AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond
1×09: “The Deepest Cut”
Directed by Sydney Freeland
Written by Maya Goldsmith & Ben Sokolowski

* For a recap & review of “The Sky is a Graveyard,” click here.
* For a recap & review of the Season 1 finale, “In This Life,” click here.
Huck’s biting into a fresh sandwich while she meets with Elizabeth. She’s having a tough time convincing Elizabeth that she needs a bit more time to complete her mission. She reports about the “others” who’ve joined the group, which was unavoidable. Elizabeth makes clear the mission will be completed, one way or another, whether Huck’s got to do it herself, or the Civic Republic have to step in and finish it. Again we get full confirmation as we saw briefly in the previous episode: Huck is Elizabeth’s daughter.

Along the road the truck hits a rough spot and it leaves the group on foot for now. Iris is busy feeling bad about Silas leaving them, and Elton going after him; Hope feels bad but she doesn’t want to keep going over the past. We get a flashback to Felix doing “security intake” on Huck, when Will (Jelani Alladin) turns up to help; Will’s a “psych specialist.” Quite the backstory there, and I’m excited to see more of Felix and Will. In the present, the group come across a bunch of zombies caught in barbed wire and it takes a hard fight to get through them. Elsewhere we find Elton on his own, trying to deal with the loss of his mother. Not going so well. Though who does he find on his travels? Percy, who’s bleeding from a neck wound.
“The whole world‘s haunted,” says Hope as the group come to an empty house where they’ll hopefully stay for a bit. First they’ve got clear the place, so Hope and Felix split off with Huck and Iris on their own. This gives Huck a chance to try and get Iris on her side, driving a wedge between the two sisters to begin. She tries convincing Iris maybe the Civic Republic’s not as bad as they think.
More flashback to Felix and Will having an intimate morning. They get talking about Leo going on his assignment, wanting Felix to stay behind at the campus to watch his daughters. Felix wants to go, but he also wants to stay, and Will knows it’s all about his inability to let go of control; it’s also about him feeling indebted to Leo for saving him.

Speaking of saving someone, Elton’s dragged Percy with him to safety. Percy wonders why his little pal bothered, saying he’s only going to die. However, it appears to be only a “stress reaction” from Elton, who’s dragged what’s likely a corpse with him that far. So, the kid musters up enough courage to see what was done to Percy, assuming it was Silas that actually did it. And then he sees that Percy was shot in the chest. [Theory: could Huck have killed Tony and tried to kill Percy, all in an effort to split up the group?] He tries to keep pulling Percy when zombies are shambling towards them. The figment Percy says it’s okay to let go, to save himself. He tells Elton that there’s a “big beautiful world” out there to fight for—people who are still living, people who can keep on living—and it needs people like Elton.

Poor ole Felix’s foot isn’t doing good, it hasn’t been for a lot longer than he told anybody, and he soon takes a spill. That means they’ve got to hole up a while to let him heal. His wound’s pretty nasty. He can’t do anything without rest, and that’ll take them off the road for days. Another flashback to Will and Felix having family dinner with the Bennetts. Felix quickly brought up the security detail for Leo’s trip, and it comes out that Will was the one chosen to go. Oh, my. Apparently Will asked to be assigned.
Iris is trying to come up with a new route for them, considering Felix can’t walk without a cane currently. He thinks the girls don’t need him anymore, and he doesn’t want to put them in any further danger. He thinks Iris has proven herself since they left the campus. “I believe in you,” Felix tells her, “Who you‘re becoming.” The women are going to head on without him, and once they find out anything about Leo they’ll return. Hopefully everyone will still be alive then. Tough goodbye right now, regardless. We also see a SHOCKING moment: Felix got his wound from Huck, another blow to try and stop the group for the Civic Republic. Whoooa. Gives more weight to thinking Huck’s the one who framed Silas, too.

Now Iris is sure something’s not right with Huck. She goes to Hope, attempting to get her sister to understand. She has a “gut feeling” but Hope has a connection to Huck and won’t believe the accusations. Things are truly deteriorating between the two sisters, particularly in the aftermath of Hope revealing the story of what really happened when their mother died. Hope’s more willing to trust Huck than her own blood. Uh oh—definitely not a good situation for the group. It all leads to Hope going to Huck that night, suggesting they leave immediately. Damn, girl. Cold as ice. But how long can Huck keep Hope on her side? She also gets a call over the walkie from Elton, telling her he’s with Percy. That’s when the near dead Percy comes to and tells Elton: “She‘s the one that shot me.” Back at the house, Iris and Felix wake to find they’ve been left behind. And we see that Hope’s got a plan of her own after finding a hidden bit of military correspondence, uncovering Huck’s mission. She’s looking to finish things.There’s a lot of intensity growing here.
Can’t wait to see what goes down in the finale.