‘The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’ Finale Recap – Michonne’s Vengeance, Rick’s Reunion, And What Could Come Next

No sanctuary beyond this point! There will be full-on spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, both the previous five episodes and the finale, ahead. If you haven’t seen the previous episodes, or you’re planning on watching the series at some point and want to preserve the experience, turn back now. Otherwise, read on for our breakdown of a final episode that will live on in the franchise legendarium forever, as well for predictions about what could possibly come next.

Up to the sixth and final episode, The Ones Who Live followed Rick and Michonne’s journey of reconciliation after more than a half-decade apart. Rick, now entrenched in a new position at a top secret facility branded the Civic Republic Military (CRM) had nearly lost all hope by the time Michonne finally found him. Episode six picks up right after longtime franchise regular Anne (or Jadis, it’ll depend on the day for most) passes away by proxy of an ax wound and walker bite in tandem. With her dying breath, she sets Rick and Michonne on a path to wipe their slates clean of any evidence of their real lives, ensuring the CRM would never find them and they could return home safely.

But of course, it isn’t that easy. Upon returning to a base outside the city to destroy the evidence left behind by Anne, they simultaneously uncover the CRM’s disastrous plan to march across the nation in war-torn mayhem, starting with a city-wide bombing as they swear by a twisted sort of savior complex that necessitates their brutal mass murders.

Michonne finds out by sitting in on a soldier assembly, while Rick had the entire thing laid out to him by his commanding leader Officer Beale, who intended the meeting as a quasi-promotion for Grimes, assuming he’d side with him (he didn’t, of course). While Michonne sneaks out of the assembly and begins to devise a plan to stop the bombing, Rick battles Beale in the latter’s office, eventually overpowering the old man and taking the first step in an against-all-odds plan to save the nation, and likely the world.

As soon as he takes down Beale, Rick fields a call from his former military cohort Officer Thorne, who still holds an allegiance to the CRM. He brushes her off, fibbing that the meeting went well and that Beale returned to the woods to meditate prior to the incoming operation, before rushing to find Michonne to help her put an end to the madness before it can begin. Expectedly, Thorne doesn’t buy his lie, and presses on to see things for herself. After scrambling to the woods and seeing no sign of Beale, she hightails it back to base. The final conflict is now fully in sight.

Rick eventually stumbles upon Michonne in an elevator, shortly after a fatal fight with a random CRM soldier who got a little too curious about Rick’s doings. She escorts him, as well as Beale and the soldier’s dead bodies, housed in a crate on wheels, to a weapons room, where she begins to rig (a-la Nat) a case full of grenades together into one long chain in a makeshift fashion only possible in the apocalypse. From there, the two sneak outside, around the base, and into the back of a massive gathering of soldiers, where a final briefing for the bombing run is taking place.

Soon to follow is Thorne, who begins to piece things together at about the same time as Rick and Michonne make their way to where the warheads meant for the mission are stored, in a tent. The bombs line the walls of the structure in which they lie, overseeing the meeting of soldiers in a manner so ominous the stakes may as well be bleeding through the screen. Oh so carefully, Rick and Michonne lay out her grenade contraption, situating them in a row across the bombs and leaving a lengthy bit of string at two ends to trigger the explosion. That isn’t all, though: remember those bodies? Well, they don’t stay dead; this is still The Walking Dead universe, after all.

The now undead Beale and unnamed soldier are pulled from the crate and lured to opposite ends of the enclosure, with each loose thread of detonation tied to both of their ankles. Right as Thorne closes in, Rick and Michonne break out of the back entrance and meet her… the commander, on a path to trigger every bomb on the wall, limping in chase. Thorne, without knowledge of what is going on inside the tent, threatens the pair at gunpoint, reclaiming allegiance to the military and demeaning Rick for his supposed tyranny. It doesn’t take long for the commander to amble outside though, and whilst Thorne is shocked to see her longtime leader snarling behind a newly mangled form, Rick and Michonne dive into cover just in time: the explosion triggers, blowing not only the operation, but everyone involved to bits.

The scene is easily one of the most impressive displays of scale and mayhem that the franchise has ever seen, and that isn’t even the end of it. Left in the wake of the implosion is a field of yellow gas and a horde of soldiers-turned zombies, as well as Rick, Michonne, and somehow Thorne. Beneath their cover, Rick devises a plan to finish Thorne, and effectively the CRM, for good. He and Michonne bound into the open; as he rushes Thorne, Michonne makes for a gas mask. Rick gets the jump on her, but with the advantage of her own mask and loads of equipment, she maneuvers and pushes Rick into the aforementioned horde of fresh walkers.

Her preoccupation with Rick allows Michonne to catch her off guard, eventually killing her via sword (how else?) At the same time, Rick uses a spare grenade to entirely clear the swarm of walkers around him, and the two walk off into the sunset together in classic fashion, snatching a helicopter and heading home as a news broadcast voice announcing the death of the CRM’s evil regime drones on.

The show’s final scene sees Rick return to Alexandria with Michonne, reuniting with Judith for the first time in nearly a decade, and meeting his son RJ for the first time. There’s even a nod to Carl, as RJ is wearing his hat, and Rick taps it with a smile. If you’re already a Walking Dead fan, the scene will have you swimming in tears.

The Ones Who Live has proven to be a great miniseries, suggesting that a relatively stagnant franchise may still have life yet. Even if the series doesn’t garner a direct sequel season, with Rick back in the mix and second seasons of both Daryl Dixon and Dead City on the way, anything is possible from here on out. Don’t be surprised if the lines begin to blur and the crew reunites for one final ride in a legacy season of The Walking Dead, or something similar. We’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves, but at this point, that seems like a distinct possibility.

Regardless, The Ones Who Live’s sixth episode should go down as one of the most impactful in any TWD-related series ever, and any and all television fans should do themselves the favor and check the whole thing out, even if it means catching up on 11 seasons of content to do so.

All six episodes of ‘The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’ are streaming now exclusively on AMC+.

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