"The Walking Dead: The World Beyond": Five Disappointments and One Genocide

 

I was looking forward to the new Walking Dead spinoff, The World Beyond.  It reputedly had a big time jump from the original two series, so some rebuilding would be evident, with new societies rather than just ragtag groups of survivors holed up in soon-to-be-destroyed baseball stadiums and theme parks. Plus it promised some answers to the big questions, like what was Jadis (Anne)'s doing, living in a garbage-labyrinth, dividing people into A and B and sneaking them away on helicopters?

First disappointment:No Time Jump. Only 10 years have passed since the zombie apocalypse began.  This is the same time as the last season of The Walking Dead.

Second disappointment: No New Society.  Well, there is a new society, on the grounds of Nebraska State University.  9,000 people, high school and college classes, zombie-proof doors, Memorial Day celebrations. 

But no evidence of sustainability.  No one is growing crops or tending animals.  What do they all eat?  Besides, it is soon-to-be-destroyed.

Third disappointment:  No answers.  Well, we do find out that the helicopters belong to the ominous-sounding Civic Republic Military, which has a secret "you don't need to know" base and rules/administers the colonies of Nebraska State, Omaha, and Portland.

Portland, Oregon?  On the other side of the continent?  Are there no other survivor settlements in the whole U.S.?  Come on, there are four near Alexandria in The Walking Dead.

Occasionally Elizabeth (still no last names) drops in for  "We love you, Fearless Leader" homage, but she is not really a leader at all.  She can't reveal anything about the CRM, or she will be "fired" (more likely zombified).  

Fourth disappointment: Bizarre coincidences.  Teenage sisters Iris and Hope were only six years old when "the sky fell" (an airplane crahed, and all of the occupants got zombified and tried to eat them).  They both feel guilty over that night, one (I don't remember which) was separated from their mother; the other watched mom being shot by a pregnant lady, and then shot the pregnant lady.  As a result, Iris has become an over-achiever, and Hope a juvenile delinquent.

Their father has been taken/volunteered to work for the CRM, which means they cannot contact him.  But he is sending secret messages anyway, even though if anyone found out, he would be "fired" (probably shot out of a cannon).  When he  sends a message saying that he is in trouble, they decide to go help out.  

Fortunately, Elizabeth gives them a forbidden map with his location, even though if anyone found out, she would be "fired."  He's in upstate New York, a thousand miles away. 

And there appear to be no cars or horses, nor any patrolled trade roads between Nebraska State and Omaha, so they have to walk  through overgrown, zombie-infested suburbs.

And they have no experience with killing zombies, except some useless classroom instructioon.

Plus leaving the colony is forbidden, so they will have to sneak out.

Fifth disappointment: No beefcake

Two other teens offer to go with them:

1. Silas (Hal Cumpston), a shy, bookish, rather fey young man who dresses in a 1970s leisure suit. He's been sneaking out anyway to look for a dinosaur tooth that he lost on the night the sky fell.  His mother was pregnant, and he had been planning to give it to his baby sister.  

Pregnant...ulp...one of the sisters killed his mom!.What a coincidence!

2. Elton (Nicolas Cantu), a hulking, quiet, slow-moving boy who doesn't seem to be all there.  Maybe autistic, maybe bipolar -- just what you want on a long journey.

The minute they leave (and Silas finds his dinosaur tooth!  What a coincidence!), head security guard Felix (Nico Tortorella) rushes out in  hot pursuit, accompanied by a woman named Huck, who has a dumb name and a crazy accent. 

At least Felix is gay.  A flashback in the second episode shows him as a gay teenager being kicked out by his homophobic father just before the zombie apocalypse begins.  And, wouldn't you know it, the trip takes them right past his old house, where zombified Mom and Dad are still tromping around (what a coincidence!)

But for beefcake, I had to go with recurring characters played by Al Calderon (top photo) and Ted Sutherland (left)

Final disappointment: Genocide.

The moment they all leave, Elizabeth orders the colony destroyed and everyone killed.  They then go from house to house, looking "for her."

Heck, Liz, if you didn't want "her" to leave, why did you give the girls a map? 

Aside from the logistic impossibiity of four soldiers killing 9,000 people, even with machine guns, why destroy one of the three survivor colonies left in America, a third of its population?  Just because one of the residents knows where the CRM is, becauss you gave her a map?

It doesn't matter anyway.  I didn't come here to see genocide.