‘Walking Dead: World Beyond’: Escaping CRM, For Real This Time (RECAP)

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Death and the Dead

Season 2 • Episode 9

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The Last Light

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for AMC‘s The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2, Episode 9, “Death and the Dead.”]

Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) is having a no good, very bad day.

To be fair, it’s not like the day’s going great for everyone else. While the Bennett family had more layers in their plan than was obvious last episode—they didn’t actually escape through the tunnels, but they wanted CRM to think they did—their good luck runs out in “Death and the Dead,” resulting in the loss of a major character. And as they strike a deal with CRM, it’s clear that even if the military lets them go, they, like Al (Maggie Grace) over on Fear, will be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives. Here’s how it happens.

Steve Swisher/AMC

So, the Bennetts didn’t really leave. Instead, they got the soldiers to think they were in the tunnels, waited until they were followed there and blew the enemy up. Using Mason as bait, Leo (Joe Holt) negotiates for the CR to give them two vehicles to get everyone from their group out—and realizing that they do indeed have Mason (Will Erichson), Jadis reluctantly agrees. From there, Leo and a group of scientists leave, while his daughters, Felix (Nico Tortorella), Percy (Ted Sutherland) and Mason remain behind.

Meanwhile, Silas (Hal Cumptson) and Elton (Nicolas Cantu) assist Dennis (Maximillian Osinski) with his gunshot wound. They get the bullet out, but he tells them to go and help their friends, which means leaving him there alone. As they drive away, Silas asks if Elton has the map of the research facility, because he wants to “make a stop.” Meanwhile, a huge “column” of walkers follows behind them.

Steve Swisher/AMC

At the research facility, Hope (Alexa Mansour) and Felix go into cold storage in hopes of destroying the gas CRM planned to use on Portland. There are a ton of frozen walkers there, but no gas, so their mission is a failure. Silas and Elton, at least, have some success: They go into medicine storage, presumably for Dennis, and get what they need. They then escape the walker-infested CRM by…running in a metal earth sculpture like it’s a hamster ball. Okay, then?

The rest of Team Bennett has to leave, too, and their departure isn’t as smooth. Felix tells Jadis, who meets them on the road out, that he’ll hand over Mason as soon as they get a truck. Jadis doesn’t accept. From there, things escalate, the Campus Colony is brought up, and Jadis reveals the truth: The CRM’s calculations showed that the community would never be self-sustaining, and the CRM wasn’t able to provide enough food to meet their growth. Over time, the residents would have starved—the gas was, to the CRM’s way of thinking, at least, a kind of mercy.

The dead descend, and fire erupts on both sides. Huck (Annet Mahendru), who’d been playing that she was still a soldier, officially switches sides and holds Jadis at gunpoint. But when the shooting stops, there’s a significant casualty: Percy’s been shot in the head. It’s not entirely clear by whom. Hope seems to think Mason did it, but as far as I could see, he never had a gun. Enraged, Hope nearly shoots Mason, but Iris (Aliyah Royale) talks her out of it. They all leave on a truck.

Huck stays behind, still pointing her gun at Jadis. The warrant officer offers Huck a “5-, 10-minute head start” if Huck spares her life, and as Mason calls for help and Jadis steps in to save him, Huck takes a truck and flees. Hope, Iris and Felix go to the rendezvous, but Leo isn’t there—his truck got a flat tire, and Felix goes into rescue mode. They stay behind and meet up with Silas and Elton, and they all have a nice group hug and comfort a sobbing Iris.

Meanwhile, Huck goes to Dennis, who, miraculously, is still alive. After chatting with him for a bit, she goes outside to cry—it’s not totally clear if Dennis died, or if she’s overcome with emotion after everything that happened. When the tears stop falling, she looks around and makes a key realization: The crates of gas are all there. She radios Hope to ask if she still has the dynamite…and it seems we’re headed for an explosive series finale.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Series finale, Sunday Dec. 5, 10/9c, AMC