[Warning: This essay contains spoilers for all of The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live through Episode 5.]
The beginning of the end for Rick and Michonne revealed why the series isn’t over yet.
Following the impressive masterpiece that was Episode 4 of the series, Episode 5 is a much more event-focused episode. It’s one that takes its time to both establish more about its characters while also setting the stage for the grand finale. The start of the episode really helps to drive home just how much of a love story this show has been. Rick and Michonne are on the road, basically surviving off of Tasteful Noods—a brand of ramen noodles. There are other sweet scenes between the pair too, including a reference to the episode when they finally formed their relationship, way back in The Walking Dead season 6. It’s the kind of interactions between the pair that feel like a natural progression of the prior episode. But there was also plenty of worry surrounding what their happy-go-lucky road trip was going to result in.
As it turns out, though, this episode wasn’t as much Rick and Michonne’s as it was another returning character’s: Jadis. Now, despite mentioning her role in The Ones Who Live in previous reviews, something that’s made sense for her character, I was never really a particular fan of her from the start. Since she featured prominently in seasons 7 and 8 of the main show, when the writing of the series dipped drastically, her introduction left a sour taste in my mouth. Something that the franchise hasn’t really been able to wash out. That was until this episode, when we finally received more concrete answers surrounding her complexity. Why she became involved in the CRM. What her real motivations are beyond loyalty to the group. And, to top it all off, we got the return of Father Gabriel, who it’s revealed in flashbacks had been secretly meeting with her over the last three years during the events of seasons 9 through 11 of the original series. This follows their relationship in the original show, and I can’t deny how great it is to see him again after he became my favorite character following Michonne’s season 10 exit.
And, I must admit, the way the episode handled Jadis did leave me intrigued. During the episode, following some much-needed scenes of Rick and Michonne’s relationship getting back on track, Jadis ambushes them with an intent to kill. However, things don’t go as planned: While Rick just wants to keep her at bay, Michonne is intent on finishing her off, even if that means the CRM finds out where their community is. It’s a little odd, but it emphasizes how Michonne isn’t willing to let an immediate threat to her and Rick cause even more pain as the future unfolds. She believes they can still escape if Jadis dies, and it’s that belief that pretty much solidifies what the pattern of the rest of the episode is. Every scene usually goes like this: Jadis tries to attack Rick and Michonne; Rick and Michonne injure her in a new way; a flashback conversation between her and Gabriel plays out. It’s a rather predictable way of drawing out the episode, but it does manage to do what it needs to before its ending.
This episode, by and large, was a way to humanize Jadis. It almost felt like an apology to the audience for making her character and motivations so confusing for so many seasons. At first, I wasn’t really sure how to feel about shifting the focus so much away from Rick and Michonne during the penultimate episode. It felt a little odd to have Jadis as the central character right when the series was reaching its climax. It also made it incredibly obvious what was going to come of this, and how her story was going to go by the end of the episode. Even still, I didn’t find myself hating it like I initially thought I would. While every flashback with her and Gabriel ground the pacing of the present day storyline to a halt, it helped to better characterize her and her motivations in ways the show really hadn’t before. While it didn’t make me like Jadis any more as a character per se, I appreciated the fact that her development was being fleshed out in a way that was better than anything the original show had ever done.
A series of events unfolds getting all three of the returning characters to the final point of the episode. A group of three people the two warring parties encounter separately die trying to help Jadis. She makes a deal with Rick and Michonne before ultimately double-crossing them, only to find out she too has been double-crossed. And, finally, she ends up getting bit by a zombie of the very people she was trying to get to assist her. It feels akin to poetic justice, the fact that Jadis’ hubris and persistence for the CRM gets her killed. Because, as she says while bleeding from the throat, her acknowledgement of death has made her realize everything she was doing was for no reason other than fear. In a scene reminiscent of Rick’s breakdown in the previous episode, she admits the only reason she was with the CRM was because she was afraid of losing more people. Having the military group as an anchor allowed her not to feel that pain anymore, even if they committed atrocities she didn’t agree with. Her biggest lament was not dying an artist, which she could have done had she just stayed in Alexandria. It’s a touching final scene that, for once, made me feel something for Jadis.
Her final words also emphasize and set up what the final episode is going to be about: She tells Rick and Michonne where the documents containing Alexandria’s location are, telling them to destroy them and leave. Of course, Michonne is intent on destroying the CRM outright, something Jadis seems to accept as something the pair of them might be able to do. After one final flashback where it’s revealed she almost killed Gabriel but showed mercy at the last minute, Rick shoots her in the head, sparing her from becoming a Walker. It’s a captivating ending for Jadis that also pushes the plot forward. While the episode itself wasn’t fully centered around Rick and Michonne like the rest of them, Jadis served as a vehicle for them to move forward to the show’s final act. It wouldn’t have been as powerful if they hadn’t characterized Jadis a little bit more, making her flashbacks with Gabriel necessary. Which is why, while I would personally feel more satisfied for Rick and Michonne to lead the second-to-last episode of their series, I understand this was required for the plot to progress the way it did.
But it’s not like they didn’t get memorable moments themselves. Their banter throughout the episode and subsequent plans to double-double cross Jadis was good, and their moments before everything became chaotic was also enjoyable. I also found it goofy in a Hallmark romance movie type way that Rick proposes to Michonne with the ring Jadis was given by Gabriel. It’s funny because I truly did assume they were formally married between seasons 8 and 9, never once thinking that something like that didn’t happen. Who knows? Maybe this scene is setting the stage for a big wedding between the pair in the final episode.
But what’s really been set up so far is something much more harrowing. Rick and Michonne’s return to the CRM is something I’m incredibly nervous about. This series has been great so far despite some minor hiccups, and while quality-wise I would say it’s a little under Daryl Dixon as a whole, the highs have easily been the best in the franchise in years. But that also raises expectations for the final episode, titled “The Last Time,” to bring about a satisfying conclusion to everything the series has set up so far. While I’m under the impression the CRM will be back at some point in The Walking Dead universe, I’m wondering how they’re going to be able to wrap up its story here in a way that feels complete while also getting Rick and Michonne home. It feels like a lot for them to do in an episode that, at most, will be an hour long. And it makes me worried that this isn’t going to be a proper conclusion, but instead a lead-in to something new. While I’m all for a Season 2 of The Ones Who Live as long as it maintains this level of quality, the intense buildup would fall flat if something conclusive didn’t happen.
Be that as it may, I enjoyed Episode 5 for what it was, even if it wasn’t as strong as standouts like 1, 2, and 4. It was a good way to end Jadis’ story while setting the stage for the final episode. Even though it’s still unclear what will happen—especially what Rick will learn during his Echelon Briefing—I’m excited to see where everything goes now that the story is almost at its end. Although there’s been a lingering feeling as of late in the back of my mind that, just like the series finale of the main series, the end is just the beginning.
At least make it so Rick and Michonne can get home together…
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