The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s episode 6 “Who Are You?” dissected and recapped.
REVIEW: World Beyond’s episode 6 “Who Are You?” aired tonight on AMC. This is a spoiler-heavy review and essay, so please do be prepared.
GIVE MAHENDRU THE EMMY.
First and foremost, Annet Mahendru was nominated for an Emmy early on this year, and we all know the award shows continuously snub horror and sci-fi. Such greats that have been ignored in the past were, Melissa McBride, Andrew Lincoln, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan to name a few. And my goodness, does she deserve one.
DENNIS GRAHAM. I LOVE YOU, BUT YOU’RE DRUNK.
Episode 7 is peak Jenny, but episode 6 is just starting to get into her major backstory. Things we did not know before. While we as viewers had an inkling as to Dennis Graham’s (Max Osinski) alcoholic days in the shape of him asking Silas to get rid of a bottle of booze, Jennifer further confirms this.
In the midst of all of this, Iris and Hope are bickering over whether they can trust Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold) or not. Leo Bennett (Joe Holt) is still 100% suspicious of everything, as well as Iris eventually admits to Percy that she has no idea what a narc is in a comedic moment.
JOIN ME FOR A DRINK, JENNIFER.
Anne Stokes (Pollyanna McIntosh) once again going by Jadis, shows up once more in Jennifer’s life. It turns out, that she had handed over Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) six years ago, to earn her place in the CRM and work her way up the ranks.
Jennifer personally trained her, and now Anne is back to further manipulate her mentor into helping her get a better job within the facility, essentially–wanting to take it completely over.
She awkwardly hits on her and asks her up for a drink. Though Jennifer plays nice, Anne eventually has to use the comms to summon her. Jennifer is definitely a little shocked and weirded out. But she’s trying her best to play along to help others.
PLATONIC SOULMATES.
Felix Carlucci (Nico Tortorella) has shown nothing but distrust, hostility, and hatred toward his former best friend. Now, they are finally working together just like old times. Although, Jennifer was an ally from the very beginning, even when he tried to feed her to an empty.
WHAT IS THE CRM UP TO?
Jennifer states that if she had been a hacker and not a soldier, they would have never met. Her entire plight was throwing herself under the bus so to speak, to cover up for her husband Dennis’s mistakes. He had been drinking while they were training soldiers with empties.
Dennis made a bad call, but ultimately ended up saving lives, but he had been under the influence. The camera had been destroyed, and with Dennis pleading with her to take the heat off of him (because he wanted to be Master Sergeant. The golden boy.) she tried to wipe the tape but forgot to delete her digital tracks.
Her mother got wind of this, and it’s clear that Elizabeth (Julia Ormond), never liked Dennis from the start. If anything, she wants to keep her daughter all to herself. So when her daughter goes and says that she made the call and not Dennis, he is immediately stripped of his duties as a soldier, shipped off to a junkyard to train kids, and Jennifer is sent into Omaha on a mission. However, it was also her choice to go to clear her head in the process.
A COLD SITUATION.
If she had wiped those key cards, Felix and she would have never befriended each other. Despite his blind hatred for her, Felix still manages to trust her. Yet we do still see hostility when she mentions that one of them has to cut the power to the labs to open them, and he volunteers only for her to say that part of the plan is mine.
He immediately fires back that it was typical of her to give him the bottom of the barrel. The truth was that Jennifer knew the ins and outs, whereas Felix would be flying blind (said last time in Episode 7 of season 1, Truth or Dare.).
“Wait for my call, or don’t.” she plops her little hat back onto her head and heads outside to the generator.
Jennifer takes a crowbar of sorts and wrenches the grid, making it useless. With sparks and a good fire, she narrowly avoids Anne Stokes (Jadis).
YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE DOWN HERE…
Felix, meanwhile, finds all of the frozen empties and test subjects in the labs. He is horrified but manages to find evidence. A green vial. When he tries to get back in touch with his former friend, he is locked in the freezer. Immediately panicking, he almost freezes to death and pleads with her on the radio. Finally, Jennifer opens the door and sets him free.
An understandably furious Felix gets irritated with her, but she lets the truth slip out. The backup generator started earlier than she had planned and the only option was to reprogram her own card, open the door manually, and also clear her security footprints so there was no repeat of the incident two years ago.
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES.
There is a powerful moment between the two. “I am with you,” she says. Now to anyone who thinks she has turned over a new leaf, or this character betrayed them and is changing–you have not been watching the same show, apparently.
She has her ex-boyfriend Drake engraved in her face. Saved countless amounts of people, and so much more. This is nothing new for Mallick, or rather, Mrs. Graham. She has had a pure heart from the start. Don’t get it twisted in any other way. Jennifer had nothing to do with any of the thousands of deaths, and she even tells Felix that it was them and not her. This is the truth.
Review: Killing Percy’s uncle was to prevent everyone else from dying. Two people so hellbent on getting to the CRM, where it became dangerous for everyone else. By pinning the murder on Silas, she knew that he would be kicked out and Elton would go with him. That brought them down to three. Knowing that they were safe.
So what happens now, exactly? Percy definitely still has it out for her. Iris is still highly suspicious of Lyla, and Felix and Jennifer have a plan.
“I HAVE SPENT MY LIFE LOOKING FOR CURES FOR DISEASES. BUT I COULDN’T CURE MY FAMILY.”
Lyla Belshaw is caught between a web of the CRM’s lies and her mission of why she even became part of the project in the first place. She had a six-year-old daughter named Mia, and a husband named Kevin. Mia killed her husband, and they eventually both turned. As any mother would do, she tried to save them.
But as a scientist, she had to do things to their corpses, in order to come up with a cure. Sadly, she failed–but her goal was to bring the world back to the way it was. Showing Leo the tree where she carved the three circles and her family’s initials was so powerful. So tragic and sad.
It, unfortunately, means this is probably the end of Lyla. As well as our nervous wreck of a past soldier, Barca. There could be some karma coming our way, but it does not make it any less sad. Kudos to Gold for putting her heart and soul into this role.Â
When Lyla smiles, there’s that twinkle in her eye. She cares for these people. She truly loves Leo. But as we know, the CRM has power over anyone and everyone. They manipulate and take, and take until there is nothing left. Lyla had to watch her friend and fellow scientist Sam become infected and be experimented on.
At one point, I thought that the CRM circles on her hand were a brand but now–we learn it’s a reminder. Similar to Jennifer’s scar. Similar to Hope’s necklace that Elton now has.
Compared to the others, her psyche has hung on pretty well.
Unfortunately, Will Campbell (Jelani Alladin) heads out with Asha’s brother Dev, which gets Dev killed just as he hands Will his father’s gun. And Anne has the full intent of taking over the corrupted CRM and trying to manipulate Jennifer in the process.
YOU CAN WATCH EPISODE 7 TO SEE WHAT LYLA’S FATE IS ON AMC+. TUNE INTO THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND, SUNDAYS AT 10 EST.
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