The following article contains various spoilers for Rick and Michonne’s relationship in The Ones Who Live.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is far from a perfect show, but we can safely call it faultless where the romance is concerned. Time and again, now especially, we have proof that what Rick and Michonne share is boundless. There’s no such thing as giving up on each other, and Season 1, Episode 4, “What We,” showcases that in full force. Yet, it’s the season finale that cements it all into place, bringing the Grimes family the happy ending that few are fortunate to get.
As noted before, the chances of finding true solace on a show like The Walking Dead are next to impossible. If there is a second season for The Ones Who Live, the angst will be heightened in wild proportions. There’s no guarantee that any of this will last beyond what this season delivers. But what we do have authentication of is the fact that none of these characters will take advantage of these moments.
The Ones Who Live Gives Rick and Michonne the Happy Ending They Deserve
In truth, what Rick and Michonne find in the show’s final scene is every bit of the joy that all the couples deserved in The Walking Dead. But that was never in the cards for many of them. Still, here, “love doesn’t die,” and that’s a sentiment Michonne has believed in fervently for quite some time now. It’s what the entirety of their survival is about—love for humanity, partnerships, and a mother’s love for her children. It’s why Rick and Michonne had to survive. It’s why they had to make it back into each other’s arms, refusing to let go and basking in one another’s adoration like their lives depended on it.
Their love for one another has often been the one key to survival—to persevere, not for their selfish desires, but to make it back home to where their hearts are beating out of their chests. And The Ones Who Love endingas a show that centers on love, first and foremost, is where it shines in a sea of similar post-apocalyptic dramas.
It’s also once again a testament to Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, who continue to fuse their characters with so much warmth that it’s impossible to look away from how ardently they care about each other. Watching the two of them reunite with their kids and imbue that same love into their roles as parents was nothing short of exceptional. You could feel the respect that Rick and Michonne not only have for each other but for their kids, too—the deep, unyielding desire to do right by them because it’s all that matters. And it’s clear as day even when Rick is slightly hesitant because he’s been gone so long.
So much of what we see in The Ones Who Live also centers around self-love. Rick had to see and understand that he, too, was worth fighting for. He needed to realize that his mistakes could be forgiven. He needed to know that he was worth loving as profoundly and irrevocably as he loves Michonne. None of that would’ve happened without the distance they were forced to endure and the reconnecting that made them understand how real everything between them is.
Somehow, the show morphed into something so vastly different from The Walking Dead that it’s hard to believe it’s a reality. The happiness in that final scene—the hope of it all—there are few words to describe the sheer joy it evokes. It’s easier to kill off characters and leave them hopeless; it takes far more thought and compassion to let them have a moment of happiness, and it’s thrilling that The Ones Who Live writers chose the latter option.
All six episodes of The Ones Who Live are now streaming on AMC.
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