Summary
- Ethanol cans in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 4 could play a significant role in Rick and Michonne's journey back home.
- The show has been hinting at a major fire plot development, possibly involving the CRM, through heavy fire imagery and clues.
- The idea of Rick and Michonne blowing up the CRM's base in Philadelphia poses a risk of repeating a storyline similar to The Walking Dead's finale.
What may come across as a throwaway detail in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 4 may instead be a clue to the ending of Rick and Michonne's new adventure. The scale of the threat facing Rick and Michonne in their Walking Dead spinoff has contributed greatly to the unpredictability of the show's events. While it may be easy to assume that after all these years, The Walking Dead will find a way to give Rick and Michonne a happy ending, the franchise's penchant for tragedy and the sheer power of the CRM make such an outcome far from a sure thing.
After all, there are multiple ways The Ones Who Live could end. Rick Grimes fulfilling Okafor's dream and taking over The Walking Dead's Civic Republic Military is one. Rick and Michonne safely escaping the CRM and making their way to Alexandria to set up a future Walking Dead crossover represents another possibility. Interestingly, one of the many scenarios worth entertaining for the spinoff's ending just became more likely after The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 4.
The Ones Who Live Episode 4 Gives Rick & Michonne Ethanol Cans
At the end of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live episode 4, Rick and Michonne found themselves in a car with several cans of ethanol in the backseat. The show's decision to point this out makes it clear the ethanol cans are relevant to what comes next for Rick and MIchonne. As things stand, they're on their way back home, but as a show about their conflict with the CRM, it's hard to imagine the show just letting them walk away from the organization just yet. Loose ends remain with Jadis, Major General Beale, and Thorne, who are all sure to resurface in Rick and Michonne's lives.
Presumably, the cans of ethanol were mentioned as a way of setting up a solution to a problem that will soon present itself in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live's last two episodes. Ethanol can bring about fire and explosions, a fact that hints at the purpose these cans will serve. With them, Rick and Michonne have the tools to destroy an obstacle that stands in the way of getting home. As for what that will be, the show has already offered a few clues.
The Ones Who Live Has Already Hinted At A Massive Fire
If The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live's significant use of fire imagery is any indication, what Rick and Michonne ultimately do with the ethanol cans will amount to a massive plot development. Through the heavy inclusion of fire in the marketing and opening credits, The Walking Dead has been teasing a big fire for a while now. The possible target of said fire has also been hinted at: the CRM. At the end of The Ones Who Live episode 2, Michonne climbed up a ladder to give herself a wide view of the CRM's military assets. During this scene, she was shown flickering Nat's lighter.
The idea that Michonne was thinking of burning the CRM's base to the ground was supported by an earlier exchange with Rick. Michonne expressed her interest in stopping the CRM and was visibly disappointed when Rick claimed they couldn't win against them. Her hatred of the CRM and what they stand for, not to mention the killing of Nat and how they've changed Rick (from her point of view), reinforces the notion that Michonne would jump at the opportunity to hurt the CRM. Lighting valuable resources would certainly be a way of bringing harm to their standing in The Walking Dead's world.
Would Rick & Michonne Blowing Up The CRM's Base Copy The Walking Dead's Finale?
A twist where Rick and Michonne destroy the CRM's headquarters in Philadelphia would pay off all the teases the show has dropped so far, but also run the risk of repeating a story the franchise has already done. The Walking Dead series finale notably saw the main protagonists blow up the Estates. Destroying one of the most important parts of the Commonwealth laid the foundation for Pamela Milton's powerful network of communities to undergo real change in the future. If Rick and Michonne burn down the CRM's base in Philadelphia with the same goal in mind, that would indeed be an all-too-familiar ending.
Okafor's hope of bringing "change" to the CRM and Rick's desire to take over that mission for him supports the theory that the spinoff will take this route. However, it's not impossible that the show is planning an ending that will distance it from how Daryl and the others defeated the Commonwealth. Her comments about how the Greenwood community brought about its own downfall by trying to save the world are an indication that she won't seek to preserve the CRM in any way. Michonne may simply want to destroy them for good in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
