The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live has continued to evolve the zombie genre. But, growth hasn’t kept the show from homaging a past zombie movie.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live was the most anticipated spin-off in the franchise, even surpassing the hype of beloved character Daryl Dixon’s European adventure spin-off. Fans were eager to finally understand what happened to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) after the explosion on the bridge and the CRM saving him by providing critical medical care. The impressive first episode did not disappoint when it came to outlining how the hero of The Walking Dead ended up an unwilling member of The Civic Republic Military. However, viewers were nearly as excited about the return of Michonne (Danai Gurira) in the second episode.

Though the second episode, “Gone,” wasn’t as highly rated as the first, Michonne’s missing storyline came close to the thrill and shock of Rick’s. This emotional and action-packed installment highlighted many of the reasons Walking Dead fans have stayed with the franchise despite the ups and downs throughout the years and various spin-offs. On the other hand, the episode also utilized some unpopular tropes and scenes that weren’t overlooked by critics or fans. This includes the shocking scene that closely reflects a controversial moment in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead.

The CRM Went Too Far (Again) in The Ones Who Live

In The Ones Who Live, Episode 2, “Gone,” Michonne travels with a group of nomadic survivors. When she splits from this caravan, determined to travel through a massive herd of walkers, some of the members decide to join her in her search for Rick. In an unsettling turn of events, the caravan is bombed by Chlorine gas, courtesy of the CRM. After seeing how the CRM broke Rick, this wasn’t an entirely surprising CRM action for audiences to witness, but it hit the right tone in terms of shock value.

This attack emphasized the destruction that the CRM has caused and inflicted on the survivors of the apocalypse. Though this military claims to value secrecy and civilian life over all else, their repeated attacks on innocent people highlight how they are the supreme villains in The Walking Dead franchise. The only excuse for this attack is presumably that the CRM thought this caravan was too close to their settlement. They would rather kill the living than risk their city being discovered, which is a consistent theme throughout the CRM storyline in the franchise. Most of the caravan did not survive this assault, and inevitably, it was only Michonne and Nat (Matthew Jeffers) who made it out alive.

Dawn of the Dead’s Baby Zombie Scene

• George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) is considered a classic in horror movie history. However, Romero did admit to appreciating certain aspects of the 2004 remake despite some questionable choices for the adaptation.
• The actions of the CRM are disgusting and highlight the horrifying disasters that take place in this post-apocalyptic world where death and turmoil overshadow hope and prosperity. However, it is a controversial scene from Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead that has infamously gone down in horror entertainment history. This 2004 film isn’t the most popular zombie rendition ever made, but one that has made its mark on the horror subgenre. In the typical 2000s fashion, Dawn of the Dead is known for its gruesome deaths, gory visuals, and disheartening conclusion.Dawn of the Dead is also remembered for the shocking scene in which a zombie baby is born and quickly killed. In this film’s plotline, Luda, a pregnant woman, is infected by a zombie. When she goes into labor, her spouse ties her to a bed in the hopes of saving their unborn child. This results in her turning shortly after the birth. When other survivors discover this tragedy, they ultimately kill the zombie child, and the father dies in a moment of distress, taking another survivor down with him. This scene was heartbreaking and appalled viewers, though it did emulate the lack of hope present in many modern-day zombie storylines.

  The Ones Who Live’s Horrifying Homage to This Emotional Scene

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  • Though the TV show Michonne Hawthorne is quite different from her comic book counterpart, she is a long-running character. In Robert Kirkman’s comics, she outlives iconic main characters like Rick Grimes.
  • The Ones Who Live gave an obvious nod to this iconic and controversial zombie movie scene. In Episode 2, “Gone,” Michonne learns one of her new companions, Aiden (Brenda Wool), is pregnant. Michonne urges the woman to return to her original group to protect herself and her pregnancy. Despite Michonne’s efforts, Aiden is set on staying. Aiden, along with her spouse Bailey (Andrew Bachelor), is poisoned by the CRM’s Chlorine gas. Unlike the others within their group, they initially make it out alive and take cover in a nearby store. Michonne finds oxygen tanks to help them combat the poison, but by the time she has returned, both Aiden and Bailey have turned.This was frustrating for viewers who are sick of The Walking Dead killing off supporting characters who otherwise would offer more nuance and personality to the franchise. However, the scene was all the more memorable because of the resemblance to the Dawn of the Dead scene. Though Aiden was not as far along in her pregnancy as Luda and didn’t birth a baby, the woman was also tied to a bed in a department store, where she reanimated as one of the undead. Paying homage to this horror movie moment emphasized the lack of hope consistent throughout The Walking Dead franchise and the zombie genre as a whole, but it wasn’t the best choice for the new spin-off.

    Zombies Ran Before They Walked

    • In 1978, the original Dawn of the Dead grossed $66 million at the box office. In 2004, the remake grossed $102.3 million at the box office.

    This isn’t the first instance that The Walking Dead has had a comparable scenario to other iconic zombie stories. However, it was an unusual decision for this long-awaited spin-off to include one of the most controversial moments in zombie entertainment. Despite Dawn of the Dead being a milestone in the evolution of on-screen zombies, other movies, such as some installments of George A. Romeo’s beloved Living Dead franchise, would have been a wiser choice to pay homage to.

    It’s hard to overlook the creators of The Ones Who Live making such a controversial decision to pay homage to a disliked scene from past zombie movies instead of continuing to pave the way for the exciting future of this horror subgenre. If The Walking Dead continues to revolutionize the zombie genre, there’s no harm in making some much-needed changes to the themes. Fans of this series are looking for less needless death and cringey scenes. Instead, the franchise could shift away from the constant hopelessness, which would highlight that these survivors’ efforts haven’t been for nothing.

    In spite of this unusual scene choice, the first two episodes of The Ones Who Live have renewed the hope that this franchise isn’t dead in the water quite yet. Viewers can only hope that The Walking Dead creators will make better calls, especially in terms of character deaths and respectable storylines, such as the wonderful Michonne and Rick love story currently being unraveled.