And so ends Michonne’s The Walking Dead journey. For now.
In “What We Become,” the 13th episode of The Walking Dead season 10, Danai Gurira made her exit. Warning, spoilers follow.
The episode featured Michonne taking Virgil back to his island with the goal of reuniting with his family and obtaining weapons for the ongoing war with the Whisperers. But things weren’t what they seemed on Virgil’s mysterious island. Yes, his family was there, but they were turned. Virgil asked Michonne to put them down, and she obliged, but there were no weapons…and Virgil was not what he seemed. Instead, when Michonne went snooping and discovered Virgil had other people on the island, he captured her and put her through one heck of a trip.
Drugged, Michonne relived key moments of her life on the show, and hallucinated about what things would’ve been like had things turned out differently. In her drug-induced trip, she had visions of not saving Andrea (Laurie Holden) and instead falling in with Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the saviors. Her alternate reality featured Michonne being the one by Negan’s side the night he killed Glenn (Steven Yeun). She was later killed by Daryl (Norman Reedus).
Back in the real world, she came out of the drug haze and escaped Virgil and freed his other captives, only to discover their way off the island was destroyed. After sparing Virgil’s life, and telling his other captives that letting him live would be better for their souls, Michonne started raiding the lab…only to find Rick’s boots. She found more of Rick’s stuff on a boat. Virgil claimed he had no idea who Rick was or Michonne was before all of this, that it was all a coincidence. On the boat, which Virgil’s captives got working again, Michonne contacted Judith. She told her she thought Rick (Andrew Lincoln) was alive and Judith told her she needed to go find him if that’s the case.
“What if he needs you more? What if he’s trying to come too, but no one will help?” Judith asked Michonne. Judith said they took out the majority of the Whisperers’ horde and they would be fine. So, off Michonne went to find “the brave man.”
The episode ended with Michonne, reverting back to her traveling self with two zombie companions. She then found two humans who needed her help to reach their crew—a massive group of people moving in formation. Remembering how Rick trusted her and let her in with his crew, she helped.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on AMC.