The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 1 finale review

The Walking Dead: World Beyond wraps up its freshman season. Despite a disappointing lack of Rick Grimes, this slow burn was well worth the wait.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond completes its first (and I guess penultimate?) season, and I have to admit, I was quite impressed. There are still some things I have an issue with, but this finale brought me around. I find myself attached to some of the characters and anxious about what the future holds for them.

The two-part season 1 finale, “The Deepest Cut” and “In This Life,” brought us closer to the truth with a big reveal at the end. Unfortunately, it was not related to Rick Grimes. In fact, there was no mention or sign of him as many of us were hoping, which is one of my biggest qualms about the final two episodes.

We did, however, see characters live up to their potential finally. While these kids have been sheltered from the apocalypse, it was frustrating to see how ill-prepared they truly were for the outside world. But that’s changed over the course of the season, and I think we were all very happy to see the transformation.

All in all, the season 1 finale definitely gives us a lot to think about, and luckily we don’t have to wait too long to see what comes next; season 2 premieres sometime in 2021!

Huck’s plan

Last week, we learned that Huck (Annet Mahendru) was a spy for the CRM, tasked with securing “the asset.” (Side note: Mahendru also played a spy on FX’s The Americans.) It was unclear at first who the asset was — probably either Iris (Aliyah Royale) or Hope (Alexa Mansour) — but it was obvious that Huck was starting to get antsy about completing her mission, especially with the pressure from her mother, Elizabeth (Julia Ormond).

In order to get things moving, Huck decided to take matters into her own hands by crashing their car, forcing the group to travel on foot. Along the way, they encounter walkers. Huck decides this is an opportune time to injure Felix (Nico Tortarella), ensuring that he’d have to stay behind while she runs off with the asset. Clever girl.

Unfortunately for Huck, Iris and Hope were beginning to suspect that she was up to something suspicious. Because let’s be honest, Huck was being ridiculously obvious and really struggling to convince anyone that she was one of the good guys.

Hope manages to convince Huck to leave in the middle of the night, saying that Iris would not leave Felix behind. Little did Huck know that Hope had managed to decode the CRM cipher, learning of Huck’s plans. Apart from the asset, everyone else was “expendable.” So with Felix’s gun in tow, Hope heads off into the night with Huck, hoping to handle her or, at the very least, confront her.

Elton’s discovery

And the acting award goes to…Nicolas Cantu (Elton)! While I’ve had my doubts about the series, the one constant has been Cantu’s performance.

Despite Elton’s dire circumstances, he clings to the hope that things will be okay and that his mother might still be alive. Of course, Hope put an end to that when she confessed to killing his mother.

That was a turning point for Elton, who ventured off on his own after last week’s episode. This week, he encountered a nearly dead Percy (Ted Sutherland), barely hanging on after getting shot.

The actual Percy is unconscious, but Elton is talking to a fully alert version in his mind, which isn’t a great sign for his mental health. But worry not folks: just as Elton manages to get in contact with Huck, Percy awakens to reveal that it was Huck who shot him and killed his uncle.

Lyla and Leo

The second episode gives us a series of flashbacks of Iris and Hope’s father Leo (Joe Holt), and his co-worker/lover Lyla (Natalie Gold). There was something immediately shady about Lyla, who has popped up in all the post-credit scenes. It’s unclear what her role is in all of this, but by the end of the finale, I think it’s safe to assume that something bad has happened to Leo and that she was involved; he may be a walker test subject she has trapped in her lab.

In the flashbacks, Leo reveals to Lyla that Hope is a genius, a fact that Lyla shares with the CRM, who clearly need all the geniuses they can get if they want to rebuild the world. Hope is the asset we’ve been hearing about all season.

We don’t get a lot of clarity past this point, however, but based on Leo’s doubts about the CRM, we can all make a pretty solid guess about what happened there.

Hope confronts Huck

Back in the present, Hope pulls a gun on Huck, demanding she reveals what she’s been hiding.

It was Huck’s plan all along to pull Hope away from Campus Colony, which she did by pretending to send messages from Leo. Things didn’t go exactly as planned — to be honest the plan wasn’t that great — but I guess it did get Hope alone.

As it turns out, Hope had no idea that she was a genius. While she processes all of this, Felix and Iris track down Hope and Huck.

The ultimate sacrifice

Meanwhile, Elton randomly bumps into Silas (Hal Cumpston) and reveals that Percy didn’t die and that Huck is to blame for all the mess. It’s a touching moment between friends which soon turns into a tearful and painful goodbye.

While trying to make a run for it, the CRM shows up, so Silas makes the ultimate sacrifice: he tells Elton to run with Percy while he surrenders to the CRM. I have to admit I was tearing up here because it gave Silas an opportunity to redeem himself. He made the sacrifice gladly and seemed at peace as the guards took him away. I don’t know what is going to happen to him, but I’m thankful that now, for the time being, he lives to see another day.

Felix vs. Huck

Felix and Huck get into a fist fight after he confronts her about her lies. They start a fire and push Hope to take a very drastic step. Since she is the asset, she holds a gun to her head, demanding that they stop…or else.

Hope eventually decides to go with Huck, but only after telling Iris that they’re both geniuses who work well together. A flashback reveals a young Iris helping a young Hope figure out how to make a computer.

The joke’s on you, CRM: they’re a package genius deal, and you just got half.

As Huck hands off Hope to Elizabeth in the final moments of the finale, we learn that Elizabeth has other plans for the rest of the group: to kill them. Huck, finally finding her conscience, is rattled by this. Too little, too late Huck.

The World Beyond finale ends with Iris telling Felix the truth about the genius sisters, just as they stumble across a group of people, which includes Felix’s boyfriend Will (Jelani Alladin)! Who are they? Where have they been? And how will Felix and Iris react to learning that Campus Colony no longer exists?

We’ll know soon enough when season 2 returns in 2021– hopefully with Rick Grimes! (Was that helicopter at the end relevant or just a massive troll?)

The Verdict

I thoroughly enjoyed the World Beyond season 1 finale, despite some hiccups along the way. I think my only issue with it was that we didn’t get any information about Rick Grimes, The producers and showrunners have been constantly mentioning that this series will tell us more about him, but it was not to be…yet.

However, I know this is a limited series run, and if we haven’t heard anything yet, we’ll surely get it in the second season. But still, some clue would have been nice!

Until next season!

Grade: B

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