Danai Gurira is proving herself to be an incredible actress this season, and I think her heavy involvement with the show is to her benefit. She, along with Andrew Lincoln and the credited writing team of Scott M. Gimple and Channing Powell, have managed to make the CRM even more monstrous than they seemed at first blush (which was bad enough before they started stealing children like a collective of cartoon trolls). Despite her concealed face, when Michonne stumbles out of that briefing in the middle of it with the horrified look in her eyes like George C. Scott in Hardcore, you don’t need to see the rest of her face to sell that impact. Her eyes say it all.
Andrew Lincoln and Terry O’Quinn also deserve a lot of credit for their part in the tense middle moments of the episode. Beale has clearly done this rap before, so the details of millions of hungry dead clogging the middle of the country and the CRM science division’s estimate of 14 more years of human habitability is almost tossed off. Heavy details, to be sure, but he’s come to terms with them. Rick, meanwhile, has not, and it’s only the mention of the man whose throat he bit out and the brief trip down memory road with Carl and all of his Alexandria friends that keeps him from going fully into Beale’s message. It’s easy to see why someone like Thorne, who will likely never make it back to her home, fell in line to rage against the dying of humanity’s light.
Rick, however, has people to live for and, more importantly, a will to live that bubbles over in his violent confrontation with Beale. With the knowledge he has, and the body he needs to dispose of, Rick has a very tense elevator ride. Michael E. Satrazemis and the show’s technical crew do a great job of making an elevator trip into something nightmarish. Michonne, who has a clear shot at safety, can’t abandon Portland either. Beale tells Rick, several times, that the sword that kills is the sword that gives life, and Rick and Michonne are that life-giving sword. Some people die so that others can live, be it the sacrifice of a friend or the death of 2000 or so true believers with a little inspiration provided by Michonne’s late friend Nat.
All they have to do to get away is avoid the explosion and avoid the last of the die-hards in Thorne, who has been tracking the two since Rick lied about Beale going off to be by himself earlier in the episode. The final confrontation is nicely done, with Rick and Michonne cooperating until they see zombie Beale come shambling out of the tent, dragging a bunch of grenade pins behind him. Some quick thinking by the two keep them alive, but even after the grenades detonate and the poison gas kills off the remaining Frontliners, Thorne is still there to keep up the good fight before being bested by Michonne using Beale’s own sword.
Good triumphs over evil, in the end. By wielding the sword that kills, Michonne and Rick enable the sword that gives life. With the eyes of the people opened up to the behaviors of Beale and the Frontliners, the CRM is finally in a position to make real changes, both internally and externally. The Civic Republic Television Network talking head fills in those gaps nicely as Michonne and Rick get out of a helicopter in civilian clothes.
Cue the reunion with Judith and JR, and no other adult cast members. Cue the helicopters ladened with goodies flying overhead, off to help the communities that need it and recover the people who want it. A new Civic Republic using its resources to create a new and better world, and not just for those lucky enough to live behind their secret walls. The whole thing gets wrapped up in a nice, neat bow, and Rick and Michonne get a well-deserved happy ending (at least until the sequel series gets commissioned by AMC).
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