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ginblanco-77stuff · 4 months ago

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#40: The Living Dead (1.04)

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

I love that TOWL didn’t hold back on making Rick and Michonne’s love as powerful as it is in their lives. To the point that even with their motto being 'We’re The Ones Who Live,' Rick could then break down and declare to Michonne that he can't live without her.

This whole scene has been one of Andy and Danai’s best performances and they just continue to knock it out of the park with this moving and climactic moment where Rick finally opens up about what really has been weighing on him and keeping him from feeling like he can go home.😢...

Episode 4 truly had me feeling every emotion in the book - there was joy, anger, laughter, shock, awe, and so much more within the experience of this incredible episode. And in this standout moment right here, there is this astounding sense of pain that’s captured as Rick finally confides in Michonne with full honesty and transparency.

So after leveling with Rick through vulnerability and powerfully sharing her hurt, Michonne takes Rick’s face in her hands and opens up the floor for him to share his.

Repeating what she asked him earlier in the ep she again asks, “What did they do do to you? Rick, I need you to try to tell me what is really going on here.”

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And Rick has that shaky breathing that always tells the story of his fear and panic - but this time his love for her is going to win out over the fear. 👌🏽 His wife needs him to tell her what's going on inside and since she needs it, Rick is willing to finally go there with her.

She’s instilled so much love and honesty in him that now he can muster the strength to finally reveal why he doesn’t feel strong anymore.

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

I love that Michonne then words it as, “What did they take from you?” It’s what did they do. Not Rick. Them.

Even that is a sign of her belief in him because it's like she's saying Rick is still the brave man she knows and loves, whatever failure he thinks he's become - he hasn't. Something was done to him and taken from him.

Rick seemed like he was taking full responsibility for the “failure” he thinks he’s become but Michonne is adamant that he is not the source. Whenever you’re stripped from the place and people you call home and forced to stay away from the things that make you you, that’s when you lose yourself.

And Rick has experienced the trauma of losing himself, including his most crucial parts like the face of his son and wife. So it’s so impactful how Michonne leads Rick to a space of vulnerably opening up about what happened to him and the toll it took on him.

One of the many things I so appreciate about Michonne is that, true to the way she was with Rick all throughout their relationship and from as early as season 3, she’s not demanding that Rick have all the answers or get it together. She just wants him to express what’s going on inside. To let it out. She’s always allowed him to be where he’s at and she’ll meet him there to listen and help hold his hand to better.

I think of Clear and how, even as strangers, Michonne was one of the first to approach Rick not just seeking answers or needing something from him but just a comforting calming presence who let him know it’s okay and he’s okay which she only did more and more in each season of their relationship - like when she showed him so much love at his lowest with the Kiss of Life.

One of the ways she shows her love is through always being willing to travel the darkest valleys of his mind with him. And so that’s what she so longs to do in ep 4, to just finally have Rick open up about whatever is paining him and paining him so much it’s keeping him from going home.

She knows it’s something deep-rooted going on inside of him and, while she doesn’t yet know what it is, I know because of their interconnection she can feel, palpably feel, the pain he has yet to express. And she doesn’t expect him to solve it alone or get over it - no, she just wants him to believe he’s safe enough to express it so they can get through it together.

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And I think that really helps Rick assess and admit what’s happened to him because finally he opens up and breaks my entire heart in pieces when he whispers, “Carl. They took Carl.” 💔💔💔

gif cred: @twdfranchise

Y’all, I…😭 Endlessly crying every time I hear that.

First of all, I appreciate that this is how Carl first comes up between them and that he still gets to be so extremely relevant to the story and to Richonne.

I had written a list in 2023 of what I hoped to see in TOWL and one of the things on the wishlist was a meaningful Carl reference. Because with how much Carl impacted Rick and Michonne and how much they love their boy, I knew it would be so heartfelt for Carl to be included somehow in this miniseries. And he was included in better ways than I could have imagined.🥲

And I really could see it being the case that, for years, Rick hasn’t even said Carl's name out loud to anyone - until right now talking to Carl’s stepmom/best friend. 🥺

gif cred: @twdfranchise

It’s a huge deal that Rick is finally able to talk about this, especially because you know he feels so horrible for having lost his son's memory. That has to be hard for him to even put into words. But by now reframing his outlook to what the CRM did, it’s like that’s part of why he can share it because he knows Carl’s memory was actually taken from him due to his captors.

And the CRM already was overdue to burn - but learning they took Carl from Rick?? Oh now they have to burn x10. 😓

Just hearing the name Carl is always a gut punch and then it's especially tragic as Rick says, “I lost him again” Man they captured the emotional weight of this perfectly, it kills me. 🥺

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And you can see that hearing this breaks Michonne’s heart too. 💔

Rick then explains to Michonne, “When I got taken I fought and I fought not just by trying to get away but by how I would dream.” I love that he’s telling Michonne about his dreams because from as early as season 3 seeing him 'see things,' she has always got to be let into the innermost layers of Rick.

And I especially adore that these dreams were one of the ways Rick fought to hold onto himself and his loved ones after the CRM and trifling Jadis tried to strip all that away. Rick is a fighter and a family man down. 😭

Rick says, “I’d meet up with Carl in my dreams” and just...Rick is the greatest father to ever father, y'all. 🥲 I adore learning that when he was taken from everyone he knows and loves, he found solace in meeting up with Carl. He still clung so tight to his son's memory. 🥺

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And then if I wasn’t already a mess, they show a little clip of Rick holding a young Carl’s hand on a farm. Rick says, “And that’s how I survived in here. Kept me alive” Even in death, Carl was still helping keep his dad alive. 😭

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And then the pain of this scene runs even deeper as Rick reveals, “And then one day, he was just gone. He just left.” If you guessed I’m writing this with tears welled in my eyes, you’d be correct. 🥺 That line is so heartbreaking I don’t even know where to begin.

It is beyond painful to hear Rick say he couldn’t see Carl anymore. He had to lose his son twice. As if the first time wasn't unbearable enough. 😞

It makes me think of Pixar’s Coco and how the film explored the idea that losing the memory of a lost loved one is like experiencing the official death of a person.

So I can only imagine how awful it felt for Rick to realize he couldn’t even recall his son's face because of being ripped away from everything that reminded him of Carl, including his little sister and Carl’s best friend/mom. Losing Carl's image likely felt to Rick like his son had now officially died. 😓

gif cred: @twdfranchise

Losing the son he loves and who was his heart's engine was already hard enough on Rick but then to lose his image too…how do you even begin to recover from that?

Well for Rick, there was one thing that could save him from succumbing completely to that kind of pain…and it’s her. Of course, it was Michonne. 🥹

Rick shares, “But then I started dreaming of you." The way his voice becomes so soft as he says 'you' and then we see a clip of Michonne's beautiful smile at him from Rick’s proposal dream. Love it. 😭 She saves him irl and in his dreams.

And back to that whole thought of these dreams being almost like a stage play of Richonne’s real-life journey, that becomes even more evident when you realize Rick had lost Carl’s memory and needed to figure out how to stay alive and Michonne shows up in his dreams to not only show him the way but to be the way.

She’s not just able to guide him to the light, she is the light he’s trying to get to.

And just like in their real journey when Carl passed, it was Michonne who most showed up and stepped up to be there for Rick to heal him and keep him going. 👌🏽

(Side note: Another thing I loved about Rick's dreams in episode one is that he was immediately drawn to even just the aura and sight of Michonne. Before he technically knew anything else about her. In the past, some have tried to claim that it was only seeing Michonne be such an asset to his children and to the group that made Rick develop feelings for her. And while getting to know her and seeing her positive impact was very important, I like how the dreams were able to reiterate that Rick has always been captivated by her whole being, inside and out. Not just what she does but who she is.)

I love the way Rick so lovingly says, “And there you were.” You can just tell that it meant the world to him the first time Michonne showed up in his dreams while he was in Philadelphia. 🥹 (And I'd be so curious what the scenario was for his first dream that Michonne appeared in after Carl's image left him.) The sight of Michonne showing up in living color in his dreams after his mind could have nearly gone dark losing Carl had to be the most beautiful sight of all to him.

It's heartwarming that the vision of her showed up when he needed her most. It’s also sad because in the beginning of his time with the Civic Republic part of why Rick probably was dreaming of Carl only, was because he was so convinced he’d see Michonne and Judith again in real life that he didn't have to meet up with them in dreams.

But as it became less and less likely that he would reunite with them, that's when his mind still found a way to reunite with Michonne in his mind. 🥲 I adore the way this shows just how special and vital Michonne is to Rick that he could lose the image of his son and still be kept going by the memory of her.

I hadn’t expected Rick would get to tell real Michonne about his dreams but I love that he got to as he tells her, “You and I fell in love in different ways and it kept me going.”

Falling in love with Michonne over and over kept Rick going. 🫠 Falling in love with Michonne over and over kept Rick going. 🥺 I could say that nonstop because I love it so much I can hardly stand it. 😭😭

Like Rick Grimes is the greatest loverboy of all time and it is the most heartbursting thing ever to know that he’d imagine falling in love with her in different ways because falling in love with Michonne is something he cherishes so much. 🥹 My extra self would watch a whole spinoff series dedicated to all the different dream scenarios Rick's mind concocted.😋

The fact that the park bench was just one of many falling-in-love scenarios between them. The fact that in his dreams, the 'ways' would be different but the 'falling in love with her' was always the constant. 😭 This whole moment was such an impactful way to depict how vital Michonne's love is to Rick.

One of the great things about Richonne is they love their love too. Like they are so honored to be in love with each other and it’s always evident. And this definitely suggests that Rick believes he was bound to fall in love with Michonne in any environment they would have met in.

But while falling in love with Michonne kept him going for a long while and made him feel a bit less alone, the wear and tear of the CRM on his mind tried to destroy those Michonne-dreams too as Rick starts to become more emotional and tells Michonne, “But then you were gone too. I couldn’t see your face anymore, just like I couldn’t see Carl’s.”

What an extraordinarily powerful exploration of trauma and the way it distorts and damages memory. So incredibly well done. 🥲👏🏽 This dialogue and performance had me falling apart.

And the pain in this moment is just almost too much to bear. The fact that Rick lost the faces of the two people who most have his heart, apart from Judith and RJ. No wonder he lost himself.

In an RIR s8 post years ago I had dissected Richonne's 'i love you' scene and I wrote: “So long as they have each other and love each other, they’ll never lose Carl.” And that proved extremely true cuz then Rick did lose Michonne and Judith and it made him lose Carl again too. 😢

When he says he couldn't see their faces I always think about that beautiful train track scene where Rick watches Michonne and Carl bond. To think he just couldn’t see those two who he loves so much anymore. Cut the cameras, I'm done. 😭

But they aren’t done sending my heart through the wringer because then Rick just says the most devastatingly romantic thing as he looks right into Michonne's eyes and tells her, “I can’t live without you. Without you, I die.”

gif cred: @coolpartytimefan

WOW. 😭 We knew they feel this deeply about each other but it is so impactful to hear it outright and for Rick to genuinely feel like there is no scenario where he can live without Michonne. The ultimate soulmates.

I love how he declares this sentiment in two ways because he's making it clear that "I can't live without you" isn't just some romantic turn of phrase for him. It genuinely means, "Without you, I die." Just as one can't live without their literal heart, Rick knows he can't live without the woman who is his heart either.

She's his life source and the way Rick professes that without Michonne he dies, the words are spoken so breathy and certain. He means this from the depths of his spirit.

Then Rick so vulnerably tells her, “And I figured out how to do that. I know how to be dead and live now. You can’t just come back here make me come alive again if - if I don’t know if I won’t lose you again. What if I lose you and I can’t figure out how to die all over again?”

gif cred: @riickgrimes

😭😭😭

Y’all, sitting with this scene to write these notes is heavy. 😓 I had a moment where I just had to pause because this moment is something else, man. It hits my heart like no media has hit my heart before. 🥺 I'm just left here looking at Richonne like...

It moves me to no end to know that why Rick was actually scared to go home is because he’s terrified of losing Michonne and then having to figure out how to die without dying again.

Again, it's such a testament to the depth, power, and importance of Richonne's love that Rick has overcome so many hardships in life, so many things that could have easily killed him, and yet the one thing that actually turned him into the walking dead was losing Michonne. 😢

'I figured out how to do that' is Rick essentially saying he's mastered living in pain and becoming dead to it. And so it’s scary for him to emerge out of that space and return to life only to potentially be forced right back to that excruciating pain if he loses her again. Like for Rick, going home really felt like a matter of life and death both for himself and for her because if he goes home and loses her, he knows he won't survive that.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick starts to really break down as he says, “I can’t…I needed to get ahead of it, Michonne. I can’t. I can’t.” I love that he’s able to be this unabashedly emotional and it’s so sweet seeing Michonne put her hand on him while he cries and finally lets this all out.

I feel like in this scene, Rick through words and Michonne through expressions both acknowledge how uniquely devastating it’s been for them to be apart from each other all these years. With their extended time apart, they both got a tragic taste of what it would feel like to have the other pass away.

Just like Rick felt lost in reality and in his dream until Michonne showed up, Michonne also told Judith in Scars that after Rick was gone she felt lost too. Even despite the fact that she wasn’t plucked out of her environment the way Rick was she still felt so lost without him. They both lost their source of so many things, including their compass, when they lost each other. 🧭😢

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick admits, “When I saw you, I got so scared and I needed to get ahead of it. I had to.” The fear he felt when seeing Michonne in those woods during their ep 2 reunion moment was definitely visible, especially when he told her the CRM were coming.

It’s interesting Rick keeps reiterating that he had to get ahead of it. I think when he reunited with Michonne his mind became consumed with everything that could go wrong and also the risk that would come with coming back alive through her even tho he couldn’t help but do so. So all the pushing away he was doing was trying to get ahead of the pain he most wanted to avoid which was losing her and then not just dying all over again but not being able to figure out how.

And if he can't figure out how to die he knows that'll mean viscerally experiencing the worst thing possible for him, which is living without her. 😔

gif cred: @riickgrimes

The connection between fear and love is interesting. It makes me think about how Rick admitted to Abraham that he's scared to be in love again. The rare love Rick and Michonne have found within each other runs so deep that it's a scary thing to lose, especially because Rick knows Michonne's presence in his life is irreplaceable and she isn’t just a want, she's a necessity for him to feel alive.

And then the way Michonne is so empathetically and emotionally taking in these words. 🥺 It’s sweet how she feels like she truly gets this level of love because she feels this deeply about him too. She wasn’t exactly able to die while alive because she still had their kids to raise, but she absolutely had a major light turn off within her as well when she lost Rick.

It tugs on my heart to see Michonne give Rick her undivided attention and feel all of this with him. The way she nods, understanding this unique pain and supporting him as he shares it. And the way she’ll occasionally place her hand on his face, comforting him and letting her touch remind him that she’s here with him fully. It's all such a sincere and authentic act of love.

Rick explains the logic he’s been trying to cling to when he says, “At least if I think you will live on longer than me, without knowing if you do, I can just believe that it’s true.” My heart. ❤️‍🩹

gif cred: @riickgrimes

The fact that Rick feels like he needs the only scenario to be one where Michonne outlives him. 🥺 There's an endearing innocence to me when Rick shares that he wants to be able to believe that Michonne will live longer than him, no matter if it’s true.

Rick was in such dark and lonely circumstances with the CRM and when he searched for a positive of the situation it was that at least he can now always believe that Michonne is alive. In a way, being apart meant she could be immortalized and become 'the one who lives forever' to him.

He’d never have to mourn her literal loss because he’d never have to think or know she’s gone. And it’s valid for it to be scary for him to now reintroduce the risk of losing her after losing her on the bridge made him become the walking dead.

When Rick said “I can lose you” in that van in Say Yes, something I had speculated back then, which I feel this TOWL moment confirms, is Rick was only ever considering scenarios where he doesn’t make it.

I genuinely do not think Rick thought there’d be a case where he lives on and she doesn't and so that’s why he was trying to reassure Michonne she has to go on without him.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

He didn’t think there’d ever be a scenario where he’d have to go on without her. But then it did happen and it killed him. He had to go years without her and it killed him to the point that he had to figure out how to be dead and live. So when Rick says he can't live without Michonne, he knows that from experience, because he really has not been living since being taken from her.

Rick and Michonne had been so committed to building their life together for the rest of their life that without her, he doesn’t see a life to live. And I appreciate that it's still in a healthy grown-love way that their souls are so intertwined that they literally need each other to be alive.

Since Rick has become convinced that being with Michonne might come with too much risk of losing each other again, he emotionally chokes out the words, “Knowing…seeing that loss. I can’t…I won’t survive that, Michonne. I just won’t.” ❤️‍🩹🥺

gif cred: @riickgrimes

First of all - Andrew Lincoln's performance in this scene 🔥🔥🔥🔥...

Something incredibly special about Andy's talent is that he goes to these uniquely vulnerable places so wholeheartedly and authentically. Especially when depicting Rick’s grief - he’s always done it in a way that’s not concerned with looking contained or controlled but just being as raw and honest as possible. He doesn’t merely portray the emotion - He becomes the emotion in its visceral entirety. A prodigious actor. 👏🏽

And it is so extremely significant for Rick, after having endured so many lost loved ones, to feel that Michonne is the one loss he will not bounce back from.

He feels so certain about the fact that he is not surviving losing Michonne. He truly needs her to live. Rick needs Michonne to be on this earth, in every meaning of those words. And it makes perfect sense he’d feel this way about his soulmate.

Richonne has the deepest love on television, truly. 💯

And Rick Grimes is such a great and compelling character for so many reasons but especially because of the way he feels so deeply for those he loves. That's part of why TOWL felt fresh because it explored an all-new situation for Rick - he had to go the longest he's ever gone without family. Enduring that was bound to break him down in a very intense internal way.

Rick finally confronting the pain he's been trying to suppress, and allowing himself to uninhibitedly feel and express the fullness of his raw emotions with Michonne in this scene, is a true act of strength.

I think some viewers who love Rick Grimes but complain that he was 'weak' in TOWL love that Rick is a family man if it means that’s what makes him fight and rip jugulars out for family. However, they tend to miss or dismiss that Rick being a family man also means that what he most wants to be in life is not some cutthroat killing machine but rather Michonne’s husband and his kids’ father. That is this character's driving force. The desire for and the devotion to his wife and kids are foundational to who he is and why he does everything he does.

So losing the image of Carl and choosing to die after realizing he can’t be with his wife and daughter, or else they’ll be in danger, would take such an extreme toll on him and disrupt the very fabric of who Rick is. With these damaging circumstances, of course, the meat of the miniseries would need to be a more personal journey. A journey of Rick not being superhuman but rather super human, breaking and 'dying,' and needing to get his wife and kids back in order to get himself back and live again.

And because Rick and Michonne are so aligned with each other and so deeply connected, Michonne will give Rick the exact thing he needs to begin healing and officially come back to life as this stunningly acted and unforgettable scene concludes...📱🥲👌🏽

#reveling in richonne #richonne #the ones who live #rick grimes #michonne grimes #twd: the ones who live

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ginblanco-77stuff · 5 months ago

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#36: The Ressurection (1.04)

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Wow. 😭 This love scene was stunning and profound. A true resurrection of Richonne. 🙌🏽🥹

This scene also illustrated one of my absolute favorite things communicated in TOWL: that without Michonne, Rick can’t be alive but even more so - with Michonne, Rick can’t be dead.

Try as he may to fight being alive, if Rick is with Michonne he will always come back to life through her. And I love seeing that depicted in this moment where both of them powerfully and passionately begin to restore each other...

So the buildup scene prior to this was Richonne's sexiest scene yet. And then I love how as we transition to this bedroom scene they maintain that mesmerizing sensualness of course, but they also dive into some serious emotion, pain, and powerful love between these two soulmates when the unexpected happens during this long-awaited and blazing moment of intimacy.

Now, before the episode aired there were enough people with screeners using cowgirl hat/boots gifs and emojis as hints to give an idea of what to expect for this bedroom scene...but I still wasn’t ready lol.

They transition to the bedroom and I love that Richonne’s first time or first time again gets to be in such a nice romantic setting. It’s such a sensual environment with sheer curtains and the perfect warm lighting. And considering the grandness of Rick and Michonne finally getting to have each other in this way it’s only right that the environment feels elevated as well. 👌🏽

gif cred: @nerd4music

Once the camera slides pass the sheer curtains we see Rick and Michonne beautifully getting to have this moment of intimacy after years. And I love the way the breathing is the soundtrack for this love scene. Like there’s this pretty music too but the breathing is the real music here if you ask me. 😌

gif cred: @msanonships

I love that when we enter into the scene they’re all into it and as close as humanly possible but still pulling each other even closer. And then there's a tighter shot with Rick looking down and looking like he’s taking a moment to appreciate that his wife is so good at...literally everything in life.😋

gif cred: @nat111love

It’s interesting that the first time Michonne gets to see Rick outside of the CRM soldier uniform is when he literally has to take it off and be bare with her. He put the uniform on for her all those years ago, and now he's finally removed it for her as well.

And y’all, the Richonne fandom is educational because I learned a new word through the thoughts shared on this iconic scene. I saw someone mention how Rick looks up in supplication for Michonne’s kiss, and I hadn’t heard the word 'supplication' before. But once I searched the definition, it was the perfect word to describe this moment when Rick looks up at Michonne. 👌🏽And you know Michonne’s our little genie so she told Rick 'wish granted.' 😋

gif cred: @kimwexlersponytail

Also y’all, I know we say 'they’re wild for this' a lot regarding Richonne...but this whole licking moment between them and then the way he’s literally dripping off her lip after, and the way they subtly stick out their tongues once more like they were about to do it again…never have I meant it more when I say THEY ARE WILD FOR THIS.

There aren’t enough air conditioners in the world to cool down the hotness of this whole kiss. 🔥🔥🔥

gif cred: @lousolversons

I’ve heard that they debated whether or not they’d have an intimacy coordinator and then they decided on having one. And I cannot claim to know exactly everything that job entails and I'm sure she was great, but for some reason, I have a very strong feeling in a post-2020 world it was not an intimacy coordinator who suggested all that tongue stuff lol. 🤭

No, my bet would be that this particular moment stemmed from two gifted actors who know their characters very well, including knowing their character's shared level of freak, and as true professionals devoted to the role they let the spirit of the characters coordinate this kiss.👌🏽 I mean, we trust the captains for a reason.🫡 😋 They know how to play every shade of Richonne to perfection.

gif cred: @lousolversons

I'm glad that this moment right here didn’t end up on the cutting room floor. Since Danai was the showrunner of this stellar episode I know she mentioned she also got to have some involvement in the editing process. And every time I see this kiss I just imagine her in the editing room saying 'let's keep this part in the scene' and then looking right at us Richonne fans like...

They were filming this scene like they had something to prove about Richonne’s physical chemistry and baby, while it didn’t need to be proved they still proved it all the way. 💯❤️‍🔥

In TWD, they only ever showed Richonne's lead-up to sex or the after moments, but now that they were going to show the 'during' they said let the world know Rick and Michonne really get down. #LethalAmountsofChemistry

And what I especially love is that you can just sense their bodies remembering each other after years apart. After shutting this part of themselves off when they lost each other and only turning this part of themselves on for each other, it's made so clear that their mind, body, and soul connection is still as strong as ever.

It really is special how much Richonne's physical intimacy is a powerful manifestation of how intimately they love each other in every other way too.

gif cred: @nat111love

So they keep kissing and the camera switches angles as things appear like they are ramping up which you can hear in Rick’s breathing and moaning. But then as he’s touching her and about to get even more immersed in the moment the scene takes a compelling and heartrending turn...

Rick has a panic attack. 🥺

There is so much to dissect about this impactful panic attack moment. It’s just so well executed, painful, powerful, and vulnerable. 👏🏽

gif cred: @nat111love

First; I was very curious to examine why they have this panic attack occur right when it does. Because Rick and Michonne were pretty into it leading up to this so why this exact moment?

My extra self's personal interpretation is that as they were getting more into it, it looked like Rick was about to let loose a lot more and even be more of the assertive person he used to be like getting on top of her, and I feel like that assertiveness rushing back to him like that was jarring a bit.

gif cred: @nat111love

Plus, he can feel her, and they're heating up and I feel like he’s become so used to moments this good quickly coming to an end in his dreams so it’s like he’s bracing for that. Bracing for the part where this dreamlike state burns away and the woman of his dreams disappears, leaving him alone and in pain. 😢

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

Also with the whole poison vs. cure thing, I think it’s like Rick's mind starts freaking out because while here he and Michonne are clearly providing each other pleasure, he’s anxious that ultimately being together will cause him to be a poison to her.

He still is convinced Michonne will be in danger if he’s with her and having this passionate moment together will only make it harder to part when that’s how he thinks it has to be. So this moment of intimacy is both this euphoric thing and this panic-inducing thing for him.

At the start of the panic attack, Rick pulls away and starts struggling to catch his breath and I’ve always loved the detail of how when he first pulls away he still puts his hand up to reach to her, almost like he's both needing her and wanting to be reassuring to her even despite the fact that he’s in full panic mode. 🥲

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick has a quick glance at Michonne and then hangs his head down, out of sorts. And even just seeing the scars on him in this moment makes me so sad. 🥺 He’s been through a lot and for years he’s endured it all alone. This bedroom moment is one of the first times in a long time that he even gets to go through this internal anguish with a partner by his side.

gif cred: @nat111love

And again, the fact that this panicked breathing is similar to the anxious breathing he had when Michonne walked out the door earlier in the episode, goes to show he’s scared to be without her and to be with her.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick is struggling to look at her but Michonne gently takes his face in her hands and he looks at her as she assesses the situation, quickly knowing he’s having a panic attack. It makes me weepy how ready Michonne is to ever-so-gently help him through this. 😭

Also, y’all I’m in the camp of people who hear Michonne whisper “Look at me, baby.” If she didn’t say it…yes she did lol. 😋 And I love it. 😍

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Rick continues his labored breathing and Michonne does just the most beautiful thing ever when she takes his one hand and places it over her heart.

I love this more than words can explain - and yet, I’m still going to try to explain why I love it. 🥹😭🥹

Like the fact that her heartbeat is what can calm him in this moment. I'll never be over it. 😭 Something so incredibly beautiful about Michonne’s heartbeat bringing Rick back to life is that he’s feeling the heart that beats for him and has for years. She in every sense gave him her heart all those years ago, so it’s not just her heart he’s feeling it’s his own because they truly are one.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Richonne’s hands have always been given great moments throughout their epic love story, and this moment has to be up there as one of the best Richonne hands moments. 👏🏽

I love the way she’s able to get him to open his hand and relax as she keeps her hand comfortingly over his.

gif cred: @nat111love

It reminds me of their final handhold in s9 when Rick had his hand in a fist from frustration and Michonne was able to open his hand and have him hold onto her instead. That was their last real moment side by side in TWD and now here they are doing that again x10 in TOWL. Just beautiful. 🥹

And I love how you can hear how placing his hand on her heart is effective as Rick’s breathing does steady from feeling her heart. A heart that has beat for him all these years. 🥲 Never have the two felt more like one than in this moment. And I will forever adore and appreciate that this is how Danai wrote for Michonne to be able to calm Rick amid his trauma. He needs her heart. 😭 Always has.

They’re the ones who live and this is Rick becoming so aware of Michonne being alive and with him and it starts to ignite his own return to humanity.

The way Michonne looks at him with her eyes dilated and filled with love and tears as she so clearly resonates with the pain Rick is in that he has yet to express. 😭 You can tell she so badly wants him to trust that it’s okay to be present in everything he’s feeling with her and not go through this pain alone anymore.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

The way Michonne fully wraps Rick in her love during this panic attack is just the most moving thing as she silently assures him he’s in the safest most loving arms in the world. Like I knew those actors were wildly talented but what they both captured in this scene took it to an all new level.

And the way Rick has tears under his eyes. I can’t. 😭 The tear alone says so much. Like he's overcome with so many layered emotions, especially as it hits him that a moment this beautiful with Michonne is real - the most real moment of connection he's felt in years - and it's not going to be taken away from him this time.

So Rick looks up at Michonne for a moment and it genuinely feels like he’s looking up at the sun. And then he looks down at their hands on her heart. I love seeing Michonne softly slide her other hand down his face with her finger right where his tear has fallen.

gif cred: @clonecaptains

And then I am just blown away at Andy’s performance when you see something click for Rick as he truly just resurrects through Michonne’s love. 🥹

After looking at their hands and letting this moment of connection resonate, Rick looks back into Michonne’s eyes and I always liken it to when a PC computer turns on and makes that one sound. I feel like you can visibly see the moment Rick’s humanity turns back on in full force as he looks at her.

Rick really resurrected back to life by becoming one with Michonne, his undeniable other half. 🥹 Richonne is the unequivocal greatest depiction of soulmates. 💯

gif cred: @nat111love

So Rick, and Michonnne's Rick this time, looks in Michonne's eyes like he’s genuinely become human again after years and then he tilts his head and it feels like he’s finally seeing Michonne in her entirety now. Like he’s finally seeing her without the lens of fear or what could happen next.

After having been so focused on the fear of losing her, it feels like in this moment he's finally just being present in the fact that he found her.

gif cred: @nat111love

And in finding Michonne, his soulmate, Rick begins to find himself again too.

Michonne's effective approach of calming Rick with her touch and her heart helps Rick embrace that this isn’t a dream and she’s not going to burn away. Michonne may be burning up because of him but she’s not going to vanish.

By feeling her heartbeat it was like Rick finally let it sink in that she’s still here and she’s with him completely. She’s real. They’re real. They’re back together truly. It was a profound moment of the two becoming one being again.

And then the way they both have these dilated pupils and get this new wave of energy from that moment and their breathing starts syncing up and picking up as they return to kissing. Their beauty and the beauty of this moment are ravishing. I love that neither wanted to stop making love and once they have this moment they’re even more present in the lovemaking than before.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

It really feels like there’s this transfer of energy between Rick and Michonne in this moment as she feels his visceral but suppressed pain and he feels her visceral deep love and we see love win out over the pain as Michonne helps Rick literally turn his humanity back on at full strength.

And then as Rick’s heart is literally jump-started again by feeling the love of his life’s heartbeat, he sends all that love right back to her because it’s so clear in this scene that everything happening to him is happening to her too. Like as he comes back to life it ignites her in a new way as well and just affirms so strongly to both of them that they’re back to being one the way they’re always meant to be.

So they continue kissing and Michonne has her hand tightly in his hair because of course. It's clear from Michonne’s noises that Rick has seemed to amp things up, we’ll say lol. Plus, Michonne hasn't been able to grab his curls like that in an even longer minute since Rick's hair was short the last time they were together, so you know she's happy to have that back as well. 😋

I love how Rick was finally realizing he’s not just someone who can harm her but who can heal her too and she’s not only someone to protect but to love limitlessly. We see Rick finally go from mission-minded to Michonne-minded and let the Alive Rick take the wheel from Dead Rick. 🙌🏽

gif cred: @lousolversons

In the last 24 hours especially, both Rick and Michonne have been through every emotion and at its most intense - intense fear, intense sadness, intense frustration, desperation, anger, longing, hopelessness, hurt, concern, etc, and now intense passion and pleasure. All of that could easily have caused a system overload or system shutdown for them. But I love how instead of just shutting down, they navigate this together and then get even more locked in with each other.

And then you really know the real Rick is back when he flips Michonne over and gets on top of her. It’s his favorite place to be, that's just canon. 😌 And you know Michonne loves seeing Rick take charge like this. Her man is always assertive with his affection and Michonne always seems here for it.

gif cred: @nat111love

It is such a sweet shot seeing Michonne looking up at Rick as she tenderly holds his neck. She loves him so much. It’s written all over her face. 🥹

gif cred: @nat111love

And then y’all, this show said you don’t have to wait until the Olympics to see some swimming on National Television. 🤭🏊‍♂️

Cuz they proceed to give us some um very up close and personal insight into Rick and that signature vein as the camera is all up in his face while he finally lets himself feel the full extent of pleasure for the first time in years.

For a while, whenever I saw this moment I was like can this camera back up a bit cuz now I feel like I'm intruding lol.

But the moment is very sweet in the regard that Rick is no longer fighting the fact that he can feel pleasure and be present in this moment with his wife. For so long he seemed to be punishing himself and killing himself and so it’s a big deal to see him finally stop that and enjoy this.

I think part of him thought he could engage in this intimacy with Michonne and only make it about pleasing her while remaining dead inside but again he can't be dead with her - and so in this moment he no longer tries to be, and that’s really heartwarming. 🥲

Seeing him smile knowing that this is the only woman in the world he wanted this experience with - it really is like a homecoming in a sense. Michonne’s hand on him the whole time is sweet too. And I just love that they waited for each other to open this side of themselves up to again. And to think, it wasn't even technically 'waiting' since they genuinely didn't know if they'd ever be together again. But they still only reserved this level of intimacy for each other. Rick and Michonne are it for each other, truly.

Then the scene ends with a really lovely sensual shot of Richonne through the sheer curtains as they kiss and just savor each other like they do best. ❤️

gif cred: @nat111love

And now I know I might be diving right into delusional territory with this next thing I say but I know some of you saw this too --- I am convinced that Michonne tells Rick 'I love you' in this zoomed-out shot. ‼️

For a while, I thought one of the only things we surprisingly didn’t get in TOWL was Michonne directly telling Rick 'I love you.' That was an interesting omission for an epic love story, especially cuz I def feel Michonne would say those three words outright at some point, after not being able to tell Rick those words for nearly eight years. Don’t get me wrong, she’s said I love you very clearly and meaningfully in many other ways, but still she’d say the direct words too. So it was odd when it seemed like that didn’t happen.

But now...y’all, my extra self is choosing to declare that it did happen. Because I promise she’s saying it to him in this bed. I'm telling you, she is. For real, she is! 😋 Look🔎 ⬇

gif cred: @nat111love

And again, if she isn’t…yes she is. 😇 Michonne-Says-ILY-In-This-Scene Truthers, rise. ✊🏽😋 And if by chance my eyes deceive me then let them lie just this once lol.

If it is the case that Michonne told Rick 'I love you' in this moment, it's extremely sweet. Especially because I had a feeling she’d say it once Rick was finally out of that CRM gear. Once she knew he was slowly but surely becoming him again. So while it's a non-audible, blink-and-you-miss-it moment I think we did get at least one Michonne 'ily' in TOWL. 😌

I love the way the scene ends with the piano and their silhouettes. Michonne is the sun to Rick so I love the way she aligns with the sun-like lamp and the way the last thing you see from the scene is her putting her hand in his curls again as they just continue to make love. And let me tell you, a scene like this is why it’s called 'making love' because truly this passionate moment was such a perfect manifestation of their deep, one-of-a-kind, soulmate love.

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

This is Richonne’s first full-length sex scene and it was done so masterfully, memorably, and meaningfully. It was the perfect way to pull off such a significant anticipated moment between them and make it tastefully titillating. It genuinely feels like they turned that chemistry they have up to its highest volume and something rare and otherworldly was captured. 👌🏽

The way it wasn’t just physical but truly pivotal for their relationship and the story. The way it was as hot as it was heartfelt. The way they both came alive and restored broken parts of each other through a shared heartbeat. The way they profoundly depicted Richonne becoming one again. The way it was more than a love scene it was a resurrection.

Rick felt human after years of feeling dead. Michonne felt truly held and loved after years of not feeling safe. Tens across the board and truly an impeccable and impactful scene from beginning to end. 😌👌🏽

#richonne #reveling in richonne #the ones who live #twd towl #rick grimes #michonne grimes #twd: the ones who live

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ginblanco-77stuff · 5 months ago

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#27: The Timeout (1.04)

Every now and again there comes a piece of media that you know is going to stay with you for a lifetime. For me, that’s TOWL Episode 4.

I’ve never been more excited and more overwhelmed to try and dive into all the scenes of an episode than "What We". It’s my favorite Richonne episode of all time so I have to revel like never before. Truly what Danai crafted with her writing and what Andy and Danai delivered in their performances is phenomenal and transcendent. I’ll cherish Episode 4 forever, from minute one to the final shot 🥹🤩💛...

Now that we've arrived at the illustrious episode 4, it's only right to kick it off with a happy dance😋...

For some March 17th, 2024 is just a regular day but for Richonne stans...

Because it's the day that the Richonne episode aired.

I remember how stoked I was when the time had finally arrived for episode 4. Leading up to it there had been high praise and acclaim for the episode with it even being deemed the climax and ‘for the richonners’ and one of the best of the TWD franchise. So I was already going in with big anticipation and "What We" knocked it out of the park in every way possible.

What Danai wrote is just 🔥🔥🔥 in all the ways and I'm very grateful for her and this thoughtful powerful episode she crafted. 👏🏽

There was a time when I had ep 4 memorized from the first line to the last cuz it was just excellent and moved me like no other. There is so much to say about this one episode and I'm gonna try my best to say it all because this is the kind of episode you rave about for years on end. And as someone who already revels in every detail of Richonne's story, this episode is the epitome of why I do what I do with this blog.

The raw and visceral range of emotions captured in about one hour of television - it’s a triumphant feat and I’m obsessed. TOWL is already a dream come true but episode 4 is a dream within a dream and perfectly captures why Rick and Michonne are the greatest soulmates to grace a screen.

So let’s get into it. 🤗

The masterpiece of an episode kicks off with a bang as we’re brought back to the moment Rick and Michonne are in that rocking helicopter with Rick silently freaking out and Michonne looking right at him cool, calm, collected, and a little crazy. 😋

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

They intercut with the apartment that will become a very pivotal and important setting in Richonne’s journey. And I absolutely love the choice to have the episode mostly take place in a swanky high-rise apartment similar to where Michonne lived before the apocalypse. It’s like after years of being out in nature which is more Rick’s territory they now get to enter Michonne’s more city-girl territory.

I also like the 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree' song they use for this scene. The lyrics are very much intentional and the song's meaning is also fitting as it’s “sung from the perspective of a man returning home after three years in prison and looking anxiously for an agreed-upon sign that the woman he loves would welcome his return.”

So right off the bat with this song and helicopter moment, I was like...

The lyrics start by saying, “I’m coming home, I’ve done my time.” Which by the end of this episode, Rick will arrive at that same realization with Michonne’s help. Also, Michonne is determined to head home herself too after doing her time with the CRM. And considering Rick and Michonne are home to each other and they’re finally about to get some extended alone time it really is like they’re coming home to each other this ep.

Then the song says, “Now I’ve got to know what is and isn’t mine.” as we see the little Roomba that could. I love the way electricity and these items all help to tell the story.

Throughout this opener, we see Rick and Michonne both staring at each other in the helicopter, and again the way they can express so much without words is clear.

Rick is attempting to like idk sternly stare her down but Michonne is unfazed and you can tell her mind is made up that she will do anything to keep them from falling apart. She knows if they go back to base it’ll only be that much harder to convince Rick to leave, so she’s yanking him out of there before that happens.

(Side note: I know there’s often debate on whose crazier in general - Rick or Michonne. and I honestly think Rick. Even tho they’re very equal and match each other's crazy. It's just that Michonne is a bit more composed most of the time that’s why Rick edges her out to me. But when Michonne doesn’t want to be composed...oh she can beat everybody in the crazy department. And she took the Crazy-Off trophy home in this helicopter. 🏆👌🏽 Also when I thought about it - it would probably be hard for Michonne to yank a grown man out of his seat that swiftly and so I like to think Rick basically let her lol. Like he saw that helicopter door open and while he was yelling no he knew Michonne’s gonna do what she’s gonna do and so he’s gotta go with her.)

gif cred: @chaoticroad

The lyrics then say, “If you received my letter telling you I’ll soon be free...” which is very fitting to the letters Rick used to write Michonne. And then we get that moment where Michonne grabs Rick and throws them out of the helicopter. Just iconic. 👏🏽 And Rick is genuinely shaken by Michonne doing this, understandably. You can hear it in the way he yells as they fall into the rushing water.

I like that when Michonne throws them out of the helicopter that’s when the lyrics say, “Then you’ll know just what to do if you still want me.” Fitting. And in this case 'just what to do' was to jump out of a helicopter together without a parachute or anything. Michonne is crazy and we love her for it. 😋

And honestly, Rick loves her for it too even if he’s obviously rattled by it at first. She really looked at her man and said 'the CRM can’t have this one' and plucked Rick out of the sky...again.

Also, the fact that this implies they were able to hang onto each other and not at some point get separated either in the air or in the water. Magnets confirmed lol. 🧲😂

So then I like the way it’s filmed as Rick and Michonne’s hands are seen grabbing onto rocks and then without seeing them we get this sense of movement as they make their way into the apartment building.

They rush into the apartment both breathing heavy from the wildness that has just occured as the lyrics say, “It’s been three long years. Do you still want me?” Fitting again.

And then I love the clever use of the thermostat system (there's probably a more accurate word for what that temp controller thing is but I wasn't sure what, so I'm just gonna call it a 'thermostat' lol). It’s perfect that the first thing the thermostat says is, “Welcome home,” as it's in this place Richonne will finally return home to each other.

gif cred: @nerd4music

As Rick and Michonne silently look around the lyrics say, “I’ll stay on the bus, forget about us, put the blame on me” which speaks to Rick’s current mindset of staying behind to help her get home and his willingness to be the 'bad guy' if it means keeping Michonne safe.

And then y’all, I love this final moment of the teaser when Rick slowly looks at Michonne, upset but also very clearly reminded of who he’s dealing with after she chucked them off a helicopter. And then Michonne looks right back at him like she’d do it again too. 🤭

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

Once again they are very much communicating with eyes alone and after he talked cash crazy to her, you know in this episode it’s now going to be Michonne’s turn to do some talking. 👌🏽

And then the teaser ends with this great shot of Richonne facing each other with some distance between them in front of that scenic stormy window and I love the symmetry of it. 😍 For me, it illustrates how they may not be in sync yet but they're still in some way aligned.

gif cred: @nerd4music

There really are so many great cinematic shots in TOWL and this is definitely one of them.

The way that teaser ended with them just silent staring at each other and the lightning - ooh I just knew we were about to eat good as Rick and Michonne get a whole episode to themselves in this building. 🙌🏽

gif cred: @perryabbott

After the title sequence, Michonne and Rick are again staring each other down, and then Michonne says with certainty, “We needed a timeout.” I mean she’s not lying. 💁🏽‍♀️ It’s hilarious tho that that’s her first explanation for doing what she did. For her, those extreme measures were justified because of how badly they needed a timeout. And I agree with her entirely.

Also, I adore her saying 'we' and still operating like a package deal despite what Rick said about what they had being broken at the end of ep 3. She knows this relationship well and so she knows they just needed to get away from CRM territory to finally talk.

And after all that posturing Rick was trying to do last episode, I like how Michonne still heard the subtext in his words so she knew clearly 'Everything you’re saying and doing was just a sign that you and I need a breather away from all those other people.' Like I just love the wording of calling this a 'timeout' so much. (See, RJ’s not the only Rick Grimes who needs an occasional timeout. 😁)

Then Rick testily says, “I can’t believe you did that.” and Michonne is quick to retort, “I can’t believe you said that.”

gif cred: @figmentof

I always love how to Michonne, his words and her actions were equally crazy, if not Rick's words being crazier. 😂 She’s like 'You nearly ended our relationship, I nearly ended our lives so...

Then the thermostat, which really nicely needles a thread through the emotions of the story says, “Your preferred temperature will be reached in ten minutes.” That distracts them a bit as they look around and then Michonne walks away to take in the place some more.

And as she does this, Rick reaches for his PRB which I hadn’t noticed the first time I watched. I was like dang so had Rick not lost his PRB he might’ve called the CRM here before he and Michonne could even get some much-needed time to talk. Thank goodness he lost his. Reaching for it so quickly definitely demonstrates that the CRM has done a number on him.

Rick starts taking in the swanky apartment too with its electricity and running water and I love seeing the two of them in this new environment. He asks, “What the hell is this place?” And it’s clear this is way more of a familiar environment to Michonne than Rick.

Again, I thought this setting was such a great choice because it’s almost like they want to exacerbate Rick and Michonne’s differences even with the whole city girl/country boy thing to make you wonder if enough time has passed for their differences to now outweigh their similarities. But of course, the answer will be a resounding no and they’re still the compatible soulmates we know and love. 👌🏽😌

I love seeing Michonne admire the place and feel like she’s really at home. Like she’s not rattled at all from plunging into the water after leaping off a helicopter just moments before.

gif cred: @kinyany

And then I adore this next moment of Michonne going to the closet to change clothes for several reasons. There’s so many scenes that accomplish multiple things at once in this episode and this scene is layered in the best way. 👏🏽

Naturally, Michonne wants to get out of that soaked uniform but on a symbolic level it shows how she’s far more eager than Rick to shed the CRM off of her. It's like as she changes, she’s letting both herself and Rick know, Dana's gone.

She's gonna be Michonne Grimes from here on out. 👌🏽😌

And then "somehow" Rick finds his way over to where he can watch Michonne changing. 😋

gif cred: @nat111love

And even though they’re supposed to be mad at each other, he of course can’t look away as he watches her. He’s not even trying to be subtle about it lol.

gif cred: @nat111love

As he watches Michonne from the legs up, I know good and well Rick knew at this moment that ain’t nothing feels 'broken' between her and him.

Also, I just know this whole moment was a lot to take in for Rick because so far since reuniting, he had only seen Michonne super covered up with ponchos, jackets, and soldier gear. Like he hadn’t even seen her signature tank tops and tight pants combo - but here, Michonne was like let’s just dive right into 🎵panty and a bra we can’t get involved, boy🎵 (yet lol 😉)

gif cred: @nat111love

And honestly this whole ep I was like Michonne really knows the exact things to do to help Rick come to his senses. Because while yes there’s definitely the steamy checking-her-out element of the scene, I also always appreciate how changing in front of him like this is effective in establishing their closeness and comfortability.

Like Michonne is not gonna just strip down like this in front of anybody but in doing so here it’s setting the tone to communicate to Rick 'you’re still my husband, I still feel safe with you, and so I can comfortably be this bare.' 👌🏽

gif cred: @nat111love

And then, because each scene expertly communicates several things at once, this moment of Rick seeing his wife’s body for the first time in years then takes a somber turn when Michonne lifts up her shirt and Rick sees that X scar she got during that excessively brutal episode in season 9. 🥺

I thought it was such a smart move to include Rick seeing the X scar in this scene, and it gives Rick this reminder that Michonne has been through a lot he doesn’t know about while they’ve been apart.

Rick has been so convinced that Michonne won’t be safe if he goes home with her but this lets him know she still has had to face a dangerous world without him. She's been through so much. 😢

gif cred: @nerd4music

Breathing really does tell quite the story throughout this episode. The way Rick takes a breath when he sees Michonne's X scar, you can tell that it sobers him up after longingly eyeing her down and he’s shaken by seeing she’s been hurt.

I feel for him because I think every scenario overwhelms him right now. It’s overwhelming to think about all Michonne has been put through in his absence & it’s overwhelming to think about all she could be put through if he doesn’t get her home. Like he’s feeling a lot. But never peeling his eyes off of her while he’s feeling all these things tho. Just saying lol.

gif cred: @nat111love

And because Rick is staring straight at her, Michonne can likely feel his eyes all over her and so she gives this look back at him which I love. 😊 She knows what she’s doing. She knows what he’s thinking. And she knows because Mr. Everything We Had Is Broken has his eyes glued to her rn.

Rick Grimes really is the reason there are phrases like “eyes glued” because the way his eyes consistently get stuck on Michonne is really something.

Also - Michonne/Danai's beauty is truly divine. 👑

gif cred: @kimwexlersponytail

When Rick makes eye contact with Michonne here he has another one of those shaken breathing moments as I think he’s brought back to the reminder that they’re still supposed to be in a fight. Cuz homeboy looked like he forgot for a sec. 😋

So he finally looks away and then Michonne looks away with a knowing expression as she resumes changing.

gif cred: @kimwexlersponytail

Rick walks over and sees Michonne’s PRB and in his state of stress, he’s convinced himself that this PRB is a solution to their problems and will be what best keeps Michonne safe. But as he looks at it, he then sees Michonne emerge in fresh new clothes. (Side note: it always makes me so happy to see Danai and Andy’s executive producer credits each ep and especially seeing Danai’s writing credit this episode 👏🏽🥹)

Again without even needing words, Michonne immediately can tell what Rick is thinking as she looks from him to the PRB and then rolls her eyes, disappointed. She wants them to be done with the CRM so bad. And I completely get it. So she grabs the PRB and then she says, “You lose yours, huh?” Rick is silent and then Michonne slowly approaches him as she says, “I know what they do.”

And then y’all, I have about 85 favorite parts of this one episode but among those favorite parts is this part here when Michonne and Rick have this whole magnetic tension that’s mostly silent but speaks volumes. 🔥🔥

gif cred: @msanonships

Andy and Danai are truly the king and queen of layered acting because every single choice they make is never one-dimensional. There’s always so much communicated in each second, hence my need to dissect each second. And in this scene, they manage to express so much - tension, desire, fear, lust, love, anxiety, etc.

Michonne asks, “You want to call them here?” and even just the way she says it is perfectly delivered because it’s not taunting or even unempathetically challenging. It’s more like she’s asking knowing he knows full well that the PRB is not what he actually wants to be pressing up on right now. 😋

After she asks this, it’s such a great and hot moment of the two making eye contact and trying their damndest to resist each other. I know they had those magnets within them confused as to why they weren’t kissing like their life depended on it being this up close in each other's space. (Also, their height difference has always been so complementary 😊)

gif cred: @nat111love

I love the way this scene breathes as their chemistry and sexual tension just fill the atmosphere. The unique effect they have on each other is made abundantly clear and only Richonne can make a moment of just staring at each other this sexy. ❤️‍🔥 The tension of their fight was outmatched by the sexual tension between them.

Like the way she puts the PRB against his chest and raises her eyebrows. The way Rick stares into her eyes and I believe also at her lips and then down at the PRB, trying hard to maintain his whole “it’s over” energy from ep 3 but not doing it successfully. And then all Michonne has to do is tilt her head for Rick’s attention to be right back on her.

She doesn’t break away from looking at his face the whole time and when Rick looks at her again you can tell they both know loud and clear that he does not in fact want to call them here. He's got other things he wants to do. But there's so much fear and shame consuming him that it has him not thinking straight.

gif cred: @nat111love

Along with Rick's immense fear and anxiety communicated in this exchange, this is also where it is just so clear that Michonne has a hypnotic hold on this man. Cuz while Rick still thinks they need to go back, he also can’t bring himself to take the PRB when Michonne is basically handing it to him.

The way he’s staring at her and moving his head it looks like he's feeling every emotion there is and it’s also taking every cell in his body to resist her. He’s so focused on trying to resist that he seems to be rendered silent, at a loss for words. But no words are needed for both of them to know exactly what this whole moment is about. 👌🏽

And make no mistake, Michonne is also putting some effort into exhibiting restraint too because during this hot moment, there are a couple times when she’s looking at him like she wants to be all over him the second he stops acting up.

gif cred: @nat111love

What they both clearly want to do but are resisting right now, will be something they finally do in a later scene that actually parallels this one...but they’re not there yet.

So in a rare moment, they go against their inner magnets and instead of leaning in, Michonne gives Rick this lingering eye contact and walks away as Rick watches her.

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

As she walks away she pockets the PRB since, without even saying it aloud, they’ve established they don’t want to call the CRM here right now. And thank goodness they don’t because Richonne has a lot to talk about.

And the most pressing thing Rick and Michonne have to talk about next is their children. As in plural. 😊👌🏽

#richonne #reveling in richonne #the ones who live #twd towl #rick grimes #michonne grimes

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ginblanco-77stuff · 5 months ago

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#14: The Magnetic Reunion (1.02)

First of all: 🎉💛🔥🥂😍🎉🔥🥂😭🎉💛🔥🥳

I’ve said it for years and it gets proven true at every turn - Rick and Michonne are magnets. 🧲

So I have half a mind to believe that part of why that helicopter came tumbling down was because it got caught in the intense magnetic force of Richonne. 😋 There was no way Rick and Michonne could be in the same atmosphere like that and not ultimately end up in each other's arms. I don’t care if Rick was thousands of feet in the sky, those magnets within these soulmates were going to send him crashing right down to Michonne. And that's exactly what happens in the continuation of this scene the world had been waiting for - Richonne's epic reunion 🙌🏽🥹...

So first Michonne and Nat are walking through the woods and headed home to ASZ. It's poetic that Nat helped Michonne see it's not giving up if she goes home, and then sure enough because she was willing to head home that puts her in the very position to find the man she's been looking for.

As they walk, Michonne is trying to reach Judith on the walkie-talkie and is clearly very eager to get home to her kids. I love that Nat again is so supportive as he assures her they’ll get in closer range to reach her babies soon...But then a helicopter can be heard ahead, piloted by Michonne's other baby lol. �� Love is truly in the air, y'all. 🙌🏽

Nat stops Michonne as they look up and see, “It’s them.”

Michonne looks ready to warning pop a whole helicopter as Nat says to grab the cart because they gotta go. Michonne “Never Run From The Fight,” Grimes says, “I’m not running from them, Nat” and Nat is on the same wavelength as he says, “Neither am I. Let’s go.”

gif cred: @richardgrimes

I love how Nat’s like 'honey, we gotta know when to go, and now is the time to go ham against the group that killed our friends and forced us to put life on pause for a year.'

Michonne is ready too as she takes out a walker and helps Nat set up the scream sticks.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Nat says the helicopter is flying super low - and that’s because that magnetic field is already doing its work to bring Richonne closer together. Amen. 😇

Nat fires the missile and I love seeing the final moment from ep 1 through Michonne and Nat’s lens. Nat thinks the first shot was a dud…but it most certainly was not. Ask Okafor lol. 😅 Nat’s aim is really spot-on as he fires more shots at the helicopter and it crashes.

Soldiers in black finally emerge on the ground and run amid the fiery scene as Nat continues to fire. And it’s crazy knowing Richonne is finally in the same vicinity after so many years.

gif cred: @perryabbott

The soldiers shoot at Michonne and Nat who duck out of the way. And then even despite seeing these masked men with guns, Michonne is basically like 'I can handle eight' and tells Nat, “I got them unless you get them first.”

She runs into the line of fire to take these soldiers out one by one. And as she runs, Michonne is hit with a collection of memories that have led her to this point. We hear her tell Aiden, “You should go” and Aiden says, “We will. After you find Rick.” The warmth of that moment is quickly cut with Michonne having to take out Walker Aiden.

Then we hear Michonne say, “You’re pregnant.” over a clip of soldiers running. I like how one of those soldiers is Rick - cuz he’s the one who got Michonne pregnant, and that's something she’ll finally be able to tell him now.

Nat knocks the soldiers to the ground as Michonne recalls taking out Bailey and then she gets vengeance for her friends as she slices CRM soldiers' necks and looks at them with crazy eyes as she says “Look at me.” I know that was a terrifying way to go out for these soldiers. 😅 Also, I love how Michonne is the character with the soundest head on her shoulders but also has a side of her that can get real crazy. 🤭

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Then Nat's voiceover says, “You can believe a little longer and still go home to your kids” as my heart just melts into a puddle seeing clips of Judith and RJ. 🥹 Her kids are the cutest thing and I know as Michonne is slicing these soldiers she’s thinking about how they took time away from her kids which is an unforgivable sin.

And then the final beat is Rick saying, “You can lose me” as we see a clip of Rick smiling at Michonne during their proposal dinner in Say Yes. I love how as she’s unknowingly fighting Rick in this forest she is also thinking about him as the final image in her mind because Rick is one of the biggest reasons why she fights.

They end the memory sequence with Rick saying "You can lose me" to really emphasize what’s about to happen next. Because next, she gets confirmation that while she can and did lose Rick she can also find him again no matter how long he's been lost. 🙌🏽

And find him she most certainly does as she knocks off his helmet and immediately realizes the man in black is the love of her life. 🤩

gif cred: @ricksmarlene

Ok, I don’t even know how I’m going to put all this into words because I love this Richonne reunion with everything in me.

Let's start with the real snow that started falling during this scene. 😍 Y’all, even Mother Nature is a Richonner and she wanted to add some extra razzle dazzle to this epic reunion because she knew it was important.

The snow naturally being a part of this moment was beautiful. Then the fact that Rick and Michonne find each other just as they both were going to 'give up' for good is poetic. Again, the universe is a Richonner and said not on my watch, I’m getting you two together even if it takes several explosions to do so. 😌

Rick and Michonne are both silently breathing and staring at each other like we saw in ep 1 and you can tell this moment is such an understandable shock to both of them. Like before you can even see joy on their faces there’s just pure “is this really happening??” shock on their faces. And it makes sense because of all the scenarios they’ve probably pictured reuniting in, they likely never imagined it’d be like this.

Their faces and breathing really capture how wild this is for them to be so abruptly brought back into each other's lives after years of longing for each other.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Then Michonne immediately removes her mask and drops her sword and I view this as such a meaningful movement because it feels like for the first time in almost eight years she can let her guard down with the one man who makes her feel most secure. Like she completely disarms and is the vulnerable Michonne she used to be when Rick was around.

And then the way Rick rises to his knees and his face just quickly softens as he realizes she’s really here. After all the dreaming, the yearning, the aching for her presence - here she stands. 🥹 (And my extra self likes how as he gets up there’s a brief moment where he’s on one knee and it just feels like his body is already in proposal mode lol.)

gif cred: @nat111love

Then I absolutely adore the way Rick gets up with his hand out reaching for her. It feels so tender like even despite all the chaos he’s just experienced, his first priority is that Michonne is okay. And the way he goes to her and she extends her hands out to him - those magnets are still as strong as ever. 🧲😊

gif cred: @nat111love

And I love that before they embrace they have this moment of Michonne holding Rick’s face in her hands as they both take each other in and are so emotional. The tears in their eyes as they feel each other's touch for the first time in years is just so extremely moving. 😭

gif cred: @saoirse-ronan

This was such a big highly anticipated moment and from the very first second of it, I just knew they were going to deliver and that the magic of Richonne on screen together is still as captivating and electrifying as it’s always been. 🔥

gif cred: @nat111love

Michonne smiles, eyes filled with tears, as she holds Rick's face and looks into his eyes so glad that he’s actually alive. And then Rick cries and leans into her touch truly feeling tender touch for the first time in almost 8 years. Like whenever I’d see Michonne lovingly touch Rick throughout TOWL I’d always be reminded that this is his first time experiencing this type of warmth in so so long. 😭

gif cred: @nat111love

It’s interesting how Michonne has a teary smile whereas Rick has this blend of happiness and pain on his face. He’s been living like he’s dead for a very long time and, as I’ve said previously, when you decide to die but live you turn off the switch in you that can feel emotions both the painful and even the happy ones. But Michonne can always bring life back to Rick so you can just see this layered expression as Rick feels so much emotion come rushing back to him.

It’s almost like it’s foreign for him to let this emotion out now, but he makes these heartwarming quiet crying noises that show that whatever feelings are stirring inside him can’t help but seep out.

When Michonne lovingly holds his face in her hands, Rick dips his head tentatively wanting to hug her but also potentially hesitant if she’d want to hug him after seeing him in the same uniform as the people she was attacking. But then of course Michonne pulls him in so warmly as his soul just seems to be crying into her shoulder.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I think about how when he was on the bridge in his final ep he imagined Michonne holding his face in her hands and giving him the strength to go on and now here she is years later able to do that for real. It moves me to no end. 🥹

And then they have their long-awaited first embrace as Michonne lets out palpable emotion joyously declaring, “I found you!” 😭😭🎉

gif cred: @surii

The way Rick tucks himself into her shoulder as he closes his eyes and embraces her and the way Michonne almost gasps for air and says “oh god” in shock and awe that she really did find him. That all those years feeling him out there and believing he’s alive were correct. The belief she had paid off and now here he is - alive and finer than he’s ever been. It’s everything. 🙌🏽

And now I was very curious what Richonne's first words to each other would be after all these years. And to me, they chose the perfect thing for both of them with Michonne saying 'I found you" and then with what Rick first says.

Still in the hug, Rick quietly asks, “Judith - is she - is she alive?” Y'all, I love this so much. 🥹 Rick is a family man through and through and I gotta break down why I appreciate this as the first thing Rick says.

One; that’s his baby girl and as a parent you know it had to be so extremely painful to not know if Judith is okay let alone even alive. I really did get the sense from TOWL ep 1 that Judith is an extremely sensitive topic for Rick since not knowing her fate is just an unbearable pain. So I love that the second Rick gets to ask his wife for confirmation about if their daughter is alive it’s the first thing he wants to know.

gif cred: @saoirse-ronan

(Side note: this also makes me loathe Jadis even more because she was all looking forward to her annual meetups with Father Gabriel while Rick didn’t even get to know the status of his wife and daughter. 😤 The least that evil woman could have done was confirm to Rick that they were alive but no, he’s had to go years just trying to believe they were still out there.)

Two; It’s so true to the character of Rick Grimes to ask about his kids first because he did that so often in the main show. There’s so many times when his first question was about his kids and so this was very fitting. Times that come to mind is when Michonne killed the Governor and Rick’s first question is where’s Carl. When he finds Carl after the prison he wants to know where Judith is. In ASZ he loses sight of the kids and immediately goes running after them. And when he arrives back to ASZ in s8 he wants to know where the kids are. His kids are always a priority so I love that this is the first thing he wants to know.

Three; I love that after nearly dying himself on this day his concern is immediately on whether his baby girl is okay. He never stopped having a father's love for Judith and that was so evident. Four; it showed that his wife and daughter really are his choice because those are the two he most wants to check on. Five; the way he says it is so vulnerable. Because think about it, he basically has to brace for the answer to potentially be “no she’s not alive” but he has to know. It’s been too painful to go all these years not knowing.

And then it is just beautiful the way Michonne smiles and reassures Rick that their daughter is okay. She completely understands why this would be his first question and she loves him for it.

She takes Rick’s face in her hands as she smiles and tells him, “She’s okay” and the way Rick repeats with just overwhelming relief, “She’s okay” makes me teary every time. Every single time. 🥺

gif cred: @surii

In this moment you just see the dad who loves his daughter so much and who loves Michonne so much, especially knowing Judith is okay because of Michonne. I love how he repeats the words and believes them and it’s just said so softly and movingly as something he’s been dying to know for years - dying to know his daughter is okay. 🥲

Also, It’s wild how this incredible Richonne journey went from Rick (lying) telling Michonne that if she didn’t have that formula for Judith he wouldn’t have taken her in to now Rick having to ask Michonne as Judith’s mother how their daughter is doing. 😭

The way Michonne smiles as she answers just feels like she's so happy to be able to assure Rick baby, I got her, all these years I’ve held her, protected her, raised her, and our daughter is okay. Seeing Michonne be such an elated mom and wife in this moment warms my heart. And I love that not only is Judith alive, she’s Michonne's mini-me.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Michonne repeats with a smile, “She’s okay, Rick, yeah.” Hearing her say his name is music to my ears. And I love that she says Judith is okay even tho she had to go a year away from their baby girl. She’s choosing to only entertain a scenario where Judith is okay.

This was such a wonderful mom-and-dad moment. I love that their first exchange of dialogue is about their daughter. 🥲

gif cred: @hikarielizabethbloom

What’s so great about Richonne’s initial reunion is that it really felt like they just picked up where they left off in a lot of ways. And the way Richonne so visibly cherished being parents to Judith in s9 it is so beautiful to see them now talk about her again years later as her mom and dad.

Judith is so loved by her parents and I love to see it. And for Michonne it has to mean so much that she now gets to talk about her daughter with the person who loves her just as much as she does - Judith’s dad. 🥹

Then Rick sways back and forth and looks down appearing to feel a sense of shame for being in that CRM gear as he tries to utter out words. Michonne watches him and lovingly places her hand on his face before he gets the words out. Rick is her baby for real because she’s just so comforting as she senses everything he’s feeling. 😭

Rick tells Michonne, “I’m not - I’m not with them.” I love that he really does mean that in this moment. Despite piloting the helicopter that just crashed, telling Okafor he’s in, and giving orders to those soldiers, once Rick sees Michonne all of that is out the window and he’s not with them and knows nothing about that CRM lifestyle or whatever they got going on because that's not him. 😇👌🏽

gif cred: @surii

You know Rick felt it important to clarify this because he can tell Michonne has beef with the CRM and he’s like I want you to know this is not the clique I claim so you don’t have to have beef with me. Part of why he can say 'I’m not with them' is because his heart has always been with her. In its own way this is him letting her know 'I know what it looks like but trust me I’m still yours, not theirs.'

He says it so vulnerably, almost nervous about what Michonne will think. But Michonne is Rick's soulmate and she knows where his heart really lies so she says assuredly with a tear down her face, “I know.” I love that response. 😭

It reminds me of the great scene in TWD 4.16 when Rick tells her he’s okay and she says “I know.” In that s4 scene, Rick asks “how” Michonne knows he's okay and Michonne shows an awareness of how interconnected they are when she says “cuz I’m okay too.”

And from there, their interconnectedness only grew stronger and more evident as the seasons progressed to the point that now in TOWL, Rick doesn’t even have to ask how Michonne knows he’s not with the CRM. He knows how she knows - because they’re still one like that. They still deeply and intrinsically know each other with no explanations needed. True soulmates. 👌🏽

gif cred: @surii

And receiving that immediate belief has to mean so much to him. She really is just like the Michonne in his dreams, believing in him no matter what.

So now that he’s got two important things covered - confirming Judith is alive and confirming he doesn't have an allegiance to these CRM people Michonne has beef with - Rick is ready to give all his focus to Michonne and more intently greet his wife as he leans in for a kiss that makes my top 2 Richonne kisses of all time. 🤩

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Y’all, this kiss is everything, and they more than delivered with Richonne’s first real kiss in years. 🔥🙌🏽

This kiss captures everything Richonne feels about each other. It was eager and certain and passionate and sensual and organic and utterly fitting for an epic love story.

I remember my heart just soaring when first seeing this moment and my heart still melts over it now. Like the lighting was perfect, the framing, the way their eyes hardly flutter because they’re so locked in and present at this moment together. I mean they communicated the love they have for each other loud and clear with these excellent 7 kisses.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

The way they kiss each other…no one was ever going to come along and compete or compare in their life because Rick and Michonne be kissing each other's soul.

Their passion for each other is simply unrivaled. ❤️‍🔥 And it's perfect that this is the level of passion and intense love that they express to each other in the very first few minutes of their reunion. Like they don't have to build up to this type of kiss or hesitate, wondering if the other still loves them the same - they're just immediately on the same wavelength and showing loud and clear that they are still utterly in love with each other.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I love the way Rick leans in almost like he’s still dreaming and the way Michonne smiles that her fine man who has only got finer is clearly still so in love with her like she’s in love with him. She went from wrapping herself in his shirts to being swallowed up by the man himself. Love that for her. 😋

I also adore how steady and locked in Rick is during their first kiss even despite having gone through so much craziness just seconds before. It’s yet another illustrator of the way Michonne calms and centers him.

And the way Michonne wraps her arms around him after the first kiss and they just literally kiss like their life depends on it and are as close as humanly possible. Their love is as alive as ever. 🥰

gif cred: @riickgrimes

It’s so clear that Richonne really gets fully immersed in their love story and it’s the BEST. They have moments, especially in kisses, where they just feel like they are so present in the fact that they found their one true love.

And Rick and Michonne were living their best fairytale life with this moment in the woods after waiting so long and reserving their heart for each other alone. This is the only person they ever want to kiss like this and now they get to. 🙌🏽

It's great how they didn't even have to pause for one second to wonder if the other had moved on. Just from looking into each other's eyes, they innately knew that they were still in love like they never left.

There honestly aren’t enough words to describe how much I love this kiss so I’ll just say - tens across the board. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽😍

gif cred: @riickgrimes

So then they return to embracing each other after that kiss of life as Michonne smiles and Rick continues to cry on her shoulder.

TOWL made it very clear that Richonne’s kisses are communication and you know ‘I love you and I’ve never stopped loving you’ was conveyed crystal clear from them both.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Hearing them both take the biggest breaths and cry as they hug because for the first time in eight years, they have that missing part of their heart back. 😭 They’re slowly but surely becoming more whole again just by being in each other's presence. I’ve said it before - in each other's arms is where they’re most meant to be.

gif cred: @lousolversons

Michonne keeps her hands on Rick’s face as she pushes his hair back and just takes this all in, marveling that he’s alive and has clearly been through a lot but is still standing. It’s so preciously tender.

Michonne is so caring to all but you know there are three people alive who Michonne feels most called to be nurturing to and it’s her babies and her husband and you can just see that in this moment as she offers him the warmth and comfort he so deeply needs.

gif cred: @nat111love

And Rick again leans into her touch and just seems so overcome with emotion. I love that we can see him place a hand on her shoulder as he too lets it sink in that the love of his life really did find her way back to him.

After likely only envisioning scenarios where he’d have to make it back to her, Rick is reminded that he and his wife are truly cut from the same cloth so of course Michonne was working on getting back to him as well.

gif cred: @nat111love

Y’all, this moment was everything I could have wanted from Richonne’s reunion scene. Flawless. 💯👑 And I love that they got a chance to really let this part of the reunion breathe as Richonne allowed the two of them to be the only thing going on in the world for a moment. Like the way they were so focused on loving on each other in this moment is super special.

You’d never guess that Rick had just seen Okafor explode and got into a helicopter crash. You’d never guess Michonne was just slicing throats a second ago. In this moment all they were was each others. Time froze and Richonne’s love was able to fill the screen and be the center of everything, and I love to see it.

gif cred: @superpowered-dirt

However, if there’s one thing the world loves to do it’s scream at Richonne and so after this gorgeous moment of joy we’re yanked right back into the drama and high stakes as the CRM is about to put a major damper on things. And you know we gotta break it down.

But just like Richonne let this initial reunion breathe and have its moment, that’s what I want to do with this post and just live in it for a moment as a gorgeous and euphoric reunion between the best soulmates on television and between two undeniable magnets. 🧲

This gorgeous and epic Richonne reunion was entirely worth the wait. 🥹👌🏽

#this kiss was everything #reveling in richonne #richonne #towl #the ones who live #rick grimes #michonne grimes #twd: the ones who live

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ginblanco-77stuff · 5 months ago

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#8: The Last Letter (1.01)

gif cred: @vidco

Rick's 'last' letter to Michonne made my heart break into a million pieces. It was beautiful and devastating and also a major testament to the way Richonne’s love was the pulse of Rick’s life and without Michonne, that pulse essentially came to a stop 😢...

But backtracking a bit, after that powerfully acted scene between Rick and Okafor, Rick sits alone in his apartment with a drink as he stares out the window and again looks like he loathes the window's constant reminder that he’s stuck far from home.

I just know whenever Rick comes back to that cold bare apartment he would so rather come home to a home with toys on the ground, paintings on the fridge, his wife’s cat statue on the mantle - any signs that his home is the home of his family. The apartment reflects his emptiness and it’s clear he resents being here stripped of being a husband and father which is what he loved being more than anything.

This scene also always makes me think perhaps on this very night, an adorable little boy with Rick’s good kind heart is sitting at a dinner table asking the love of Rick’s life for more tomatoes, while Rick is forced to sit in this apartment alone, looking fine and depressed with just a drink to nurse his woes. He should be at those family dinners right now with Michonne, RJ, and Judith. The CRM has to burn for taking this from him. 😞

Rick, clearly a little buzzed from his drink is about to get up when Pearl urgently enters. And she enters without knocking to which I was like Thorne, ma'am…

She tells Rick to turn on the TV and they see that Omaha has been destroyed. Pearl is understandably overcome by this news.

She then expresses a lot of belief in the CRM and their secrets and how the CRM is the answer to creating a future and Rick looks up at her sorta just checked out. You can tell it's difficult for him to be present at this moment after his whole hope of going home has been completely crushed by the previous Okafor exchange.

gif cred: @clonecaptains

Pearl gives him more info about the little girl that he saved and then she says, “You and me and that girl…we all want to be somewhere else with someone else” and Rick again has a quiet emotional reaction as he turns away from her with tears in his eyes. Bringing up Michonne & Judith with these CRM people is always a sensitive thing for him.

Pearl adds, “But we got stuck in the right place” and Rick doesn’t look at her but tilts his head and reacts like he clearly disagrees with that assessment. If this place doesn’t have Michonne and Judith it can never be the right place.

She then says Rick is gonna see that this was for the best someday and she says she’s not sorry she stopped him, stating, “I’m not sorry I saved your life, even when you didn’t want it to be saved.”

gif cred: @twdfranchise

And the way Rick looks at her. He has this weary smile as he lets her know point blank, “You didn’t save my life.” First, he’s like don’t be taking credit for Michonne’s work lol. Michonne truly saved his life and every one of his kids' lives. She's the one who brought Rick back time and time again.

Also I think Rick feels like if I can’t go home then I don’t have a life to live really, let alone a life to save.

gif cred: @twdfranchise

It seems the way Rick sees it, Pearl just helped play a part in keeping him stuck here permanently.

And it’s super interesting how he delivers all this with a drained smile because I think he knows what he’s contemplating right now and is pretty resolved to go through with it. Almost like he’s coming to terms with the fact that he doesn’t plan on living much longer so Pearl didn’t save his life because he’s seriously considering taking it after enduring such painful hopeless circumstances.

But Pearl begs to differ saying, “Yes I did.” She takes a sip of Rick’s drink without asking and then breaks the glass on his floor which again…imma need her to chill throwing glasses around Rick. Idc if it’s your schtick, Pearl, it’s a hazard.

gif cred: @twdfranchise

Before leaving Pearl says, “At least there’s one more good man in the world, hmm? One more good man to try and save the world…whether he wants to or not.” This was Rick getting yet another reminder that even though he doesn't want power, power wants him.

gif cred: @twdfranchise

Pearl leaves and we’re brought back to the teaser moment as Rick sits alone and nears ending it all by his own hand. Which I’ve discussed this scene in the first TOWL post, but just to add - now knowing the exact circumstances that led him to this point, when he looks out the window and at the drawing of Michonne it just feels like he’s thinking 'I really won’t ever see her again outside of these sketches.' 🥺

Like he had probably fought so hard to never even entertain the idea of not seeing Michonne again because, like his wife, he too tries to not fantasize about failing. But now, that very possible reality of never seeing her again has sunk in and it's killing him.

gif cred: @vidco

And as he stares out the window at the view of the city that he hates, he seems to be accepting that this might be the last view he has.

This city that’s supposed to promise its residents a new life is the very reason Rick wants to take his. 😞

With the glass shard from the cup Pearl threw placed to his neck, Rick then has flashes of memories from his childhood home burning and, while we don’t know it at this time, it becomes clear these memories popped into his head at this moment because it’s a reminder of the sacrifice his dad made for their family.

And now Rick is going to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family. Deciding to stay alive to save the world for his girls all while feeling dead inside without them.

source: myobsessionsspace

So then begins Rick’s last soul-crushing letter to Michonne. 💔

The scene cuts to Rick waking up alone in bed for his first official day as the walking dead. It says a lot about Rick’s resilience that it took five years before he ever became this broken.

But he’s only human and can only take so much (especially without the family that fuels him) and so now he’s arrived at what he believes is the point of no return, no returning home that is. And as he wakes in this bed, you just know he’d give anything to return to the mornings when he’d wake up to his arms wrapped around Michonne.

Rick says, “I thought about ending it. Just stopping it all.” And I think it’s moving how he even wanted Michonne to know the darkest places he went to. Like she gets access to even his suicidal thoughts. He says, “But then…then it would all just be for nothing, wouldn’t it?” I like that he poses it as a question, even if rhetorical. He knows Michonne would say the answer is yes and would be so glad he didn’t go through with it.

gif cred: @nobleriver

Also, the survivor and protector in him wouldn’t let him go through with it because if he can in someway still save his girls from afar he’s going to try.

He says, “All of it for nothing. I couldn’t do it” and Rick’s face and the vulnerable delivery and breathing within this letter is so well executed and just makes my heart ache.

We see him writing the letter and I really like the detail of him having a ton of pages ripped out of the notebook. It goes to show he’s been writing a whole bunch to Michonne over the years.

Then we enter the depths of despair with Rick as he says, “But I still decided to die. I’ve been writing you letters the whole time. Reaching out to feel something. Writing just to imagine you could read them.” Ok I’m crying. 😭 Like that’s so beautiful and painful and I appreciate that Rick is so aware that connecting with Michonne in any way possible is the only way he can feel alive here.

gif cred: @taiturner

Seeing him write in that chair with his hand missing, just knowing he’s been through so much hardship and pain alone...y’all it’s too much. 😭

When Rick says, “This is my last one, the last letter I write to you that you’ll never see” the first time I heard it and every time after my heart just drops. I was shattered because this was him feeling forced to close the door on her and him in a way I’d never want to see. 🥺 Had me fully like...

After that Okafor exchange, Rick has finally accepted that all his hope of telling Michonne all this in person one day might be futile.

It’s also very poignant to have this letter occur over a montage of Rick restoring an office and moving up the ranks. As he declutters the conference room and becomes more involved in the CRM machine, he’s building things for them and bringing their vision to life while he himself dies inside. It’s a tragic and impactful contrast.

Then Rick says what he’ll say a total of three times throughout this one letter - “I love you.” 🥺

I adore hearing him tell her 'I love you,' especially while under these sorrowful circumstances. He says it so certain, like it’s something he knows will never change nor fade even if he has to be dead now and give up on seeing her.

gif cred: @candiedblue

Something I’ve said in many of my posts is all versions of Rick love Michonne. It’s just the truth. And even Dead Rick - the Rick who has had to shut himself off and feel nothing to survive as the walking dead - even he still loves Michonne. In fact, it’s like now all he is is love for her and their daughter and there’s no other part of his humanity he entertains or recognizes anymore.

By saying 'I love you' at this moment it’s him saying even tho this is the last letter, it’s not at all because he doesn’t love her. In actuality, it’s the last letter because he loves her so passionately that if he doesn’t kill the parts of himself that long to escape and be with her then he knows he’ll always try to get to her and he believes that will only put her in danger. So in a way, like Okafor, he too had to kill the idea of being with his wife. But even so, he still wants Michonne to know over and over that he still loves her.

Rick says, “I don’t see the dead anymore or the ones I lost.” This will come into play big time in the immaculate fourth episode. And it’s such a traumatizing thing to realize you don’t see anyone you love anymore. That would make you lose yourself entirely. 😞 So Rick's super forlorn, I'm super verklempt, it's a lot. And the letter only grows more devastating as it goes on.

The most painful part of this letter for me is when Rick devastatingly says he also doesn’t see the sun, the sky, or the water and “I don’t see you anymore.” 😭😭😭😭

The way he says that. 😥 The way his voice breaks just a bit saying 'anymore,' knowing that it was seeing Michonne that was keeping him going before this. 🥺

So many of us have always said that when Rick looks at Michonne he sees the sun, the moon, and the stars, and his whole universe. And sure enough, Rick confirms that here by saying if he can’t see her anymore he literally can’t see anything anymore - no sunlight to lead the way, no sky to reach new horizons, no water to cleanse the pain.

He can’t see any of those things in nature because it was Michonne who lit his path like the sun, who made him rise up higher than the sky, who washed away his fears and pain and replaced it with hope and joy. Their love was an electrifying life source and without her, he can't live and the whole world goes dark.

And I firmly believe that this is such an accurate in-character response from Rick. Like this isn’t something he’s saying because TOWL is an epic love story so they have to dramatically play up their romance and yearning - no this is truly how deep Richonne’s love goes and has always gone, to the point that Rick could see his entire world fade to black without the hope of having her in it.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Rick says, “I just see what’s ahead” and when his voice breaks as he says this it feels like his heart is breaking finally accepting that being with her is no longer what’s ahead. Now what’s ahead is far more cold and bleak as he says, “metal rotors, and gun oil and blood.” The beauty of nature replaced with the dark lifeless things of this apocalypse.

It’s interesting because you’d think when the world ended and turned into an apocalypse all those years ago, that’s when all you’d see ahead is blood and guns. But Richonne and their family managed to carve out such a beautiful life that it wasn’t until Rick lost them that he stopped seeing the good and beauty in the apocalyptic world.

And my heart melts over how this implies that part of why Rick could still see the sun, sky, water, and beauty in the world all those years ago was because he was with Michonne.

Rick goes on saying that all he sees is “What I have to do, what I can do to help save the world even if you never know I did that.” An ultimate act of sacrifice.

And then the greatest loverboy to ever walk the earth says, “I love you so much. I love you so so much.” And what I love so so much is the way he has to tell her this and emphasize it. 😭 Like you can just feel that as Rick writes this last letter he’s still so overcome with love for her and all he wants is to let Michonne know she still has his entire heart. Even the dead version of his heart is hers.

I'll forever adore hearing this. It made me think about how we went from being so eager to hear Rick say I love you just once in TWD to now hearing him say it three times in one letter in the first ep of this miniseries. TOWL is a blessing in every way. And the way he repeats it in this letter it really feels like he could say 'i love you' 100 times and he wouldn’t feel like it was enough to convey all the love he has for her.

Rick burns the phones and letters as he tells Michonne he loves her so much. And seeing him burn those, I was like...

One; I wanted Rick to still be able to keep those phones just to have some bit of his girls with him. And two; I was like Rick, your wife is on her way to save you and I want her to have the chance to read all your letters like you hoped she would. Like I really wanted Michonne to be able to read those letters one day - especially because, while she'll later say it in a moment of tension, Rick really is a great writer. 😊

This last letter right here would have Shakespeare applauding Rick. Even tho maybe it's good Michonne never got this letter because it would be absolutely heartbreaking for her to read. But I just love that Rick earnestly and honestly pours his heart out to Michonne so romantically in words. This was yearning at its strongest.

But Rick burns these items because he believes he has to burn this hope of being with them for their sake. Plus, these phones and letters are essentially what got him “caught” by Okafor in a way so he’s getting rid of the rest to not risk any more exposure again. But also, these phones are what got Michonne to realize Rick is alive so they did more good than damage.

gif cred: @nerd4music

As he burns the phones and letters it’s Rick following his dad and grandpa's footsteps and adopting the mindset that sometimes it's for the best to die and live and it’s an act of protection to let things burn, no matter how painful the sacrifice. And honestly, this is a huge act of love from Rick because he’s literally dying for his wife and daughter. Ending his life to save theirs - something he's always been willing to do as evidenced by the bridge sacrifice.

And as fire is one of the most prominent motifs in TOWL, I really like the theme of it for its duality. Fire both cleanses and destroys and Rick will wrestle with figuring out which one he does on this TOWL journey.

The most heartbreaking letter in history then concludes with Rick saying, “I tried. Please just know I tried.” as he stares into the fire, watching the flames burn away the last few parts of the Rick he once knew.

He so longs for Michonne to know just two things: 1) he loves her with everything in him and 2) he tried as hard as he could for her.

But as hard as he tried, things just haven’t worked out so he ends the letter saying one more time in a broken whisper “I tried…but I failed.” And well if TOWL wanted to shatter my heart then mission accomplished because this letter never fails to break me. By the end of this letter Rick and I were in the same boat because I was watching like...

It’s hard enough to know Rick decided to die while still alive. Like that’s such a painful choice. Especially because choosing to die is different than choosing to become numb imo. You can still technically 'feel' numbness, but when you decide to live but die, you stop feeling anything, not even numbness. You shut off your humanness just to get through the pain.

And since our humanness switch is never meant to be turned off it’s no easy feat to turn it back on. Speaking from experience, once you shut off that switch, sure you stop feeling the pain but you stop feeling everything else too and it takes time and a lot of love to turn it back on. Like even love almost becomes a 'concept' more than a feeling because you're so alienated from having love in your life.

Fortunately, the woman who loves Rick more than he’s ever been loved is on her way to love him back to life. And thank goodness, because Rick needs Michonne desperately.

But then on top of all this, the aspect that makes this last line of the letter so heartrending is Rick didn’t just die but feels he died a failure.

Every day that Rick struggled to break free and had to live knowing his wife and daughter were out there and he couldn’t hold them, protect them, or love them added such a painful layer to his sense of failure. And it’s heartbreaking to hear his final letter conclude not by saying he tried but just couldn’t escape the oppressive CRM, but rather “I tried, but I failed.” It gives us insight into how much Rick’s mindset is that he is the cause of the failure.

He thinks this is on him and feels he’s let them down. He didn’t just ‘die’ disappointed, he thinks he ‘died’ a failure even despite really being a victim of his circumstances. And when I tell you that breaks my heart. It really really does. 💔

And now Rick just has to live dead and thinking he fell short of the one thing he thought he’d never fall short of which is finding his way back to his family.

That has to change him on a foundational level -thinking he’s failed and let his family down by not being able to overcome the CRM and get to them. I hate that he had to carry that false thought that he’s a failure for so long.

This letter also shows that Rick is the literal embodiment of loving his wife more than life itself. He feels there is no version of him that can be alive without her so he has to die. And even dead, he knows he'll still always love Michonne which makes this outcome a punishment worse than death because at least in death you don't have to be aware of your loss. 😞

But let me stop here because...

I'll conclude by saying - Rick's last letter was painfully beautiful and tragically romantic. I love that his love for Michonne makes him want to write poetry and prose about how he feels about her and how much she means. I get it because Richonne’s love has me writing for days too. 😇

After this letter, I so needed a reminder of the light at the end of this super dark tunnel and once again, Rick’s dreams came to the rescue to deliver in all ways. 🙌🏽

I mean this next scene delivered Richonne, it delivered gorgeous chemistry, and also it delivered pizza and a ‘proposal’ so naturally it’s my favorite scene of the episode. 😊👌🏽

#this letter 😪😔😭 ... i go cry some more 😭😭😭#richonne #towl #reveling in richonne #the ones who live #twd towl #rick grimes #michonne grimes #twd: the ones who live

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ginblanco-77stuff · 6 months ago

Text

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#7: The Choice (1.01)

gif cred: @machonnes

Ok so apart from a certain dream that comes up later in the premiere, this is my favorite scene of episode one. Andy did a phenomenal job as always and this was when we got to see some signature Rick 'Ain’t Nothing to Play With' Grimes. Craig Tate also was incredible in this scene. And even after already hearing that one line in the trailer so much because I replayed it 1000x leading up to TOWL, hearing it during this premiere was even better...

So they set the tone of this scene right from the jump with dramatic music as Rick unleashes the weapon from his prosthetic fist. He quietly approaches a sleeping Okafor, putting the blade to his neck as he tells him to “Wake up.”

Okafor wakes up calmer than some people do from a morning alarm and just says, “You forgot to salute, soldier.” Rick isn’t here for games so he gets straight into it asking Okafor, “What the hell do you know about me?” And that’s all Okafor has to hear to know exactly what Rick’s talking about.

Okafor starts to quote Rick’s letter saying, “'I think of the dead all the time.'” And hearing him quote that I was like like now I know he didn’t violate Rick’s privacy and read his personal letters to Michonne. 😑 Okafor, sir...

They then show clips of Rick from the TWD series finale when he places a love letter to Michonne in a bottle and throws it in the river like the true loverboy he is. Okafor casually lists out more info he has stating, “Her name, back of the note, your message in a bottle from escape number three.”

Okafor says he found the bottle and also the phones saying, “That was her on the phones, right? Yeah, I looked through those too. The child though - that was your daughter, right?” And Rick has crazy eyes as he hears this.

Aside from the portraitist and maybe Jadis reluctantly, this is probably Rick's first time ever even talking this directly about Michonne and Judith with anyone in years and now he has to talk about his girls with someone who is willing to take them out if need be. 😞

gif cred: @vidco

Another thought I had while watching the TOWL premiere is that Judith appears to be an especially sensitive subject for Rick. I think why he might mention her less than Michonne in episode one is because for a parent to have to just not know if their kid is alive is too much to bear. And so I think Rick is a lot more hesitant to let thoughts about Judith's status even take up his mind because it’s too painful wondering if she’s not alive whereas he knows Michonne is likely alive.

Hearing Okafor say he knows all about Michonne and Judith has Rick ready to throw hands and so he yanks Okafor out of the bed and demands to know who else knows about his family.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I love Tate’s delivery as Okafor says, “'Michonne' is an unusual name. Not many people out there” (baby, she’s one-of-a-kind 💅🏽).

gif cred: @nerd4music

He continues, “But if you start the search around where we picked you up…that’s potent information.” And again I have to applaud Tate’s performance in this scene because the brand of menacing he chooses is super compelling. It’s understated but still so chillingly in control and he’s a great foil to Rick.

gif cred: @nerd4music

I love how Rick's relationship with and love for Michonne is driving the plot and the stakes in this scene. TWD didn't fully explore Negan picking up on the fact that Rick had a wife, but this exchange between Okafor and Rick in TOWL gave us some insight into exactly how Rick would be if someone learned about his true love and tried to use it against him.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Rick takes a page from the Will Smith handbook when he slaps Okafor’s neck and pushes him to the ground to let him know he needs to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth. Rick is really ready to scrap knowing Okafor knows about Michonne. 🥊

gif cred: @nerd4music

Okafor keeps talking and Rick punches him in the face so Okafor lets Rick know, “They would have sent me to find you, clean up my mess, and finally erase you. You are my charge.” Even using a term as cold as 'erase you' shows that there’s a lack of humanness in how Okafor views things.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

And then Rick proves it's possible to look extremely hot and like a raging madman all at the same time, as he listens to this with a nod and crazed eyes.

gif cred: @richardgrimes

Okafor says, “I’m the one who’d have to kill you and Michonne and anyone else you ran to out there. Just knowing about this—" and y’all, that was Okafor’s death sentence right there.

Telling Rick Grimes you’d have to kill Michonne...oh that’s when I knew Okafor wasn’t gonna make it out of TOWL alive. No one threatens Michonne and lives.

And Rick puts some extra oomph when he kicks Okafor in the face for the mere suggestion. Like please, the golden rule is you don’t come for a Grimes in front of another Grimes and here Okafor got to learn the golden rule by threatening Michonne Grimes like that.

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

Then it’s Rick's turn to weigh in, in that black jacket that really flatters him, when he tells Okafor he doesn’t care why he’s covered in blood and why the bombs go out and don’t come back. (Even tho low key he should care because little does he know those bombs nearly lost him his wife. 😣)

Okafor says Rick does care because he’s convinced any A would be eager to save the world. But Rick has always been a guy whose goal in life is not to be some superhero leader. He wants his world back most of all. And we know who his world consists of.

Rick says, “This isn’t my city. Those aren’t my people.” It’s interesting because in TWD Rick was a leader who treated his group like they were genuinely his people and family, but here with the CRM he's avoided establishing any allegiance to these people whatsoever.

Okafor says everyone in the world is his people, everyone alive, and Rick raises his voice to say, “This isn’t everything!”

I know Rick is fed up because he feels like he found his everything long ago, so to suggest that anything other than his family is more important will just never sit well with him.

He feels this mission and this city is not a paradise for everyone because for him the only heaven he has on earth will ever be Michonne and their kids.

Rick continues, passionately saying, “You don’t get to choose for the world! You don’t get to choose for me.” I love the delivery of that. Rick already chose what and who is everything to him.

Okafor just casually says, “I don’t. You did. You made the choice.” And first of all, Rick didn’t choose to be here at all so really he’s just had to work with the cards he’s been dealt.

Second of all, he only made the choice to join the CRM because it was a way to get back to the people who are his actual choice --- and who are those people some might ask? Rick will tell you. 😊

Hearing Okafor say this, Rick is like lemme make something as clear as day to you as he says with all the conviction in the world,

“My wife is my choice.”

gif cred: @riickgrimes

And now y’all excuse me a minute because the happy dance spirit is going to take over my being every time I hear that line.

Ain’t that line the best thing ever. 🤩 I loved hearing Rick say this and say it so powerfully. It was a great first time hearing Rick refer to Michonne as his wife. And I adore that he says she’s his choice. 🥹

So much to gush over about this one line alone. Rick calling Michonne his wife was big on my TOWL wishlist and this was such a perfect way to hear him say it.

I love that while he was taken before they could marry on the bridge like he wanted, Rick still knows what he and Michonne had was a beautiful love between a husband and wife. Just like Michonne knew it too so she wore a wedding ring around her neck all these years.

When I see Rick say this line to Okafor I like to think about how somewhere on this same night Michonne was in bed alone and little did she know Rick was out here throwing high-ranking soldiers around to let them know that she is always and forever his ultimate choice. Their love is just something else, I adore it.

Also, this line made me think about another time someone Rick had a conflict with brought up Michonne. In s3, the Governor wanted to make a deal with Rick regarding Michonne - infamously asking if one woman is worth it.

gif cred: @chonesmint

And man has that one woman been more than worth it to the point that now when someone speaks on Michonne, Rick can look at them with all the intensity and certainty in the world and say that she is his wife and she is his choice.

And then Rick lets Okafor know Judith is very much included in this as he says, “My daughter. My life is my choice.” Now that’s an A. Saying I’ve made my choice and no one is taking that from me. 👏🏽

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Seeing Rick still be so connected to his wife and daughter, still choosing them above all else, warms my heart. It’s great. 🥹 All these years later he still fights so hard for these two. 🥲

And in declaring his wife and his daughter are his choice it's also Rick revealing to Okafor that they are the only reason he 'chose' to join the CRM and play along. He was never actually bought into any program like Okafor or the CRM might've thought.

Then, Andy just knocks it out of the park even more as he says, “You think I went what I went through, did what I did, to let anyone choose anything for me?” The emotion in those lines was so good and palpable. 👏🏽

gif cred: @msanonships

I just felt everything we’ve ever seen Rick go through all these years flash through his head as he lets Okafor know he’s been through way too much to let someone else start calling the shots on his life. That power is reserved for him and Michonne alone (who Rick happily chooses to let choose things for him 😇).

gif cred: @msanonships

Okafor firmly tells Rick he made the choice and then Rick wants to start throwing shade and calling Okafor out when he says that Okafor lives for the people in the city because he has nothing else but his duty.

Rick's basically saying 'look, you don't have a goddess at home like me so...

Rick calls Okafor a good soldier with nothing and Okafor doesn't take kindly to being read for filth so he hits Rick and tags him to the ground. Okafor gets the upper hand and yells about how he lost everything and how he was the one to bomb Atlanta, which was interesting to learn he was one of the people behind the Atlanta bombing in early TWD.

Okafor reveals he too had a wife named Estelle who was a marine and how she and he didn’t want to keep killing people for nothing. Okafor says he had power and he had a choice and the choice he made was to...kill his wife. 👀 That was a wild confession.

And Rick’s response says he too thinks this is a wild confession especially because he would never do that to Michonne, regardless of a greater good.

However, while Rick would never do that, he does eventually in a way try to kill the relationship with his wife for the sake of protecting Michonne going forward.

gif cred: @riickgrimes

I like how Okafor has to sorta pause before saying “I killed my wife” and even his cadence is a bit different when he does speak on taking out his wife. It seems to be the one thing he still has at least a little bit of emotion over. Like he says it in a detached way but that pause beforehand lets you know somewhere deep inside the act of killing his wife and thousands of others still stirs him.

It just goes to show when you find a real love there will always be a part of you that feels something for them no matter how detached you become from things.

But then Okafor credits his wife’s choice as one that saved even more people and maybe even the whole world which is clearly how he justifies the act. He’s a mirror for Rick to see what he could become if he officially loses his love - becoming a man who just lives for some greater cause of saving the world even if it means being broken and shut down because you’ve lost the one woman who saves your world.

Okafor says, “I tried with you, Rick. I tried.” And Rick quietly says “I’m sorry,” cuz even in a fight Rick can still have empathy. Okafor asks what he’s apologizing for and Rick slashes him trying to get the upper hand but Okafor punches him and pulls a gun on him.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Realizing he’s at a disadvantage, Rick says, “Just let me go” but Okafor says no because Rick is an asset to his plan.

I saw some debate on whether Okafor was ultimately a friend of Rick and I honestly think no. Rick was an asset to his plan and, in a way, Okafor seemed to feel like he owned Rick, even hanging the threat of killing his family over him to keep him on board. So while they may have got to a point of complicated comradery, I think first and foremost Okafor was just a different type of captor of Rick.

When Okafor denies his request to be let go, Rick then puts Okafor’s weapon to his head and begs him to end it. Which is super painful to see. 😢

It also is a very clear depiction of how he and Michonne cannot in fact lose each other and be fine because as Rick realizes in this gut-wrenching scene he now can’t go home to her - not because he wouldn't be willing to keep trying to escape but because he can put his girls in danger if he does - he really just wants to be done with life.

gif cred: @rcsitastark

Rick says, “Do it. Please” and he’s so clearly in despair and agony. 🥺 But Okafor says he won’t grant that death wish. He tells Rick, “They’re still with you. But you fight here now. You fight for them. You already made the choice.” And that part is true - his family is still with him, even tho I know Rick doesn't fully feel like it's true rn, having already lost the memory of Carl and been away from his wife and daughter for years.

It’s devastating seeing a light turn off with Rick in this moment as he realizes he can’t go home to his wife and daughter. You just see his mind and body succumb to defeat. And I found the CRM folk continuously telling Rick that he made the choice to be a cruel act of manipulation.

gif cred: @taiturner

So Rick just stands there with his head hung low as Okafor moves on from Rick's despair and just goes over the next steps regarding the Summit. And again you can see Rick becoming lifeless.

Okafor says this is the start of Rick’s path to the upper echelons of power and Rick tells him what’s always been true when he says, “I don’t want power.” He really never has.

Honestly, in s8 during the Savior War, it was clear Rick was ready to retire even back then. I’m reminded of Danai’s impactful and spot-on words when she described Rick as not needing leadership to be a man but rather being a good man burdened with leadership. It’s never been about titles and wielding authority for him.

Even in Say Yes, there’s a reason he tells Michonne he wouldn’t want to be the leader of the next world. He doesn’t want power. Really what he most wants for his life is her and their family.

gif cred: @ex0rin

But it’s fitting that Okafor responds saying, “That’s the thing. You already have it.”

While Rick, as he says several times in TWD, didn’t ask to be a leader, he is a natural one and so whether he wants it or not he does have power and he is someone who can make a difference. Basically, he’s just destined to be Him. Even tho right now he feels cursed to be that guy.

And while Okafor says Rick has power, Rick is clearly feeling at his absolute lowest and most powerless in this moment, which will now lead to this episode's most heartbreaking scenes and a beautiful but painful last letter. 😔👌🏽

#richonne #reveling in richonne #towl #the ones who live #michonne grimes #rick grimes #twd: the ones who live

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