Review: The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 2, “The Blaze of Gory”

The Walking Dead: World Beyond lives and fails by the motto, “when you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Perhaps they should quit while they’re ahead.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond is off to a rough start. I was underwhelmed by the series premiere, but compared to the second episode, it’s a strong piece of work.

There comes a point in this episode where, as the viewer, I just completely lost interest. I lost track of what was going on, and…I didn’t care. Also, why do they call the walkers, “empties”? Of all the different ways we’ve heard zombies described, “empty” just doesn’t bring up any sort of emotion.

Anyway, I digress.

The future is not bright

I know these kids have very little idea on how to face the outside world, but I didn’t realize how clueless they were until we saw Iris’ (Aliyah Royale) reaction to a walker. Instead of impaling it, she throws up everywhere. Even though their community has advanced beyond anything else we’ve seen in the franchise, they haven’t been taught some very basic skills needed to survive in the outside world.

I think The Walking Dead: World Beyond might have made these guys too oblivious. How is it conceivable that they’ve been this sheltered? Seeing the walkers, they act as if the apocalypse just started, which doesn’t bod well for them should they get into any fights out here.

Felix

I’m not particularly attached to any of the characters, but I do have a soft spot for Felix (Nico Tortorella). It’s hard to pinpoint why; there’s something relatable about him that makes it easy to connect.

In this episode, flashbacks reveal that Felix didn’t have an easy upbringing. His father was a bigot, and kicked Felix out of the house after learning he was gay. Compared to some of the flashbacks we’ve seen so far, this one had more depth to it, which I appreciated.

The Blaze of Gory

Back in the present, Felix and Huck (Annet Mahendru) try to track down Iris, Hope (Alexa Mansour), Elton (Nicolas Cantu) and Silas (Hal Cumpston). The quartet comes across a fire that attracts walkers from every direction, especially in the dark of the night. They’re eager to check it out, which seems like a horrendous idea given the aforementioned cluelessness.

See, this is my problem with The Walking Dead: World Beyond. There’s an understanding that these guys don’t know much because they’ve been sheltered, and that the point of their journey is to be exposed to all of this. But it feels forced, and the constant flashbacks to the night “the sky fell” seem like they’re trying way too hard to give the show a backstory.

I’m just not convinced that this story is going anywhere. There’s too much going on at once and it makes things hard to follow. I know we’re only two episodes in, but the show is just all over the place, and these kids are just not a group that I’m particularly entertained by…especially Iris.

There’s a moment in this episode where I literally laughed out loud. After coming across a walker with a beehive inside it (which was pretty cool, actually), the kids hide in a treehouse. That’s a very poor decision on their part, because while they’re much higher than the walkers, they’re eventually surrounded by them.

The pattern of finding shelter and making a run for it happens one too many times during the episode. It all adds up to things feeling boring. They just keep repeating the same mistakes, and are continuously surprised that the walkers “find them”.

Also, how did they not suffocate and/or choke on all that smoke? I. Don’t. Get. It.

The Verdict

As The Walking Dead universe expands, I can’t help but wonder if all the shows and movies will feel like this. Maybe this is more difficult to watch because we don’t know these characters yet. But I remember that two episodes in, I was enjoying Fear the Walking Dead, so there’s definitely something missing here.

I know I’m completely bashing on this episode, but I need to stress that the whole thing is the kids napping, agitating walkers, and running. It’s rinse, wash, repeat over and over again until the episode ends. They don’t learn from their mistakes, and their every move becomes predictable.

My hope for World Beyond at this point is that these characters are given more depth, the story becomes better paced, and we get some originality. If future episodes aren’t any different than the first two, this show is in big trouble, folks.

Grade: D

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