Rick Grimes reunites with wife Michonne in the premiere of The Walking Dead spin-off, The Ones Who Live

Rick Grimes finally reunited with his wife Michonne on Sunday’s premiere of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on AMC.

‘I have to keep trying,’ said Rick [Andrew Lincoln], who had been held captive by the Civic Republic Military (CRM), a militarized survival group. ‘I won’t stop. I’m getting there. I’m getting home or I’m dying, that’s it.’

The episode titled Years opened five years after the bridge explosion with Rick contemplating killing himself with a glass shard after watching on television the reports of an explosion that had killed other survivors of the post-apocalyptic world.

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Rick was working as a ‘consignee’ for the Civic Republic Military, CRM, killing the walking dead as part of a bid to become a CRM citizen. Rick attempted to escape using an axe to cut off his hand to get out of his handcuff, but a CRM officer stopped him in his tracks with a taser.

The show then had a dream sequence of Rick meeting Michonne [Danai Gurira], now Rick’s wife, for the first time as she was just sitting on a park bench eating her lunch before the apocalypse. Rick then woke up in the CRM hospital with his arm bandaged.

Rick Grimes was reunited with his wife Michonne on Sunday’s premiere episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on AMC

‘I was going to get away,’ Rick said. ‘I was going to get back to you. God damn it, I was.’

Donald Okafor [Craig Tate], the Lieutenant Colonel of the CRM, decided to keep Rick alive despite his multiple escape attempts.

‘Okafor protected me because he said he saw something in me,’ Rick said. ‘He wanted me to join his program, to join their army to use my life for them.’

Esteban Garcia [Frankie Quinones], another consignee, told Rick after six years that he was moving into the city and was going to be a citizen. Rick then reluctantly agreed to sign up with the CRM and they outfitted him with a special hand for his military training. 

Okafor told Rick and Pearl Thorne [Lesley-Ann Brandt], another consignee, that he was going to train them to be leaders. Okafor said the CRM designates people as A’s and B’s.

‘A’s will die for what they believe in,’ Okafor said. ‘People will follow A’s.’

Okafor said the B’s were just everyday people trying to survive. He said A’s are normally killed. but that the CRM needs to change and needs strong leaders.

‘He wanted to change things, change the army without them even knowing about it, and he wanted my help to do it,’ Rick said.

Michonne [Danai Gurira] appeared in dream sequences before reuniting with Rick

Esteban Garcia [Frankie Quinones], another consignee, told Rick after six years that he was moving into the city and was going to be a citizen

Pearl Thorne [Lesley-Ann Brandt], another consignee, clashed with the CRM, too

Beale (Terry O’Quinn) the Major General of the Civic Republic Military checked on Rick during his training. He said that they were fairly hidden rather than the other cities Portland and Omaha. Beale told him that Okafor switched sides and made a compelling argument to let Rick into the CRM.

‘Is Okafor up to anything I should know about?’ Beale asked.

‘No,’ Rick said.

Rick went into the city later to see his friend Esteban, a former consignee that made it to citizenship. Rick showed him a blueprint and told him he needed to know where a tunnel in a city went.

‘Dude, I am senior level water and power now,’ Esteban said.

Rick said he needed to escape. Esteban ultimately told him the tunnel would take him to a junction a mile out and even told him the code to open the padlocked grate.

During a far away mission, a resource run to an abandoned chemical plant, Rick made another escape attempt when a girl appeared and he decided to try to save her.

‘He killed my mommy,’ the child said.

Rick chopped off his own arm and was outfitted with a prosthetic with retractable blade

Beale (Terry O’Quinn) the Major General of the Civic Republic Military checked on Rick during his training

‘He’s a good man and we are from a good place and we are all going to go back there,’ Pearl said.

Rick then asked for Pearl’s help to escape.

‘I am helping you,’ Pearl said. ‘He would have found you.’

Rick then went and woke up Okafor and demanded for him to tell him what he knew about him.

‘Not many people out here, but if you start the search around where we picked you up, that’s potent information,’ Okafor said. ‘They would have sent me to find you, clean up my mess and finally erase you.’

‘You don’t get to choose for me!’ Rick said.

‘You made the choice,’ Okafor said. ‘I lost everything. I bombed Atlanta and I bombed Los Angeles, and I was en route to do the same to Philadelphia!’

Okafor said his wife didn’t want to go with him to ‘liquidate’ all the people.

‘I had power, I had a choice and I killed my wife and 4,000 other people,’ Okafor said. ‘And we saved hundreds and thousands, maybe the whole world with her choice.’

Rick begged for Okafor to kill him.

Rick begged for Okafor to kill him

‘I won’t,’ Okafor said.

Okafor told him he was going to move Rick to logistics that would put him on the path to the high echelons of power at the CRM.

Later, Pearl rushed into Rick’s room and turned on the television to show him that Omaha was gone.

‘You think people did this?’ Rick said.

‘I know the Civic Republic is alive and Omaha is dead,’ Pearl said.

Rick looked out the window after she left and contemplated killing himself by putting the piece of glass to his neck.

‘I thought about ending it, just stopping it all but then it would just be nothing, wouldn’t it?’ Rick said in a letter he wrote to Michonne but never sent.

‘I thought about ending it, just stopping it all but then it would just be nothing, wouldn’t it?’ Rick said in a letter he wrote to Michonne but never sent.

Rick who had worked his way up to leadership in the CRM then burned all his memories of Michonne.

‘Please just know that I tried but I failed,’ Rick said.

The show then flashed to another dream with Rick meeting Michonne again on a park bench and sharing a pizza with her.

‘We can make this whole damn world ours if we want to,’ Michonne told him.

‘What if I came here one day with five pizzas and a wedding ring?’ Rick said.

‘I think you should do that,’ Michonne said.

The show then flashed to another dream with Rick meeting Michonne again on a park bench and sharing a pizza with her

Rick then reached over and kissed her.

Back in the present, Rick flew Okafor in a helicopter mission up the coast. He told him about when he was a boy and how his father comforted him when there was a fire on their farm. Rick said he found out later that his father lit the fire, but it saved the family and they were able to build a better house and farm.

‘I’m in,’ Rick said.

‘I know you’re the right thing for this plan,’ Okafor said. ‘No more A’s and B’s. No more Omaha’s. I still don’t know how it’s going to work out. I will tell you one more secret. When you get to that point, swear on the sword. Don’t let it take. You’ll know. Trust me.’

Back in the present, Rick flew Okafor in a helicopter mission up the coast

Just then Okafor was hit with a rocket and explosions rattled the helicopter.

‘We’re taking fire!’ Rick said. ‘We are going down!’

The helicopter crashed and Rick and the other soldiers rushed out. Michonne ran and killed the soldiers one by one and was about to cut Rick’s neck when his helmet fell off and she saw it was him.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live will return next week on AMC.