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The Walking Dead: Michonne leaves the series (for good?!) in 'What We Become'
Michonne and Virgil have finally arrived at the island which holds the Navy research facility, but he is being dodgy when she insists on getting the munitions he promised. At first it seems that Michonne has just been brought in to kill stray zombies, but things get weird when Virgil reveals his family is dead. He convinces Michonne to stay the night, but in the middle of the night she gets edgy and starts exploring. When she hears voices coming from a locked room, she is suspicious—then Virgil locks her in an adjoining room.
The voices on the other side of the wall explain: they worked with Virgil on the island. They took in stragglers, whoever they could. But supplies started to run short, and survivors turned violent, fighting over food. Virgil locked everyone inside, but didn’t realize his family was in there. They died, and he snapped.
Virgil doses Michonne with a hallucinogenic tea he grows on the island, and about half this episode was spent in Michonne’s trip. In her imagination, she is the bad guy. She sees Siddiq, who blames her for everyone’s death. She doesn’t save Andrea in the woods when she first finds her in Season 3. In the forest, Negan finds her and takes her in. When Negan later lines up Rick and his crew on their knees, it is Michonne who steps up and starts doling out the murder. Her trip ends with her being shot in the chest by Daryl, and then in the head by Rick.
Back in the here and now, Michonne is vomiting in the bucket. Virgil comes in with some water, and she stabs him in the ankle with a fork. The two fight, and Virgil runs. Michonne lets the other captives out, then they give chase. Before they find Virgil, though, they find the boat is on fire. When they do hunt down Virgil, Michonne tackles him, and the others try to provoke her into killing him. She considers this, but doesn’t. “You get something with mercy. You get peace.” Instead, one of the captives knocks him out and he is locked in a cell.
She checks the entire island, but doesn’t find any of the promised weaponry. He takes her to the supply room, where she takes back her belongings, then finds something much more important: old cowboy boots. Rick’s old cowboy boots. Michonne becomes enraged. Virgil insists they just washed up, and shows her where: in a bay, with a big fishing boat in it. Michonne rages again, this time for not being told about the boat, but Virgil swears it just washed up here. On the boat, Michonne finds an iPhone with Rick’s name etched onto it, plus a simple drawing of Michonne and Carl. Virgil plays dumb long enough that Michonne believes him and backs off. The scientists work together to make the boat functional again.
When the boat casts off, Virgil doesn’t accompany them. He promised his wife he would bring her flowers every day. So, you know, he’s still nuts. Michonne gets Judith on the walkie-talkie, and Judith tells her “Alpha can’t hurt us anymore.” Judith also convinces Michonne that she needs to go an investigate whether or not Rick is alive.
Once the boat makes land, Michonne goes off on her own. She creates a couple of zombie guards to walk with her, returning to her old ways. However, in the past, when she was walking with zombie guards, she was only looking out for herself. But Rick and the others taught her a different way. So when she comes across a pair of people in need of help, she stops and helps them. And that help could prove very beneficial. Over the horizon, Michonne sees thousands of people walking, in military-like formations.
Bye-Bye Michonne
This was Michonne’s last episode (until, at least, the upcoming movies). Frankly, I was a little disappointed. I’m not a big fan of “tripping” episodes. I wanted to see Michonne fight and plot and even smile.
“Alpha Can’t Hurt Us Anymore”
Sure, Alpha can’t. But Beta is still around, and he is, I think, even more dangerous than Alpha. Alpha had a plan, a method. Beta, I think, will act on raw emotions and his instinct seems to be to murder.
iPhone
Call me old fashioned, but wouldn’t it be easier for Rick to keep a drawing of Michonne and Carl on, say, a piece of paper? Why carry around an entire iPhone—an old, heavy one—if only for an etching?
