There’s a lot to like about The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (2024-). Visually it’s stunning but it does lack the grim extremes that made early seasons of the original so compelling.
On the plus side we finally find out what happened to Rick after the bridge explosion midway through Season 9, and Michonne’s unlikely decision to go looking for him a Season later.
Rick being kidnapped is one thing but Michonne abandoning her children never felt like a realistic choice to me. I’d understand her following Rick’s trail with RJ strapped to her back and Judith at her side, but never just leaving them.
The Ones Who Live opens with Rick fighting a hoard of burning walkers for the authoritarian Civic Republic Military. His three previous attempts to escape mean he now has a wire cuffed to his wrist. This mistake, not attaching this wire to a cuff around Rick’s neck, allows him to make a fourth attempt at escaping. He cuts off his own hand. I know I said this lacks grim, and this is pretty extreme, but it doesn’t have the build up that makes his actions profound.
This lack permeates the series, caused I think by a lack of set up. There isn’t enough plot to make the back and forth of the story feel earned. Rick has been here before. The battle to survive Negan, the one that raged throughout Season 7, saw him emotionally besieged but never broken.
While I understand his capitulation within this story, mainly because it’s explained to us, I wish the writers had stuck to the three word adage, show don’t tell, and given us more of what got him here. While his actions now are desperate, he wasn’t when we last saw him.
For me, there should’ve been an entire series of Rick’s struggles to that point. Only after we know what broke him can we truly appreciate what makes him equivocate when he finally reunites with Michonne. Intellectually we know, we can work it out, but we don’t feel him get there.
I’ve been watching the TWD universe expand since the first episode. I watched all six episode of this in two days, so it’s watchable enough, but I wish the writing was a little stronger. Stronger is perhaps the wrong word. Confident is perhaps more accurate. The writing needs to relax and be more confident.
Darrin // Nightingale 