Huck comes clean with Hope. Everyone meets up again. Everyone goes away again.

The occasionally sedate pace of the first season of World Beyond has been a trial for some but this week’s trio of carefully detonated narrative mines shows just what the value of waiting has been. This is a show that’s measured its ground carefully and well and in doing so earned every one of these bombshells.

Firstly, the Huck reveal is masterfully handled and Alexa Mansour and Annet Mahendru as Hope and Huck make a great double act that clearly troubles both characters. Better still the long overdue reunion and fight between Huck and Felix is one of the best action sequences in the franchise’s history. Mahendru, Nico Tortorella and their stunt doubles absolutely go for it and the fight rings with the exact sort of damp, mournful Southern Gothic vibes that have made the franchise such a success. Two old friends, trying very hard to kill each other and breaking a house apart in the process as it burns down around them. There’s multiple levels of symbolism here before Hope solves the problem by holding herself hostage but that’s where it comes to a head. But we’ll come back to that.

Just as important, and just as earned, is the newfound bond between Elton, Silas and Percy. The three boys are on the backfoot throughout this episode but they’re also on the same page for the first time. Crucially too, Silas gets empirical proof that his self image and the truth aren’t the same. To quote the sentence that once saved Matt Murdock’s life, he’s not the bad guy.

Which is why Silas decides to be a hero, turning himself in to distract the CRM sweeper team looking for them. I’m honestly worried that he’s going to end up in the A or B test lab and that’s testament to Hal Cumpston’s performance and the show’s writing. Hang in there, big guy. Help is coming.

And it really is. Not just because Huck, as we find out in the closing seconds, is unaware of the Campus massacre. Not just because Felix and Iris are reunited with Will, Felix’s partner. But because Hope isn’t the asset. Or rather, isn’t all of it. Because Hope and Iris, we find out in a closing scene, have always worked together. One of them is a component. Two of them are a weapon.

Verdict: This is focused, driven, character-facing writing that seals off everything from the first season and sets up one hell of a final act. If World Beyond is designed, as  I suspect, as an experiment in different ways to tell stories in this world, it’s succeeded utterly in this first year. And I can’t wait to see what happens next. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart