Here we go! The first of a two-part finale to wrap up the first season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond. ‘The Deepest Cut; In This Life’ does a great job of wrapping up some character introductions, but the pressure on the cast and crew seems to be showing at the edges for some characters. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see any of Silas after last week’s episode, but I am sure he will resurface soon and there is plenty to talk about in the penultimate episode of World Beyond.
1. Zombie Killing
Here we are, nine episodes into the season, and we have seen roughly the same amount of zombie fights. This episode finally opens the floodgates and puts our survivors in some tough situations. It makes them grapple with the reality of the world they live in and give in to the violent nature required to survive. Everyone is tested this time, and the results are surprising.
Early on we get a great setup as Felix, Iris, Hope, and Huck have to cross a field at night. They are quickly surrounded by zombies tangled in barbed wire and it makes the escape that much more difficult and interesting. Percy makes a reappearance in a quick zombie tussle, but the big payoff here is when Elton is trapped in a field and has to dig deep to find the strength to defend himself and the lifeless Percy. Now that there are zombies, and everyone has had to accept some violence, there is a pathway for Silas to return.
2. Felix’s Hopeless Romance
Felix got a big chunk of this episode to fill out his character, and it seems necessary to attach him to the mission, but this kind of annoyed me. The representation is great, but I didn’t need Felix to care about this mission more than his relationship with the family. And in some ways, restoring his faith in family is more important than him finding love after the horrors he went through in the pre zombie world.
The other factor I didn’t care for or could have been explored in season two is the 10-year gap. With us getting to know the characters as they are now and seeing flashbacks to the lives they lived before the night the sky fell, I think it gets too confusing and convoluted to throw in the third timeframe. Now we just need flashbacks inside our flashbacks to really put it over the top. This season would have felt great if it had been exclusively life before and after the preserve, and season two was given free rain to explore why there is so much distrust for the Civic Republic through flashbacks to that time period, which felt mostly tacked on to give Felix a chance to represent on screen.
3. Elton Grows Up
Elton has been through a lot in this series, from the quiet nerd to the virtue-signaling vagabond. This was his first foray into the world beyond on his own, which is a parallel journey to his coming-of-age journey. Elton has been lied to, sheltered, and betrayed his entire life. He has grown up jaded, in part because he didn’t have all the information but also because he has put his faith in others and let down. I think that is important in this episode because we see Felix struggle with trusting others and having that create a negative impact on his life while Elton’s life is falling apart because he has been too naive.
Elton’s journey in this episode starts with him breaking down. He has lost faith in his mother’s guidance. From there he stumbles across Percy, bleeding out from a bullet wound while fighting a zombie. The rest of Elton’s story focuses on him trying to save Percy’s life while dealing with a hallucination of Percy giving him advice from the one person he doesn’t want to hear it from, his mother. As Elton fights within his own mind, he has to deal with external issues as well. Ultimately, he gets through to himself and takes a powerful lesson from his mother on things that are better left unsaid, as he realizes that the devil has been in their ranks from the beginning.
Continued below4. Nicolas Cantu
There is a lot going on in this episode as they start to try to condense things back down for the finale, and the acting became transparent under the pressure. Felix had a lot of emotional scenes and it brought out a much stronger performance than Tortorella has given for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Mahendru adapted an even worse accent, mannerisms, and cardboard performance for this week’s rendition of Huck. But Cantu has been the breakout star of the season in my opinion.
Cantu is believable on screen, and he delivers a wide range of performance and emotion. Elton has felt like a part of the world from the first moment he popped up on the screen, but this episode really gave Cantu the opportunity to take the part and run with it. His performance is probably elevated by being side by side with Ted Sutherland as Percy in almost every one of his scenes, but Cantu has and will do well on his own. I would keep an eye out for Cantu’s career to take off from World Beyond because he really does have some acting chops and I can’t wait to see where he goes next.
5. Huck’s Hope
This thread is something that I think really could have been elevated by some stronger and more consistent acting. Hope hasn’t been terrible, but Huck could have done so much more with this through subversive and intentional actions. Sure, we can all see how things got from point A to point B, but wouldn’t it have been more fun if the journey were a little more winding?
Huck has been grooming Hope from day one to be the wedge that divides the group. It isn’t totally clear what the plan is beyond eliminating this rescue team of sorts, but the instructions say that they are all expendable so there is no telling what Huck is supposed to do, or will do. Hope has shown her true colors, she is still the same person she was when she went out by herself at the treehouse or snuck off from the group to turn on the alarm, but now she is putting herself in a dangerous situation with a killer and the odds aren’t forever in her favor. At least for now she has the element of surprise and a weapon.
In Summary…
This isn’t exactly where I was the season going, and there is definitely more plotting and planning going on than I expected coming into the show. I think the character of Huck is very interesting, but I have my issues with her portrayal. Hope seems like she has more going on than we have seen thus far, and I think Iris has been left out of a lot because of her goody-two-shoes personality even though she should have had a lot to say about Silas in this episode.
Felix did a great job carrying his weight in this episode despite his elements feeling more tacked on than essential. Overall, I think this episode goes to Nicolas Cantu and Elton. The character was given a lot of substance to work with here, and Cantu was able to internalize all of that into an incredible performance that really elevated the episode, and going into the finale lifts the entire show to another level.
