What We Become

Michonne is given an admirable, mostly successful departure from The Walking Dead as 'What We Become' delivers a series of fascinatingly trippy 'What If' scenarios from her past.

"What We Become" is the thirteenth episode of the tenth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, which aired on AMC on March 22, 2020. The episode was written by Vivian Tse and directed by Sharat Raju. After the death of Siddiq (Avi Nash), Michonne (Danai Gurira) embarks on a trip to the island of Virgil (Kevin Carroll), to obtain weapons to defeat Alpha and the Whisperers, and help Virgil rejoin his family. The episode marks the final regular appearance of Danai Gurira as Michonne, who first appeared in the third season premiere episode "Seed."

Quick Facts

Series: The Walking Dead
Air date: 22 March 2020
Writer: Vivian Tse
Director: Sharat Raju
Length: 50 minutes
Photographer: Duane Charles Manwiller
Editor: Jack Colwell

Lore & Background

Michonne and Virgil use a boat to travel to Bloodsworth Island, an abandoned naval base where he claims his family and a stash of weapons can be found. Virgil soon admits his family is dead but are still reanimated as walkers, and he asks for Michonne's help to put them down. Michonne helps clear the base of walkers, finds Virgil's family who had hanged themselves within a cell, and helps Virgil to put them to rest and bury them. Virgil promises to lead Michonne to the weapons the next day.

That night, Michonne becomes impatient and tries to locate the weapons herself. While investigating in one of the buildings, she enters a room and hears the door slam shut behind her: a trap set by Virgil. Virgil's allies, trapped in an adjacent cell, warn Michonne that Virgil has gone insane since he inadvertently locked his family in the cell while they went scavenging, leading to their hanging. Virgil feeds Michonne some drugged food, giving her hallucinations.

In these sequences, she experiences visions of Siddiq, and then experiences hallucinations of an alternate version of her life, beginning with her deciding to ignore Andrea's cries for help, which led to her living on her own and eventually meeting Negan and joining the Governor, becoming his right-hand woman then fighting against Rick and his allies, but eventually being killed by Daryl and Rick.

Reader's Guide

The episode opens with Michonne and Virgil traveling by boat to Bloodsworth Island, an abandoned naval base. Virgil claims his family and weapons are there, but soon admits his family is dead and reanimated as walkers. Michonne helps clear the base and put Virgil's hanged family to rest. That night, Michonne tries to find the weapons herself but is trapped by Virgil, who feeds her drugged food causing hallucinations.

In these visions, she sees Siddiq and an alternate life where she ignored Andrea, joined the Governor, and was killed by Rick and Daryl. After escaping, Michonne captures Virgil but shows mercy. He leads her to Rick's boots, then to a beached military boat where she finds a phone etched with Rick's name, a drawing of her and Judith, and a log book suggesting Rick may be alive near New Jersey. Michonne contacts Judith via walkie-talkie and decides to search for Rick. The episode ends with Michonne helping two stragglers catch up to a caravan moving north.

Did You Know?

This episode features the return of Avi Nash as Siddiq, whose character was killed in the seventh episode of the tenth season, 'Open Your Eyes'.
The episode also features the first appearance of Laurie Holden as Andrea Harrison since the season 3 episode 'Welcome to the Tombs'.
The second episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live picks up shortly after this episode ends and continues the story that the episode's ending set up.
The episode received 3.66 million viewers, up from the previous episode's rating.