For a show with a limited run, The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 1 Episode 1 was a slog to get through.
In what might be deemed as a cash-grab to pull in a younger audience, “Brave” zeroed in on the first generation to grow up in a world filled with the undead.
And while you would think many youngsters would be doing fun stuff to make sure they lived thier lives to the fullest, The Walking Dead: World Beyond has chosen to follow a bunch of teenagers that are, largely, uninteresting.
Out of the younger cast, only Hope seemed to have some semblance of an arc worth following, and she may be a killer, so that’s exciting.
Hope is naturally skeptical of everything, which makes for good TV. Her first meeting with Elizabeth certainly showed her feelings, and while other characters may hate it, she’s a straight-shooter, which makes things fun.
There are a lot of unanswered questions with Hope, which makes sense given that this was the series premiere. Her relationship with Iris is strained to say the least, and I dare say that they will be divided as the series progresses.
Iris, however, is terribly written. You know something is up when you have zero emotion towards a character with a deeply disturbing backstory.
But what was on-screen simply didn’t work. There’s a struggle behind those eyes, and unless the writing improves for her, I’ll struggle to pay attention to her arc.
There’s an intriguing plot in there about their scientist father going missing and subsequently sending them a warning, but if the execution of that plot is half as bad as the series premiere, then it’s going to be difficult to care about it.
A series focused on two sisters rounding up a group and going on a perilous mission could have been great, but there’s so much about it that feels off.
If the series is about the hurdles the sisters face on the mission, then it might just work, but that would involve all of their secrets coming out to play.
I live for my mom, who died that night, ten years ago today, like so many others. And I live for my father, who is far away, doing important work that will one day benefit us all. We’re ten years in now, ten years. I was a little kid, I can barely remember the night the sky fell, let alone what the world was like before. We still live behind walls, and the dead still have this world. And I think that with everything that went away, everything we lost, everyone we lost, some people think it can happen again. Some people think that what we have can’t last. Some can’t believe. But I’m certain of our home, and our home city, and our alliance with Portland, Civic Republic, and I am certain of what’s ahead. We are monuments to the past, but everyone here, all of you, you are the future. We are the future.
Iris
And after the premiere, it’s clear they are not as honest with each other as you would expect.
Hope and Iris are polar opposites, and that was perfectly highlighted with the way Hope reacted to the Civic Republic showing up with a lot of muscle.
Elizabeth is a tough nut to crack, and while she seemed scary, she didn’t seem scary enough to wipe out 10,000 people. That development getting thrown in there was a curveball that should have had a bigger impact.
Maybe it would have hit harder had it happened a few episodes into the series, after spending some time there in a C-story, while Huck and Felix were away tracking down the teenagers.
I was a little kid. I can barely remember the night the sky fell, let alone what the world was like before.
Hope
The good thing about including the CRM on the series is that we got our best look at them yet. If you watch Fear The Walking Dead online, you know Isabelle told Althea they would not hesitate to kill people.
What they did to the campus was genocide, and for a company that supposedly prides itself on making the world go round, it raises a lot of questions about their endgame.
We don’t know the truth about how many people are alive in the world, and we may never will, but if the communities on the other shows are just the tip of the iceberg, there are a lot of people still alive and kicking.
The lines on The Walking Dead have always been blurred, but it seems like The Walking Dead: World Beyond will have the characters on one side or the other, with no in-between.
Obviously, this could change with time, but for now, the series is too watered down.
The kids were all over the promotional material for the show, but the only worthwhile characters appear to be Felix and Huck, at least based on the opening episode.
There was a rapport between the pair that was unmatched between any of the other characters … not even the sisters who are supposed to be the heart and soul of the show.
Nico Tortorella and Annet Mahendru play their roles well and get the best material to work with. Whether that will continue, I don’t know, but I like that Felix feels like he has to look for the teenagers.
We’re ten years in now. We live for the rest who didn’t.
Iris
As things stand, The Walking Dead: World Beyond serves little purpose to the franchise. Beyond the links to the CRM, viewers of the other two shows are going to feel alienated by the direction of this spinoff.
Maybe it will offer something different enough to make people watch, but the action seems more geared towards teenagers, who are probably not in the target demographic for the parent series.
What did you think of the crop of teenagers? Are you digging the dynamic between Huck and Felix? What do you think happened to the scientist?
Will you check out the second episode of the spinoff?
Hit the comments below.
Remember you can watch The Walking Dead: World Beyond online right here via TV Fanatic.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond airs Sundays at 10/9c.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.