The Ones Who Live’s finale satisfyingly wrapped up Rick and Michonne’s love story, but the final episode did have a few plot holes and contrivances.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’s season 1 finale.
SUMMARY
Rick and Michonne’s reunion was satisfying, but plot holes and coincidences detracted from the finale’s impact.
Thorne’s sudden suspicion of Rick felt out of character, highlighting inconsistencies in the finale’s storytelling.
RJ and Judith’s unlikely solo appearance raised questions about the main characters’ parenting decisions.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live‘s finale wrapped up Rick and Michonne’s love story, but despite delivering a satisfying ending, the final episode did have some notable plot holes and contrivances. With Dead City and Daryl Dixon delivering high-quality spinoffs, Rick and Michonne’s series had big expectations which it managed to exceed. The Ones Who Live is easily one of the franchise’s best projects in years and gave fans the Rick and Michonne reunion they’d been waiting for. However, among all its success, The Ones Who Live‘s ending did have a few shortcomings that are hard to ignore.
While Rick and Michonne’s plan to take down the CRM and return home did make sense, some of the steps to get there either lacked logic or felt a little bit too convenient. Given how powerfully the series portrayed the CRM, defeating them on their own seemed like it would be a huge challenge, yet Rick and Michonne managed this relatively easily. The finale did leave some unanswered questions about The Ones Who Live and the franchise as a whole, but more significantly, it created some confusion about how exactly Rick and Michonne pulled off this seemingly impossible mission.
6Rick & Michonne Bumping Into Each Other On The Elevator Was A Huge Coincidence
Rick & Michonne Would Have Been In Trouble Had They Not Bumped Into Each Other
One of the biggest coincidences from The Ones Who Live‘s finale was Rick and Michonne bumping into each other in the elevator after Rick killed Major General Beale. Although it is likely Rick and Michonne planned where to meet off-screen, their meeting felt uncoordinated as Rick was trying to get rid of Beale’s body. After killing Beale, Rick contacted Thorne on the Walkie but not Michonne, indicating that the two running into each other was pure coincidence. Had either character come across a regular CRM soldier, they would have faced massive issues given the situations they were in.
If Michonne hadn’t found Rick after The Walking Dead‘s Echelon Briefing, it is likely they both would have been overwhelmed by CRM soldiers. Rick had just finished fighting and killing a CRM member, meaning if someone else caught him in the act, the entire military may have been alerted. Likewise, if someone had noticed Michonne with her box full of explosives, they would have questioned her and potentially foiled her plans. The fact that both characters happened to run into each other in such a big facility at the perfect time was a slightly contrived bit of storytelling.
5Thorne Didn’t Have A Strong Reason To Be Suspicious Of Rick
Thorne’s Suspicion Felt Out Of The Blue
Conveniently, her mind changed quickly as she traced Rick’s steps and quickly assumed he was up to something sketchy
Thorne’s suspicion of Rick was a huge factor in the finale’s ending, but her actions felt out of the blue. The Ones Who Live showed that she doesn’t trust easily, as Thorne tried to shoot Michonne earlier in the series. However, Rick is one of the few people she trusted throughout the spinoff, and she seemed to believe Rick was on her side at the beginning of episode 6. With Rick taking the Echelon Briefing, Thorne appeared to be optimistic about him joining the CRM’s mission, yet she became immediately suspicious after his meeting with Major General Beale.
Rick even contacted Thorne over the radio after he killed Beale, and Thorne didn’t seem to suspect any foul play from their conversation. Conveniently, her mind changed quickly as she traced Rick’s steps and quickly assumed he was up to something sketchy. This led to the confrontation at the end of the finale which could have cost both Rick and Michonne their lives. The finale highlighted some inconsistencies within Thorne’s character, as having fully embraced the CRM’s mission, she seemed to change her mind during her dying moments, making her random suspicion even more noticeable.
She was certainly an interesting new addition to The Walking Dead universe, but her character was wasted at times, and having Thorne conveniently become suspicious of Rick emphasized her problematic role in The Ones Who Live‘s finale.
4RJ & Judith Surely Should Have Had An Adult With Them
The Walking Dead’s Main Characters Shouldn’t Have Let RJ & Judith Leave The Commonwealth By Themselves
The emotional reunion scene with the Grimes family was one of the show’s biggest highlights, but RJ and Judith showing up by themselves did feel like a plot hole. Michonne contacted Judith on the radio, which explained why they knew where to meet each other, but this raises questions about how Judith and RJ actually got there. Given they are still children, they surely wouldn’t be allowed to travel outside the Commonwealth on their own, especially with how important looking after them is. With Rick, Michonne, and Daryl all gone, the main characters would naturally be extra protective of them.
Strangely, RJ and Judith’s cameo in The Ones Who Live‘s final scene didn’t feature any other characters, which seemed to suggest they were there on their own. The moment definitely felt more powerful being contained to just the Grimes family, but logistically, there should have been someone with RJ and Judith. This may have meant shoehorning another big reunion into this scene where it didn’t fit, but it could have been a character from the Commonwealth that Rick and Michonne didn’t know. Ultimately, not having another adult present made The Walking Dead‘s main characters look like terrible guardians.
3Major General Beale Refusing To Have Guards Was Very Convenient For Rick
The Echelon Briefing Being So Private Allowed Rick To Kill Beale Fairly Easily
Over the years, the CRM has been built up as the most menacing threat in The Walking Dead universe
Major General Beale refused to have guards during the Echelon Briefing with Rick, which made taking him out incredibly easy for Rick. Over the years, the CRM has been built up as the most menacing threat in The Walking Dead universe, yet its leader didn’t want any protection while meeting with Rick one-on-one. Beale told Rick to his face earlier in the season that he didn’t trust him, and even though Rick’s return changed Beale’s opinion about the protagonist, his decision to not have any guards standing nearby was an incredibly naive decision that cost him his life.
Even if Beale had ordered the guards to wait outside, it would have made it more difficult for Rick to kill Beale and hide his body. Instead, the antagonist told Rick every detail about the CRM’s Walking Dead plan before being killed, giving Rick all the information he needed to try and stop the group. The convenience surrounding this scene made Beale feel like a much weaker enemy than what the franchise had built him up to be. Likewise, Rick has beaten all kinds of odds, so winning a one-on-one fight with Beale was always going to be straightforward.
The Ones Who Live tried to make this scene dramatic by having Rick hide Beale’s body in a container while blood dripped out of it. However, the jeopardy was short-lived as Michonne’s convenient arrival took away from the drama. Ultimately, Beale’s decision to have no guards made Rick and Michonne’s plan far too simple, and if Rick had been forced to take on Beale and some other soldiers all at once, it would have elevated the action and made the fight more complex. Instead, things turned out pretty simple for the protagonist.
2Rick & Michonne Were Incredibly Lucky To Survive Their CRM Attack
There Were Plenty Of Occasions Where The Protagonists Probably Should Have Died
Concluding such a compelling show was always going to require some serious action sequences, but Rick and Michonne’s survival felt a little optimistic, even by their standards. The first major incident they managed to survive was the gas explosion itself. While there may be some science behind the flag and water coverage helping Rick and Michonne survive the gas, they were close to the explosion itself which felt like it probably would have impacted them. Their cover from the gas certainly wouldn’t lessen the impact of such a big explosion, making their survival feel far-fetched.
This wasn’t the only explosion they had to survive, as Rick detonated a grenade while being attacked by walkers. After a group of walkers trapped Rick in a corner, he struggled to fend them off and was forced to pull the pin of a grenade on the furthest away zombie. Surviving the walkers in the first place without his prosthetic hand was a miracle, but enduring the blast was even more lucky. While it is possible the walkers and the armor protected him from the blast, it felt very fortunate that Rick survived, and the zombies didn’t.
Therefore, the blast radius was conveniently just enough to destroy the brains of the walkers Rick used to protect him, while he managed to escape mostly unscathed. Even after these incidents and defeating Thorne, Rick and Michonne managed to climb up some containers without being bitten and navigated their way to safety, before telling the Civic Republic what happened. Having either Rick or Michonne die during the finale would have been a bad decision, but how they survived felt massively down to plot armor, rather than clever tactics.
1Michonne Finding Jadis’ Hidden Letter Was Totally Pointless
Jadis’ Letter Became Unimportant After Blowing Up The CRM
Finding and destroying Jadis’ letter was one of the big plot points in the finale, yet it didn’t really matter. Jadis’ Walking Dead death set up the finale, with Rick and Michonne having to find the intel on Alexandria in order to destroy it and return home. Michonne managed to pull this off early in the episode, but it didn’t matter in the end. After the protagonists destroyed the CRM and informed the Civic Republic of their villainous acts, the Civic Republic opened its doors to all communities and became a seemingly peaceful civilization.
Therefore, even if Jadis’ letter about Alexandria was found by someone in the Civic Republic, it wouldn’t matter now that there is no intention of killing other communities. The letter held importance before taking down the CRM, but after their defeat, it became completely pointless. Given this was one of The Ones Who Live‘s finale’s biggest plot points, it seems like a huge oversight for this to have meant nothing in the end. Rick and Michonne’s spinoff still delivered a satisfying conclusion, but these plot points becoming pointless is hard to ignore.
