The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2 Episode 5 Ending Explained
Contains spoilers for "The Walking Dead: World Beyond" Season 2 Episode 5
Things kicked into high gear on this week's episode of "The Walking Dead: World Beyond." Characters spilled more secrets than empty guts and Iris (Aliyah Royale) moved forward with her plan to get her sister Hope (Alexa Mansour) and father Leo (Joe Holt) away from the Civic Republic Military's research base. However, "Quatervois" only brings us up to the halfway point of the show's second and final season (don't worry, other spin-offs will take its place), which means the Bennett family is far from home free.
After reuniting with Silas at the CRM culling facility, the group lays out how they are going to infiltrate the CRM and then escape with Hope and Leo. Silas will commandeer a truck and a keycard from his boss Dennis (Maximilian Osinski). Meanwhile, Iris and Felix will turn themselves over to the CRM to get inside the facility and meet up with Hope and Leo. When the time comes, everyone will rendezvous at a discrete location, hop in Silas' stolen truck, and take off toward Portland. What could go wrong?
A lot, actually. While the logistics themselves aren't very complicated, pulling off this plan relies on everyone believing that getting away from the CRM is in their best interest. Iris is pitching her plan based on her belief that the CRM was responsible for the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony. We know that she's right but as far as the other characters are concerned, Iris is merely working off a hunch. Is that enough for Leo and Hope to leave behind the major scientific breakthroughs they've been making at the research facility? Or will the Bennett family end up divided on how to proceed?
Iris recruits Silas
While it takes Iris a minute to convince Silas to join them (he's gotten close to his new buddies at the culling facility), he's ultimately down for the cause. His cooperation means the others can begin the second part of their plan: infiltrating the CRM research base. For this, they get an assist from Indira (Anna Khaja) and Asha (Madelyn Kientz), who suggests that if the Perimeter crew turns Iris and Felix over, it will seem less suspicious and help the Perimeter maintain its good standing with the CRM.
Elton elects to stay behind which gives him the opportunity to chat with Asha. Since meeting a few episodes ago, it has seemed like there might be a budding romance between the two, something even Percy (Ted Sutherland) picks up on. Asha feels comfortable enough with Elton to reveal that she was lying to him last episode when she told him the dialysis medications he found were for hers. She explains that Indira wants to keep her illness a secret from others in the Perimeter council because they might try to oust her from her leadership position if they think she's getting special favors from the CRM.
Of course, Elton is understanding of this, but regardless, it looks like he's not interested in taking their relationship to the next level. When they part ways Asha tenderly touches his arm but Elton merely smiles, holds her hand, and then walks away. That must be the post-apocalypse version of leaving someone on read.
Hope makes her decision
Hope's conflicting feelings about the CRM are on full display during "Quatervois." After her trip to the Perimeter, she's more fearful than ever that Leo is going to get himself into deadly trouble if he keeps demanding that the military organization help him locate Iris (who he believes is still missing). But when she goes to chat with him, she's instead ambushed by a group of scientists (including the legendary Dr. T. Brooks Ellis) who tell her that her unorthodox thinking has already led to an important breakthrough in their research on how to neutralize empties as a threat to humanity.
That's fantastic! It doesn't really negate the fact that the CRM has put the Bennett family through the wringer and killed all their friends at the Campus Colony, though. After meeting with the scientists, Hope (figuratively) spills her guts to Leo. She tells him that Iris is nearby and that Will (Jelani Alladin) is still alive. When they have a chance to have a more in-depth discussion later, it's Leo who calls the facility "a prison" and Hope who rebuts, "It is, but what if it's also the future? I don't mean the CRM but the researchers, the research ..."
However, when push comes to shove, Hope is ready to choose her family. After Iris, Felix, and Percy (who decides to tag along at the last minute) arrive at the research facility, the group meets to hash out their plans. Leo is uneasy about the fact that they are escaping that day and when he asks Hope what she thinks, she replies, "You said it was about making our own choices. And right now, this is the only choice we've got."
Evidence of the CRM's misdeeds come to light
Iris has done a pretty good job of winning people over to her side especially considering she doesn't actually have any hard evidence to prove that the CRM facilitated the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony. One person who was intrigued, but not convinced, by that idea was Huck/Jennifer (Annet Mahendru). She didn't want to believe that her mother could have anything to do with something so evil. But after getting a total cold shoulder from Elizabeth (Julia Ormond) when she asked about it last episode, Jennifer decides to see if there's any actual proof to Iris' claim.
She finds just that after breaking into Elizabeth's office, where she discovers logs showing that the CRM was importing victims from Omaha to use as research subjects. Before she can share her findings, she nearly gets caught by Elizabeth, but covers by inviting her mother to lunch. While they wait for some pasta to boil, Elizabeth shares a story about how when Jennifer was a young child they used to go out to eat at an Italian restaurant by the ocean. After dinner, Elizabeth would take Jennifer to the water and let the surf wash away all the pasta sauce she'd spilled on herself while eating.
Elizabeth is nostalgic for this time in her life because it was a moment when things were simple and easy. Jennifer makes a mess and Elizabeth takes her down to the ocean to get cleaned off. Now that her daughter is an adult, though, dealing with the messes Jennifer makes is significantly more complicated. And Elizabeth will no doubt be experiencing that first hand as, at the end of the episode, Jennifer shares the incriminating evidence she's found with Leo.
The plan unravels
Unbeknownst to Leo, when Huck/Jennifer pulled him aside to show him her evidence, she was also saving him from making a critical error that might have cost his entire family their lives. He was about to knock on the door of Dr. Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold), his CRM colleague and girlfriend who he wanted to loop in on their last-minute escape plan. Leo believes wholeheartedly that he can trust Dr. Belshaw with anything. However, we've seen throughout the series that while Dr. Belshaw sometimes appears ethically squeamish regarding her work with the CRM, she is dedicated to her job and the organization. She believes in the CRM's mission and has lied to Leo and gone behind his back multiple times. Had Leo told her about their plan there's a good chance that she would have ratted them out to prevent Hope and Leo and their genius minds from getting away.
With that potential crisis averted, all the necessary players on board, and the CRM seemingly in the dark about what's about to happen, it looks like everything's falling into place for the Campus Colony Crew. Unfortunately, when the stakes are high, even one small hiccup can derail the whole thing. And in the very final moments of the episode, we watch that happen in real-time.
Silas, who is in place with the truck and waiting for the others to convene, is suddenly swarmed by CRM guards. How he was found out (or even if this takedown is related to their plan) remains a mystery but it looks like Iris is going to have to go back to the drawing board.
A post-credits scene brings us closer to understanding the CRM's mission
Speaking of Dr. Belshaw, she's the subject of a post-credit scene this week. We see her receiving a live test subject courtesy of a CRM soldier who walks into her office with a helmet on. Dr. Belshaw tells the soldier, "I realize this is my last chance to get this right. Please assure Lieutenant Colonel Kubleck that I will."
When the soldier then lifts up their helmet they reveal themselves to be ... Anne/Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) from "The Walking Dead," who announces she is taking over this project from Elizabeth.
This post-credits scene highlights two big mysteries surrounding the CRM: the nature of Dr. Belshaw's work, specifically as it relates to her "A" and "B" test subjects, and exactly how Anne/Jadis figures into everything. Those questions don't get answered, but another scene from earlier in the episode suggests we're getting closer to figuring out what the CRM is up to.
In an early scene, Dennis picks up a newspaper with the headline "CRM Requests Emergency Delay of Civilian Oversight." He mutters, "It was always going to happen. Civilian oversight after ten years ... The thing is, no one knew what the hell 'ten years later' would look like. If you ask me, after Omaha, we're back at square one."
In destroying Omaha, the CRM made the world of those living in the Alliance of Three feel less stable than it actually is. That was most likely the point, as it allows them to claim that they need to maintain their autonomy to keep the public safe. But public safety is obviously not their priority considering they just killed tens of thousands of their own citizens. Maybe the secretive work being done by Dr. Belshaw on the "A" and "B" test subjects actually have nothing to do with neutralizing the threat of the dead. Maybe they plan to use the empties for something else entirely.