"Death and the Dead" is the ninth episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond. It is the nineteenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on November 28, 2021, the same night as "The Portrait", the seventh episode of the seventh season of Fear the Walking Dead. It was written by Erin Martin & Sam Reynolds and directed by Loren Yaconelli.

Plot[]

As the plan continues to unfold, tensions between the group and the CRM come to a dramatic head. While some rush to save an ally, difficult truths are brought to light.

Synopsis[]

CRM soldiers pursue Hope and Iris' group through underground tunnels. They encounter empties in lab coats, meant to look like the researchers.

Above ground in Lyla's lab, Hope, Iris, Percy, Felix, and Leo distribute detonators amongst themselves.

The CRM soldiers gun down the empties, which turn out to have C4 explosives strapped to their backs. One by one, Hope's group detonates the bombs, killing the fireteams hunting for them.

Corporal Pierce informs Jadis that their team walked into a trap in the tunnels. Leo radios Jadis and tells her they have Mason. He threatens to harm Mason if Jadis doesn't supply them with two transport trucks. Jadis warns them that they'll never find the kind of security that the CRM has provided them.

Jadis tells Huck that she failed to instill Hope with an appreciation for the future that the CRM was building. Huck points out that the CRM wiped out Hope's home and failed to keep it a secret.

Silas tends to Dennis' gunshot wound at the outpost. Elton finds vodka to numb the pain, then carefully extracts a bullet from Dennis' abdomen.

Dennis rests and tells Silas to stick to the group's plan.

Felix meets Lt. Newton outside where the two trucks are waiting. He tells Lt. Newton to back the trucks up to the service entrance.

Back in Lyla's lab, Felix announces that the trucks are ready for Leo and the researchers. He says the CRM won't try anything if they think everyone has left the facility with Mason as their captive. Iris and Percy stay behind with Mason.

Silas and Elton drive toward the facility, leaving a trail of firecrackers behind on the road and leading a herd gathered by Dennis' music at the culling facility. The firecrackers flush more empties out of the woods. Although they are now close enough to peel off and meet the others, Silas announces that they have to make a stop first.

Iris and Percy guard Mason and dream about starting a new life together.

Felix and Hope go to the cold storage room where the poisonous gas is stored. The room is no longer cold, and thawed out empties roam around the unit. As Felix fights the other empties, Hope fights a zombified Lyla Belshaw. Recalling Lyla and Huck's words about the research facility being a safe place and her new home, Hope redoubles her efforts, finally smashing Lyla's head with the freezer door and putting her down. However, they find all the gas tanks gone and realize that the CRM knew they were coming.

Jadis tells Huck that the Bennetts likely stayed behind to destroy the gas. Corporal Pierce informs them that a giant column of empties is approaching the facility from the west which was rendered vulnerable by Jadis sending the teams from that area into the tunnels. Jadis dispatches teams to protect the gates.

Hope, Iris, Felix, and Percy debate their next move. Felix proposes they stick to the plan and drop Mason off once they're away from the facility. Iris confronts Mason and demands to know where the gas is, but Mason says he has no idea.

Corporal Pierce tells Jadis that the checkpoints are overrun. Huck suits up to join the frontlines, but Jadis tells her to stay.

Elton and Silas split up in the CRM facility to look for medical supplies. Webb spots Silas and guesses he is with the insurgents. He aims his gun at Silas.

Felix's group heads toward an exit to escape in a CRM jeep that Percy stole the keys to.

Silas tells Webb that Dennis is dying and that he simply came to find antibiotics, but Webb doesn't believe him. Elton sneaks up and knocks Webb unconscious.

Silas and Elton find a room with medical supplies and start stuffing them into a backpack. Webb bangs on the door but is quickly devoured by empties that have infiltrated the building. Elton sees Indira's globe sculpture outside and gets an idea of how to escape the herd.

Silas and Elton roll down a hill inside the globe sculpture, plowing down empties along the way. They jump out and run.

Felix's group arrives at the jeep only to find Jadis, Huck, and CRM soldiers waiting for them. Felix promises to set Mason free once they've escaped unharmed, but Jadis stands her ground.

Iris accuses the CRM of murdering 100,000 people. Jadis says Portland and Omaha had become too reliant on the CR and would have eventually died from famine, disease, and conflict. She says that murdering everyone was an act of mercy. Empties attack, allowing Mason to escape. Percy runs after him and gets shot in the head. Huck guns down two CRM soldiers then turns her gun on Jadis. Hope grabs a gun and screams at Mason for getting Percy killed. Iris warns Hope that killing Mason will only come back to haunt her. Hope lowers the gun and escapes with Felix and Hope in the jeep. Huck escapes in a separate jeep as Jadis rushes to save Mason from empties. As the group escapes, Jadis furiously looks around as the CRM research facility is completely overrun by empties.

At the CRM basecamp, Jadis talks to Major General Beale on a radio channel and insists they move up the timeline on Portland. She vows to bring Huck to justice and retrieve the scientists to resume research.

Felix, Hope, and Iris arrive at the rendezvous point, but no one is there. They radio Leo and learn that he got a flat tire from spikes on the road. Felix goes to help Leo while Hope and Iris wait for Elton and Silas.

Huck drives to the outpost and finds Dennis lying weak on the couch. They kiss.

Hope and Iris reunite with Elton and Silas. Hope says that the gas is already en route to Portland and that the CRM won. The group comforts Iris as she sobs about Percy's death.

Huck wanders around the outpost. She stops to cry privately, then notices something.

Huck radios Hope and asks if they still have the C4. She is surrounded by the canisters of poisonous gas that Jadis secretly moved to the outpost, giving the Endlings one last chance to stop the CRM's plans.

Other Cast[]

Co-Stars[]

• Susan Savoie as Dr. Amanda Siegel
• Gilbert Cruz as Dr. Ebersol

Uncredited[]

• S.J. Ovaska as Samuel Abbott
• Christina Brucato as Amelia Ortiz (Archive Footage)
• Kyle W. Brown as CRM Soldier
• David Armstrong as Walker
• Unknown as Johnathan Beale (Voice Only)

Deaths[]

• Samuel Abbott (Zombified)
• Lyla Belshaw (Zombified)
• Webb
• Percy
• Several unnamed CRM test subjects (Zombified)
• At least 20 unnamed CRM soldiers

Trivia[]

• Only appearance (in World Beyond continuity) of Johnathan Beale. (Voice Only)
• Last appearance of Percy.
• Last appearance of Mason Beale.
• Last appearance of Webb.
• Last appearance of Dr. Ebersol.
• Last appearance of Samuel Abbott. (Zombified)
• Last appearance of Lyla Belshaw. (Zombified/Flashback)
• Last appearance of Amelia Ortiz. (Flashback)
• The title of the episode, "Death and the Dead", refers to Jadis telling Leo that outside of the CRM's walls there's no progress, "only death and the dead."
• This episode was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on November 21, 2021.
• This episode is played directly after the seventh episode of Season 7 of Fear the Walking Dead.
• Jesse Gallegos (Webb) is upgraded from "Co-Stars" to "Also Starring" in this episode.
• The word "fuck" is said in the episode, used by Hope after killing a zombified Lyla Belshaw.
• The Endlings' tactic of using the herd to lay siege to the research facility is similar to the tactic used by the Militia against the Saviors in the first half of Season 8 of The Walking Dead. Elton and Silas leading the herd using a vehicle and explosives mirrors Daryl Dixon doing the exact same thing in "Mercy".
• Jadis appears to give a condensed version of the Echelon Briefing to the Endlings and Mason Beale while trying to make them understand the CRM's actions.

Episode Highlights[]

• Silas and Elton treat Dennis' gunshot wound, but he is out of antibiotics.
• After escaping into Lyla Belshaw's secret lab, the Endlings send several empty test subjects into the tunnels with C4 attached to them, killing the CRM fireteams sent in to kill them.
• Using Mason as leverage, Leo forces Jadis to give them two transport trucks which the scientists use to escape.
• Felix swears to kill Frank Newton if they ever meet again.
• Attempting to destroy the Chlorine Gas, Hope and Felix put down several CRM test subjects, including a zombified Lyla, only to discover that Jadis had anticipated their actions and moved the gas.
• Silas and Elton lure a massive herd of around a thousand empties to the Civic Republic Research Facility before breaking in to steal antibiotics for Dennis and the medicine that Indira needs for her kidney failure.
• Webb is killed by empties after drawing attention while trying to get at Silas and Elton who escape the herd using the Perimeter's globe sculpture as cover.
• In a standoff, Jadis reveals the reason for the genocide: Two years ago, the CRM's modeling had predicted that the Alliance of the Three has become a drain on the Civic Republic's resources and are now too reliant upon them to survive on their own ever again. Eventually, this would lead to famines and other disasters that would kill thousands and spread into the Civic Republic itself. In order to prevent this and stop "the last light of civilization" from being extinguished, the CRM chose to wipe out their allies while also making use of them for their own purposes.
  • She also claims that 10,000 children and key personnel were transported out of the communities; however, it is unknown if she was telling the truth in this regard.
• After Mason breaks free, Huck blows her cover to help her friends while Percy is killed chasing after an unrepentant Mason. After Iris talks Hope down from killing Mason in revenge, the Endlings make their escape from the research facility.
• The research facility is completely overrun by the herd, forcing the CRM to retreat to a basecamp where Jadis calls Major General Beale for reinforcements and to move up the attack on Portland.
• Leo gets stuck due to a CRM spike strip and Felix leaves to help him.
• Huck inadvertently discovers that the chlorine gas has secretly been moved to the North Pads of Dennis' culling facility, giving the Endlings one last chance to stop the genocide in Portland.
  • This was foreshadowed in "Blood and Lies" when Dennis told Silas that the facility had a big supply drop coming the next day and that he needed the North Pads cleared off for it.