The Walking Dead's Most Heartbreaking Moments
By Mia Tucker
"I'm looking for my family."
That is what drives Rick Grimes throughout the first half of The Walking Dead's inaugural season, and what he keeps saying throughout his blood loss-induced visions in the season 9 episode "What Comes After."
Rick, of course, ends up impaled on a piece of rebar, resulting in a trippy This Is Your Life-style recap of everything he's been through up to that point, forcing him to confront who he is, what he's done, and who he's lost.
The one constant in the show amongst all the bloodshed, the loss, the tough choices, and emotional conflict is the theme of family. Forming bonds with those around you regardless of name, creed, or race. Rick started the show looking for one family, and over the course of nine seasons, he built another one. His final act would be to blow up a bridge leading to Hilltop, preventing an army of walkers from destroying it, closing out his run on The Walking Dead by muttering one final line — "I found them."
His departure from the Walking Dead universe was as bittersweet as it was temporary. Rick survives the explosion, only to be washed downstream and rescued by Anne (Neve Macintosh). He is flown away in a helicopter, leaving viewers to wonder if and when he'll ever return.
