AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond
1×10: “In This Life”
Directed by Magnus Martens
Written by Matthew Negrete, Maya Goldsmith, & Ben Sokolowski

* For a recap & review of “The Deepest Cut,” click here.
* The 2nd & final season to come
We see Leo with Dr. Lyla Bellshaw. The two are evidently in a relationship. They talk about the girls, and Leo’s curious where they are, what they’re doing. He knows Hope’s getting into trouble of some sort. And we see Hope on the road, holding Huck at gunpoint. Someplace else, Silas is cooking what little food he can find to eat out in the post-zombie apocalypse wasteland. It’s not a great meal, but a meal nonetheless. Then he spends his time sitting in silence until he notices none other than Elton outside. The boys are reunited again. “You shouldn‘t have come,” Silas says, but Elton is thrilled to see his friend. Plus, Percy’s hanging on, and he’s proof Silas did nothing to hurt him.

Back at the house, Felix is fitted with a decent boot to help him get on his feet. He and Iris discuss Hope and Huck. She knows something isn’t right with both Huck and Hope. Felix isn’t ready to believe his close friend Huck would ever betray him or the group. So, Iris thinks maybe they should check the room Huck claimed was “filled with bodies.” Meanwhile, Huck’s trying to talk Hope down from shooting her. It isn’t going so hot, either. She says if she dies, the Civic Republic will come looking anyway. They’re interrupted by zombies filing out of the trees, and they’ve got to get fighting using all the training Huck gave Hope.
What’s in the dreaded room upstairs?
Iris and Felix have a look and it’s filled with medical supplies. His ankle could’ve been fixed a lot sooner. They still don’t know why Huck left with Hope, though. Together, Percy, Silas, and Elton also discuss what really happened that night when Huck killed Tony and tried to do the same to Percy. At least Silas is vindicated, and even he now knows he’s “not a monster.” Yet the group’s still divided and scattered, some of them slowed down by injury, too. Silas is convinced they need to save their friends from whatever Huck’s got planned for them.

Now we find out Huck sent the original messages from Leo, who we’ve already seen is not in any trouble, enjoying meals with his new significant other. Huck did it to try and get Hope going. It was all part of an elaborate, long-played ruse on the part of the Civic Republic. It’s a huge betrayal for Hope. She believed she had a friend in Huck, and this entire time she’s been played for a fool. Huck has effectively been attempting to indoctrinate Hope into the Civic Republic military way of thinking about “the greater good.” Ah, so that means bashing one man’s head in, shooting a young guy, and then pinning it on Silas. I mean, it is very American military of her! Military-types can convince themselves of anything, that the most heinous acts they commit is in the name of some “bigger picture.”

Everyone’s on the road somewhere. Huck keeps Hope wrapped up in heading for the Civic Republic. Silas, Percy, and Elton won’t give up any hope, determined to get back to their friends. Then there’s Felix, giving Iris driving tips that were first passed on to him from her father, Leo. It’s a rough go at first but she’ll get the hang of it eventually. They’re a much tighter knit pair than Huck and Hope, who are tenuously together only because the latter would rather keep the former away from the others. It isn’t long and a vehicle turns up: it’s Felix and Iris. Huck acts all casual, even when Iris mentions the supply room. Hope plays along with Huck. But none of it assuages Felix or Iris’s scepticism. Everything breaks down fast. Felix pulls the gun off Huck, demanding the truth.Dr. Bellshaw tells Leo he’s soon going to be reunited with Hope. She explains this from behind a glass divider. She’s talking about the big picture here, and how smart people like Hope are needed to ensure that “the world can live.” Oh, man. Not good. This is actually a practice run as Lyla prepares to talk with Leo over a bottle of wine after dinner. Leo starts talking about suspicions he has re: the Civic Republic’s military. Probably not good when Lyla is clearly embedded deeply in the organisation.

Hope tells Felix the truth, and after all this time Huck admits to being part of the CRM. A fight breaks out and Felix goes crashing down over the stairs while a lantern’s knocked over, starting a fire. Out in the wasteland, CRM forces are headed to the factory where Silas and the lads were, hunting them down. Back at the house, Felix fights Huck, and the sisters go looking for the gun. He refuses to back down and let Huck take Hope to the Republic. And she keeps coming at him hard. Hope’s able to find the gun, so she and Iris go to help Felix. Iris starts taking out zombies while Hope looks for a shot. This is the moment Hope threatens to shoot herself in the head if Huck won’t stop. She’s staying with Huck, urging Iris and Felix to leave again. She knows her family and friends are in danger as long as she’s with them. An incredibly tough choice.
At the same time, Silas is going to stay behind to let Elton and Percy get away, back to help their friends. He’s giving himself up to the Civic Republic military. “Don‘t be the monster,” he says, no matter what Huck’s done. He thanks Elton for everything, then sends them off.

After a while Hope and Huck rendezvous with Elizabeth and her people touching down in a helicopter. Elizabeth’s concerned about the others out there. She’s planning to wipe them out. Huck wants them to be left alone, but her mother isn’t going to do that and have loose ends flapping in the wind. The soldier daughter is also unaware the campus colony was entirely wiped out, too. Nothing to go back to for Felix, Iris, or the boys. At least Iris believes in herself and her friends: “We‘re the future.” Just gotta hope that her and Felix can survive in the wasteland. And just who do they stumble across in the forest? Will. He then starts to explain to them what happened at the campus. He’s got a bunch of people with him, too.
An interesting close to this first season. There’s only two planned seasons, so it’ll be compelling to watch where the second goes. There are, indeed, interesting characters and storylines setup here. Some may not enjoy this spin-off. I say, that’s fine. For me, The Walking Dead: World Beyond does offer different drama than the other shows because it focuses largely on the younger characters, whereas there are only a couple younger characters who really get episodes focused on them in the midst of older characters. Not only that, we’re seeing the Civic Republic and their military, which has only been lightly touched upon/hinted at in the other shows.