The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1, episode 1 recap “Years"

The Walking Dead is back with its third spinoff titled, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. For months we have been waiting for Rick and Michonne to reunite and it appears AMC has delivered.

In season 1 episode 1 audiences learn what Rick has been up to, or rather trapped into doing under the CRM's constant gaze. As he struggles to escape while dreaming of Michonne, will he finally reunite with her?

Let's find out!

Rick's situation

The episode opens with our hero Rick Grimes finding himself amongst others to kill walkers amid a small forest fire at night. Each one sent to kill a walker is attached to a CRM soldier, who only allows them so much distance before they are reigned back in like a dog on a leash.

As Rick kills the walkers with ease, he reaches his limit before the CRM soldier calls him back. Rick makes the difficult and horrific decision to cut his hand off to free himself.

Barely functioning, he makes his way to a small fire and cauterizes it. But his mission to escape ends with him getting caught anyway.

Turns out this was his fourth attempt, and the CRM is ever watchful. He continues to do the grunt work of taking care of walkers, often with Pearl Thorne.

Rick often narrates throughout the episode, as he writes in a journal to Michonne about what he's been doing and going through. He has not once given up on escaping and finding his way back to her, his wife.

His constant drive catches the attention of Donald Okafor, who pressures Rick to become a soldier. After some time, it seems Rick and Pearl are up for the challenge and a special task from Okafor.

The CRM base they are located in, near Philadelphia, seems to be well hidden from the other bases, which include Omaha. Okafor is not fond of the way things have been going and needs Rick and Pearl to make those changes.

Although Rick refuses to stop trying to escape, Pearl has accepted it as there is no one left for her on the other side.

Rick's dreams

Throughout the episode, Rick has these constant and very realistic dreams where he and Michonne meet under fairly different circumstances, in perhaps the world before the apocalypse. In the dream, he meets Michonne in a park, and the two exchange friendly conversations that lead to them constantly meeting up.

He offers her pizza and a ring, and although this pleasant banter and flirting seem to ease Rick's mind temporarily, he always relives fire and explosions before awakening in the hellscape that is his life. The only solace he truly feels is when he briefly speaks to his friend Esteban, who helps Rick without realizing it, discover that if he becomes a CRM soldier he'll have a better chance of escaping.

That means getting a job behind the wall where people seem to be living fairly normal lives, for the most part. It is there that Esteban helps Rick understand the underground tunnel system, which will prove most helpful.

Even though Rick keeps silent about Okafor to Major General Beal, he's planning on escaping the next chance he gets. As he plans to escape using a grenade to blow up fuel trucks while dealing with walkers, a young girl appears out of nowhere preventing him from doing so.

Pearl catches on to what Rick is trying to do and scolds him for it, revealing that Okafor knows everything. The girl is rescued but her parents suffered a horrible fate, leaving her to survive alone for some time.

Sure enough, when Rick confronts Okafor, he reveals everything thanks to finding Rick's message in a bottle he tried to send Michonne. Because of this and his story about how he and his wife ended their relationship due to CRM tactics (Okafor killed his wife and the soldiers who were going to bomb more cities with civilians), Rick suddenly feels defeated.

He wants to give up searching for Michonne and burns all evidence of her and his daughter Judith.

The reunion

But the episode isn't over yet. As Rick comes to terms with his fate, he, Okafor, and other CRM soldiers set off in their helicopter, with Rick telling Okafor all about his father deciding to burn down their farm for the insurance money.

It was the only way to save his family from utter ruin. Rick was a child when it happened but learned the truth later on.

But before we can get too sappy, Okafor is literally hit and killed, as more shots are fired at the helicopter. It crashes with Rick and the other soldiers taking heavy fire.

As a figure comes through with a katana, checking and killing CRM soldiers, she stops at Rick and reveals herself to be Michonne! She and Rick stare longingly at each other in complete shock with no words shared as the episode comes to a close.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1 episode 1 review

I was able to watch the first episode at the NYC premiere with a theater full of excited fans. I will never forget the chaos and energy in the room that night, nor watching this episode on the big screen.

I'm beginning to think TV shows need to be shown in theaters because, like my The Walking Dead: Dead City experience last year, it's something truly unforgettable and breathtaking. To be honest, I wasn't at all surprised Rick cuts off his hand, however, I did not think it would happen in the first episode.

Nor did I think he and Michonne would reunite in the first episode either. Does this mean the best the spinoff has to offer has already happened?

I don't think so. The first episode has proven itself to feel epic in ways different than Dead City and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. It's chaotic, intense, tragic, and yet hopeful all at the same time.

I'm assuming episode 2 will focus on what Michonne has been up to before reuniting with Rick and I'm afraid of the horrors she may have encountered. The return of the King and Queen of the apocalypse has been long overdue, and I cannot wait to see how their love will change the world.

What did you think of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1, episode 1? Let us know in the comments below!

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1 episode 2 airs on March 3 on AMC.