Here's What Might Be Holding The Walking Dead: World Beyond Back
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is the latest spin-off series of the immensely popular zombie show it shares a name with. While the show is still set in the zombie apocalypse, it offers a different texture by following a group of teenagers, led by Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope Bennett (Alexa Mansour) who set off with their friends to New York, to find their father. The series differs from other Walking Dead properties by focusing on characters who have spent a majority of their lives in this post-apocalyptic world, while fleshing out key details of this setting that could play an important role in those eventual Walking Dead movies AMC has announced.
There are clues in the show that hint at the fate of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), and small scenes here and there give fans more information about the still-mysterious Civic Republic Military. While this world building is nice, though, some fans have noted how the show could be so much greater than it is so far.
As of this writing, five episodes have been released for the first season with five more to come. Considering each episode is about 42 minutes in length, it seems as though more should have happened, and fans are going to Reddit to discuss their frustrations with the seemingly slow pace of the series.
Fans have criticisms concerning the show's slow pace
The thread in question kicks off with the following complaint about World Beyond: "So I know this is common for this whole series but every episode is a f****** bottle episode. Like 90% bottle episode 10% s*** that advances the plot. Halfway through the season and it still feels like we're in first episode territory." They go on to talk about the predictability of each episode and how we're treated to the characters' sad backstories, which are similarly filled with trauma like the ones we find in The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.
Redditor word_swashbuckler goes on to echo those points by bringing up, "With it being SUCH a limited series (at least in comparison to it's brother/sister-shows), I would have imagined that the pacing would be much quicker instead of, as you said, seemingly being stuck on episode one material through four episodes." The general consensus seems to be that some fans think the show needs to move more quickly for it to have any kind of lasting legacy. Fans suggest the show mostly consists of the teenagers sitting around talking to one another that's briefly intercut with either a flashback or zombie attack. While dialogue is essential, some fans think the show requires more action to move the plot forward rather than just seeing teens ruminate on the destruction of the world, as evidenced by Redditor OrangePeelBananaSeal saying, "It should be called The Walking Dead: Heart to Heart. So much talking, so many one to one 'heartfelt' conversations that don't mean a thing."
This is a common theme throughout the thread as Redditor Lucifer3_16 mentions, "It's actually an easy show to watch all three series because any time they're talking you can just fast forward. Then, as soon as the contrived dialogue moment has ended a zombie will jump out at them and they will eventually kill it after a problematic moment where the zombie snaps at them." It's already been established that World Beyond will only last two seasons with 10 episodes each. Considering five episodes are already out there, that's 25% of the show fans have seen, and many of them seem to think that most of that time has been spent on uninteresting ideas.
This isn't the only issue fans have brought up regarding the show, but it's important to note the series still has plenty of time to turn things around. It's possible the first half of the season was just warming things up for some intense action sequences to come. Viewers will just have to keep tuning in Sunday nights to see what happens next.