The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
Ep. 2: “Gone”
Directed by Bert & Bernie
Written by Nana Nkweti & Channing Powell

* For a recap & review of the premiere, click here.
* For a recap & review of Ep. 3, click here.
Six years after Rick’s incident on the bridge we see Michonne, recalling when she lost Rick but also right at the moment she discovered he’s still alive. Michonne’s ingratiating herself to a new community of people. She speaks her case to a woman called Elle (Erin Anderson). She’s hoping to get a horse and go looking for Rick. But Elle’s impressed with what Michonne did for Aiden and Bailey, so she wants her to be part of their community, to help it. That’s not what Michonne wants to do. Elle suggests to stay “until the migration is over.” The tri-state area there used to have millions of people, many of whom are now “the wailing.” This means several times a year there’s a migration period. A guy named Nat (Matthew Jeffers) rushes in, losing his shit at Elle for what happened with her sister. Then he realises that Aiden’s still alive, and that Michonne’s the one who saved her. Michonne says the word about their community is they “don‘t stop for anybody,” even their own. Nat isn’t like that, and he says that Michonne can take her choice of horse, no matter what Elle says. He says it’ll take a night to get Michonne on the dusty ole trail, so she agrees reluctantly.

The next morning, Michonne not only gets a horse, she’s given custom gear to help her out there in the wasteland. Before she goes, she asks why Nat and the others don’t leave when the group is apparently so cutthroat. None of them have a particularly great answer, except for Aiden, who suggests it’s out of fear. Nat has a sense that if anybody can survive out there, it’s probably Michonne. Her bad ass qualities don’t take long to come across to people.
Out on the roads, Michonne sees a massive herd on the plains. It’s like a zombie army, stretching onto the horizon. Michonne sheaths her sword, then she breaks out her missile launcher and lets a missile go whizzing into the midst of the zombie army. Not only does it explode and kills a bunch of walkers, it draws the walkers back towards the spot where the missile exploded. Michonne notices a zombie strapped with gas cans on fire. Then it explodes, which sends a projectile into Michonne that knocks her off her horse hard, plus it sends the animal fleeing, along with her missile launcher. Out of nowhere in the distance are massive explosions that split the zombie army in two halves. Michonne looks around to see Aiden and Bailey, along with others in vehicles behind them. Apparently they were sick of being scared and so were others. Perfect timing for a revolution.
Michonne wants to take her new friends back home after she finds Rick. This is what the end of the world should be like: people sticking together. And it’s not about being useful, it’s just about caring for each other. We discover that Aiden recently found out she’s pregnant. She’s obviously worried about it. Michonne thinks Aiden and Bailey should turn back, but Aiden wants to be there when Michonne finds Rick again.
And so off along the road the group goes further.

A helicopter flies overhead suddenly and Michonne realises what’s about to happen, screaming for everyone to scatter, right as the helicopter starts to drop bombs releasing gas in the streets. Everyone’s left choking for air while new, hungry zombies emerge seeking to find a bite to eat. The streets are foggy with mustard-coloured smoke. The air is filled with screams and hungry walker growls. Michonne tries to save herself and the others with her sword, though they’ve been badly affected by the gas. Everyone’s wheezing. There’s no telling what this will do to Aiden and her baby. Aiden tells Michonne now that she should go back home: “Don‘t risk it.” But Michonne wants to help them. She knows there may be medical supplies nearby. That doesn’t mean everyone will survive long enough to be saved. Plus, Michonne’s not doing great herself.
When Michonne gets back she sees Aiden’s already dead and zombified, so she has to do the hard job and put her new friend down. The same must be done with Bailey, too. Only Nat is still alive; he couldn’t bring himself to put Bailey down. He tells Michonne she needs to go back home. He thinks it’s too late for her to find Rick now. This won’t make Michonne give up, though.

Michonne and Nat start to work on getting better after the gas attack. This means their throats and their lungs have to heal, which isn’t easy. They have medical supplies. They have a safe place to rest. But it might take a bit of luck for them to fully get better. Michonne certainly tries her best, hydrating and working out whenever she can in between using the medical supplies to try healing the throat and lungs. She and Nat seem to get better after a while and a lot of hard work. Eventually Michonne suggests she goes to Bridgers Terminal in New Jersey while Nat goes to her home in Alexandria, however, he doesn’t like this plan. Nat doesn’t want Michonne to go out there all alone, he thinks it’s a futile journey. He wants to go along with her rather than split up.
Michonne uses her old skills, putting a zombie without hands and a jaw to chomp to work, as the walker pulls gear for her and Nat. After some time, they make it to Bridgers Terminal, but there’s nothing but decay and rot and piles of dead, burned bodies. A boat with SAFE HARBOR on a banner across it is half sunk and wrecked. Michonne finds it difficult yet she forces herself to go looking through the charred remains, looking for any suggestion that Rick may be somewhere in the piles. She doesn’t find anything right now, so she spends her night hugging Rick’s boots close. Nat says Michonne’s phone says, in Japanese: “Believe a little bit longer.” He stills thinks she should go home. He says she can still believe he’s alive, even if she goes home. Michonne’s starting to come around to the idea that Rick is, in fact, not alive. She believes that if Rick were alive, he would’ve “found his way” back to her. Nat tells Michonne that she doesn’t have to give up the idea that Rick is still out there and she can go back to her kids. He offers to go with her, to help. “It‘s not giving up,” Nat says. All Michonne can do at the moment is weep.

Jump to current day.
Nat and Michonne continue on the roads. They stop a moment when Nat notices something not far away: it’s another helicopter from the CRM. Michonne refuses to run and Nat feels the same, so they grab their cart, off their zombie helper, and prepare to try downing the helicopter. Nat manages to nail the helicopter, sending it crashing into the ground below. Soldiers emerge from the helicopter and Nat blasts another missile, hitting a couple soldiers. Michonne heads in closer with her sword. She kills one soldier, then another, forcing them to look her in the face, then when she goes to kill the next one, she realises it’s Rick underneath the helmet. The shocking reunion after so, so long. It’s hard for either of them to believe what they’re seeing, finally brought back together again. “I found you” is all Michonne can say. Rick asks about Judith, confirming she’s okay from Michonne. He also makes clear that he isn’t with the CRM.

There’s more of the CRM coming. Rick says Michonne needs to pretend that she isn’t a strong leader, knowing that they’ll kill her if they understand who she is; she doesn’t want to lose him again, so she’ll do whatever’s necessary. Nat gets introduced to Rick right as one of the CRM soldiers, still alive, gets a shot off and kills him. A sad, quick goodbye to an awesome character, as well as a good new friend to Michonne. Very sad. Rick kills the soldier while Michonne says her goodbye to Nat for all he did to help her. Rick asks if Michonne has anything identifiable on her that might let the CRM on to Alexandria, et cetera. They’ve got to get rid of a journal and a few things. For now, Rick and Michonne need to play their respective roles, as a CRM helicopter touches down.
Back with the CRM, Michonne calls herself Dana and claims to have been by herself for a very long time. She says she was in Georgia with a boyfriend and 40 other people. She basically uses Aiden’s story to create her own backstory, along with a dash of Nat, too. Not to mention she has definitely experienced isolation before, so it’s not that much of a stretch, really. Soldiers interrogate Michonne and explain the security of their community. Michonne does a good job playing the appropriate part. Now, she’s inside the walls of the militarised city.

Later, Rick finds Michonne and they sneak off to makeout a bit. It’s only natural after being apart for such an incredibly long time, particularly in a post-zombie apocalypse world where survival is wildly uncertain from day to day, let alone year to year. The two talk about things, from Judith to Rick’s missing hand. “She‘s us, Rick,” Michonne says about Judith. They also talk about the horrifying things the CRM are doing, such as the soldiers who come back covered in blood. Michonne asks whether they might be able to stop the CRM, and Rick bluntly says no. She’s mostly just determined to get home with him. Everything else can be figured out at a later date, anyway. And Michonne’s really only now just starting to understand the scope of the CRM, as she gets a glimpse of the place.

Then there’s Jadis, a familiar face, who’s waiting for Rick at his place when he gets back. She remarks how amazing it is that Rick and Michonne have found each other again. She says she’ll keep things “off the books” between them, like they’ve done for a while, the two of them. Jadis makes clear that if they try to escape, she’ll kill everyone Rick loves. She’s not worried about the morality since her hands are plenty bloody after all these years. But she’s definitely curious what Rick is up to.