There are five more episodes left of World Beyond to finish the first season. “Shadow Puppets” is one of those episodes that has great directing and cinematrography. But it falls flat when it comes to the dialouge and some of the character’s actions.
What did not make any sense at the first five minutes, is how the cliffhanger on the previous episode is resolved. Percy approached them with a weapon and Felix stops him from behind. Then Percy said that he will now leave. What was the point of revealing yourself if you were going to leave. Iris is ready to trust anyone that tells her a false story and believe every word they say. I find that ridiculous that they are easy to trust anyone.
But they got a harsh reality later on when Percy and Tony almost drove away with their belongings. Speaking of Tony, it boggles my mind that nobody else checked his body to see if Tony was really dead. Felix should have been the one to have done that. I also want to bring up the ending scene. While it did not made me blow a gasket like that dance scene did, the shadow puppet show should have happened inside. There is no reason to have loud music outside while everyone is sitting down and not paying attention to see if there are any sights of the undead around. There is no excuse for that scene to happen the way it did at all.
There are some good moments that I liked. The scary moments really brought my anxiety up. And I believe the sense of urgency worked better for this episode than the others. Specifically when they were all helping Iris out of the dumpster. I was made to believe that she was going to get bit by the undead for a second.I also want to praise Michael Cudlitz for directing the episode because the cinematrography felt sharp and differernt than all of the previous episodes. Especially when Felix smashed the mirror in which he thought was the empty that he had to kill. Also, bonus points for making Tony act like a walker when he got up for a few seconds to trick the viewers.
It is getting close to the point where Hope will reveal that she killed Elton’s mother. The guilt is coming out of her whenever they are talking about his mom. Hope will have the feeling to confess that she did kill her within the next few episodes, or she will let it slip out by accident to another character. How Elton will react, will be intriguing to see.
Although not enough information was revealed at the post-credit scene, it seems like CRM is aware of Hope and Iris’ arrival. What could happen to their father is up in the air for now. Maybe CRM might have him as a test subject before their arrival, or have him stationed somewhere else. Since the truck that Tony stolen is property of CRM, it can make their trip much faster. Putting my criticisms aside, I thought that “Shadow Puppets” is a decent episode and better structured than the previous two episodes.
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