that we’ve seen in the entire franchise. The cinematography is outstanding, and the score perfectly enhances every scene. This is easily, without a doubt, the best entry in The Walking Dead universe.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Premieres February 25 on AMC and AMC+
