TWD: The Ones Who Live Non-Spoiler Review: 1st Four Episodes

TWD Review: The epilogue parachutes viewers into the psyche of a helpless Rick Grimes akin to a captive baby elephant. Even when the chains are off, Rick no longer dares disobey his training.

Failure to escape his rescuers turned captors has led him down a path of repeated mental trauma. Lines blurred between armed solider & handcuffed prisoner. The utopia you can live in but never leave.

At its heart, the plot of ‘The Ones Who Live’ appraises if love is evanescent or everlasting years into an adult relationship. When the honeymoon butterflies fade into the wind and feasibility walls away the thermal passion of youth.

It’s a headfirst plunge into discovering if two star-crossed lovers are missing a moment in time long passed by… Or truly longing for life together as it once was.

Easy to love from a distance, when there’s no new facts about the person to take in. Only passionate memories flooding the page you’re stuck on, never a second chapter to flip to.

But what happens when two paths in life divert in such a way where you can’t just time travel romance? When the ink has faded and the idealized version (“The Brave Man”) of the person you loved doesn’t match who they actually are now in reality.

Or where long-term practicality can necessitate choosing against your immediate impulses. That’s the essence of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

Series Opening and General Plot Line

The series opens firing on all cylinders as you find yourself dropped into a chaotic walker battleground with Rick Grimes as your point man. TOWL then leans right into a jaw dropping moment from the Negan era with a fresh twist.

It’s all familiar, nostalgic territory and you feel like this is the ‘real’ next episode after the bridge. Lapsed Walking Dead fans will rejoice and savior every moment.

However, the actual CRM storyline kind of degrades into a convoluted web of knotted shoelaces rather than an elegant, measured spider’s web.

If you’re a hardcore Walking Dead fan already, you’ll look past this. But it’s unlikely to grab the attention span of non-fans for long with frequent time leaps and past references.

Viewers don’t really ‘start’ off fresh like in Dead City. TOWL is an epilogue through and through. There’s not much doubt that pre-existing romance fans will rate this series a 10 out of 10 for them. Love at first sight.

However, for general TWD fans, the scripts might seem to lack some parity from episode to episode.

In Comparison to ‘Daryl Dixon’ and ‘Dead City’:

When it comes to general scenery, TOWL is an ocean removed from the magnifique aesthetic imbuing the Daryl Dixon spinoff. And is miles behind the visuals race in comparison to the soaring Gotham presented in Dead City.

Desolate and sterile looking military buildings form the majority of the first episodes in TOWL. There is a quaint marketplace and town square but it’s just missing something, you don’t form a connection to it like Alexandria.

Some of the disaster zones used for ‘secret conversations’ look like they’ve been recycled & repurposed from the Scavangers era.

Things pick up in the cinematography department later on with a spectacular loft and colorful lighting in tight corridor walker combat.

Conclusion: As we can’t give much in the way of specifics away currently, let us keep it real. It’s Rick Grimes, there’s no way any true Walking Dead fan is not watching this series and getting closure to his story.

More Walking Dead Series Coverage:

Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live _ Season 1, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Be sure to read:

– Norman Reedus on Daryl Dixon, Beta fight scene evolving his screen combat

– Exclusive Norman Reedus Photos: Daryl Dixon Press Conference

– New York Comic Con 2023 Exclusive Photos: Daryl Dixon Panel

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