'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' Ending Explained: How the spin-off sets up Season 2
Spoilers for 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' Episode 10 'In This Life'
'World Beyond' ended in a way not many expected it. In a way, it was as if every episode had an ending of sorts starting off with the pilot that saw the community being burned down by the CRM. It moved on to digging the pasts of all the key characters and came down to Huck aka Jennifer (Annet Mahendru) who was revealed to be Lt Elizabeth Kublek's (Julia Ormond) daughter. And that Hope (Alexa Mansour) is "the asset" who is destined to save mankind and is earmarked for the future.
The finale sees Hope agreeing to go off with Huck so as to protect the others and while it does seem that a manipulative CRM is the one with the advantage, what they don't realize is how effective Iris (Aliyah Royale) is and that's the secret behind the two sisters being the most important cogs in the series. The final minutes of the episode see Iris explain to Felix (Nico Tortorella) that the sisters have a plan to take CRM down. One dents them from the outside while the other burns it from within.
It's a bittersweet moment for Felix after his boyfriend, Bill (Jelani Alladin) appears with more survivors who escaped the CRM's campus attack in the season opener. And speaking of bittersweet endings, Silas (Hal Cumpston) has one as well by surrendering himself to the CRM so as to save Elton (Nicolas Cantu) and Percy (Ted Sutherland). Right now, everyone's separated. Leopold Bennett (Joe Holt) has been the main topic of discussion and the very reason for the sisters' setting out gets ample screentime.
Quite simply, he doesn't the CRM, and although he seems to be doing much better for himself, it does look like he's making a mistake by confiding it to Dr Lyla Bellshaw (Natalie Gold) who is pretty aware of CRM's intentions.
How does ending set up an already greenlit Season 2?
Despite what could be termed as a patchy and somewhat disappointing end to Season 1, it does set up an interesting Season 2 and can focus more on the actual plotline and questions that haven't been answered yet. We can be assured there would be no more globe-trotting. A lot of these questions will be on CRM and how the new season outlines all their motives. For all the spy embedding, the killing, and the plan for the future, the organization, and their lieutenant are an enigma.
Ormond's character has always been a mix of diplomacy and ruthlessness, sprinkled with a bit of goodness. But despite having all the traits of the perfect villain, she remains a mystery, and hopefully, the second season, which will conclude the series will shed more light on the character.
The absence of Rick Grimes that fans hoped would be explored was not even remotely addressed, but that is still okay as the season had to cement itself as an entity in itself. It was never about Grimes but CRM, which it still will have to expand on. That doesn't rule out the possibility of the character's cameo though. Earlier, showrunner Matt Negrete did hint that there would be an answer to where he was taken. We do know he designated as a "B", but that's pretty much about it.
Season 2 just might branch off to the Grimes spin-off film and even if it doesn't, it will most definitely provide an inkling of what's in store. And while at it, it hopefully addresses the lack of horror issue as well.