The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Recap: 6 Ups & 4 Downs From "Years"

Once you get passed the disjointed pace, "Years" does offer some exciting insight into the Civil Republic Military - specifically, how they take people and use them to build an army and protect their community, without choice regarding their own fate. 

What helps to sell the threat of the CRM most is, as mentioned, the way it crushes Rick's spirit, but also the thinly veiled evil lurking under its façade. This a military operation that kidnaps people and effectively enslaves them, all in the name of protection and the greater good.

That there's even more at play under the surface is even more troubling. Lieutenant Okafor tells Rick about how he oversaw the bombings of Atlanta during the start of the apocalypse - the franchise-infamous Operation Cobalt - and how he even killed his own wife to fulfil what he saw as his duty to "save the world." 

If the CRM are willing to do that, what else are they capable of?

Having now crossed paths with Rick Grimes, the CRM may have met their match, but Rick still has his work cut out for him if he wants to escape their clutches. Once he does, then what?