TWD World Beyond: The Blaze of Gory (Episode 1.02)

Last week, the series premiere of The Walking Dead: World Beyond generated a plethora of questions for viewers across the globe.

And while Sunday's second episode didn't do much in terms of plot furtherance, it provided useful background information and helped illuminate a glaring issue -- despite Felix's training, this teenage gang is truly incapable of surviving outside the safety of their walls.

The point is driven home almost instantly as viewers painfully watch Iris attempt to kill her first "empty" in completely inept fashion. 

Later, Elton spray paints one of the dead, Silas fails to attack it, and Hope eventually lures it into a swimming pool and flips it off as though she's accomplished something remarkable.

We're about a decade into the apocalypse now and nobody in this gang has ever killed an empty, which certainly doesn't bode very well for their survivability.

Nonetheless, "The Blaze of Gory" does feature some interesting character development, as the four teens bond over their shared life experiences.

For the second consecutive week, Silas and Hope keep a "secret", as he opens up about his perceived inadequacies and she (perhaps wrongfully) reassures him.

Meanwhile, Silas and Iris seem to begin forming a connection, and Hope and Elton share frequent conversation (it seems only fitting these two become close, considering Hope killed Elton's mother).

As Hope creates her own little rendition of apocalyptic bowling, Elton takes pictures of the outside world, and they later bond over a conversation about "Endlings".

In their discussion, Elton explains that an Endling is the last surviving member of a species; thus, the Endling of their "faux species quartet" will be its last remaining survivor.

Foreshadowing at its finest? Perhaps.

Despite heavy dialogue throughout this episode, many questions remain -- it's often hard to differentiate between a poorly constructed plot and simple stupidity of the characters.

How do these teenagers plan on getting to New York without disposing of an empty? What exactly are they planning to do once they track down Leo Bennett (father of Hope and Iris)? And why are they wasting so much time having fun on their high-stakes mission?

During this episode, the four characters are seen hanging out in a treehouse, playing Monopoly and rolling around a bowling ball shouting "Big Mo!" as though it's somehow acceptable for Hope and Iris to embrace downtime with their father's life at risk.

Truthfully, the character of Iris continues to frustrate, as her confidence and desire to be brave are completely irrational given the circumstances. Hope is much more tolerable at this point, perhaps because she's established herself as a realist.

When the gang walks directly into "The Blaze of Gory" (a never-ending inferno filled with empties), Hope decides to enact Elton's plan, offering herself up as "bait" to give her friends a chance to escape.

We'll have to wait another week to find out if her plan is successful.

Meanwhile, Felix and Huck continue their search for the missing teens in episode two, though their efforts are largely overshadowed by Felix's backstory.

It's immediately clear that scouring this neighborhood is taking an emotional toll on Felix -- viewers soon discover that he was kicked out of his family home at a young age when his father, Cliff, learned of his homosexuality.

Despite Felix supporting his family financially, his mother was seemingly also prejudiced -- on "The Night the Sky Fell", Felix returned home and was denied entrance.

Thus, as Felix spends a restless night with Huck in search of the "faux species quartet" (it's too good not to repeat), he slips out and heads for his family home.

When Huck asks where he went, he mutters "to kill my parents". Brutal, indeed.

One final point of consideration: when Felix stumbles across a painted sign, he assures Huck that one of the teenagers wants to be found. Seemingly, viewers should be wary of this declaration in moving forward.

While there's a great deal to unpack in the coming weeks, this series may need to pick up the pace (from an action standpoint) in order to retain its viewership.

All the same, I'll be watching and blogging along.

What are your thoughts on the new Walking Dead series?

Feel free to let me know in the comments section below and don't forget to "Subscribe" for future post notifications :)