The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live: Rick Grimes FINALLY reunites with his wife Michonne in the spinoff premiere

Rick Grimes was finally reunited with his wife Michonne during Sunday’s premiere of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live on AMC.

“I have to keep trying,” Rick said [Andrew Lincoln], who had been held captive by the Civic Republic Military (CRM), a militarized survival group. ‘I won’t stop. I’ll get there. I’m going home or I’m going to die, that’s all.’

The episode titled Years began five years after the bridge explosion, with Rick considering committing suicide with a shard of glass after seeing reports on television of an explosion that had killed other survivors of the post-apocalyptic world.

Rick worked as a ‘consignee’ for the Civic Republic Military, CRM, killing the walking dead as part of an effort to become a CRM citizen. Rick tried to escape by cutting off his hand with an ax to get out of his handcuff, but a CRM officer stopped him with a taser.

The show then had a dream sequence where Rick met Michonne [Danai Gurira], now Rick’s wife, for the first time while just sitting on a park bench eating dinner before the apocalypse. Rick then woke up in the CRM hospital with his arm bandaged.

“I wanted to get away,” Rick said. ‘I wanted to contact you. God damn it, that was me.”

Donald Okafor [Craig Tate]the CRM lieutenant colonel, decided to keep Rick alive despite his multiple escape attempts.

“Okafor protected me because he said he saw something in me,” Rick said. “He wanted me to join his program, to join their army and use my life for them.”

Esteban García [Frankie Quinones], another recipient, told Rick after six years that he was moving to the city and becoming a citizen. Rick then reluctantly agreed to enlist in the CRM and they equipped him with a special hand for his military training.

Okafor told Rick and Pearl Thorne [Lesley-Ann Brandt], another recipient, that he would train them to become leaders. Okafor said the CRM designates people as A’s and B’s.

“A’s will die for what they believe in,” Okafor said. “People will follow A’s.”

Okafor said the Bs were ordinary people trying to survive. He said that A’s normally get killed. but that the CRM needs to change and needs strong leaders.

“He wanted to change things, change the military without them even knowing about it, and he wanted my help with that,” Rick said.

Beale (Terry O’Quinn), the Major General of the Civic Republic Military, controlled Rick during his training. He said they were fairly hidden rather than the other cities of Portland and Omaha. Beale told him that Okafor switched sides and made a compelling argument for allowing Rick into the CRM.

“Is Okafor up to something I need to know?” Beale asked.

“No,” said Rik.

Rick later went into town to see his friend Esteban, a former consignee who achieved citizenship. Rick showed him a blueprint and told him he needed to know where a tunnel went in a city.

“Dude, I’m a water and energy senior now,” Esteban said.

Rick said he had to escape. Esteban eventually told him that the tunnel would take him to an intersection a mile away and even gave him the code to open the padlock.

During a mission far away, where a resource ran to an abandoned chemical factory, Rick made another escape attempt when a girl appeared and he decided to try to save her.

“He killed my mother,” the child said.

“He’s a good man and we come from a good place and we’re all going back there,” Pearl said.

Rick then asked for Pearl’s help to escape.

“I’ll help you,” Pearl said. “He would have found you.”

Rick then went to wake Okafor up and demanded that he tell him what he knew about him.

“There aren’t many people here, but if you start looking for where we picked you up, that’s powerful information,” Okafor said. “They would have sent me to find you, clean up my mess, and finally erase you.”

“You can’t choose me!” said Rick.

“You made the choice,” Okafor said. ‘I’ve lost everything. I bombed Atlanta and I bombed Los Angeles, and I was on my way to do the same to Philadelphia!’

Okafor said his wife did not want to go with him to “liquidate” all the people.

“I had power, I had a choice and I killed my wife and 4,000 other people,” Okafor said. “And we saved hundreds and thousands, perhaps the entire world, with her choice.”

Rick begged Okafor to kill him.

“I don’t do that,” Okafor said.

Okafor told him that he would transfer Rick to logistics that would put him on the path to the high power relations at CRM.

Later, Pearl rushed into Rick’s room and turned on the television to show him that Omaha was gone.

“Do you think people did this?” said Rick.

“I know the Civil Republic is alive and Omaha is dead,” Pearl said.

Rick looked out the window after she left and considered killing himself by placing the piece of glass against his neck.

“I thought about ending it, just calling it quits, but then it would just be nothing, wouldn’t it?” Rick said in a letter he wrote to Michonne but never sent.

Rick, who had worked his way up to leadership in the CRM, then burned all his memories of Michonne.

“Please know that I tried, but it didn’t work,” Rick said.

The show then flashed to another dream where Rick met Michonne again on a park bench and shared a pizza with her.

“We can make this whole damn world ours if we want to,” Michonne told him.

“What if I came here one day with five pizzas and a wedding ring?” said Rick.

“I think you should,” Michonne said.

Rick reached out and kissed her.

Back in the present, Rick flew with Okafor in a helicopter mission along the coast. He told him about when he was a boy and how his father comforted him when a fire broke out on their farm. Rick said he later found out his father had started the fire, but it saved the family and they were able to build a better house and farm.

“I’m in,” Rick said.

“I know you are the right choice for this plan,” Okafor said. “No more A’s and B’s. No more Omahas. I still don’t know how it will end. I’ll tell you another secret. When you reach that point, swear on the sword. Don’t let it last. You will know. Believe me.’

At that moment, Okafor was hit by a missile and explosions rattled the helicopter.

‘We’ll take fire!’ said Rick. “We’re going down!”

The helicopter crashed and Rick and the other soldiers ran outside. Michonne ran and killed the soldiers one by one and was about to slit Rick’s neck when his helmet fell off and she saw it was him.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live returns next week on AMC.