The Deepest Cut
Episode 9 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond begins with Huck driving away from the group as we cut back in time and see flashbacks of Elizabeth and Huck together. The former feeds her and reminds Huck that she needs to bring “the asset”. Agreeing to do just that, Huck breaks the news to Elizabeth that she’s not alone and that could spell trouble for them later on down the line. Remembering her mission, in the present Huck intentionally crashes the truck while the others are asleep. With the tyres gone, the group band together and start trudging back to the shelter a mile back to regroup and look for supplies. Iris and Hope are worried about Elton and Silas though, especially given how cold it is outside. Felix believes the truck being trashed is “karma” for what happened in the past but before he can elaborate, a group of zombies tied together with barbed wire surround them. Thankfully they overcome the threat but Felix sports a pretty nasty gash across his leg. As flashbacks continue to be interspersed through this series, we see Felix doing a security clearance back at the camp, something he’s been doing for 4 years, while Huck sits opposite him. Bill Campbell shows too and here we find out Bill and Felix are together as a couple. As the flashes continue, we see the ups and downs of their relationship, including Bill telling him to put his trust in other people and how he loves him. Back in the present, Elton finally starts to lose hope and rips up the pages in his book after learning the truth about his Mum. He soon thinks twice and starts chasing after the various letters scattered across the ground. Only, he comes to blood spatters dotted across the ground and follows them to Percy who’s still alive – because of course he is. Struggling, Elton drags Percy to safety after believing that the letter blowing in the wind was a sign to try and help him. As they get talking, it soon becomes apparent that Percy is actually still knocked out on the ground and Elton is talking to an apparition that appears alongside him. Elton decides to try and figure out what happened, examining Percy’s body where he finds a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Now it looks more likely that Huck – not Silas – is the one who did this. Only, things take a turn for the worst when a quartet of zombies start to stagger toward Elton. The apparition of Percy tells him to run and tries convincing the boy that Percy is already dead. Eventually Elton makes his decision and decides not to leave. Brandishing his weapon, Elton fights off the zombies with a wrench and saves Percy. Huck finds an abandoned house and the group split up to look for clues. Huck and Iris look upstairs but don’t find very much aside from a single room, which Huck claims is full of bed bodies. Downstairs, Felix remains concerned over his cut leg which seems to be getting worse. While out on patrol his fears are realized. Felix’s leg gives way under him and the group are forced to bring him back to the house again. Given they need to tend to Felix, it delays their journey to head up and see their Father. Because of this, Iris and Hope are torn over whether to help him or not. Felix makes the decision for them though and tells Iris that she’s strong enough and doesn’t need him looking out for her anymore. With Felix hanging back to recover, a quick flashback reveals that Huck was the one who slashed the back of his leg during the skirmish with the zombies. Iris is not so sure them leaving is the right idea – the first bright one she’s had all season. Huck however, convinces her to go. Not long after, she speaks to Hope in private and tells her they can’t trust Huck. There’s something up with her – especially with how quickly and willing she is to drop Felix – and now it looks like for sure she killed Tony. In the middle of the night, Hope wakes Huck up and tells her they need to leave without Iris as she’s just going to slow them down. While Huck grabs her stuff and prepares to leave alone with Hope, Elton finds a radio tucked away in Percy’s jacket. He uses it to communicate with Huck but Percy suddenly bolts upright and snatches it out of his hands – it turns out Huck was the one who shot him all along. As we soon see, Hope isn’t as gullible as she seems. She cracked the code back at the house with it spelling out “Raft embed agent en-route to NY w/ asset + four. All four expendable.” It looks like she’s left to try and save everyone else but the true purpose of this is still unknown right now. With Hope snatching up Felix’s gun before she left, the epilogue to this episode shows Bill Campbell still alive but on the run from armed guards, presumably belonging to Elizabeth.
The Episode Review
A nice little twist with Huck is enough to pique the interest but it’s not enough to save this series after a lacklustre first half. Across the 8 episodes so far, this series has lost over 1 million viewers from its premiere and this finale doesn’t look like it’s going to change that any time soon. For now though, the series leaves things wide open for its finale but thankfully we don’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next and if there’s a final twist in store for us.
