The Walking Dead: World Beyond Season 2 Episode 7 Ending Explained
Early in the latest episode of "The Walking Dead: World Beyond," viewers are shown the grim reality of the work being done by Dr. Lyla Belshaw (Natalie Gold) in the Civic Republic Military's research base. She euthanizes a live test subject with the chemical gas that was used to massacre the population of Omaha and the Campus Colony. After announcing the time of death of the man strapped into her test chamber, Dr. Belshaw mutters to herself, "This is how we have tomorrow ... This is how we have tomorrow."
But exactly what kind of tomorrow is the CRM striving for? That question has become central to the action on "World Beyond" and we get some more clarification during "Blood and Lies." The vial of the chemical agent that Felix (Nico Tortorella) stole from Dr. Belshaw's cold storage lab in the last episode did not go unnoticed by the CRM. When soldiers come to Dr. Belshaw looking for it, she has no choice but to come clean to the Bennett family in an attempt to get them to help her cover up the theft.
The chemical agent isn't just a deadly weapon. It also shows promise in significantly delaying the reanimation process, something that could be hugely beneficial in the fight to neutralize the threat of the undead. When Dr. Belshaw expressed that she needed more subjects to test it on, the CRM informed her about the upcoming extermination mission in Omaha. They did not, however, explain to her exactly why they were planning to eliminate the entire population of one of their alliance cities.
That brings us closer to understanding exactly what the CRM is up to but there are still missing pieces of the puzzle. By the episode's end, though, the sinister final image begins to take shape.
Dennis bails Silas out of trouble
"World Beyond" delivered a pretty tense cliffhanger at the end of Episode 5, "Quatervois," when they showed Silas (Hal Cumpston) being surrounded by CRM guards while he was trying to carry out his part of Iris' (Aliyah Royale) escape plan. Then they kept us hanging all last week. We finally get a resolution during "Blood and Lies" and all things considered, Silas' arrest turns out to be not that big of a deal.
He gets brought in to be interrogated by Jadis (Pollyanna McIntosh) but Silas is able to maintain that he ended up in a restricted area because he was merely lost. When Dennis is brought in, he corroborates his subordinate's story. The two are let off with a warning and sent back to the culling facility.
When they get back, Silas immediately comes clean to Dennis and tells him that he was not actually lost. Dennis was already well aware of that, however, and tells Silas that he covered for him regardless of his lie because he believes Silas is basically a good kid deep down. After learning about Silas' backstory in Season 1, it's clear that he has a rough history with male authority figures. But his relationship with Dennis is quite different. Although Dennis can be a tough boss, he is fair and has shown Silas an amount of respect that others have not.
While speaking about his lie, Silas tries to broach the subject of turning against the CRM. This, however, proves to be a bridge too far, as Dennis merely responds, "Why would you ask me that?" Silas is obviously looking for his own ally in this mess he's found himself in but Dennis isn't that person ... yet.
Dr. Belshaw lays all her cards on the table
While coming clean to the Bennett sisters about her involvement in the Omaha massacre, Dr. Belshaw reveals exactly how she fits into the CRM's plans. She tells them that she was horrified to learn about the upcoming extermination mission. But, at the same time, she knew that refusing to participate wouldn't do anything to stop the massacre. In her mind, by using the incident to test her new drug, she was finding a small silver lining in the midst of a horrible tragedy.
There's also the fact that her failure to participate would have resulted in her death. Dr. Belshaw drops a key bit of information: the Omaha massacre is so top secret that not even officials within the Civic Republic itself know about it. When her colleague Dr. Abbott — who we've seen throughout the series as an undead test subject — tried to blow the whistle, he ended up on the wrong side of the glass in Dr. Belshaw's lab. Remember a few episodes ago when we saw that headline about the CRM asking for a delay in the planned civilian oversight of their operations? Well, now we have a better idea of why they aren't so eager for others to be looking under the hood.
Dr. Belshaw manages to convince Hope (Alexa Mansour) to tell her the location of the stolen vial. But she doesn't exactly keep her promise to the Bennetts that she'll lie and tell the CRM that she merely misplaced the chemicals. When Dr. Belshaw interrupts Jadis' interrogation of Dr. Bennett (Joe Holt), she quickly folds and tells the truth about how the vial went missing.
Jadis makes a shocking termination
Dr. Belshaw's backtracking seems like a betrayal at first. At the end of the day, though, she had little choice as Jadis' investigation would have quickly unraveled her flimsy lie. In getting out in front of the story, Dr. Belshaw is also able to pull an ace out of her sleeve. She explains that no matter their actions, Dr. Bennett and his daughters can't be harmed because they are too valuable to the CRM's research. Dr. Belshaw is on the verge of a breakthrough and with the help of the brilliant Bennetts, success could be within reach.
This gambit is one of pure desperation that is fueled not just by Dr. Belshaw's own survival instincts, but also by the fact that despite it all, she does appear to have genuine feelings for Dr. Bennett. Dr. Belshaw's admissions throughout the episode paint her as less of a hardline CRM loyalist like we were beginning to suspect and more of a morally compromised scientific idealist who found herself in over her head. It's tragic, then, that Dr. Belshaw's move to save the Bennetts works, but at the cost of her own life.
When she brings Jadis and Jennifer (Annet Mahendru) back to her lab to review her latest test subject, they find that Dr. Belshaw isn't quite as close to a breakthrough as she led them to believe. Nevertheless, Jadis agrees that Dr. Bennett — "A man of greater intelligence with two easy to squeeze pressure points" — is worth keeping alive ... but Dr. Belshaw herself is proving to be more trouble than she's worth. At Jadis' orders, Jennifer cuts the restraints off the undead test subject and locks Dr. Belshaw in the room with it. The two then watch as she is killed by her own experiment.
Huck learns more about the CRM's plans
After Dr. Belshaw dies, Jadis informs Huck/Jennifer that eliminating the doctor serves a dual purpose. Not only was Jadis taking out a potential security threat but she was also giving Jennifer the opportunity to prove her allegiance to the CRM. This will improve Jennifer's standing with the organization and allow Jadis to give Jennifer highly classified information about what the CRM's next moves are.
On one hand, this feels in line with what Jadis told Jennifer last week, which is that she would like to help her friend and former mentor regain her good standing with the CRM. On the other hand, though, Jadis dolling out highly classified information to Jennifer is suspicious. While disposing of Dr. Belshaw, Jadis repeated a line that the doomed scientist had used on Iris and Hope during one of their private conversations earlier, which implies that Jadis bugged Dr. Belshaw's office. And if Dr. Belshaw seemed suspicious enough for Jadis to spy on her, it's hard to believe that Jennifer's behavior hasn't set off the same alarm bells.
Does Jadis really not suspect that Jennifer is working with the Bennetts? It's possible, but it seems unlikely. Since being introduced in "World Beyond," Jadis has established herself as a character who is one or two steps ahead of everyone else. After she tells Jennifer the CRM's plans — specifically that they are going to do the same thing to Portland that they did to Omaha — Jennifer immediately turns around and tells both Percy (Ted Sutherland) and Dennis (Maximilian Osinski). Jadis' motivations for potentially leaking that information aren't clear to us yet. However, it feels unlikely that this was done in error.
Things only get more complicated for our protagonists
So, as the episode nears its conclusion, the Bennetts and their allies have learned about the CRM's plans to destroy Portland the same way it did Omaha (for reasons yet to be determined), Jennifer has just brought Dennis, who was previously in the dark about everything, up to speed, and Dr. Bennett has now been charged with continuing Dr. Belshaw's work. How could things get even more complicated? Well, here are a few ways.
First, Hope learns a pretty significant piece of information about her CRM crush Mason (Will Meyers), namely that he's the son of Major General Beale. We haven't met Beale in the flesh yet but his name has been invoked often. Mason drops this information casually, which implies that he's unaware that it hit Hope like a ton of bricks. It's not yet clear how this disclosure will affect the Bennetts' plans but if they play their cards right, it could make for some excellent leverage in the coming war with the CRM.
Second, Silas finally comes face to face with Huck/Jennifer for the first time since she framed him for the murder of Percy's uncle back in Season 1. The episode ends with Huck telling him, "Guess we got some s— to talk about," while the young man grips his CRM-issued empty-killing stick. This is the second "Will X get revenge on Huck?" cliffhanger we've gotten this season after Percy tried his hand at killing her when she brought Hope to the Perimeter. We suspect that this one will prove to be as empty a threat as the last, but it may still complicate things, especially as Dennis is likely to become a bigger player now that he's aware of exactly what has been going on.