The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs From "Bye"

10. Down: It Takes Risks But Still Feels Predictable

"Bye" continues the trend of the previous two episodes, startling its with deep, nostalgic character work, but pushing itself a bit too hard to twist expectations.

For the most part, the episode follows a simple pattern: Rick is trying to keep Michonne out of trouble, whilst Michonne tries to keep up appearances and reconnect with him. But amongst this, there are several red herrings that feel obvious from the start, from Michonne's clashes with Rick's frenemy Thorne and Rick's desperate attempts to push her away.

The latter of these developments is the worst. Though well acted, watching Rick scream at Michonne that "everything we had is broken" never rings quite true. It's obvious he's trying to push her away, and Michonne can see through such a ploy as well as we can.

There's other moments like this, too: Rick creating an elaborate escape for Michonne that she abandons to stay with him, as if she was ever going to leave. The episode does this a lot - a rug pull followed by an expected anti-climax - and it never packs the punch it's aiming for.