TWD World Beyond: In This Life (Episode 1.10)

The Season 1 finale of The Walking Dead: World Beyond launches with a flashback scene, as Leo and Kari Bennett look upon Iris and Hope as newborns, having already formed an unbreakable bond. (This scene proves particularly meaningful by the episode's conclusion.)

A quick time jump now depicts Dr. Leo Bennett (who appears to be perfectly safe) sharing an evening meal with his colleague and life partner, Dr. Lyla Bellshaw.

Elsewhere, his daughter, Hope, continues her journey to New York alongside Huck, having recently discovered Huck's deceitful intentions -- in an emotionally-charged turn of events, Hope pulls Felix's gun on Huck, demanding to know her true identity.

Alexa, cue the opening credits.

Meanwhile, Elton and Percy (whose journey is hindered by a gunshot wound) make their way towards Silas' isolated living space to offer him a consoling truth -- Huck killed Tony and shot Percy during his attempt to escape; thus, Silas is innocent.

The newfound proof of his innocence inspires Silas to reunite with Elton and Percy in hopes of saving Hope and Iris from a clearly untrustworthy Huck. (Was that enough character names for one sentence?)

Unfortunately, their plan is quickly foiled when the CRM follows a smoke trail to infiltrate their current location -- as the trio flee from the scene, Percy's gunshot wound reopens and he quickly realizes that he likely cannot complete this journey.

With Iris' words of his aptitude for saving others echoing in his head, Silas sacrifices himself to allow Elton and Percy a chance to escape -- in truly heroic fashion, Silas is seized by the CRM and taken away.

Thus, Elton and Percy proceed alone, with Elton's confidence in himself and his peers at an all-time high -- for the first time, he fully believes that the human race isn't on the verge of extinction.

Back at the CRM Headquarters, viewers soon learn that Leo's girlfriend, Lyla, may be the true reason that Hope is currently New York bound -- as the couple share dinner, Leo recounts a story of six-year-old Hope rebuilding a computer processing unit completely unassisted.

As their relationship progresses, however, Leo begins to confide in Lyla with his doubts about the CRM's transparency -- Felix's partner, Will, has still not returned from his scouting expedition and Dr. Abbott has disappeared under the insufficient cover of visiting her sister.

Unfortunately for Leo, his trust in Lyla is seemingly misplaced, as she is soon found rehearsing a speech in which she admits to Leo that Hope will arrive in New York within 24 hours.

Lyla's justification for breaking her boyfriend's trust is that the CRM needs generations of great minds -- she's prepared for him to resent her if this "double-crossing" helps the world to survive.

Meanwhile, the final two storylines of Season 1 proceed on an inescapable collision course.

As Felix struggles with the notion that Hope and Huck fled under the cover of darkness, Iris presents her theory: Huck stole his gun and plans on killing Hope next.

Though clearly skeptical, Felix agrees to accompany Iris in searching a room that Huck claimed contains dead bodies -- their search reveals bittersweet news, as the mystery room actually holds numerous supplies to patch up Felix's ankle, as well as their truck's faulty tire.

After repairing their means of transportation, Felix and Iris depart to rescue Hope from Huck -- a rare comedic scene unfolds, as Felix's injury renders him unable to drive, and Iris must learn how to operate "the left brake".

Back in the clearing, Hope confronts Huck with the accusation that she's actually a CRM spy.

Having decoded a secret message to obtain this knowledge, Hope reveals that Huck's willingness to abandon their friends confirmed her belief that Hope was always the true target: her highly-coveted "asset".

However, this argument is short-lived, as a horde of empties surround the young women -- with Felix's gun still pointed at Huck, Hope is forced to make a life-altering decision.

In an unforeseen twist, the pair stand back-to-back to clear the surrounding empties, with Huck urging Hope to utilize the forms that she taught her long ago inside the Campus Colony's walls.

As their journey progresses, Huck reveals that Leo Bennett was never in trouble -- rather, she planted urgent messages from him in an effort to coax Hope to depart with her for New York.

Huck admits that she didn't expect an entire group of teenagers to rally around the cause, and as she is not a true villain, did her best to split the group apart without hurting anybody.

Nonetheless, Huck was forced to eliminate Tony and Percy and sabotage the group's vehicle as they approached CRM Headquarters -- evidently, uninvited guests are killed on site to prevent their New York location from being compromised.

Though Hope and Huck are now en route to a helicopter that will take them directly to Leo Bennett, their destination is blocked by the sudden reappearance of Felix and Iris -- an incredibly fake interaction ensues in which Hope lies that Iris must have misunderstood what was in the supply room and Huck ensures Felix that she set off with Hope to make things easier.

Before Hope and Huck can depart with the repaired truck, however, Felix pulls his gun from Huck's pocket and demands a proper explanation -- Hope interjects with the revelation that Huck is a CRM spy, insisting that Felix and Iris cannot save her.

This seems to be an insufficient argument for Felix, who instead engages in a high-stakes battle with Huck as the pair wrestle each other down a flight of stairs -- one of the best duels in the history of The Walking Dead universe ensues.

During the struggle, Hope locates Felix's gun and waits to employ it at the best possible moment -- as Huck threatens to kill Felix, Hope presses the gun to her own temple, apparently willing to commit suicide if Huck doesn't back off.

With the conflict over, Hope urges Iris and Felix to leave together in the repaired truck, agreeing to proceed on the charted course with Huck to fulfill her duties as "the asset", presumably helping her father complete his research.

Before the sisters go their separate ways, Hope reassures Iris that, despite their ongoing struggles, the pair have spent their entire lives making each other better, and will soon prove that they are both "the asset". (Attention: cheesy dialogue has entered the chat.)

When Hope and Huck arrive at their destined helicopter, Huck's trustworthiness is boosted slightly by Elizabeth's reference to the Campus Colony -- an interaction that proves Huck doesn't know about the brutal massacre that took place in the series premiere.

While Elizabeth assures Hope that the Bennett's will accomplish great things together, Iris shares her confidence with Felix that the group will soon reunite and destroy the Civic Republic.

The finale draws to a close as a group of fellow survivors surround Felix and Iris in the woods -- amongst the survivors is Will Campbell, whose highly anticipated reunion with his boyfriend finally comes to fruition in the season's final seconds.

In their tearful encounter, Will explains that he assumed everyone from the Campus Colony had died, while Felix remains visibly confused.

Despite any negative commentary regarding the slow beginnings of this series, Season 2 certainly looks promising.

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond will return in 2021.