The Ones Who Live’ Episode 4 Review — Emotional Moments Ruined By Tedious Dialogue

There‘it’s just a big problem with me tonight‘s episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. It didn’t go anywhere fast. Perhaps the worst sin of any TV show is when it bores you, and this could have been an exciting, romantic, dramatic episode, but it ended up going in circles. I know Danai Gurira wrote it, and people are really excited about it and a lot of praise is pouring in from the fans, and definitely parts of that episode were really strong. Unfortunately, it was also super repetitive and I think with a little work, it could have been a lot better.

Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) jumped out of a helicopter last week and landed in the ocean. The helicopter itself crashed into a nearby building and there were no survivors. CRM even came and demolished the building to bury the evidence because CRM is not only extremely powerful, but also extremely secretive.

This is a very good opportunity to fake your death. A fake death would allow them to leave the CRM without Jadis retaliating. He really has no reason to if they’re dead and no reason to suspect they were faking it given the crash. Michonne says so, but Rick says “No”.

And then, for pretty much the rest of the entire episode, they argue about it. And this argument—interrupted once by a battle with walkers and once by a much-needed sex scene—goes around and around. Michonne thinks Rick is crazy for staying when they have such a good chance to escape. Stack is crazy, wandering about his dreams and doing all the broken mind. By the time he breaks down and talks about everything, she is very angry with him.

But it still doesn’t make sense. Rick’s whole plan—to change CRM from the inside out—is a pipe dream. And the fact that he he cut off his own hand Running away, and now that I’m refusing to take that chance, doesn’t seem very Rick to me. Sure, he eventually agrees, but did it have to take so long? They could have finished arguing and “confessing” his dreams in a matter of minutes, after the sex scene and after the fight to get out of the building. Then we could get on with the actual plot.

The stick changing moment was funny. And the building they found themselves in was pretty neat, but of course a nice place can’t last once our heroes arrive. Remember, the only consistent thing across The Walking Dead and its spinoffs are wherever our survivors end up, be it safe haven or enemy camp, it will soon be destroyed. And so this apartment they still somehow reach, with such amazing luck after jumping into the ocean (lake?), collapses.

They leave, driving away in a hybrid car and some nice music takes us to the credits. I stuck around for next week’s episode preview and (spoiler) Michonne says “This can’t end with us going home!” which honestly makes me want to tear my hair out. After an entire episode of Michonne telling Rick “We have to go home. That’s not you. You are lying. We must return to our children. They stole years of our lives. Children may have a problem.” After finally convincing him, she now says “This can’t end with us going home!”???

I know it’s missing context, but it’s really frustrating. So far we’ve had a really bad episode Those Who Live, a surprisingly good episode, a decent episode and now this one, which does hit some hard emotional beats but just wraps them up in boring and repetitive talk. At least our leader and lady finally shut up enough to have sex, which is honestly the first thing they should have done once they were in the most luxurious apartment of the apocalypse. It’s been years, guys. They should have only stopped having sex when the CRM helicopter showed up and blew up the building. Clearly, they needed some sexual therapy, sexual heeeeealing. ,

Well yes. I’m a little disappointed that this took up a whole sixth of this show. We needed some good Rick and Michonne one-on-one scenes, but the format was wrong, the pacing was off, and while the dialogue was good, it just went in too many circles.

Scattered Thoughts

• The special effects for the helicopter that crashed looked weird. This show mostly looked great, but it was a little annoying. Season 7’s deer don’t suffer, but they aren’t great.
• The moment with Carl on the phone was really cool. I really think if they had condensed all the drama/controversy and had less of the episode, it would have hit a lot harder for me. Less is more sometimes. Get to that sex scene faster and hit the road.
• At least get to the sex scene before the building starts to collapse, you know? And don’t take the elevator.
• Michonne and Nat spent a year recovering. That’s pretty crazy! Still mad they killed Nat.
• I thought it was good that Michonne told Rick about RJ, but that part also threw me a little. His reaction was so leaden. I get that he’s supposed to be this damaged man, but it also doesn’t quite add up. Jadis is the only reason she doesn’t try to escape, so she doesn’t that broken, and Jadis will now think he’s dead. I do not understand it. I’m with Michonne on this one all the way. Even his stuff about dreams doesn’t make sense when you think about it. Like, okay, you stopped dreaming about your loved ones now you can go see them (except for Carl, because Scott Gimple killed him!)
• The Roomba kind of stole the show for me. Poor guy. It’s not a Roomba that lived. I want a Nat and Roomba spinoff.

Finally, I think I keep simmering something a little bigger-picture, which is this The Walking Dead’s The main drivers wanted out of the show, they got out of the show and they really messed something up The Walking Dead it should have been at the end. This feels stuck and unearned. As nice as it is to see them together again, I think the actors should have stuck it to the main show and got the job done. This seems too little, too late.

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