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whateverisbeautiful · 27 days

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♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#41: The Loving Memory (1.04)

gif cred: @riickgrimes

The Ones Who Live asks the question - what happens when a hero needs saving? And when the hero needs saving from external and internal shackles that have led them to become the most despondent version of the walking dead, it’s not exerting brute force nor attempts at world domination that heals them. No, it’s being loved back to life by the one you were made for and who was made for you.

So that's exactly what happens next. Following Rick finally letting out all his truest emotions after keeping them inside for years, there now comes the outstanding resolution between Rick, Michonne, and the boy who first made them family ❤️‍🩹...

Michonne again lovingly puts her hands on Rick's face after that just breathtaking profession of pain and love from Rick and stellar performance from Andy.

And then Michonne proves for the umpteenth time that she is the greatest wife, woman, mother, and best friend ever when she takes out a phone with a sketch of Carl on it and ever-so-gently places it in Rick's hand.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Y’ALL. 🫠 How perfect can one episode be? 😭

This was such a beautiful moment and I adore everything about it. I love that even amid her and Rick's conflict in episode 3, Michonne understood how much these phone portraits meant to Rick and so she had one made of Carl after learning that Rick was having trouble remembering his image. It is so heartwarming to know that she worked with Benjiro and got the image of their boy just right for Rick. 🥹 And this was the perfect time to give him this gift.

In this apartment, Michonne essentially gave Rick both his sons back. 😭

gif cred: @taiturner

The fact that she of course got the image right and that it’s one with Carl's eyepatch because that’s their most recent memory of him and they loved him both with one eye or two. 🥲

I also adore the way she places it in his hand and continues to hold onto his arm. So loving. 🥹 The moment really feels like it parallels the way she placed the PRB in his hand earlier in the episode too.

The PRB is what Rick thought would save them but it’s actually the memory of Carl that helps save them and bring them back together. It’s poetic, it’s powerful, it’s perfect. 👏🏽

gif cred: @taiturner

And how fitting that Carl plays this pivotal role in helping Richonne fully return to each other, considering Carl was pivotal to bringing Richonne together years ago as well.

It's like I wrote in a previous post --- Since the moment Rick and Michonne laid eyes on each other, Carl was there helping bring them together and ultimately helping them realize they were meant to be family. And years later, even from the other side, Carl helped bring Rick and Michonne together again. 🥲

(Side note: I believe I remember Danai said she wrote Carl's letter to Michonne as she read it to herself while crying in season 8. And knowing the power of Danai’s pen, I'm so curious about what she wrote in that letter because Danai has always had such a solid understanding of Carl’s importance to Michonne & Rick)

gif cred: @michonnegrimes

When Rick sees this phone drawing, literally seeing his first image of Carl in over eight years, he takes this teary breath and then recalls the memory of holding little Carl’s hand and lifting him up.

And then this episode just wants to full-on sock me in the heart by then showing a memory of Rick putting a hat on the older Carl. 😭

I love the way this indicates that the memory of Carl so quickly returned to Rick and he was able to remember him not just as a little kid but his older version too.

TWD started with Rick doing everything to fight for his boy and then Carl grew up to fight for him too. And now here in TOWL, Rick’s journey is still so deeply impacted by his son. Beautiful.

Rick gives Michonne a teary look as she just did the most invaluable thing ever and gave him his son's memory back. You can really see that it means so much to Rick to finally have the image of Carl come back to his mind. He loves his son so much. 😭 I absolutely adore the way TOWL made regaining the memory of Carl's face a vital element of Rick finding himself again.

And then Michonne gently asks, “If Carl were here right now, what would he say? What would he want you to do with this new chance to be with those you love?” And then I love her little kind “hmm?”

gif cred: @riickgrimes

Even by asking these questions it’s showing that she knows Rick still knows his son. He might have lost the image of Carl for a few years, but he still knows his boy. And Michonne knows he knows what Carl would say and want for his dad. Carl always wanted the best for Rick, and the best thing for him is to be with his family.

And the way Rick looks at Michonne here it really feels like just when he thought he couldn’t fall any deeper in love with her, he just has.

It also makes so much sense why Rick lost the image of Carl because with the CRM he had nothing to tether him to his son besides himself who was under psychological warfare and constant duress. Back at home, Rick had his wife/son’s best friend and mom, his daughter/Carl’s sister, Carl’s grave, Carl’s handprint, and the community Carl grew up in to constantly keep his son’s memory alive. And he could have had RJ too who would have literal traits of Carl.

This just proves yet another reason why it had to be Michonne to rescue Rick. Cuz after feeling he lost Carl, Rick needed to be with one of the people who Carl most lived on through and who could give Carl back to him - or better yet help him realize he never lost his son.

I love the way Michonne has always honored Carl’s memory and how because of that she’s now able to give his memory back to his dad.

gif cred: @jdeanmorgan

And then Michonne has such inspiring rousing final dialogue as she says, “Despite all the odds, all the years, I found you, Rick.” My gosh, the wait was worth it, y'all. 🙌🏽 To hear that line said between Richonne after all the years of waiting. Blessed. 🥹🙏🏽

Then Michonne earnestly says, “I came here through the hell that we have both been through to take you home.” I love that she says the hell they’ve both been through. They’ve gone through so much, and while a lot of it was experienced apart the last few years, that synergistic soulmate connection really makes it feel like they still went through a lot together too.

Like how they both had their worst year ever during the same year - the year Michonne was stuck in a mall after being attacked by the CRM externally while Rick was attacked by the CRM internally when he chose to live dead. Richonne’s journeys like their souls are always interconnected. 👌🏽

I love the music in this moment too as Rick’s breathing slowly steadies and he looks from Michonne to the phone with tears falling. In this moment Rick really gets to grasp how loved he is.

He was fighting so hard on his own but now he gets to hear from Michonne that he was actually never fighting alone because she was fighting for him too. Just like he was trying to get home, she was working to bring him home as well, from setting off to search for him to getting a phone portrait of Carl made for him. 🥲

gif cred: jdeanmorgan

And then Michonne says, “You think that’s all for nothing?” And when she says that they cut to Rick who again has one of those expressions that make it so clear that Alive Rick has the wheel. Like Dead Rick is no more and once again he’s come alive both through and for Michonne.

Michonne says, “For us to just go our separate ways?” Richonne intentionally going their separate ways genuinely feels like an impossible thing for them to do and for me to even wrap my head around. It's simply not an option for these magnetic soulmates.

And then Michonne is beautifully glowing under the TOWL-improved lighting as she wipes a tear from Rick's face and smiles as she assures him, “No. We go home, Rick.”

The way she says that. 😭 This episode holds the record for the number of times my heart bursts. And I love that we now have multiple scenes of Richonne wiping each other's tears over the years. 🥲

Then Michonne continues, “And we figure out how to protect it together.” Michonne knows their home will still need protection from those outside forces and threats. But what she knows even more is that she and Rick can succeed in protecting their kids and their home if they’re together.

Rick looks down and then I adore the way Michonne lifts up his head and says, “That’s how we make it all make sense.”

I've always felt like the one who makes the most sense in the world to Rick is Michonne. Everything about her just resonates with him on a deeper level. She can always help him see clearer and that was crystal clear in this scene as well.

And I love how Michonne holding Rick's head up at this moment reminds me of when he hung his head in his TWD 9.05 hallucination and she lifted him up there too. Now he gets to experience the invigorating spirit-lifting presence of Michonne in real life again, and I love that for him. 😊

Lastly, Michonne tells Rick one of my favorite lines when she says, “We love on each other as hard as we can while we can.” I love that that’s the final dialogue of this masterpiece of a scene. It’s a beautiful sentiment. 🥹

And I actually like that they don’t ever end up saying “We’re the one who live” within the miniseries because while it’s true and a great motto, I think this show took on an even more grounded and layered exploration of what happens when you stop living or when you become scared of the love of your life inevitably no longer living.

So instead, Rick and Michonne now know even if we don’t live - our love does.

They're the ones whose love lives. Their love lives on forever, and so long as they’re alive they know they shouldn’t run from that. They should love on each other as hard as they can during the valuable time they do have. That’s just so special to me and so I adore that they conclude this by deciding not only to go home but to allow their hearts to love each other as robustly as they’re meant to.

With Michonne saying this it's essentially saying - even if we don’t have forever, we can make the time we do have feel like it if we live in this love wholeheartedly.

And then I adore the way she puts her hand on his face with a tear so lightly fallen against her skin and looks deep in his eyes with that precious smile. That moment just felt like she saw him. She finally saw and reunited with her Rick. The search is over, y’all. 🥳 She found him for real this time. And that makes my heart so warm to see her know that Rick is with her again just from looking into the love of her life's eyes. 🥰

gif cred: @richonnegifs

You can see the “there he is” moment and truly the acting Danai and Andy can do with just their eyes alone is profound.

Then it’s Andy’s turn to express so much with just his eyes when Rick looks at Michonne with the warmest teary eyes as he has so clearly gotten his entire life from her words, just like old times. Except this time he pretty much literally got his life back through her.

I love the way he looks at her like if his heart for her got any bigger it would pop. I know after this he’s more convinced than ever that Michonne is perfect to him and the love of his life.

I adore seeing him gently put his hand on her face like she’s the greatest treasure in all the land. His look just felt like ‘there she is. I see her fully now and I know she’s worth choosing even over the fear of losing her.' Having her is his life’s reward. 💯 And he's finally ready to embrace that reward again and return to life with her.

gif cred: @richonnegifs

I believe you fall the deepest in love in a relationship where you know you’ll fall and be caught.

Rick and Michonne are able to be so fully invested in, immersed in, and enwrapped in this love because they know they can fall this deeply and unabashedly and always be caught and lifted up.

It also makes me think of the Toni Morrison quote - “I didn’t fall in love, I rose in it.” I feel like that applies to Rick and Michonne so much.

Finding this vibrant and synergistic love with someone as respectable and resilient as Rick made Michonne heal and be all of herself again after so much had been taken from her. Back in TWD, Michonne knew she was able to rise out of the dead state she had been in thanks to being brought back by Rick. And Carl too. 🥲

And Rick found the best version of himself in finding love with someone as radiant and remarkable as Michonne. She met him at a time when he was understandably really struggling mentally. But then he found her and found a partner capable of lovingly walking with him through both the best and hardest seasons of life. And a healed Rick arose from their love.

Now here in TOWL, Rick knows he has risen from the dead through Michonne's love. He's fully aware that despite trying to stay dead, the love of his life has successfully resurrected his spirit and made him come alive again.

And after the two have poured their heart out and he’s regained the image of his eldest son with her help, he’s no longer trying to fight being alive. 🙌🏽 He can now leap back into life and know with Michonne by his side, he'll be caught. And Michonne can do the same and be caught by him now too. 🥹 And they'll rise up against anything else that comes their way.

Then, I absolutely love the kiss that punctuates the end of this immaculate scene. 🤩

The visual of it is beautiful with Richonne matching in black. It really feels like the two of them being in this black is almost like Richonne had to both traverse through the CRM’s dark hold but after being vulnerable they’re now here on the other side. Together.

gif cred: @lousolversons

As always, I love those single Richonne kisses and this one is of course gold. We got us a couple who can go from their freakiest kiss to this utterly wholesome kiss all in one setting, y'all. 😇

And the intimacy of the way they touch before and after the kiss and stay looking into each other's eyes with a smile as they finally agree to go home. We truly witnessed them restore each other back to life through the greatest Richonne heart-to-heart ever. 🥹

gif cred: @nerd4music

These Richonne heart-to-hearts always bring them back, from TWD to TOWL. 🙌🏽

One last time I just gotta say - this ep 4 scene again solidifies why the only person capable of bringing Rick home was Michonne. Because Rick didn’t just need a literal rescue but a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual revival. He didn’t need to just be brought back home, he needed to be brought back to life. And there is no better person on the planet to do that than the woman who is his heart.

For years, Rick and Michonne had gone without feeling a part of their own heart because they’d been apart. But now in this transcendent moment, after feeling the beating pulse of the heart they share, addressing their physical and internal scars, reflecting on their children, and reconnecting in every way, they feel complete and alive again after years of existing with half their heart miles away.

When I tell you this whole scene - from making love at the start to kissing with tears in their eyes at the end - felt like Love itself chose to take on a physical form and the form it chose was Richonne...

Somehow calling these moments perfection doesn’t even feel like it does it justice. This was everything and more and I adore it endlessly. #LovePersonified.

When I think about why I love Richonne, why all these years I’ve spent all this time reflecting on these two’s love story…it’s this series of events right here that captures it completely. I love the story of these soulmates because Rick and Michonne have the love supreme and it is forever a joy and an honor to behold. 😇👌🏽

#richonne #towl #reveling in richonne #1.04 #RIR (41)#the ones who live #twd towl #michonne grimes #rick grimes #rick x michonne #twol #michonne #rick and michonne #twd: the ones who live #twd #richonnefandom

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