TWD: The Ones Who Live Finally Fixes The Franchise's Bad Habit

Contains spoilers for "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live" Episode 1 — "Years"

The world of "The Walking Dead" tends to rely on slow burns. On the original show, large teams were often split up into smaller groups or duos. Parted by fate, bad luck, or insurgent Walkers, romantic duos might spend anywhere from a whole season to multiple seasons working their way back toward one another. This is often interesting and could build rooting value, but it is typically tedious to stretch out circumstances that are already tragic. Does it need to take more than one season to get all of the main characters in the same place?

This seems to be a pattern that is finally, blessedly, being broken with "The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live," which does not drag out Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne's (Danai Gurira) reunion for one minute longer than it needs to. They meet again for the first time on a battlefield toward the end of the episode, and it appears they won't be fully separated again.

At least viewers won't have to cope with watching them struggle their way toward one another for five more episodes. But those who love Rick and Michonne's romance should know that the two of them really earned this quick reunion after years of struggling back on the way home.

How many years have passed by since Rick and Michonne last saw each other? It's been roughly eight years since they last looked at one another — one of the longest star-crossed estrangements in the entire "The Walking Dead" universe. Since then, they've survived much, seen much, and lost much, but their continued aim is to get back to one another over time.

The first episode explains how Rick's plan to get home was thwarted. After healing from the injuries incurred during his fall from the bridge explosion, he's held captive by the Civic Republic Military for years. Refusing training despite those around him urging him to take on the CRM mantle and change the organization, Rick is nonetheless inspired to flee multiple times. Yet he is ultimately unable to get away, and he soon finds himself giving in to training, his hope dwindling away. That's when the universe reunites him with Michonne. 

Michonne's story remains unrevealed as of press time. But if there's anything certain about the world of "The Walking Dead," it's that her story's likely filled with triumph, woe, and dead Walkers aplenty.