The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
Ep. 5: “Become”
Directed by Michael E. Satrazemis
Written by Gabriel Llanas & Matthew Negrete

* For a recap & review of Ep. 4, click here.
* For a recap & review of the finale, click here.
Another familiar face is caught up with in The Ones Who Live: Father Gabriel Stokes.
He’s out there, still fighting and surviving against the odds. Elsewhere, Rick and Michonne dine on Tasteful Noods, drink a few sodas, kill zombies, and enjoy each other’s company. Nice use of “The Good Life” by Tony Bennett here, too. Eventually Rick and Michonne stop along the road at a store/motel. They look around for anything worth scavenging. Rick even thinks about a little gift to bring his son RJ. He rustles up a gift for Michonne, snapping off a few pieces of a necklace to create a golden M. There are cabins where the couple can stay, too. It’s a decent place to stop for a little while. They’re also able to catch up on things a bit.

When Rick and Michonne are near a U.S. National Park Service Ranger Station, they hear people getting attacked by zombies. Naturally the two of them go to help. They find a zombie that has a stone-like head, which takes a bit of doing to kill. Then they meet three survivors who tell them about steam vents in the park. There are also “baked and boiled” zombies: some are hard like that one, some are wet and soft. Rick and Michonne offer the trio a bit of food, then they start to head off when one man pulls his gun, apologising for having to do it. The couple quickly put a stop to things, not without warning. Rick and Michonne don’t want these folks to do the same thing to other people. These guys don’t understand that, only looking out for themselves. But Rick and Michonne let them go, making them promise not to do this to anybody else, though Michonne takes back the food, and they toss all the bullets. A bit of mercy. “Keep your promise, asshole,” Rick says, as he and Michonne walk off into the woods once more.
While Rick and Michonne enjoy themselves together at night, someone’s sneaking closer.
Go back three years ago. We see Father Gabriel getting himself some water and blessing it when, out of nowhere, Jadis appeared across the stream. He greeted her with a warm hug. She came to see him but asked him not to tell anybody. Gabriel said he’d been looking for her over the radio. He felt bad that she left because she felt judged. Yet even Jadis admitted she was “up to something” and it was right not to trust her. Father Gabriel talked about Rick’s death at the bridge. He also talked about how to deal with guilt: prayer, making amends, talking to others. He offered Jadis a bit of “clergy confidentiality” if she wanted to make avail of him for some chatting.

Back to today. Jadis interrupts the “lovebirds” while Rick and Michonne are lying in bed. She keeps them at gunpoint for a talk, forcing Michonne to zip-tie Rick then zip-tie herself, too. When she and a team found the helicopter wreck initially she remembered the scene. Later they came back and she noticed there were things amiss, in spite of all the building’s rubble. Jadis reminisces about her past. She doesn’t want to leave any loose ends when she kills Rick and Michonne, nor does she want to leave anything unsaid between them. She does a bit of pontificating. Michonne’s heard enough, especially considering Jadis is the reason Rick remained separated from her and their family. When Jadis starts firing, she doesn’t anticipate the quickness of the couple. They get the upper hand on Jadis, but then Rick stops Michonne from killing her as she slips away. He insists they’ve got to get out of there.
Back to three years prior. Father Gabriel talked to Jadis about Rick and Michonne. He spoke about meaning to marry them until “what happened happened.” Jadis enjoyed being there with Gabriel and simply talking. She mentioned doing “things that are difficult” in her new life, even resorting to cruelty. She was convinced that it was the only way to live, and that it was a way for the whole world to live. She was clearly indoctrinated into the CRM way of life. Gabriel asked if Jadis and her people could help him and his community. She said that wasn’t possible; she wasn’t even supposed to be there with him. Gabriel left Jadis the ring he intended to use for Rick and Michonne’s wedding. Then they said goodbye until next year: “If I‘m still alive,” Gabriel said.

Back to present day, as Jadis tries to run Rick and Michonne off the road, and vice versa. Michonne eventually forces Jadis to drive through some zombies and over a hill. Jadis rams into a tree yet she’s able to get out of there and runs into the trio who recently met Rick and Michonne. She talks a good game about her community, offering them a place there if they help her. Not sure if these folks are very safe around ole Annie a.k.a Jadis. Creepshow when Jadis mentions how tall the woman is with a chilling smile on her face. Yikes!
Meanwhile, Rick and Michonne follow a blood trail to a lodge. They search inside for a trace of Jadis. They actually find the trio in there, acting on the part of Jadis to lure them into a trap. The men pull their guns, but they wind up fighting Rick and Michonne. The woman gets chomped by a walker, as Jadis starts firing. Absolute chaos.
One year ago, Jadis and Father Gabriel met again. “Every year I come back here, I‘ve done worse things,” she said. She didn’t want to say anything more about it. She and Gabriel shared a kiss, as he told her how much he enjoyed having a secret together with her. Then he said she ought to come back to Alexandria, but she couldn’t do it. He asked why she would be a part of a group that makes people suffer. This only caused a fight between them. And eventually, Jadis turned on Gabriel. She was prepared to shoot him, considering him just another “loose end.”
In present day, Jadis finds herself in a standoff with Rick and Michonne. She says if she dies, then their family dies, too. Even if she gets killed by zombies, the same thing will happen. Michonne fights the urge to kill Jadis and instead shoots down the walkers shambling close to bite the latter. But then Jadis is back on the offensive, firing her weapon back at Michonne. Jadis goes on pontificating about the CRM and how Rick would’ve soon understood the scope of what’s happening but instead chose Michonne. “You look out for you,” says Jadis. She further states there’s only one choice, either “keeping your humanity or saving humanity.” She sees nothing else but those two absolutes, as if they’re mutually exclusive.

Michonne plays the part for Jadis, pretending to understand. She tells Rick “there has to be a sacrifice.” She says they can’t go home. And Rick plays along, as well. They pretend like they’re going with Jadis’s plan. Rick offers to go back with Jadis while Michonne goes to Alexandria. Jadis agrees not to say anything to the CRM about Alexandria; she makes the deal with Rick. Then Michonne leaves, and Rick comes out to face Jadis. Everyone’s dropped their weapons to be fair. Jadis is in bad shape at the moment. Not so bad that she forgot to keep a second weapon available. Michonne’s already two steps ahead with a rifle in hand. She and Rick saw this coming already. Jadis ends up being chomped into by zombies that come out of the shadows. No saving her with a bite right in the neck. She says she was “tired of losing” and wanting to simply be part of a community that lasted, no matter the cost. Jadis tells Rick and Michonne the dossier concerning Alexandria is in her room at the Cascadia Base.
A year prior, Jadis aimed down on Father Gabriel. She chose not to shoot after all.

Michonne’s now determined to stop the CRM. She’s determined that Rick will get the “echelon briefing” to find out more about the CRM. Michonne believes the city won’t stand for any of what the military’s been up to, and she tells Jadis: “The CRM is not the answer, and they must end.” Jadis says she wishes she “died an artist.” Then she takes off the ring Gabriel gave her and gives it to Rick. After that, she asks Rick to kill her, and he obliges.
The happy couple get back on the trail again.
Michonne sees there’s a possibility to “make the world better.” She thinks if it’s possible, then they have to do it. Rick then tells her in “a broken world” she’s the only thing that “puts it back together.” He asks her to marry him, presenting the ring. She kneels with him and they pledge themselves to one another; a new, even deeper commitment than ever before. At the same time, we see Father Gabriel waiting for Jadis to arrive, slowly realising that this year he won’t be seeing his dear friend. We also see a CRM helicopter overhead and smoke in the distance near where it’s heading.