The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Foothold (2021)
Season 2, Episode 2
5/10
"Foothold" delves into the tensions in the characters' relationships and sets goals for most of them - or at least outlines what they will do to fulfill their roles
9 May 2024
Iris, Felix and Will capture a walker and dress it up as Will to make it appear as if Will and the soldier had killed each other; Iris shares her belief that the CRM had destroyed their home, something that Will agrees with. The CRM searches the Perimeter for the group, leading to a tense moment before the bodies are found and the CRM is successfully fooled; Iris and Felix later let out their aggression by eliminating a herd together.

At the research facility, Hope takes notes on the security and is given a tour by Lyla who reveals that their research is aimed at both discovering what causes the undead and finding a way to eliminate the ones that already exist, a long-term plan expected to occur over generations. Hope befriends a boy named Mason while Leo, having learned about the CRM's manipulations towards his daughters, demands that the CRM bring him Iris and Felix. Hope hesitates to share the truth with her father while Lyla is shown reporting on Hope and Leo to Kublek. Silas is taken to work at a CRM culling facility run by Dennis Graham where he, Webb, Grady and Tiga work to clear New York of the undead; Dennis is revealed to be Huck's husband.

The highly anticipated moment arrived for those watching World Beyond: a glimpse inside the organization's secret facilities that sheds some light on the plans and experiments being conducted there. Led by Dr. Lyla (Natalie Gold), Hope (Alexa Mansour) is introduced to some of the CRM's key experiments aimed at finding humanity's salvation. Hope also meets Mason (Will Meyers), a clever young man who shows potential as a romantic interest for her.

While we know this is just scratching the surface of the experiments being conducted there - as we have access to the tests Lyla performs on "pre-dead" subjects - the visit serves to make Hope slightly more hopeful - pun intended - about her role in all of this, despite her lack of trust in the organization. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to reignite Hope's faith in humanity simply by taking her on a visit like this earlier instead of throwing her into the apocalypse chaos (twice)?

Meanwhile, Iris (Aliyah Royale), Felix (Nico Tortorella), and Will (Jelani Alladin) must deal with the mess caused by Iris killing one of the CRM soldiers, leading to great tension within the Perimeter. Things escalate with the arrival of Elizabeth (Julia Ormond), who comes to the community in search of her missing soldier.

During this visit, we see that Elizabeth and Indira (Anna Khaja) have a relationship that goes beyond "work." Indira knows that Huck (Annet Mahendru) is the lieutenant's daughter, something that is not widely known by either of them, implying a certain level of closeness between the two. Additionally, it's interesting to see how Elizabeth reacts to the community's artwork, which slightly humanizes her character.

The Perimeter plot in this episode was slow, serving only to further direct its characters toward revenge against Elizabeth and her soldiers, as well as Iris' deduction about what actually happened in Omaha.

Lastly, we see what happened to Silas (Hal Cumpston), who, after being captured by the CRM in "In This Life," the last episode of the first season, is being taken somewhere by the soldier Dennis (Max Osinski). We later find out that Silas is in one of the seven facilities responsible for "cleaning up" the empties and trying to control their spread.

With Dennis, we are introduced to three other teenage characters who will likely help Silas in the future. Dennis, it is worth noting, has a photo with Huck in which they are both wearing army clothes. When introducing the character in interviews, Dennis is described as "someone who was once a dedicated soldier and is now trying to make things right." We will likely have new revelations about Huck's past soon.

Elizabeth's relationship with Leo (Joe Holt) - who demands that Iris and Felix also be taken to the CRM - is deteriorating, even leading Leo to threaten to stop working on the experiments. We see the pressure on the lieutenant increasing, and we know she will spare no effort to do what needs to be done, so it's possible that all this pressure will lead to a major internal war.

Although it's a slower episode than usual, "Foothold" delves into the tensions in the characters' relationships and sets goals for most of them - or at least outlines what they will do to fulfill their roles. However, with only a few episodes left until the conclusion of the series, TWD: World Beyond needs to be more agile if it wants to present something of real influence within The Walking Dead's extended universe.
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