'The Walking Dead: World Beyond', Episode 2: 'The Blaze of Glory'


Every day, it gets less and less likely that I'll ever bother catching up with either 'The Walking Dead' or 'Fear the Walking Dead'. 'Series Fatigue' will do that to a guy... (I am seriously pondering a comic book series re-read though...) Give me a brand new series and promise that it's going to be a quick one...? I'm interested again. Then tell me it's about teenagers trying to find their father, and themselves, and all of a sudden I'm back to being not so sure... So I thought to myself, instead of going backwards and forwards with this, why don't I just settle down and watch the whole series, see where it takes me? And I had been looking for a show to get into...

I'm not bad at knowing whether I'll like a show based on the first episode but as you'll see from my review of 'Brave', I was left in the same two minds as I started. There was nothing for it then but to watch 'The Blaze of Glory' and see what happened. 'Not an awful lot' is the short answer...

Iris, Hope, Elton and Silas are properly on the road now and just starting to understand what they have let themselves in for. Their first big obstacle could well be their last though, will Felix and Huck make it to them in time...?

Two episodes in and the burning question for me is how far will Iris' optimism get the group before they realise that they're in the middle of a bloody zombie apocalypse and they're on the wrong side of the sanctuary gates to really be optimistic about anything (and there isn't a sanctuary anymore so that goes double). To be fair, there a little cracks starting to show but we're talking about people who have grown up with just a wall between them and the hungry dead, how can Iris be so upbeat and just assuming that everything will just work out with no forethought required? And why hasn't Hope taken Iris to one side for a dose of reality? And what is the point of Silas, other than to wander along at the back of the group? Even Iris managed to throw up on a zombie, Silas couldn't even do that. I'm being harsh, it's still very early days but we do need some character development to happen very quickly if this group is to maintain my interest. I was reminded, the other day, that 'The Walking Dead' franchise is all about the human villains and how the survivors manage them. Well, 'The Blaze of Glory' is what happens when you take the Civic Republic out of the equation and leave us with the teens...

It's not all bad though. Felix and Huck are on the trail of 'The Endlings' with added flashbacks to Felix' life during the initial outbreak that make him a much more sympathetic character than you would have thought. And credit is due to whoever thought of the zombie concepts for this episode. 'Zombie in a Tree' looked great but you will know what the best zombie is as soon as you see it. There's a lot of thought going into how the zombies will gradually become a more integral part of our world and I'm looking forward to seeing what new ideas come out of this approach.

I'm also finding that I have a lot of time for Elton, despite being dressed like (and acting like) a Victorian botanist on tour. Elton has a little more of a clue about how to survive on the outside but what I really like is how he is actually giving thought to what this new world could actually mean for humanity in the long term and then how this affects his decisions and general outlook.

The cynical part of me can't help but think that a gigantic tyre fire is a great way to use the same zombies over and over again, without the viewer noticing, but even I can't deny that it looks great and will be the kind of challenge that really makes the plot move forwards. It's a bit of a shame then that the show pulls the same trick that it did last week, give you a few minutes to see the awesome bit and then go to the credits.

'The Blaze of Glory' isn't a bad episode but it is another early reminder that unless some pretty big stuff happens soon, our 'Endlings' are going to have trouble carrying the show by themselves if they continue the way that they are. We'll see what happens next week because despite my grumpiness, of course I'll be watching. It's zombies isn't it...?

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