The Walking Dead World Beyond – In defence of the YA spinoff – digitalspy.com

The Walking Dead: World Beyond season 1 spoilers follow.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond shouldn't have worked.

Described by showrunner Matt Negrete as "a coming-of-age story in the middle of the apocalypse", the show was immediately distinguishable from TWD and Fear in more ways than one. Then came the announcement that it would run for just two 10-episode seasons before leading into the Rick Grimes movie trilogy.

At a glance, these factors felt a little at odds with one another (coming of age? Rick Grimes?) and upon World Beyond's delayed premiere in October, the reception was far from promising.

With middling critical reviews (including our own) and a 24% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, it seems the odds are stacked against World Beyond making any 'Best Shows of 2020' lists but the series is definitely better than the sum of its parts.

It could even be reasoned that World Beyond has helped breathed new life into an increasingly stale TV universe.

World Beyond follows adopted siblings Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope Bennett (Alexa Mansour) as they set out to check on the welfare of their scientist dad Leo (Joe Holt) who works for the Civic Republic Military the mysterious organisation which stole Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) from the main show.

Joined on their quest by awkward teens Elton Ortiz (Nicolas Cantu) and Silas Plaskett (Hal Cumpston), the foursome are trailed and eventually caught up to by campus colony security officers Felix Carlucci (Nico Tortorella) and Jennifer 'Huck' Mallick (Annet Mahendru).

Not only is the idea of a teen-led rescue mission oddly intriguing, World Beyond also felt unique with its introduction of two female protagonists. However, there were undoubtedly some teething problems, especially within the first five episodes.

World Beyond's pilot episode ends with the teens setting out from the university in search of Leo with Huck and Felix in tow, unaware that CRM lieutenant colonel Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) has orchestrated a seemingly nonsensical massacre of the university's remaining population.

Frustratingly, viewers don't really find out the reason behind this, and the narrative falls snail-like in pace as the teens fail to kill even the sleepiest 'Empties' in their path.

The 'Blaze of Gory' is next: a pun of dad-joke-level proportions which feels like a huge waste of time. But, even in the fumble-filled beginning, there are some positives which make World Beyond feel innovative in a way the TWD universe hasn't been before.

The ageing deterioration of Empties is an early and promising sign that the science of zombification will be explored further in World Beyond than any other Walking Dead show.

And an immediate source of conflict is sparked with the revelation that Hope killed Elton's mother on The Night the Sky Fell though neither character initially knows the whole truth, rendering the viewer flatteringly omniscient in a TV universe more comfortable keeping its audience in the dark (like where Sophia was for six episodes).

From there, things improve. While the reunion of the teens with Felix and Huck probably happens an episode too late, World Beyond really hits its stride once the group cross the river.

The introduction of Percy (Ted Sutherland) and his uncle Tony Delmado (Scott Adsit) coincides with an injection of pace, direction and excitement in the back five episodes; and their shadow puppets are truly ace, a nice reminder that art still has a place in an apocalyptic world.

Plot-wise, there are some compelling twists (with the genuinely surprising revelation that Huck is an undercover CRM agent and probably Elizabeth's daughter) and lessons that World Beyond could teach other shows in this universe.

One of these is the use of flashbacks in Huck's arc.

The flashbacks see Huck kill a dozen or so of her US Marine colleagues to save hundreds more innocent civilians. While shocking, this also makes the heinous things she does in the present more palatable and even make sense if, just like in those flashbacks, she truly believes her actions will save more lives than they end up costing.

Compare these to the Negan flashbacks, which are planned for The Walking Dead's final season but actually arrive five seasons too late, and it seems World Beyond made the better choice by adding nuance to its antagonist upfront.

Morally grey characters in general work more successfully in World Beyond than other TWD shows. Yes, Elizabeth exterminated an entire population for seemingly no reason but at least she cried about it.

Perhaps Walking Dead fans would have thirsted for Negan's death a little less if he'd shed a tear after caving Glenn's head in or abusing one of his 'Saviour wives'.

Another strength of World Beyond lies in its smaller ensemble.

If any of the core six characters die in season 2, it will be pretty major; whereas 10 characters were killed in the penultimate episode of The Walking Dead's ninth season and it just wasn't that sad.

Largely, because there were so many characters by that point.

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With only loose attachments to TWD and Fear (no on-screen crossovers, though Michael Cudlitz did direct a couple of episodes), World Beyond also has the opportunity to set its own course, gaining a freedom to try new things and take risks the other shows forfeited by tying their masts together.

Playful with structure and genre, the series strays further into sci-fi with its CRM-centric post-credits scenes, while episode eight, 'The Sky Is a Graveyard', has a distinct horror vibe, with Silas's tension-filled search to locate his dad and a neat The Conjuring-style camera pan in the opening titles.

These aren't the only genres on offer either, as a Stand By Me-style adventure plot is used to inject some morality and innocence back into the TWD universe, while the swashbuckling action of the Rick/Daryl glory days is revived to great effect during an awesome Huck/Felix finale fight scene.

None of this is to say World Beyond is above criticism.

The Asset reveal was genuinely disappointing and the CRM post-credits could have easily taken up a lot of dwindling space in the first few episodes. World Beyond also probably took too long to find its feet, but let's look at the positives.

Capped at two seasons, the series simply doesn't have time to go off the rails like TWD and Fear arguably did, and as showrunner Matt Negrete previously told Digital Spy, there are already plans for a better and darker season 2.

Bring it on.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond airs weekly every Sunday on AMC in the US. UK viewers can catch up weekly with new episodes every Friday on Amazon Prime Video.

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The Walking Dead World Beyond - In defence of the YA spinoff - digitalspy.com

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero