'Beyond' Recap: 'Last Action Hero'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

One of the things I love about television shows that take their time when it comes to revealing their secrets or advancing their character's purpose...is that once the proverbial cat is out of the bag, there's no more holding back. Suddenly the juicy tidbits and clues we've all been following and wondering about explode before our eyes and it's utterly magnificent and that moment arrived last week on Freeform's Beyond when Holden discovered exactly what his powers can do. 

Which meant the proverbial explosion wasn't that far behind and this week's episode, 'Last Action Hero' delivered in incredible fashion, giving us more insight as to what happened to Holden during his time in the Realm, and at long last this story revealed his purpose and his destiny...and well, as is tradition with this show, it did all of this in the most unconventional manner possible. There was no grand showdown to get the answers Holden has so desperately been searching for, no zen moment where he comes to realize he serves a greater purpose. Instead, Holden came to know what he is all about and what he is meant to do, while lying injured on a table, surrounded by a new friend who loves her some pop culture. 

So what did Holden learn exactly? We'll get to that in a moment, because we have to discuss first, the awesomeness that is Lydia. This show has always been about colorful characters that are filled with depth and Lydia, a pharmacy tech with a love of pop culture, specifically action movies, stole every single scene she was in and helped the audience crack a smile when things got tense and well...it's a shame she couldn't pop up in every single moment of this episode because holy cow...was there a dark cloud hanging over this tale since Hollow Sky is pulling out all the stops to get their hands on Holden. We saw Pastor Ian sneakily offer Luke a job to get him face time with Hollow Sky's philosophies and heck, even Shoemacher was doing her best to get into his good graces as well for who knows what in case things went south with Yellow Jacket's plan to snatch up Holden. 

Which brings us back to our favorite hero...and what we finally learned about Holden and the purpose behind his abilities. As it turns out, while Jeff and Lydia worked to pull the bullet out of Holden's body, the trauma of taking a round in the shoulder jarred loose the last of his memories of the Realm, and his dealings with Arthur, where the kind doctor worked hard to train Holden to save mankind from falling to pieces at a fundamental level. Because as Arthur put it, 'death is what gives life meaning' and it's clear now that Frost needs Holden to reach the Afterlife to bridge the gap between the living and the dead and that has all kinds of terrifying implications, since it would mean the collapse of a fundamental belief and design to our society and who knows what kinds of chaos and terror would come out of that since the worst that humanity has to offer, would take full advantage of something like that. 

It makes Holden's safety all the more important and it made the final moments of the episode all the more uncomfortable because unfortunately...Yellow Jacket did indeed get his hands on Holden and he is no doubt on his way to Hollow Sky for what should be one heck of a showdown between he and Frost and I think it's safe to assume that Frost will hurt anyone and everyone near and dear to Holden to get what he wants and well...I simply cannot wait for next week to arrive. I have to know how this ends and I have to know how Holden will hopefully save the world from what would definitely be a terrible mistake if Frost is able to bridge the gap between our world and the Afterlife...until next time.

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