‘The Ones Who Lived’ Episode 2 Review — One Of The Best ‘Walking Dead’ Episodes In Years, With One Glaring Problem

Let it not be said that I only come to The Walking Dead to hate on it (not that anyone has ever said that). When an episode is good, I say so. I’m often asked “Why don’t you just stop watching?” and there are two reasons: First, because I’ve covered The Walking Dead franchise for a decade and it’s part of my work as a critic. It’s by far the longest I’ve stuck with a show, though with the various Game Of Thrones spinoffs in the works that universe will be a close second. Spoilers ahead.

The second reason is because I have hope—troublesome hope—that it will get better. And episodes like “Gone” rekindle that hope. As preposterous as Daryl Dixon’s premise was, it gave me moments of hope as well. There is potential here in The Walking Dead universe, and this episode reminds me of that. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s the best this franchise has been in a long time (minus a couple pretty implausible moments) and introduces—and then kills off—the best new character in this show since Clémence Poésy’s Isabelle in Daryl Dixon.

That would be Nat (Matthew Jeffers). Nat is a pyromaniac little person with a huge personality and some of the best lines and backstory any character’s been given in this show in a long time. One of the reasons I liked this episode so much more than last week’s is Nat, but also that Nat and Michonne and the others who they travel with for a time all mostly speak like real people. There is less of the dreaded “Gimple-speak” this episode, though sometimes it’s a little hit-or-miss.

For instance, one snippet of dialogue between the two:

Michonne: Is it because you want to see how it ends?

Nat: [Gazes at the flame of his lighter] Nope...I know how it ends.

See, Michonne’s line is weird to me. Why does she ask him that? It’s sort of a jarring question. He’s just told her he wants to go with her because she’s all he has left. I don’t really understand why she’d ask him that after his admission. But his answer, and how Jeffers delivers the line, is fantastic.

Later, when she’s crying, despairing that Rick must be dead and that she’ll never find him, he tells her that she can still hold out hope that he’s out there and alive and go back to her kids. “You can do both,” he says. “It’s not giving up.” It’s a great scene. I love pretty much every scene with Nat. He’s also very funny. When he convinces Michonne to ride with their caravan for one night before riding off on her horse he says: “Then you can ride off into oblivion with a little pep!” (I’m paraphrasing, but it’s great).

Nat’s backstory—of his father abandoning him and his stepdad, Danger, being such a powerful and positive influence on him, teaching him to build and not just to destroy things—is also terrific. Later, after the chlorine gas attack, he tells Michonne he used to dream about dropping the stuff on the football team.

Naturally, introducing a new character that is one of the best in years and one of the most likable since Glenn means that they have to kill him off right away. This was easily the worst thing about the episode. I understand that the focus of this show is Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) who takes on the fake name Dana (so close to the actress’s actual name!) later. But I guarantee it would be better if Nat had stuck around and had been taken by the CRM also. I’ve complained for ages that The Walking Dead has a bloated cast, but that’s not the case with the spinoffs, which not only have smaller casts to begin with but constantly kill off many of the best characters. (Isabelle is thankfully still alive in Daryl Dixon, though she’s less likable after her attempts to manipulate Daryl—but that’s okay, because I like complicated characters!)

In any case, Nat and all the other people Michonne meets on her rather truncated journey to find Rick all die. Some from chlorine gas that a CRM helicopter dumps on them. The CRM is turning out to be a rather horrific organization. Nat and Michonne carry on on their journey, eventually making it to her destination, Bridgers Terminal, where they see a big, dilapidated ship with a banner that reads “Safe Harbor.”

It is not. There are piled of burned bodies everywhere. This is when Michonne really loses hope, and Danai Gurira really shows what a marvelous actress she is—though not for the last time this episode. I got a little teary when she broke down weeping and Nat gives her a hug. I think the last time I felt this strongly in The Walking Dead was Rosita’s death at the end of the main show, which was one of the best, most moving deaths in the entire series.

The next scene takes place sometime later, catching us up to episode 1. The two are walking across a field when they spot a CRM helicopter. Given what happened the last time one of those appeared overhead, they’re not taking any chances. Nat being the expert at all things explosive, has a handy pack of rockets on his back and takes the chopper down. The first one is a dud (that’s the one that hit Okafor last week—another good new character immediately killed off). The next one takes the chopper down.

We see Michonne taking out the CRM troops and then, once again, the reunion between the two. Only this time they speak and embrace and there’s a passionate kiss, and it’s actually all shockingly emotional and well done, though as they kiss I couldn’t help but think of Peter Falk’s character in The Princess Bride, saying: “Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The end.” It was a really good kiss, what can I say? (Though I also heard Fred Savage complaining “Is this a kissing book?”)

After this moment, we get Nat’s death. The one guard Michonne missed, who they showed going for a gun, shoots him in the back. It really sucks. I don’t forgive the show for killing off such a great character so soon and I really genuinely think it was a mistake, both because I’m tired of The Walking Dead giving all its main characters such amazing plot armor and because I think it’s bad storytelling to introduce a new character and kill them off in the same episode. And because Nat is the man and we needed more of him. Damn it.

Rick, thinking quickly and being smart (which is not always his strong suit) tells Michonne she needs to get rid of whatever could tie her to him and to act like a docile, weak follower so they don’t kill her. She has to take a new name and not call the zombies walkers, since that’s what he calls them. They have to fool the CRM, and they do. She pulls off a Carol move and totally convinces her CRM interrogators that she’s just on her own trying to survive—a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

As she stares out at the massive CRM city and all its military might, she looks down at Nat’s lighter that Rick gave her. The name of his stepfather is etched onto it: Danger.

And danger reveals its ugly head—or, rather, terrible haircut—in the form of Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) who is the one wrinkle in Rick’s plan, both to conceal Michonne’s true identity and to escape. She tells him that if he does, she’ll be forced to go kill everyone he loves, “including a few I like very much.”

Yeah, Rick’s going to need to kill Jadis if this is going to work. I’m curious, though. It seems like he and Michonne may have very different things in mind when it comes to the CRM. He’s been thoroughly cowed after years of trying to escape. Not that he’s with them, but he’s afraid. He’s been Theon Greyjoy’d (though he’s only lost a hand, at least). She hasn’t faced them in the same way, and she wants revenge. I’m definitely curious to see where this goes. Will wonders never cease?

Scattered thoughts:

• I love that the walkie-talkies don’t work. I mean, it’s sad that she can’t contact her kids, but it’s realistic. She’s too far away. Walkie-talkies aren’t magical devices that can contact anyone, anywhere at any time. That gimmick remains one of the most ludicrous in Fear The Walking Dead and I’m so happy that they put an end to it here. It’s almost like a slap in Fear’s face, as if it were an intentional (if subtle) commentary on that ridiculous show’s absurd use of all kinds of shortcuts and lazy storytelling devices.
• No narration! Last week’s episode suffered so much from that cheesy narration and an overabundance of Gimple-speak. This felt much more natural (though as always, a few of the smaller roles just weren’t up to snuff in the acting department. No big deal, though).
• Some great cinematography also. Big, sweeping shots over lakes and forests. It appears AMC is actually spending money on this show! I’m impressed.
• They have to be teasing Morgan’s return, right? The bo staff line was either just a nice callback or the end of Fear was actually pointing to Morgan (Lennie James) going to find Rick after all this time. I found that a bit odd—especially since he has a kid now—but if they don’t keep ruining Morgan and making him act like a ridiculous idiot, I’d be happy to see him again. James is a super talented actor, he’s just been burdened with the worst lines and character arc of just about anyone in the whole franchise.
• I didn’t watch The World Beyond Season 2. Now I feel like I need to go back and watch it and that annoys me. Oh well.
• Last week I said that I’m hard to impress when it comes to The Walking Dead because I find the big community stuff a lot less compelling than the on-the-road stuff. This episode did have more of that with the Harfoot community (from Rings Of Power) Michonne finds herself in (seriously, they’re nomadic people who leave their friends and family behind if they get sick or breakdown—I was half-expecting them to say “Nobody walks alone!”) But I also think I just appreciated the better writing, the addition of compelling new characters, and the fact that Rick and Michonne just had some of their best romantic scenes ever. Finally. I’ve complained endlessly about the lack of chemistry between the two (as lovers, not as friends) but here they really nailed it.

What did I miss? What did you think? I really hope the show continues to be as good as this episode, but then I was tricked by the second episode of Daryl Dixon, which was really great, and the rest of that show was a pretty big letdown in spite of its great production values and leads. We shall see.