'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' Episode 5: Will Elton be the unifying force if teens turn against one another?
Spoilers for 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' Episode 5 'Madman Across The Water'
'Madman Across The Water' might be cliched for a number of reasons but the fact that it thrust Elton (Nicolas Cantu) into focus perhaps has much to do with the fact that he might be the glue that holds the group together. For the major part of the series so far, the onus has been on blending the characters' past and present. And despite the flaws each of them have, it does show them to be rather generous and accepting about it. The question is, how long before they start picking on one another?
Silas (Hal Cumpston) gave a glimpse of his dark side in the previous episode. He can kill with his bare hands if he has to, and while he may have Iris (Aliyah Royale) as the comfort factor by his side, he is human after all and the probability of the rage-fuelled persona coming back is high. What will the teens do then? With Felix (Nico Tortorella) and Huck (Annet Mahendru) in tow, there is some leadership in the group. But what if they leave at some stage? Or an unfortunate incident sees them take the backseat?
Elton comes in as the perfect choice to be the one that holds the group together. So far, we have seen Iris like and forgive Silas and be scared when he goes into a fugue state and wallops a zombie to death with his fists. It’s okay for her to love Hope (Alexa Mansour) and be angry that she hid the truth about their mother’s death for a larger part of their childhood. These are not changes that would betray the characters and relationships more complicated and the gravity is yet to hit them.
Elton has seen a lot more than his peers at this stage. He toughens up when he sees his father's mauled dead body and while that contributes to his fears of closed spaces and clouds his judgment at times, his act of combating his fear and saving his mates makes him the frontrunner to be the one to have a soothing effect on the team when things go awry.
It's only a matter of time before the teens have some misunderstanding or the other and for Cantu's geeky Elton, this is yet another role he would have to assume — being the peacekeeper.
'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' airs on Sundays at 10 pm ET on AMC.