SQUAWKING DEAD: [Episode 154] The Walking Dead: World Beyond | 2x01

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BE ON THE LOOKOUT for flying BONES that were PICKED this episode, as we sorted out the graveyard of hallucinatory misunderstandings and incredulous feats. That aside, although the Season 2 Premiere was on the underwhelming side, the implications set forth in this episode are anything but and allowed us to extrapolate a whole lot (we'd be lying if #MattNegrete's Inside the Episode exclusive, for #AMCPlus subscribers didn't help a bit, which is another critique on the episode)

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Not a very well-received return: the amount expectations play into our enjoyment and Hope Bennett's hallucination pissed the girls off, for various reasons.
Speaking of Hope's tumble, it evoked memories of the Fear The Walking Dead pilot (school Madison Clark taught in). Also calls us back to last season.
Hope was having her hallucination walkabout in a school, but was Iris Bennett's dream situated in a school, too?
The Bennett sisters' role reversal has never been more clear than in this episode (even though we saw scattered moments in last season).
Felix Carlucci's birthday took place in the pilot and Iris' is in this episode. Which brings us to how well they explained the span of time from the start of the series to even the events of this episode.
Speaking of Felix, making himself a home with Will Campbell (amidst the realization of the loss of Campus Colony), I think we all would love to live in The Perimeter/The Hudson Valley (Upstate New York).
The sculpure they pass on the way into the Perimeter colony is called Verité ("Truth" in French): More breadcrumbs that drop that ultimately lead to Iris figuring out that it was the Civic Republic Military that was responsible for the destruction of both Omaha and Campus Colony.
Verité et Konsekans = Truth and Consequences. There will be consequences for finding out the truth.
Even the best and brightest would end up like Candice Froder: You need someone (Indira) or something (Lt. Col. Elizabeth Kublek) to fight for. Think local or think global?
This season will definitively answer the question of why the CRM genocides Omaha & Campus Colony.
Maximum Cohesion is required to ultimately survive? And playing the game of why Kublek and The Civic Republic may be right. Forbidden Truth and comparisons to The Commonwealth.
Huck's Conundrum: Her warning to Hope about telling Kublek everything... especially the code-breaking.
No, Iris is not a psychic, but with a mind that has advanced pattern recognition and genius level comprehension... Attempting to count the breadcrumbs that lead to her horrific discovery.
Hope without Iris is a little lost on the fall of their home and Omaha: This season may shine a light on Iris this season, over Hope (from last season).
Exploring the all the angles of the incredulous fight between Iris and the CRM soldier.
CRM Soldiers wear the helmets that they do much in the way executioners wear hoods. It's an odd feeling to watch the unmasked soldier, an actual person, die.
The discomfort in knowing The Civic Republic has positioned themselves as humanity's last hope (right after they destroy Portland)
Major General Beale might be Anne/Jadis? ...and how people are begging for more Rick Grimes clues (or else they will go feral).
I know this Season Premiere didn't meet built-in expectations and you wanted to see all the characters, but that might've been a good idea (exploring characters before they meet again). Rachael tries to simmer down expectations with FearTWD, because of this.
Trying not to take it personally when people "criticize" the characters we love, like Carol Peletier or Morgan Jones, and why it's good that they don't behave like we do.
Even though a majority didn't understand Hope's hallucinations, the only thing that matters is what her warped visions showed us: touching on scenes and settlings the audience is familiar with to echo her journey this far, with the unimaginable destruction that has befallen those very settings, and what Hope concludes is the thing she must fight against.
Hope thinks locally and heals the fissures between her and her father for her birthday.
Highlighting Anna Khaja who plays Indira.
Hope thinking beyond the CRM's desires means that maybe we should keep an open mind about Iris' ability to take them down? Seems unimaginably impossible from our POV, but you never know!
Kublek knows she's not the best and the brightest and a true believer. She would gladly lay her life on the line for The Civic Republic's brighter future. But what about Rick Grimes? Being a 'B' might be a living test subject.