Sarah Valencia

To preface: Rick are Daryl have always been the glue that holds this entire universe together. Anytime it’s fallen apart, it’s been due to a lack of one or both of these characters. For example, there’s no way Alpha would have gotten as far as she did with her destruction had Rick still been around. He’s too suspicious, observant, and clever to have not out-maneuvered Alpha, especially after everything he went through with Negan. All that to say, it’s nice to finally see the reunion of two of our most lethal characters with Rick and Michonne. The title “The Ones Who Live” is wildly appropriate. What I love seeing in these shows the most is the connection between characters who just get each other. They compliment each other in a way that makes them more-or-less unstoppable. Now, I want all you “critics” out there to hear me now and hear me well: IT’S OKAY TO HAVE UNSTOPPABLE CHARACTERS WHO KEEP LIVING. That doesn’t make the show boring or cheap or less-than. These characters are still losing all the time—losing loved ones, losing communities, homes, resources, even losing limbs! It’s survival of the fittest, which is a natural law in the real world, by the way. Some people are just more fit to continue to survive than others, and that’s the story we get to see with characters like Rick and Michonne. It’s satisfying to see these characters lose and then come back from it, to triumph in the end. What would be truly boring would be either seeing them do nothing but lose and never triumph, or seeing them do nothing BUT triumph. Some critics act like it would be better to see them just lose and lose and lose, and those critics are morons. That’s not what good, compelling stories are made of. Please do us all a favor and get off the internet. The show is called “The Ones Who Live”, and therefore should be showing us why and how Rick and Michonne are the ones who live, which it does. It’s giving the audience what was promised, without neglecting or cheapening the emotional struggles that make these characters so relatable and beloved to begin with. I think appropriate attention has been given to the elements of plot, character development, flashbacks, action, and emotion, without spending too much time on any one of them, or too much time away from any one of them. The show keeps things moving each episode, and the story is significantly furthered each week, which is something TWD universe has severely struggled with in the past. I’ve been pleased with each episode so far, mostly due to the lack of excessive emotional back-and-forthness that can easily stall an entire season and cause the audience to check-out because it’s become more annoying than interesting. If there’s one thing I can ask of this show going forward, it’s to continue to make the goals of each episode the following: progression and problem-solving.