The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

After years of waiting, it's finally here. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who live brings back the story of Rick and Michonne. We've been waiting for 4 years for this and it does not disappoint. This has the look and feel of a blockbuster movie. Rick and Michonne are two fan favorites and two of the main from the original. They ended up falling in love and starting a family and this show continues their love story. Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and Danai Gurira (Michonne) are as good as ever. Everyone who's waited for Rick to return won't be disappointed. This has the solid writing of the good years of the original and the great acting that made us love these characters in the first place. I can't say enough about the three new spinoffs so far. All 3 have been better than anything TWD has put out in year.

Incredible take on Michonne's turbulent journey in her quest to find and rescue Rick Grimes from the CRM (Civic Republic Military).

Writers of this anthology series (collections of shorter works) made a good move shortening the stories. The pervious approach to the main Walking Dead series was a little long winded, I thought. This miniseries was direct, in your face, no nonsense drama. Great written lines. Character dynamics, cinematography, sound effects, emotional scenes done to perfection.

The Echelon Briefing scene in Final Episode 6 blew me away. So much raw tension! The plot in that scene gave me flashbacks of the zombie game, Resident Evil 2. In the game's plot, Umbrella Corporation with the backing of the US goverment contained the outbreak of the T-Virus in Racoon City by deploying an experimental thermobaric missile. Organized killing, ruthless efficiency at the highest level. In my view, the CRM is a modern day equivalent of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) during WW2. Just bone chilling. I hope there is a season 2 in the future.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live might be the best of all the spinoffs. I was initially hesitant about watching these spinoffs considering the last few seasons of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead was so up and down (and the other spinoffs have been downright awful) but I've actually really enjoyed all three of the new spinoffs much more than I anticipated. This one, Daryl Dixon and Dead City are all really good. This is the one everyone's been looking forward to for years now. They originally announced a 3 movie deal about continuing Rick Grimes story that was suppose to happen back in 2020 but it never came. Then they changed it to this spinoff and I love it. Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira return to their roles of Rick and Michonne. I'm pretty sure this is only a one season show but I hope they continue to do multiple seasons of this like they are with the other two spinoffs because I don't want to say goodbye to Rick and Michonne again.

This could literally be just six episodes from The Walking Dead, making it perfect for anyone craving more TWD seasons. And best of all, we finally get Rick back after all these years. But I have to admit, at first, I wasn't sure if we got back the Rick we wanted-or if it would have been better not to bring him back at all. What we're given is a Rick so deeply consumed by his mental struggles that there may be no way back.

However, there's light at the end of the tunnel. After watching a couple of episodes, I thought the whole miniseries was a horrible mistake, but it improves significantly toward the end. I'd even dare to say it reaches the level of The Walking Dead in some respects. Part of that is due to the return of some familiar characters from the original series-it was so good to see them again.

From the very beginning, it's obvious they wanted Rick to resemble his comic book counterpart more closely, both physically and mentally. As a result, he undergoes certain changes and experiences that I honestly didn't like. If they spent all those original TWD seasons deviating from the comic book version of Rick, why suddenly make him more like the comic book Rick in this miniseries?

My three main complaints about The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live are Rick's physical appearance, his mental state, and the fact that this will clearly not have a second season. I don't think they ever intended multiple seasons, but it feels like they just wanted to keep their unspoken promise and bring Rick back after his unexpected departure-perhaps to set up a cinematic movie that may never happen.

While I personally prefer the other spin-offs over The Ones Who Live, this is a must-watch for TWD fans. It's the only spin-off that truly feels like a direct continuation of the original series and takes place within the same TWD universe. If the first episodes had been as strong as the last ones, this could have easily been an amazing spin-off. As it stands, it's good-but not amazing.

I didn't plan on leaving a review at first, but after reading some of the bad ones I felt compelled. Comments like, "this is not believable" made me go, well, this is based on a comic book in a fantasy world about zombies, so yeah...could be feasible; or comments like, "it started off strong...," or "rushed." Truth is the first time I watched this I shared some of these sentiments, but was ultimately glad for the closure.

I had been waiting for the Rick Grimes (RG) story since he was seen flying off in that helicopter. I quickly added it to my watch list as soon as the trailer dropped. I really didn't have much to look forward to especially in this political climate and found myself circling back around for another go.

Back to this being based on a comic book, which I read until the series seemed to go so far off it's own way. This did both the job of putting me back to a time when escaping into these stories was just that an escape. These days it feels like we're living in such unreal times this gave hope that something could change no matter how small you are or how insurmountable it feels.

I have tried watching the various spinoffs. Usually feel flat. Even found myself not watching the main series once RG was gone. The show had lost it's heart even with us knowing he was out there somewhere. It felt the same watching the Darryl Dixon series. It was only the hope that we'd get some more RG that kept me watching until Carol showed up. RG is a true lead. We followed him making insane choices, even being a dictator for a tiny bit.

Anyhoo, I guess it depends on where and when you're watching. Last year I would have given this a 6. Today it feels like, yes, we need to engage our moral compass and do something where we're not committing genocide for survival. Yes, even you can make a difference and that difference can have a huge effect. And yes, do this now, quick and in a hurry or we will BE the walking dead. So 8 it is...for parallels today and the hope and closure it gave.