The Ones Who Live talks about Omaha, why did the CRM destroy this city?
By Renee Hansen
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is the second spinoff of The Walking Dead. This limited series aired for two seasons, and while it was a coming-of-age story, it also revealed much more about the mysterious Civic Republic Military (CRM). The latest spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, is, at its heart, a love story, but this series gives detailed information about the CRM and an inside look into this organization and the Civic Republic.
This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live season 1, episode 1, "Years."
The first episode of The Ones Who Live filled in the blanks about what has happened with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) since he departed the main series in season 9. He was transported to the CRM with Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh), where she traded Rick for her entrance into the CRM, where she climbed their ranks to become a warrant officer. The Ones Who Live begins five years after the bridge explosion in season 9 and finds Rick as a worker at the culling facility. This is where new arrivals work for six years before they can gain entrance to the hidden city, the Civic Republic, where they are assigned new jobs.
Rick and his fellow worker Pearle Thorne (Lesley-Ann Brandt) were encouraged to join the CRM by Lt. Col. Donald Okafor (Craig Tate), who saw leadership potential in them. This allowed both of them a different view of the CRM and the Civic Republic. Thorne is a highly intelligent woman who doesn't miss a thing. When the news report reveals something happened in Omaha, she becomes suspicious of the CRM.
What happened to Omaha?
The city of Omaha, with a population of over 90,000 souls, is part of the Alliance of the Three, which also includes Portland and Civic Republic, with the location of the CR kept hidden. In World Beyond, scientists Dr. Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold) and Dr. Samuel Abbott (S.J. Ovaska) developed a chlorine gas that the CRM uses to wipe out Omaha and the Campus Colony, a small satellite of Omaha. Once it was discovered that Omaha and Portland would never become self-sustaining, the CRM determined the best action was to destroy the cities.
Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) of the CRM was the leader of the mission. With intel given by Staff Sergeant Jennifer Mallick, aka Huck (Annet Mahendru), they knew exactly where to hit the city as it was Monument Day, and residents gathered to celebrate. This would be covered up by sending a massive horde of walkers into the city and Campus Colony.
In The Ones Who Live timeline, viewers see the news report that Major General Beale (Terry O'Quinn) sent a reconnaissance mission to Omaha to ascertain what happened. Thorne approaches Rick regarding what has happened in Omaha. They watch the news, and Thorne tells him that the residents would have seen the horde descending, and while she doesn't know who did it, the Civic Republic is alive, and Omaha is dead.
It will be interesting to see how things develop in The Ones Who Live, revealing the power the CRM welds and the ruthless nature of Beale.
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