The Wrong End Of A Telescope
Almost out of supplies and with rain on the way, episode 4 of The Walking Dead: World Beyond begins the group deciding to just wing it and figure it out as they go along. As they continue walking, the kids discuss the research centre they’re heading to up ahead. While the kids are excited, Felix is worried given they only have enough water to get to Omaha. On the way though, they come across a high school that may just hold the key to their problems. Iris excitedly chirps “I’ve never been inside a high school before,” As she heads in with the others. There’s no sign of zombies for now but they all decide to split up. Iris and Hope still aren’t on talking terms and don’t stay together. Instead, Hope and Huck head off and discuss what the former is doing out here. On the way though they find a promising area that may hold supplies. It’s flashback time as we see Hope with Leopold in school back at the camp. There, we receive more exposition as he discusses how inseparable her and Iris were as babies. Hope promises to stop being such a screw-up but Leopold reassures her, telling the girl she’s just frustrated. He promises things will be fine and embraces her. Back in the present, Elton continues to snap photos while looking around for supplies with Felix. Only, they realize they may not be alone. As they creep through the corridors, a zombie is suddenly dragged back by… something. As they keep going, they realize a zombie is stuck inside a locker. How? Does this mean someone literally stuffed it inside? Is it in pieces? Well, there’s no answers for now as the duo carry on and realize something else is inside the school with them. Iris and Silas check out remnants from the past, including paintbrushes and a school yearbook on the floor. Iris starts reflecting on her life choices while drinking soda in a can for the first time. Deciding to take a break from the supply run, Iris and Silas decide to dance instead, as those cartoonish graphics we’ve seen before cut in to show them dancing alongside other school students. Felix and Elton eventually catch up and agree to reconvene in the basement to get out. It turns out those creatures we’ve seen before are actually wolves which appear to be inside the air vents. Still Iris and Silas crack on and find themselves surrounded by a whole horde of zombies being held back by metal lockers. Why are so many of these zombies in lockers? Who put them there? Anyway, there’s no time for questions as the zombies start to break through and stagger toward them. Upstairs, Huck and Hope find themselves evading a stray wolf and head downstairs out of its way. There, they hit the jackpot and manage to find a whole stack of supplies. While packing things up, they overhear Silas and Iris on the other side of the door. The group manage to bust it open but find an enraged Silas beating a zombie down with his bare hands on the other side. He apologises for what he’s done as the entire group reconvene and prepare to re-group and leave. Just before they do, Iris snaps Silas out of his trance about potentially killing his Dad, reminding the boy that he saved them all. She promises to get him cleaned up and the pair leave together. On the way out, Elton snaps a family photo to remember their time by as they continue on to the next episodic danger to face.
The Episode Review
Walking Dead: World Beyond is the TV show equivalent of a horrific pile-up on the motorway. It’s a brutal, shocking, messy affair and one that you hope everyone walks away from without a nasty injury – and also something you can’t take your eyes off. This show is just not getting any better and 4 episodes in, it’s arguably getting worse. Iris marveling that they’ve never been in a high school before (aside from attending one herself back in camp) is idiotic while the decision to Scooby Gang everything and split up is just as bad, something that Felix would have presumably taught them but seems to forget here. That’s before mentioning something stalking them. And that something happens to be wolves. Not outside the realm of possibility of course, but given they were lurking in the air vents and barely showed up in the episode, it’s disappointing not to see the kids running from them or trying to outsmart the hounds. Then again, smart is not this show’s forte. All of these survivors (and I use that term lightly) stumble head-first into every problem they face. There’s a conscious effort here to try and inject some “cool” variation of zombies but it just doesn’t work. The bee-spewing zombies and the lootbox zombies stuck in lockers here only raise more questions over what’s going on and how they ended up that way. One thing’s for sure, this series is not getting any better and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one’s leaking viewers every week. Still, it can’t get any worse… can it?
