First Episode, First Impressions... 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond'

At the last count, I'm four or five seasons behind on the 'Walking Dead', about three for 'Fear the Walking Dead' and two volumes behind with the comic book series. Out of the three series I've just mentioned, I'm most likely to finish the comic books; the TV shows just went on too long to hold my interest (hell, even 'Game of Thrones' knew when to call it a day) and while there's a slim chance that a series re-watch could happen, I'm really in no hurry at the moment.

So, with all that in mind, why am I writing about the first episode of yet another entry in the franchise? Well for one thing, 'World Beyond' only has ten episodes for the first season and rumour has it that it will end after the second season finishes. That sounds like just my kind of story, a definite ending planned and not drawn out at all. No getting bogged down in a story that lasts for years, I can get behind that. The second (obvious) reason is... zombies of course ;o)

With that in mind, I thought I'd give the first episode of 'World Beyond' a go and see what happened...

It's been ten years since the dead rose (they're called 'Empties' here, what is the need for every group of survivors to have a different name for zombies...?) and it seems to have been a rather nice ten years for the survivors of the 'Campus Colony'. They have to deal with zombies, of course, but the teenagers of the group are living a life that feels like zombies never happened; going to school, having therapy, erm... brewing illicit alcohol, regular teenage stuff (ok, apart from the alcohol bit). The outside world is about to really make its presence known though. The secretive 'Civic Republic' (part of an alliance of three large groups of survivors) 'borrowed' the scientist father of Hope and Iris Bennett and now they believe that he is in danger. Hope and Iris need to reach him but they only have a rough idea of where he is and it's eleven hundred miles away at least. It's road trip time, Iris and Hope (along with fellow teenagers Silas and Elton) are about to take their first real steps into the 'world beyond'. What are they leaving behind though and will it let them go?

Well... I don't think I've ever sat through a 'Walking Dead' show that left me feeling so non-plussed until the last two or three minutes when we get a little glimpse of what the Civic Republic might be up to. Then I was interested but that feeling of interest came just as the episode ended... dammit!

It's fair to say then that I'll be watching the next episode at least but I really want it to be more of the last few minutes of episode one and less of the rest of it.

I guess I'm struggling to accept the idea of a sanctuary, in the world of 'The Walking Dead', where teenagers can do and be all the things that real teenagers like to watch teenagers do on TV; especially having seen how life has panned out for other survivors. You can accept to a point, given how the militia stamp down on any zombies, but... really?

Being completely honest, it's been so long since I was a teenager that I really have no interest in teenage problems on a TV show, especially when they threaten to overshadow a zombie apocalypse of all things. There is enough to Iris and Hope Bennett though that I think they'll be interesting characters to follow once they're in the middle of a bunch of zombies and have to start making those hard decisions. Nope, I'm more about finding out what the Civic Republic are up to, that last scene really came out of nowhere and is the hook that will keep me watching.

I'm pretty good at knowing whether I'll like a show based on the first episode; 'World Beyond' is really bucking that trend though as it feels like it could go either way right now. Lets just say that it was a decent enough way to kill fifty minutes but the show is going to have to do a lot more if it wants to make me fall in love with the franchise all over again.