The Walking Dead Episode 13: What We Become

Christina Horton

4 years ago

The Walking Dead Episode 13: What We Become

It’s hard when an actor or actress leaves a show after many years, and it was no different from Danai Gurira’s exit from the Walking Dead in the latest episode.

Danai has been a prominent member of the cast since season three.

A Quick History Lesson Of Michonne

Michonne has been not only one of the greatest fighters but also one of the best human beings in the show. Not only did she take Carl under her wing before falling for Rick but also accepted Judith and Carl as her own children.

Michonne came with her hardships. She had lost her son, Andre, at the tender age of three to walkers before meeting up with Rick and the others. She overcame her obstacles and became one of the driving forces of the show. But all good things come to an end.

Virgil The Liar

The last we saw of Michonne, she had agreed to take Virgil home to his family in exchange for weapons. It didn’t take Michonne long to figure out Virgil had lied to her. There were no guns, and he had just brought her to the island to take care of the walkers. That included his family. Well, Michonne did that, and there were still no weapons.

Wanting to go Home

She tells Virgil she has to get home, but he says they can’t until the morning hours. That night she tries to radio Judith, but there is nothing but static. I love how everything she does is for those kids.

Sneaking Around

Not being able to sleep, Michonne searches for the guns. Well, she doesn’t find the weapons but something worse. She finds herself trapped and locked in a room after hearing people talking to each other. Virgil locks her in the room she was in. She learns the three people she heard talking were also locked in there by Virgil when he lost his sanity when his family died. She learns later that their names are Alice, Jeremiah, and Celeste. He is a lot like Morgan, who also went insane when his wife and son died.

From Her Past

After Virgil drugged her with Jimsonweed, a hallucinogenic weed he added to her tea, Michonne starts to see things and reliving bad things from her past.

Siddiq

She sees Siddiq, who asks her why she let him die. She tells him she was doing her best and that he was family to her. He then says this is what being family to you looks like, and her hands are covered in blood.

Andrea

She sees herself letting Andrea get killed instead of saving her. She then goes and takes all of Andrea’s belongings, mimicking what she and Rick did with a traveler who died on the road.

The Traveler

In season 3, episode 12, during a trip for supplies, Rick, Michonne, and Carl drove past a traveler with a full bag of stuff. At this point, they didn’t trust anyone, so they kept driving, and when they saw his dead body, stopped and took his things, but that’s not how Michonne saw it this time. She saw herself as him, and it was Daryl in the car. I never trusted the guy on the side of the road, he looked shady, but the guilt ate at Michonne.

Negan

After tiring out, Michonne runs into Negan and the Saviors.

He gives the same speech that he gave to Sasha when she was captured. Telling her, she had “some cajones,” along with saying he likes her “Big Ol’ massive lady nuts.” The way they edited the old scenes is amazing. We also see some of the dead like Laura and Tyreese around Negan.

She is now seeing the group attack the saviors satellite base from episode twelve of season six. But she isn’t a part of the attack, and she ends up shooting Glenn and Heath. The guilt of the satellite attack was coming back to haunt her. Now we are at the point we first met Negan in episode 16 of season six. He has the group on their knees and says that he is going to let his trusted right-hand girl, Michonne, take care of it. Grabbing her sword, he hands her Lucille.

She then talks about how they killed a bunch of people they didn’t know in their sleep, releasing her guilt. She then goes in to kill none other than herself, and then things go dark, and she’s running through a forest. At this point, we are seeing how much she is trying to repent and find peace with all she did, killing her old self to find a new path. Daryl and Rick catch her, and after Daryl hits her with an arrow, Rick shoots her waking her up from the drugs. I loved “Savior” Michonne. That might’ve been an interesting subplot.

Taking Down Virgil

After waking up and getting sick, Michonne grabs a fork and attacks Virgil. After catching him in the forest, she gives Lucy, Celeste, and Jeremiah a grand speech when they want to kill him.

“He owes you more than he can ever make right. Taking his life… you’ll lose yourself. It doesn’t settle it. But your mercy gives you something. You get something. Peace.”

I love this because it just reiterates what Carl has been trying to teach his dad and Michonne through his letters when he asked them to spare Negan.

Finding Gold

She might not have found guns, but she found something even more intriguing, Ricks boots. After finding out about a boat that was in the water off the coast, she had Virgil take her to it. And that’s when the most precious item of the show was found, a cell phone with a drawing of her and Judith with Ricks name and Japanese characters on the screen. I cried. She cried. I am sure everyone cried. She held that cell phone like she was holding a child. She was happy, sad, angry, confused, and every other emotion possible at this point.

A Decision

They get the boat started, and she accompanies Lucy, Jeremiah, and Celeste to take them to a safe place. They offered Virgil a place, but he just kept saying, “he promised her flowers every day” and stayed behind.

Michonne is looking at the cell phone, and her radio crackled. She answers, and it’s Judith, under her code name, Shoto. When she asks about R.J., he grabs the walkie and says mama and is quickly told by his sister to use their code names. This is the cutest scene ever, and it had me in tears again. R.J. says, “Daito, your Daito,” and his mom is in tears, and then they hit again when she asks what his code name is, and he answers, “Little Brave Man” and Judith says he picked it out himself.

Wanting to do right by Saddiq’s memory, she checks on his family by asking Judith how Tia Rosita (Auntie Rosita) is. Judith tells her she’s fine and that Alpha can’t hurt them anymore.

The Brave Man

Then comes the saddest scene in the episode. Michonne tells Judith that she found the brave man’s things and that he might be out there. We all know Judith, and she tells her mom, while in tears, that she has to find him. When Michonne argues wise, Judith comes back and says that he might be trying to get home, and no one will help him.

Ok, Seeing Judith in tears yet comforting her mom and telling her to go, was just too much. Michonne also knows you don’t argue with Judith and agrees to go but says she will call every morning as long as she can, and Judith lets her know she will take the radio everywhere with her.

Into The Unkown

As the final episode with Michonne ends, we see her return to her roots and make some Walker pets. She runs into two people asking her to help them get to the group before they leave them behind. Michonne takes a look at the group who is moving in military formation, and after flashing back to the moment she met Rick and hearing Carl ask if they could help her, she knew what she had to do. Killing her two pets, she helped the two people and headed for the militant group with a possible hope of learning more about Rick.

Final Thoughts

I am so glad they took the route they did. Now, if Danai wants and they are willing, she can head to the movies and find Rick.

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Like who drew the picture on the cell phone? Why were Ricks boots left behind? I also wonder if Virgil’s wife was drugging him with the plant, and that’s what made him like he was. He did say she really liked making that tea. I’m not sure I fully trust Virgil, but if we see him again, I think he could redeem himself.

I would just like to say thank you to Danai for her eight seasons of portraying the most badass woman on the show. Let’s hope she finds her way back in the movies.

You can watch The Walking Dead Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.