The kids set out on their journey, with Felix and Huck in hot pursuit. But everyone soon discovers that while you can leave the past, it never quite leaves you.

This is a difficult episode to talk about because its structure is based around something we’re not allowed to talk about yet. Suffice to say, pay close attention to the opening and closing scenes. This episode is a loop and the context you need at the top is absolutely provided at the bottom.

So here’s what we can tell you. This is a show with a wicked sense of humour. Iris’ cathartic moment of violence at the end of the last episode is revealed to instead be a scrappy, untidy fight that almost gets her killed. What really lands though is Iris’ reaction. She’s… elated, joyous even despite being a heartbeat from death. Iris believes her own hype, and that’s going to get someone killed, sooner rather than later. There’s been talk of the show being about the decision these characters have to make as to be heroes or villains and there’s already the makings of a rift between the sisters. Hope is chaotic, principled and haunted. Iris is focused, arrogant and haunted. Either their ghosts are going to cross over and link up or the group is going to split, but something is already coming to a head. Especially as, in a smart piece of worldbuilding, the episode concludes at the Blaze of Glory, a massive fire that’s burned for years and attracted hundreds of Empties. The kids have to work their way around it and this looks set to be their first big test.

Elsewhere we get some welcome back story for Felix, who came out to his father and was thrown out on the street just before the Night the Sky Fell. The show looks like it’s making a conscious effort to fold back to the world Just Before a lot and I’m really excited to see how these characters all interacted, knowingly and unknowingly, back then. We also get an episode-stealing speech from Elton about how they may well be the last generation on Earth. It drives home the trauma these kids have lived with and in doing so gives the show a tragic, rather than horrific air. They really may be some of the last children left alive and they’re risking everything in the hopes of maybe changing that.

Verdict: This is another strong episode that hands out character beats galore, gets the show moving and tells us more about everybody. Impressive, grim, funny and very human, World Beyond is off to a Hell of a start. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart