Here we are, Multiversity readers, at the finale of TWD: The Ones Who Lived.Last we’d seen, Jadis died and gave them the information on the dossier, but Rick and Michonne still needed to find out about The Echelon Briefings to stop The Civic Republic. Now, with so much on the line and to fit in for the final episode, let’s jump right into “The Last Time.”
1. The Echelon Briefings
This episode wastes no time as Michonne and Rick grab the CRM from Jadis’ body and the helicopter she got to them and return to the Civic Republic. After a quick greeting with Thorne, Rick goes straight to Beale to debrief everything that happened and find out about The Echelon Briefings. After Beale takes Rick’s weapons (including his fake hand with the blade integrated), he goes into his monologue about what’s happening worldwide. The CRM has found hordes of zombies in the millions, and despite their best efforts, along with smaller communities, it looks like the world will be overrun in thirteen to fourteen years. He plans to take out the Portland community (Much like the Omaha community) by destroying their external walls and bombing their internal buildings. Once the Civic Republic is the last community standing, they would initiate Marshall Law to remove any leadership standing in their way to continue destroying and pilfering smaller communities for their resources. His sadistic plan is basically to take out all the competition and be the only army left on Earth to have control and power over anything. The fight against the dead seems to be a losing front, but the one against people is far more feasible.
2. Never As Planned
The plan was for Michonne to get the briefing Jadis left behind on Rick. Rick would get the information for The Echelon Briefings and then share it with the city to let them figure out what to do. However, that was going to take a lot of work. While she was in Jadis’ room, another CRM soldier tried to slide a piece of paper under the door, and it smashed against Michonne’s foot, prompting the soldier to come in, and well, you can guess how that went. She then gets pulled into an all-hands briefing on the upcoming attack on Portland about “rescuing” 10% of the children for the Civic Republic before the attack on the entire city. At the same time, Rick gets the info from Beale, snaps out of anger, and ends up killing Beale. Given the build-up, it was more flashy than you might have expected, but the information was shared, so that was enough from an audience’s perspective. The two then meet up and have to devise a new game plan to stop the CRM from going through with it before it’s too late.
3. Love Never Dies
The new plan is not only to share The Echelon Briefings with the city but Michonne and Rick create a massive bomb in the CRM armory that will wipe out not only their stock of weapons but also the soldiers preparing for the attack on Portland. Once again, things will always be complex, especially when Thorne puts two and two together with Beale’s disappearance after talking with Rick. She finds them walking away from the armory and then threatens to shoot them if they don’t reverse the trap they’ve set, but with Beale’s corpse being the trigger and they never stop walking, they can only find shelter as the explosion and gas get set off. Once it settles down, the two separate in an attempt to sneak up on Thorne; she puts up a better fight than Beale but ultimately doesn’t make it. It’s a semi-cheesy moment cause as she’s bleeding and talking to Michonne about what could have been with Beale’s plan, Michonne reminds her that “Love never dies.”
4. Reunion Time
As Rick and Michonne escape the gas in peace, the news of the briefings starts to spread, the destruction of the remaining CRM is put into place, and things change for the entire world. The leaders of the Civic Republic decide to use the remaining resources to find smaller communities, and rather than destroy and take from them, they will help. The food resources the CR has accumulated over the years will now be shared to help ensure a more positive world. Now that the CR is helpful, they use a helicopter to deliver Rick and Michonne back to Judith and RJ for an ending we’ve all been waiting for. It’s a reunion for Judith and an introduction for RJ and Rick. For RJ, Rick has been nothing but a legend, but he knows that one day, he’ll be reunited with “The Brave Man.”
5. Flashbacks Galore
Now, this whole episode was awesome because it didn’t leave the audience wanting more and not leaving anything unanswered. The CRM was disbanded, Beale was killed, Thorne wasn’t the “bad guy” necessarily, but she was a soldier who needed a mission, and most of all, Michonne and Rick are back together. My only critique was that it felt like the first half of the episode was littered with highlights from the TWD. Whether it was when Michonne and Rick first met or just best kills for either of them, it felt like it took away from what was happening on screen more times than not. However, I can look past it since it’ll end this chapter. We still have plenty of stories left with Maggie, Negan, and Daryl coming later this year.
