‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’ Recap – ‘The Sky Is a Graveyard’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Eight of ‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’.
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One concept that The Walking Dead Universe loves to explore, are stories that involve redemption. For time and time again, we’ve seen broken people on The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead work hard to come back from the darkness that once permeated their souls, so they can become functional members of the new world that is being built. Which has made for some powerful and uplifting stories at times, since it helps to remind the audience that we can always come back from the brink when the going gets tough, and that we are better angels than our demons suggest, provided of course we take the time to recognize that, and for a time; it seemed as though this notion was going to be featured in The Walking Dead: World Beyond as well.

Because Silas was looking to find salvation and a fresh start by going on this mission to save Iris and Hope’s father and this notion was further reinforced by Huck's recent tutoring of Hope on matters of kindness and sacrifice and how they matter above all else at times. But as it turns out, this push toward the standard redemption tropes that this franchise tends to reside within, was all part of a grand ruse. For putting people that have never had to suffer through hardships at the end of the world, a la Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon or Alicia Clark and Morgan Jones, into the midst of a nightmarish world, can in fact have quite the negative impact upon the human mind and force them to lose themselves to the pain and the sorrow they carry within, as evidenced by this week’s episode. 

For ‘The Sky Is a Graveyard’ saw several characters break under the pressure they were currently facing and that allowed for the story to explore multiple angles as to why people give into the darkness and in the case of Silas, it’s related to the fact that sometimes… a lack of overall faith in us and who we are, can send us into a tailspin. Something that was explored by finally revealing to the audience exactly what brought about the perception that Silas is a monster. For it turns out that dear Silas was actually abused by his father on a consistent basis, and on the day that he decided to defend himself, he accidentally wounded his father mortally. Which in turn prompted his dad’s resurrection, eventually forcing Silas to act and save his mother before his reanimated corpse of a father could do any damage.

Which in essence, makes Silas something of a hero. For not only did he stand up for himself, rather than continuing to take abuse time and time again… he also saved his mother’s life in the process. But rather than be seen in that light, she only saw him as a monster and a murderer, and the same went for others in the Campus Colony. Which is something that fundamentally damaged Silas, psychologically. Because his father’s conflicted views of him, since dad did indeed show his son love from time to time, in between physical and emotional beatings; left Silas confused as to whether or not he was a decent human being, and such thoughts left him longing for acceptance and faith from other human beings and now we know why he was so eager to stick with the group on this journey.

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Because he found everything he needed within the confines of his newfound family and well, all of that disappeared in this tale. For the thought that he potentially hurt Tony and Percy, left a vast majority of the group questioning his motives and his true personality and that broke him. For the only people that he ever viewed as family now saw him as a potential monster as well and it drove him to accept death’s sweet embrace before Hope intervened, and a lack of that release in turn motivated him to do something quite drastic and just leave his friends behind. Because they were just like everyone else, and perhaps he was better off on his own, where he could finally have his fresh start and be free of judging eyes and venomous words. 
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But while that alone made for one powerful tale, one that really did help us to understand how people lose themselves within sorrow, he wasn’t alone in this particularly bleak journey. Because Elton’s desire to prove that Silas was innocent, spoke to how he believed that the world was a beautiful and just place. Where wonders can happen with a little faith in others and sadly… those beliefs came crashing to the ground when Hope finally gave into her guilt and her pain over what happened with his mother and told him the truth about everything. For that robbed him of his hope and his cheery outlook and motivated him to also head out into the world, on his own. In part to try and keep Silas company, since he still believed in him, but also to clear his head and try to make sense of a senseless world.

Yet what was truly impressive about this particular tale, is that it went above and beyond in its exploration of this topic, by exploring the dangers of what we can transform into when one becomes lost. A feat that was accomplished by one hell of a reveal at the end of this tale, wherein we came to learn that Huck’s ‘scouting’ mission a little while back, included a meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek. Because sadly Jennifer ‘Huck’ Mallick, is a dedicated member of the Civil Republic Military and she’s working to keep an ‘asset’ within the group safe and well, how this relates to the theme in question… is that it is obvious now that Huck was so broken and so shattered and lost by her decision to defend the innocent that Kublek and her kind were able to sell her on notions of heroism and the greater good. Meaning that sometimes losing ourselves makes us vulnerable to outside influences, the kind that force us further into the void.

In the end however, this truly was quite the powerful episode. For once again, this series took the time to dive into concepts that its companion shows have yet to dive into and that led to some emotional moments for certain. The kind that really allowed for us to understand what makes Silas tick, and how quickly the world can bring us down when we let its special brand of chaos into our souls. But most important of all, this particular tale set the stage for a powerhouse season finale. Because now we know that not everyone has good intentions in mind and clearly the CRM is close to making a move to get whatever it is, they want from ‘The Asset’ and it should be interesting to see where we go from here now that chaos has found its way into the group's dangerous and broken, yet noble journey. Until next time.

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