"Shadow Puppets" is the sixth episode of the first season of AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond. It is the sixth episode of the series overall. It premiered on November 8, 2020, the same night as "Honey", the fifth episode of the sixth season of Fear the Walking Dead. It was written by Maya Goldsmith and directed by Michael Cudlitz.[1]
Plot[]
When an unexpected newcomer reveals information that could help them reach their destination, the group cuts a deal. While some are intrigued by the new arrival, others are suspicious.
Synopsis[]
Iris narrates a shadow puppet show about the apocalypse.
Iris, Hope, Elton and Silas find a boy named Percy lurking on the perimeter of their camp. Felix ambushes Percy and instructs Elton and Silas to check the vicinity for accomplices.
Iris pats down Percy. Percy insists that he was just urinating in the woods when he came across their camp.
Percy eats with the group and explains that he was recently robbed by his companions, Mike and Tony. He vows to track down Mike and Tony in a nearby town to get his belongings back.
Silas tells Felix that he doesn't trust Percy.
Percy shares stories from his time on the road. Hope realizes that Percy must have had a car to get around so quickly and deduces that Mike and Tony stole his car. She demands to know why Percy didn't disclose this detail. Percy admits he was worried they would want to take his car. Iris offers to help Percy get his car back in exchange for a ride to their destination. Percy agrees.
The group leaves the next morning. On the road, Hope offers to help Elton finish his mother's manuscript.
Percy chats with Iris and wonders why they left their comfortable life behind at the university. Iris explains that she and her friends are trying to save her father.
Silas again tells Felix that he mistrusts Percy.
The group arrives at the abandoned town and see someone driving Percy's truck through town.
The group finds the truck parked in an alley. Percy and Felix run over to the truck and find Tony dead inside, a bullet to his head.
Percy tries to hotwire the truck but discovers a plate bolted over the ignition wires. He finds a knife and goes to hunt down Mike. Felix joins him and instructs Iris and Silas to stay behind with all of their bags and gear.
Felix enters a nearby building with Percy while Hope and Elton keep guard outside. Felix and Percy split up inside.
Iris decides to help Felix and Percy. Silas worries about her safety but suggests she look for an entrance in the back.
Iris enters the building through a back door and runs into Percy. They head upstairs to look for Mike.
Elton tells Hope that her father encouraged him to finish his mother's manuscript. Hope starts to reveal the truth about his mother's death, then loses courage.
Felix kills an empty in the building.
Iris and Percy find a smoldering cigarette upstairs and hear Mike taking a bath. Percy finds the truck keys and starts to leave, then spots his backpack. He gives Iris the keys and tells her to start the truck while he gets his backpack.
On her way downstairs, Iris hears Percy yelling at Mike, followed by a gunshot. She runs back upstairs to help Percy.
Silas peers down the street. Tony quietly stands up while Silas is distracted.
Iris opens Percy's backpack and finds it stuffed with paper.
Tony grabs everyone's gear while Silas isn't looking.
Iris peeks in the bathroom and realizes that "Mike" was actually an empty trapped inside a tub filled with water.
Tony starts the truck and drives away with everyone's gear. Silas alerts Hope and Elton. Elton realizes that Tony has his mother's manuscript. Hope runs after the truck.
Felix kills another empty inside the building.
Iris spots Percy escaping through a window. Percy jumps down to the ground. Iris chases him but falls into a dumpster.
Hope chases the truck into an alley. Percy jumps into the truck and escapes with Tony. Iris calls for help as empties rise out of the garbage.
Felix, Elton and Silas run over to the dumpster. An empty pins Iris down. Percy shows up and kills the empty just in time. He helps usher everyone into the truck, where his uncle Tony is waiting.
On the road, Felix accuses Tony and Percy of conning them. Percy points out that he and Tony came back to rescue them.
The group sits around a campfire in silence. Tony performs a magic trick and says that he was an illusionist in Las Vegas. Iris angrily walks off.
Percy joins Iris by the river. Iris regrets that her instincts about him were so misguided. Percy says that of all of his grifting victims, Iris was the only one who tried to help Percy after hearing the gunshot. Iris seeing Percy as someone worthy of saving was what had caused him to go back for the group and he hopes to eventually prove himself to be the person that she saw.
Hope tells Elton she'd like to read his mother's manuscript. Elton gives her the manuscript. Hope stares at the photo of Elton's mother, recognizing her as the woman that she had killed on the Night the Sky Fell.
Tony tells Felix that he plans to honor Percy's promise to drive them to their destination. He recognizes the insignia on Felix's jacket as the same insignia on the truck. He says that the group associated with the insignia is dangerous and doublechecks that Felix's jacket can help them if they ever encounter the group.
The group gathers around a campfire. Percy and Tony play music and stage a shadow puppet show about the apocalypse. Hope and Iris hold hands as they watch.
Other Cast[]
Uncredited[]
- Joe Holt as Leopold Bennett (Photograph)
- Christina Brucato as Amelia Ortiz (Photograph)
- S.J. Ovaska as Samuel Abbott (Photograph)
Deaths[]
- 1 unnamed CRM driver (Confirmed Fate)
Trivia[]
- First appearance of Tony Delmado.
- The title of the episode, "Shadow Puppets", refers to the performance Percy and Tony do for the Endlings at the end of the episode.
- This episode was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on November 5, 2020.
- This episode is played directly after the fifth episode of Season 6 of Fear the Walking Dead.
- This is the second episode of World Beyond to contain a post-credits scene, after "The Wrong End of a Telescope".
- This episode confirms that it has been one month since they left the Campus Colony.
- Huck is absent in this episode as she is off on the scouting mission that Huck had suggested at the end of "Madman Across the Water".
Episode Highlights[]
TBA
References[]
Season 1 | "Brave" • "The Blaze of Gory" • "The Tyger and the Lamb" • "The Wrong End of a Telescope" • "Madman Across the Water" • "Shadow Puppets" • "Truth or Dare" • "The Sky Is a Graveyard" • "The Deepest Cut" • "In This Life" |
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Season 2 | "Konsekans" • "Foothold" • "Exit Wounds" • "Family Is a Four Letter Word" • "Quatervois" • "Who Are You?" • "Blood and Lies" • "Returning Point" • "Death and the Dead" • "The Last Light" |
Episode Guide: TV Series • Fear • Tales • Dead City • Daryl Dixon • The Ones Who Live • Webisodes |