Poorly-written teens jostle each other as complaint rock rings out in AMC’s new The Walking Dead series
The Walking Dead: World Beyond takes place a decade after the zombie apocalypse The show follows a group of teenagers as the first generation to grow up in a decimated society The series premiere, « Brave, » features the sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) Bennett They live in the « Campus Colony » of Nebraska State University near Omaha It is part of three surviving communities in Omaha, Portland and the Civil Republic in between They are symbolized by three interconnected circles As seen previously in the episodes of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead
World Beyond begins with a nightmare sequence The walkers charge as animation rotates over their bodies Iris wakes up with a huff That morning she walks up to Silas (Hal Cumpston) as he works in the yard She invites the new student to a « rager » that her sister throws the following night Iris strident march as president of the student body Her VP has prepared a welcome banner for a distinguished guest
Felix (Nico Tortorella) and Huck (Annet Mahendru) prepare weapons for the trip beyond the walls Iris loads the student welcome party on the bus Her sister, Hope, sneaks into the luggage compartment with a small bouquet flowers The doors open Felix and Huck lead the bus in an armored Jeep They crush a « void » in the road Her moving upper torso locks onto the undercarriage and tries to grab Hope She successfully pushes him back
The convoy arrives on a cleared area Hope runs away into the woods and arrives at a cemetery She lays the bouquet on her mother’s grave Hope looks up to see five black helicopters, some carrying containers, circle the- top Students unfurl the welcome banner It reads, « Civil Republic sucks » Iris realizes it’s her sister’s job She quickly cuts off the sign
Felix waits for a helicopter to land Three interlocking white circles are decorated on the side Black armored stormtroopers escort a woman in a cloak She introduces herself as Lt Col Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) of the Military Civil Republic (CRM) Felix introduces himself and Huck as senior officers of the security forces, Campus Colony of Omaha They also have the three ring badges on their jackets Felix expected to see government officials Elizabeth tells him: « Major General Beale does was not comfortable sending civilians « He could only spare a helicopter for their » Monument Day « vacation
Hope, still hidden behind the bus, points to Elizabeth Elizabeth sees her, but says nothing about the offense The marchers approach the chopper The CRM soldiers blow their heads off with guns three teeth The welcome sign now says: « Civil Republic us » Iris eloquently declares: « This is what the Alliance of Three »
The convoy returns to campus Silas watches Hope get off the bus She asks him not to tell her sister She also invites him to her « rager » in the storage room C-12 Hope returns to their stylish apartment dorm Iris chastises her for the sign Hope answers: « We do not know where they are or what they are doing » Iris reminds her that their father left to join them He wanted to share « knowledge » and work for a « cure « Iris asks her to sign a birthday card for Felix Hope wonders why her sister gave up art for » science, AP classes and volunteering « She also asks if Iris » checked the firm today » Iris did it, « nothing » was there yet « »
Iris wakes up from the same nightmare She goes to her office and works on her speech His notebook comes alive in pencil He explains « Monument Day » They survived, but the rest of the world did not A plane crash is followed by a map of America It shows Portland on the west coast, the Civil Republic between the two and their school near Omaha The remaining country is in question mark
Iris rides the campus quad the next morning Her voiceover continues: « I live for my mother, who died that night, ten years ago today And for my father, doing important work that will benefit us one day to all « She goes to her father, Leopold Bennett’s office, and opens a cabinet Inside, a beep is connected to a printer It reads » no message « She opens a book with messages recorded in the inside His father communicates with them He apologizes for missing Monument Day He warns that sending messages is risky
Iris attends a lecture She returns to « the night the sky fell » The teacher asks Elton (Nicolas Cantu) what his wishes are for Monument Day He doesn’t want to be afraid anymore He wants to see what the world now Another student drops a note on Iris’s desk Felix has found his sister’s alcohol cache He’s holding her in jail in his office
Felix is exasperated by Hope’s behavior We learn that he worked for his father and was appointed tutor when he left Hope wants this lesson to be over Iris arrives and Felix frees Hope They are approached by Elizabeth She thanks them for their sacrifice, being « away from their father can’t be easy » Her work is essential for the future of the planet Iris is great, but Hope can’t hold back her contempt They move away, but Hope confronts Iris about her nightmares She tells him that « b * tch is the reason we will never see our father again » In their father’s office, the beeper flashes and prints a message
Iris visits her therapist, Dr K, whose office is behind a steel door She is dying and needs breathing tubes from an oxygen tank Iris remembers the night the planes fell Her father was driving her mother, sister and her through the streets to campus A pregnant woman asked for help in the chaos, but they had to leave her behind Iris and her father was separated from her sister and her mother Their mother died, but not from the plane crash Iris blames the « voids » Her sister saw her arrive Therapist tells her not to worry about the future She must learn to live for today ‘hui
Hope trains to fight with Huck in the gym They watch Elton, a black belt, teach other teens Hope laments the loss of his alcohol She asks Huck about life in Omaha Huck warns him not even to think about leaving There are « a hundred miles of shit » in the city Hope thinks that rebuilding everything is a waste of time The world will end anyway
Hope remembers fleeing through the wreckage of the plane crash with her mother She saw walkers for the first time Hope holds her necklace It’s a string through a red ball Iris finds the message in the cupboard He says: « MY! 2 SAFETY NOT ASSURED » Silas and Elton open the office door They see Iris reading the secret note They bring her an Elton cake baked in an easy-to-bake oven Hope enters the office She’s amazed that Iris had the closet open with others in the room
Hope is alarmed by the message Elton and Silas swear they won’t tell anyone Elton admits he sneaks around regularly This is how he found the oven and his « TuffyStitch » bite-resistant suit He ventures out to find something he lost Now they know each other’s secrets Iris doesn’t want to read anything in the note Then Hope tells her there were five helicopters Elizabeth came in one d ‘between them She knows that the CRM is bad and that their father is in danger
Outside the walls, Huck and Felix spray paint walkers to track their movements Felix’s boyfriend is revealed to be gone to protect the girls’ father His radio comes alive Hope Bennett has need to see him immediately They show him the message in their apartment Felix worries what the CRM would do if it finds out he’s communicating with them Felix has vowed to keep them safe Her boyfriend, Will, is the best fighter that they have He will protect their father
Hope bursts into the night court Iris follows her enraged sister How can we not see that the wicked have their father? Iris replies that the message contains numbers and letters It may not be a distress call Elizabeth appears out of nowhere She overheard their conversation Iris confronts her about the secret of the Civil Republic Elizabeth admits her daughter has also fired She also does secret work for the Alliance of Three Elizabeth signals them to be « brave » She confides that their father is in a research facility She gives the girls a coded map of New York Elizabeth would be serious trouble if her superiors knew She hopes she won their trust And might be a little tipsy from the alcohol confiscated by Hope
Girls get drunk in their father’s office A new message arrived overnight, « IT’S WRONG Keeping your head down DON’T TELL COUNCIL, DON’T TELL FELIX I LOVE YOU GIRLS » Iris giving her Monument Day speech in thirty minutes She goes to her therapist’s office, but is attacked by a walker through the security door Dr K is dead and turned around Distraught Iris looks at the blown body
Elizabeth addresses campus residents on Memorial Day The Civil Republic will always support Portland, Omaha and the Campus Colony She thanks them for « loaning Dr. Leo Bennett » Iris doesn’t punch her speech She drops her prepared remarks and speaks honestly She has dreams where they died She hasn’t really lived since the sky fell She wants the truth She doesn’t know Elizabeth, doesn’t trust her or doesn’t no idea what the Civil Republic really is Elizabeth is looking at solemnly
After the event, Iris tells Hope that they have to go and find their father She admits to hating that Hope saw their mother die Hope holds the necklace She looks back on what really happened They saw a truck with a door open through the plane fire But the pregnant woman got there first She had a gun to hold them back, but accidentally shot Hope’s mother The pregnant woman was mortified She dropped the ‘weapon in anguish Young Hope picked it up and killed it The woman was holding the marble necklace
Iris and Hope tell Elton and Silas their intention to leave They have the map They know he’s somewhere in New York It’s eleven hundred miles on foot Elton and Silas volunteer to go too Elton knows karate and he’s looking for something Silas wants a chance to be different Next scene shows teens with backpacks and weapon sticks leaving campus
Felix reads his birthday card with Hucks alarm tells him Silas and Elton are also missing Teens walk near the plane crash Walkers still trapped in their chairs are covered in moss Tonight on the highway, Elton finds what he was looking for It was the horn of his triceratops toy It was meant to be a gift for his unborn sister He parted with his mother when the sky fell He didn’t have it never seen again He looks at her picture She was the pregnant woman Hope killed
Felix and Huck leave campus in the morning The girls know Felix will come find them They need to move Elton ties the horn to his staff Iris didn’t have a nightmare the night before They stumble upon a walker Iris takes the ‘Elton’s weapon She needs to learn how to fight them The scene then turns to a massacre on campus The CRM killed everyone in the colony Elizabeth takes a three-toothed rifle and kills a painted walker A soldier splashed with blood approaches her They searched the buildings and the surrounding area They can’t find « the girl » Elizabeth calmly examines the carnage and responds with one word, « good »
We finally have the confirmation of the Civil Republic, the Alliance of Three, and the first clue of the Supreme Villain The CRM took the injured Rick from the bridge explosion in season nine of The Walking Dead Anne, aka Jadis , told them Rick was a « B » not an « A » She had provided the CRM with « strong » people In Fear the Walking Dead, Althea falls in love with Isabelle, a CRM soldier I bet Isabelle is the daughter Elizabeth is referring to We’ll have to wait and see how the timelines converge, but the threads between shows are now apparent
‘Brave’ is a disappointing start to the World Beyond series The premiere unfolds like a bad episode on The CW Poorly written teenage characters jostle each other as complaint rock echoes in the background Characters come out of nowhere to propelling the plot Crack security of the campus colony somehow misses a fleet of helicopters sent to destroy them Something a rambling girl protagonist notices in the first five minutes The subplot between Elton and Hope is ridiculously Stupid Pilot is full of ridiculous gimmicks, meant to spoon-feed important details in The Walking Dead universe World Beyond is slated for twenty episodes over two seasons I pray it gets better The Walking Dead: World Beyond returns next Sunday on AMC
Walking Dead: World Beyond
World news – CA – « The Walking Dead: World Beyond » series premiere recap & review: a disappointing start
