Things got dark really quick on “Truth or Dare.” World Beyong finally showcased how cruel the outside world is for the group. The tone comparison to the previous six episodes are night and day.
Not only that “Truth or Dare” ended with a strong cliffhanger, we also got a glimpse of Huck’s backstory. To me, Huck’s flashback scenes are the most essential flashbacks World Beyond has had yet. Finding out the reason Huck has the pernament scar on her face and her real name being Jennifer is eye opening. Also during her flashbacks, there were questions on the universe of The Walking Dead that were addressed. What is revealed, is why the military did what they did on the first seasons of The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead. I always wanted to see the military’s point of view during the beginning of the apocalypse and I am happy that it was brought up.
I will have to give a high praise to Annet Mahendru. Her performance on this episode is outstanding and I believe this is also her best episode. Her potential was there at the start, but it blossomed on “Truth or Dare” the entire time. Huck did what she had to do when she was in the military. There was no way that she would allow a group of innocent people to be massacred by the military.
As far as the structure of the episode, there were no moments at all that made me roll my eyes or cringe. There was nothing silly at all as it got real. What was also missing about World Beyond since the start, is the suspension of disbelief. We watch the characters not realistically handle dangerous situations. But this time around, I felt it was realistic. They learned real quick that not everyone is good on the outside. Hope in particular, got into that situation where she could have been killed. That was until Huck saved the day.
That scene is effective because it displayed the true horrors of the world. Do not ever trust anyone 100% when it comes to encountering people. But the end of the episode is something I did not expect. Whether if Silas killed Tony or not, will be up in the air until next week. But the fact that Percy is not there tooo makes me question if he did it instead of Silas.
I also believe that everyone will talk about the Mountain Dew product placement. I had no problem with the spot. But it looked out of place from a visual standpoint. But at least the bottle looked like it did in 2010 (editor’s note: I did actually researched what the bottles’ appearence was like in 2010 and it is the same as that scene). I am a stickler for attention to detail when it comes to spots like that. If there was a bottle that looked like it is manufactured in 2020, then it would be inconsistent. Now I can picture a thirty second ad of Mountain Dew during the commercial break of any of TWD universe shows.
Another good thing about this episode, is how CRM is used for the plot. Instead of a post credit scene, a CRM map is featured. Everyone put the pieces together to figure out the fueling stations on that map and where could Hope and Iris’ father be. A quick inspection of that map also showed a fueling station in Virginia. Which means that the station at that location, could have been close to Jadis’ junkyard on The Walking Dead.
Even the game of truth or dare itself added to the episode in a good way. Percy knows that Hope knows that she killed Elton’s mom. That game was about to bring that revelation out. I thought it was going to happen here, but I now predict that it will happen in the finale.
With a heavy plot, dark tone, and no nonsense approach, “Truth or Dare” is the strongest episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
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