The Walking Dead: What We Become (10x13)

And so we say goodbye to Michonne!

Cons:

I found the ending of this episode incredibly moving, but I'll admit that everything in the lead-up to it was lackluster for me. The fact that Virgil was hiding something, the fact that his family was dead... none of that was a surprise. Sure, I wasn't expecting him to give Michonne hallucinogenic tea, but the idea that he was luring her there for a specific purpose, and that he wasn't being honest about what that purpose was... I mean, come on. Who wasn't expecting that?

The weird flash-back/distorted memory thing didn't really do much for me either. The idea of Michonne working with Negan, Michonne being killed by Daryl... what are we learning from this? What are we being told? I don't know. It just didn't resonate with me very well.

We get a few lovely goodbyes in this episode, which I'll talk about more in the "Pros" section. But since this is the last we'll be seeing of Michonne as a regular cast member, it feels appropriate to think briefly about the stuff we didn't get to see. Sure, she got goodbyes with her kids, and mentioned Rosita and Coco. But what about Daryl? She and Daryl were united as the two people who fought the hardest to find Rick (or Rick's body), and now they don't even get a final moment of solidarity. I hope we get to see those two onscreen together in some capacity, maybe when the show finally wraps up?

Pros:

There were some things I enjoyed about the earlier parts of this episode, though. First off, I liked the lesson of forgiveness and peace. Michonne doesn't kill Virgil for what he did to her, and the people he kept prisoner decide to show him mercy as well. In an episode that gives Michonne a glimmer of hope that Rick is still alive, it was nice to have a reminder about the lesson he fought to teach everyone, in the aftermath of the Saviors' defeat.

And while most of the hallucination stuff wasn't that compelling for me, I did really like the moment with Siddiq. She tells him that he's her family, and he basically accuses her of constantly hurting and failing her family. That was a valuable insight into Michonne's psyche and it felt appropriate, given what she would be going through and thinking about presently. The rest of the stuff, with this alternate possible history with Negan? That just didn't click for me as a way to say something interesting about Michonne's character. But that first part actually did work!

And then there's everything about the ending. I loved Michonne finding the evidence that Rick had been alive recently, and her breakdown, and her wavering decisions about what she should do with the information. It was so important that she got to talk to Judith and RJ. Judith, predictably wise in that way that sometimes annoys me but actually felt appropriate here, tells her mom that she has to go and find the Brave Man (Rick's code name, for security). That whole scene was so touching, and lovely, and Danai Gurira pulled out all of the acting chops to make me feel the intensity of it. Having this goodbye scene take place remotely actually made it work so much better for me. The Walking Dead has a persistent problem with going too far and being too melodramatic in its big moments, but this was oddly reserved, while being no less intense for all that.

And then that ending. The symmetry. Michonne defaults back to an old trick of incapacitating and tying up two Walkers to take with her, thus keeping other Walkers away from her. And then she sees two people who need help, and she kills the Walkers to help them, leading them towards what looks like a huge group of people. We won't be getting answers about who they are and what they want, but I think it's a safe bet to think that a group that large and well-provisioned might also have the resources to maintain a helicopter. And that might mean Ann. That might mean Rick.

In all, it feels like the appropriate time to send Michonne off on her next adventure. I want her to find Rick. I want their love story to continue. I hope they make those AMC original movies or whatever, because I really desperately want to see how this all plays out! Michonne's departure means one less character on the show I still give a damn about. Those numbers just continue to dwindle. Still, this was a fairly decent final installment for one of the most brilliant bad-asses ever to appear on the small screen!

8/10