ATTENTION! The review below contains SPOILERS for the first five episodes of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
It would be a shame to deny that among the spinoffs of The Walking Dead so far, there is a good chance that most fans were most looking forward to The Ones Who Live. The main reason for this is that although the mother series featured many important and well-written characters in the beginning, later its creators were not able to bring interesting characters into the story. Rick Grimes was the driving force of the story, the real protagonist and leader. Morgan, Daryl, Maggie, and Negan are all great supporting characters, but Andrew Lincoln’s departure in season nine left a big void for the show’s remaining two and a half seasons. Especially since his story was not closed with a possible loophole, but was simply left hanging in the air, since it was already certain that the story of Rick and Michonne, who also left one season later, would get three films. This eventually became a six-part miniseries.
At the same time, the series of supporting characters presented so far (Dead City, Daryl Dixon) were successful. But while these characters were already given a relatively round, closed character arc in the finale of the eleventh season of The Walking Dead, which the creators were able to weave further a half or a year later without revealing the characters, Rick’s (and Michonne’s) story almost had to wait six years. Therefore, you sit down to The Ones Who Live with higher expectations, and you may be disappointed precisely because of this.
Events in the Land of the Dead – This is what it’s all regarding
For six years, Rick has been trying to escape from a community that saved his life and where he has a pretty good streak. He works, he has his own apartment, but he can’t leave. But he cannot and does not want to come to terms with the idea that he will never be able to see his loved ones once more, including his love, Michonne, and his daughter, Judith, so he has attempted countless escapes in recent years, so far without success. His actions are strangely tolerated because one of the bosses (Terry O’Quinn) sees the potential in Rick to become a useful soldier and leader one day. By the way, our hero can find an ally in her, so that together they can investigate the dirty mysteries hidden under the pleasant surface of the community. Meanwhile, Michonne (Danai Gurira) has been traveling the world for a long time because she stubbornly believes that Rick is alive.
The joyful reunion – That’s why it’s good
Much like Daryl’s stand-alone series, you’re at a loss when it comes to putting into words the positive side of a spinoff review. In short, it was fine. For a long time, following every good thing, a small and often pithy “but” waits at the end of the complimentary clause.
To be honest, The Ones Who Live suffers from the illness of The Eighth Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, i.e. the viewer can expect (too much) self-indulgent character changes, which most fans probably won’t like. It is indisputable that the season does not fall below the same level at all, and it would be unfair to disregard its merits despite all its problems, so as with Daryl’s series, it also applies in this case: the return of Rick and Michonne was fair. Even with the flaws, it’s heartwarming when someone likes these long-unseen figures.
The bumpy road – That’s why it’s not good
Let’s start with the biggest problem, which is Rick himself, that is, his thoroughly changed character! For six years, the man tried to escape to return to his loved ones. He goes so far as to cut off his own hand in the opening scene to make another escape. Thus, the creators try to make it clear from the very beginning that the game is not for nothing. After failing, our hero continues to make plans while his love is still out there looking for him. After that, accompanied by a fairly anemic explanation written in practically the most minimalist way, the man who had been unmoved until then takes a hundred and eighty-degree turn. This results in out-of-character moments and decisions that might be compared to Luke Skywalker’s twists and turns in The Last Jedi. And the series of strange decision-making lasts until two-thirds of the season, before we finally get to what all fans have been waiting for for six years: that Rick and Michone fight shoulder to shoulder to reunite their family.
In the case of a six-part miniseries, it is a huge luxury to be stuck in one place. The first episode covers the events of a year, and following the protagonists meet each other – otherwise too early – the plot moves terribly slowly. And the mystery buried in the detention community does not advance much.
Of course, there is an illogicality that The Ones Who Live kind of inherited. Right here is the character of Michonne. We understand that the actress just wanted to take a break following eight years in the main series, so she had to be written out of the story somehow. But it’s still a questionable writerly decision to have a mother leave her children behind to find love in a world where life-threatening situations await her every single day outside the safe walls or fences, and there’s only so much hope that Rick is alive. his body was not found, and Michonne found some dubious evidence. Still, The Ones Who Live confirms that she’s been out there for years without looking at the kids, and there’s a few things happening to her that might prompt her to let Rick go and go home to Judith and Rick Jr while she’s still around. opportunity to do so.
With the new community doing pig things in the background, it’s as if the writers — including Gurira himself and Lincoln, who developed the story with The Walking Dead veteran Scott M. Gimple — just mightn’t decide what to make of it. has the appearance of a spinoff. It’s as if they wanted to create an absolutely pleasant and livable small town, but it actually became a labor camp, where everyone can walk around freely, have a relatively tolerable job and people have their own accommodation. In this way, they almost created a luxury prison, which wouldn’t be such a big deal, but they often arbitrarily alternate between the concept of a small-town idyll and a dictatorial regime. That is, for example, the fact that Rick has a patron and is not executed because of his rebellious actions is quite weak. Plot armor, we know. And it is definitely ridiculous that the representatives of the oppressive system reserve a leadership position for the rebel hero. Of course, the creators try to explain every illogical move, but it doesn’t really help that the main character goes through changes that are prepared, but not enough, especially not so many years following Rick was taken away by that particular helicopter .
Furthermore, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that this is already the seventh series in The Walking Dead universe, so the creators have presented almost all kinds of evil and threats, so we have seen similar oppressors that our heroes face here. Perhaps it would have been better to watch the pair simply try to get home while avoiding the zombie hordes without any human antagonists.
Is it worth coming back? “Last word.”
The Ones Who Live is a huge goalpost in the franchise’s history. The return of Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira might have been a huge hit, but instead it turned out to be a little pop with such character distortions that the characters of the heroes were only restored towards the end of the series. But let’s be honest: those who have been waiting for their favorites to be back in action, God forbid, have watched and enjoyed all the previous products set in the world of The Walking Dead, can sit through these six episodes without any particular suffering. That’s why it’s a goal here or there, but the best word for this spinoff is fair industrial work.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live debuted on February 25, 2024 on AMC and AMC+. Our colleague was able to see the first five parts in the form of insiders made available to the press. You can find all this year’s shows in our regularly updated cinema, stream and series calendar.
