For the first nine seasons of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes was the protagonist. Despite a growing (and shrinking) group of main characters, Rick was always at the story’s center. Even after he left, presumed dead, his name continued to live on as The Brave Man, as Michonne called him when talking to their son RJ, who never had the chance to meet his father. Meanwhile, Rick and Michonne’s story continues in the spin-off The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

Rick was at the center of almost every episode of the series. But he has had a few standout moments throughout both shows that showcase the intense emotions, pivotal moments, and internal strife He has experienced from the start of the apocalypse to the present day as his story progresses.

10 “Beside the Dying Fire”

The Walking Dead

This episode marks a major turning point for Rick. The episode after that harrowing scene when Rick kills his best friend (before he can kill him) and Carl shoots the reanimated Shane sees the farm overrun by walkers. The group scatters. Faced with having to make a decision, Rick realizes that he can’t be the good guy he was trying to be. The group needs a leader, someone they can look up to, maybe even fear. He needs to, in essence, be more like Shane in some ways.

He solidifies this mindset decision when he declares himself the leader after the group reunites and enjoys a lovely time around a campfire. He uses an authoritative tone they haven’t heard from him yet, welcoming anyone who doesn’t like his ideas to leave. “If you’re staying,” he ends, “this isn’t a democracy anymore.” This is the moment the memes about the “Ricktatorship” began to flood the Internet.

9 “Sick”

The Walking Dead

Rick continues to become more brutal throughout the series, and in this episode, he did something no one saw coming. Seeing Tomas as a threat who isn’t going to let up and poses a danger to his group, he kills him with a machete to the head. He then chases another prisoner named Andrew out and locks him on the other side of the prison, refusing to trust him or let him in. It’s part of Rick’s desperation to protect his newfound family and growing paranoia that he can’t trust anyone.

The episode also tells about Rick’s relationship with Lori. During a heart-to-heart, he declares she isn’t a bad mother in response to Carl’s hardening and combative personality. She replies that “wife is a different story.” Rick’s slight coldness towards her suggests he’s becoming someone he didn’t want to be, partly because of her, but there’s no going back.

8 “Clear”

The Walking Dead

This episode brings things full circle for Rick. While on a run for supplies, Rick, Michonne, and Carl come upon Morgan, a fan-favorite character from The Walking Dead and later Fear the Walking Dead. After he attempts to kill Rick, in a mental state where he doesn’t even remember who Rick is, Morgan is subdued and knocked unconscious. Once he eventually wakes up, the interaction between Morgan and Rick reminds fans of how the story started.

Rick realizes he forgot to continue radioing Morgan every morning as promised. He now feels a sense of guilt that he found his family and never returned to help Morgan. He feels worse learning that Morgan has since lost his son Duane, who was killed by his own zombified mother, whom Morgan could not bring himself to take down. It’s an emotional story that brings Rick back, for a brief moment, to the person he once was.

7 “After”

The Walking Dead

This emotionally charged father-son episode follows Rick and Carl’s journey after escaping the Governor’s attack at the prison. Rick is badly harmed, leaving Carl to do all the heavy lifting (and pudding-eating). When they finally find a home to hole up in, Rick can barely stay upright while he’s berated by Carl. It’s the first time Carl has spoken such harsh words to his father, and he says even harsher words while Rick is unconscious from his injuries.

While the episode is as much Carl’s as Rick’s, Rick’s emotional journey in 45 minutes is touching. After Rick comes to, he has an epiphany that his son is much more capable and mature than he realized. But he’s also relieved that the harrowing situation opened Carl’s eyes to the fact that his father is doing the best he can and that he needs his dad more than ever. Rick has highs and lows throughout the episode. It’s a departure from the normal high-paced action of other episodes, but it’s one of his best.

6 “A”

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“They’re screwing with the wrong people.” These six words defined an episode that was heavily focused on Rick, and this was only the tip of the iceberg. The episode begins when Rick is confronted by Joe, the leader of the Claimers who puts a gun to his head in retribution for Rick killing his friend. When Daryl, one of the most fearless characters, realizes who his new group of friends have at gunpoint, he asks them to let Rick go. The moment escalates when the men promise to do heinous things to Michonne and Carl. The close-up of Rick’s face is an acting masterclass, as is when Rick lunges at Joe and bites his neck off as if he were a walker. From there, Rick sliced the other man open up to his neck before repeatedly stabbing him, frightening his son.

But this unhinged, fed-up version of Rick shines when the group makes it to Terminus. He perceptively notices Glenn’s property on many of the people and attacks, demanding to know where his friends are. When he’s put in a container with the rest, he speaks these six words to his friends, old and new, and fans know there’s a big fight to come. It was one of Rick’s shining moments, especially when interspersed with flashbacks of his conversations with Hershel about sitting back, learning how to take care of the group in other ways, like farming, and leaving the brute force to the others. That version of Rick is long in the rearview mirror, and Rick knows it and realizes he can never go back. It’s this episode that solidifies that.

5 “Conquer”

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Rick is fresh off being in trouble in Alexandria for stealing guns from the armory and waiting for a meeting that will decide his fate. He’s still a relative newcomer there and checking out whether the group should stay, leave, or take over the place. He is also developing feelings for Jessie, a complicated situation since she’s married and her husband is abusive. The entire meeting concerns Rick as his friends sing his praises to Deanna while Rick simultaneously takes out walkers who have made their way into the community.

Michonne pleads with the community that Rick has been through a lot while Carol says he saved her life. Even Abraham comes to Rick’s defense. Rick eventually apologizes saying he will change. But right then, a drunken Pete arrives wielding Michonne’s katana and declaring that they can’t trust Rick. In a shocking scene, Pete accidentally slices Reg’s throat, and as he dies in Deanna’s arms, she permits Rick to kill Pete. He doesn’t hesitate for a second, shooting him in the head. At this very moment, Morgan shows up at the gate and sees what Rick has done. Morgan’s face shows shock and disappointment, and Rick realizes what he has become at this moment, staring at his old friend.

4 “Wrath”

The Walking Dead

While some fans believe the war with the Saviors was drawn out way too long, this is the episode when it culminates in a final, explosive fight. Groups from Alexandria, Hilltop, Oceanside, and others come together to fight the Saviors and take down the Sanctuary. Rick, meanwhile, is leading the charge, and it’s an emotional one since he knows that lives will be lost. This episode beautifully shows Rick’s talent as a fighter, passion as a leader, and determination.

But it also shows that his humanity hasn’t entirely disappeared when he decides not to kill Negan, despite his awful actions. With the enemy’s throat slit, Rick orders to have him patched up and put in a jail cell. The moment when Rick is seen sitting under a tree weeping, saying, “My mercy prevails over my wrath,” is a beautiful juxtaposition to the adrenaline-fueled Rick throughout the rest of the episode. It’s a line he heard from Siddiq and one he is likely speaking to tell his dead son that he will honor him in ways Carl would appreciate.

3 “What Comes After”

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It’s fitting that Rick’s last episode on the main series would be among his best episodes of that show. Rick has been critically wounded in the explosion on the bridge and everyone believes that he is dead. He’s near that state and begins hallucinating, seeing himself in the hospital bed and hearing Morgan’s voice only to wake up and discover that he remains impaled on rebar. He manages to get himself off and hop aboard his horse, but he keeps falling in and out of consciousness given the tremendous blood loss.

Rick continues to dream of and see many of his dead friends and family members, including Lori, Hershel, Beth, Abraham, Sasha, and Shane, the latter of whom applauds him for some of his most heinous acts, including biting Joe’s throat and slaughtering Gareth. It’s an entire episode of Rick’s desperation to make it to safety and stay alive, using his memories to help keep him going. But he’s fading quickly, and this sense of urgency has fans on edge waiting to learn about Rick’s fate. In the post-credits scene, Jadis swoops in and saves him, setting up the story for the spin-off, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.

2 “Years”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

Rick is a bundle of emotions, filled with rage followed by depression, in this first episode of the spin-off. The episode is intense right from the beginning as Rick stares at a blade and holds it to his neck contemplating using it. Then a scene is shown during his most valiant escape attempt where he chops off his own hand to get away from the CRM, one of the best The Walking Dead arcs the show hadn’t featured until this point.

The episode focuses on Rick and tells the backstory of what happened after Jadis picked him up in that helicopter. Rick shows every emotion imaginable in this episode, from his softer moments to his violent fight with Okafor. When he learns that Okafor knows who his family is and where they are, he realizes that all hope of ever leaving is lost. He has surrendered and become one of them, leaving fans to wonder if the old Rick could ever return.

1 “What We”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

The most romantically emotional episode of them all, “What We” focuses entirely on the relationship between Rick and Michonne. While the pair have managed to escape, Rick is still afraid to leave the CRM for good, and Michonne struggles with who her husband has become. This isn’t the Rick she knows. She begs and pleads with him, but he cowers showing a side of the character that hadn’t been seen since Rick was hallucinating after Lori’s death.

This episode has plenty of Rick moments, from his refusal to leave Michonne and saving her from walkers to the intimate bedroom scene and the sweet and honest pillow talk afterward. The episode takes Rick through a complete mindset journey, returning him to the man he was and leaving fans excited to learn what’s to come.