With The Ones Who Live’s tense love story heating up, Rick Grimes just massively disrespected Lori, 12 years after she exited the franchise.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for episodes 1-4 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

SUMMARY

•  Rick confirms Michonne as his true love, not Lori, in an emotional episode 4 reunion.
•  The traumatic nature of The Walking Dead universe makes romantic connections more meaningful.
•  Rick’s surprising relationship with Michonne offers a different path from the original comics.

With Rick and Michonne finally getting their proper reunion in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, the franchise’s protagonist hugely insulted Lori over a decade after her Walking Dead departure. Rick and Michonne had a quick reunion in their Walking Dead spinoff, finding each other in the very first episode. However, it has taken until episode 4 for them to truly open up and talk privately, with the results being unexpected. Despite their love for one another, Rick and Michonne find themselves at odds for most of the episode, with the tension and animosity building between the couple.

After nearly losing each other for good, Rick eventually opens up to Michonne, revealing how much he has suffered over the years. He mentions that his biggest fear is losing his loved ones as he won’t be able to live without them. The episode is full of emotion and shows how strong of a couple Rick and Michonne are, but it simultaneously insults Lori. Lori was Rick’s wife at the start of the apocalypse but died in season 3. Rick clearly loved her, but one line in The Ones Who Live episode 4 proves Lori will always be second best.

Rick Confirms Michonne Is His True Love, Not Lori

Rick confirms that Michonne is his true love in The Ones Who Live episode 4, not Lori. He doesn’t leave much doubt about this, telling Michonne, “You’re the love of my life.” Although it can be argued that this was said in the heat of the moment, the confession has some real emotion behind it. Andrew Lincoln’s fantastic performance as Rick makes the character obvious to read from an audience perspective, and this line definitely came from the heart. This line showed the protagonist’s more vulnerable side, and given all they’ve been through, it is clear Rick truly loves Michonne.

The traumatic and hopeless nature of The Walking Dead universe makes the romantic connections that occur during the apocalypse all the more meaningful.

Rick’s confession suggests that his love for Lori was never quite as strong. This doesn’t mean their relationship didn’t matter, as Lori is one of the most influential Walking Dead characters in changing Rick Grimes, but their romance stemmed from before the apocalypse. The traumatic and hopeless nature of The Walking Dead universe makes the romantic connections that occur during the apocalypse all the more meaningful, with Glenn and Maggie’s relationship providing the series with more wholesome moments. Therefore, Rick revealing Michonne is the love of his life only seems fitting considering how organic their romance is.

Why Michonne Being The Love Of Rick’s Life Makes Perfect Sense

Despite knowing Lori for longer, it makes sense that Michonne would be the love of Rick’s life. While Rick and Lori were once a happy couple, they never had a truly loving relationship in The Walking Dead, largely because of Shane. After Lori thought Rick was dead, she wound up with Shane, which led to a complicated love triangle when Rick joined the group. This culminated in Rick killing Shane in The Walking Dead season 2, highlighting how messy things became. Despite having a child together, Rick and Lori’s relationship was never as strong as Rick’s is with Michonne.

Rick and Michonne also have a son in The Walking Dead, but it is not the crutch of their relationship. Having been through so much together, their bond feels more natural than Rick’s ever did with Lori. After Rick disappeared in The Walking Dead season 9, Michonne spent months searching for him despite being pregnant. She only stopped to raise their child but eventually left her loved ones behind to go find him. Given how differently Lori and Michonne reacted to thinking he was dead, it is no surprise Rick has a deeper connection with Michonne and loves her more.

The Walking Dead’s Lori Insult Follows The Original Comics

Just like in the TV show, the comics also have Rick find a more compatible partner than Lori after her death. While Rick ends up with Michonne in the TV series, he has a different love interest in the comics and becomes romantically involved with Andrea. A potential relationship in the series was teased briefly in season 1, but ultimately the show went in a very different direction with Andrea, who died in season 3. Rick and Andrea’s relationship in the comics was much stronger than Rick and Lori’s, indicating both versions of The Walking Dead slightly insulted Lori.

Rick’s relationship with Michonne may have felt unexpected, but it offers something different to Rick and Andrea in the comics.

Ultimately, this leads to better relationships for Rick and proves Lori was never meant to be his true love. Lori is still an interesting character, but both the show and the comics highlight that Rick is supposed to be with someone else. Rick’s relationship with Michonne may have felt unexpected, but it offers something different to Rick and Andrea in the comics, even though both romantic storylines work. With how much Michonne is willing to fight for Rick in The Ones Who Live, they could end up being the franchise’s strongest couple.