WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2, Episode 2, “Foothold,” which aired Sunday on AMC.
Season 1 of World Beyond was a lot of fun. It brought The Walking Dead back to its roots as a road show while establishing storylines and developing characters. In Season 2, however, it’s back to business. Since they are finally getting to see the inner workings of the Civic Republic and its Military (CRM), fans will be able to learn how the place has survived long enough to grow into the colossal entity that it is. The first two episodes of Season 2 have answered some very important questions regarding that survival and growth.
“Konsekans” establishes that the CRM’s weapon of choice isn’t the firepower that its advanced military has at its disposal. Rather, its leaders set massive columns of walkers – or “empties” as this spinoff calls them – upon their enemies. That’s how Colonel Kublek destroyed the Omaha and Campus Colony settlements back in Season 1. Now, in “Foothold,” there is another, very important question that World Beyond answers, and it has to do with how the Civic Republic protects itself from the dead
For all 11 years that The Walking Dead has been in existence, everyone on the various shows has only tried to avoid the variously named walkers, empties, biters and infected. Sure, they kill the ones that they have to in order to survive, but no one really goes out and hunts them. The tactic that groups use most often is simply to lead any herd, horde or column away from their settlements, and while that’s a safe and logical way of thinking – because walkers are really dangerous – it doesn’t solve any long-term issues.
If people want to rebuild the world, the walkers have to be gotten rid of somehow. Even if a cure is found for those still alive, the original walkers can’t be left to roam forever, and the CRM has started to address that issue. Of course, it still has walls, guards, lookouts and all of the other expected security measures, but the CRM is the first civilization to go on the offensive to kill walkers – first with science, then with firepower.
Hope is now inside of the CRM, where she is supposed to help her father with his work. In “Foothold,” she gets a picture of what that looks like. Of course, the Civic Republic is looking for a cure, but Dr. Bennett is also looking for a way to make the walkers decompose faster. If he can find the right fungus, bacteria or virus that will make the rotters rot faster, they would no longer pose a threat to life. They would all become immobile and eventually turn into fertilizer.
That’s the long-term solution, but in the meantime, the CRM isn’t satisfied. Silas is taken captive at the end of Season 1, and he makes his Season 2 debut in “Foothold.” He is taken to a facility where people draw walkers into a dump-like enclosure with lights and music. Then, they blow them up, clean them up and do it again and again. It’s actually a great, safe way of getting rid of walkers, and apparently there are multiple facilities like that across the state of New York. With facilities actively eliminating walkers, it leaves the CRM free to take care of other things and focus on progress. It’s just a wonder that this is the first civilization in 11 years of The Walking Dead that has attempted something like this.
To see what happens next in the CRM, tune into The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The series airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and is available to stream early on AMC+.