The Walking Dead: World Beyond, “Truth or Dare,” was written by Eddie Guzelian, who also writes for The Walking Dead, and was directed by Michael Cudlitz. This episode sees our first death – though not among our core group – and it looks like Silas (Hal Cumpston) may be the bad seed everyone thought he was after all. We also get Huck’s (Annet Mahendru) backstory. And we get another mention that the whole thing started from outer space. The episode is a bit heavy on the moral lessons, but it does end with a lot of questions and a pretty good cliff hanger. However, that obvious and terrible product placement for a soda that I will not mention here? UGH!
It looks like I will have to eat my prediction from last week as Huck’s backstory pretty much shows her breaking from any military connection. She was a good soldier and seemed to be close to Private Owens (Michel Curiel) and her name was Jennifer. We see the beginning of the apocalypse from her perspective. I wonder if being able to tell empties from humans with thermal imaging will become important again. When she is told to turn her gun on innocent civilians, she breaks ranks, killing all her fellow soldiers, including Owens. There’s clearly a story behind some situation they were caught in that resulted in him getting the scar we are more used to seeing on her. By the end of the episode, after she’s killed even Owens, we see her give herself Owens scar to remember him by and as a way of doing penance. It seems that they all have a dark secret.
This episode was actually a bit of a filler episode as the entire group, after reuniting with Huck, takes shelter while they get ready to go after the fuel for the truck in a C.R. secret fuel dump. Tony (Scott Adsit) reveals how they use filters to expose secret landmarks on the map he has. Iris (Aliya Royale) is able to do the same with the map she got from the Lt Colonel back at Campus to discover that her father is in Ithaca, New York. Now they have a final destination.
The groups split up to relax and drink, with Tony urging Felix (Nico Tortorella) to let the kids be teenagers. Percy leads them in a game of truth or dare. Silas refuses to drink and glowers at Percy (Ted Sutherland) and Iris as they grow closer as she tells Percy that the one place she’d like to visit is the Louvre. The game goes bad when Percy doesn’t accept Hope’s (Alexa Mansour) story of the worst thing she ever did – putting laxative in the teacher’s coffee. She finally becomes uncomfortable and storms off. Elton (Nicolas Cantu) goes after her and hugs her. Hope declares him drunk – and of course, Elton coming after her is the worst possible punishment.
Hope goes up onto the roof where Huck has retreated to be on her own. She’d found a dead soldier on the way back which dredged up her own worst memories. She had, however, brought the dead guys shoes back for Silas – who apparently has freakishly big feet. Hope declares that she has finished Elton’s Mother’s book and is going to tell him the truth. His mother was clearly a wonderful person and it’s just made her feel guiltier. Huck points out that telling Elton is for her, to help her guilt and will do nothing to help Elton – who still has hope that his mother is alive somewhere – it’s totally a Schrodinger’s cat situation. Huck is clearly also talking about herself when she tells Hope that they can’t change what they’ve done but they can carry the truth so others don’t have to.
The next day, the group finds the location of the fuel dump. Felix and Tony go in and find the fuel. Hope and Huck end up finding Walter (Paul Teal) – or rather, Walter finds Hope and tries to take her hostage. Huck notices his leg is hurt and it quickly becomes apparent that his brother has turned while they slept and bitten him. He’s clearly going to turn, but Huck convinces him that she can help him. He let’s Hope go and Huck kills him. Realistically, she puts him out of his misery – because it was too late to save him.
We get the requisite – but short – sister scene. Iris remarks that it feels like they are changing and Hope points out that it’s just starting.
Tony and Percy announce that they’ve decided to stay with the group to help them find their dad. Percy then asks Iris to meet him out by the truck in an hour. She is utterly dense, but he finally gets her to realize that it’s for a “date.” When she gets there, he’s adorably decorated the back of the truck with the Mona Lisa and other artwork to look like the Louvre – but added candles to make it even more romantic. I actually really did think this was sweet, but it also had to be the tip off that Percy is going to die – just like Tony declaring they were staying. Fate always has other ideas on this show.
Iris falls asleep in the back of the truck while she’s waiting. When she wakes up, she goes inside and can’t find anyone… until she stumbles on Tony who’s had his face bashed in. Silas’ wrench is bloody and lying beside him. Percy is nowhere to be seen but there is a window open. When all the others come running in, they then find Silas slumped in what looks like a washroom stall. He is cradling a bottle and looks disoriented and drunk… and guilty – but is he?
So, the episode gives us our first death, but really, Tony (and Percy) were always red shirts, weren’t they? Introduced to bring death close to the core group but not any of the core group. Did Silas kill Tony – and possibly Percy – out of jealousy? Is he being set up? Is he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Is Percy dead? Did Percy kill his uncle? Why would he do all that for Iris and then stand her up? Is this another grift?? Or is this the work of enemies that Tony and Percy had made? Were they even related? Tony does tell Felix in the episode while they are getting drunk that he was surprised by how close he got to Percy – but the story is questionable. Is it really possible that he didn’t know he had a nephew? What did you think of the episode? I thought that the ending at least picked up the pace and tension a bit. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
