More OUTSIDERS

Article first published as OUTSIDERS Season 2 Premiere Review on Seat42F.

WGN America’s OUTSIDERS is back this week! The drama about the Farrell clan who live up on a mountain, apart from society, and those in the town below, including a businesswoman (Francie Swift) who wants the resources the Farrells are sitting on, begins its second season. The action picks up right where the freshman year left off, and I dare say, there are a few surprises in the first hour alone.

The premiere picks up on the mountain, where the police have come to confront the clansmen and women. It’s chaos and battle and everything you want, which I don’t feel like it’s much of a spoiler to say. What is interesting is that immediate aftermath of the fight, the scene we see right after it, and the result of it, which does change the course of season two. How far it shifts direction, that remains to be seen, though it seems like quality and style will be maintained.

Up on the mountain, G’Winveer (Gillian Alexy) is having trouble settling into her role as Brennan. This isn’t surprising if you remember the way she got the chief position, by poisoning Big Foster (David Morse) and then getting Asa (Joe Anderson) to shoot him. That Big Foster is a bad man in his own right, having murdered the previous Brennan, his own mother, is not known by any other characters, and so doesn’t help G’Win’s soul rest easy.

I like that OUTSIDERS has kept the murder a secret. Often on television shows, there’s a piece of information that only certain characters are privy to, and then it inevitably comes out at a dramatic moment. Since Big Foster was the only one in the room when he committed the act, while others may have suspicions about him, there is no way for anything to ‘come to light’ short of Big Foster confessing. That’s an interesting scenario, the Farrells having neither video cameras nor forensic science, and it sets the series apart.

G’Win, who is mainly a character to root for, did some nasty things in season one. While I like that she is a bit haunted by them, because it makes her more sympathetic, I also applaud OUTSIDERS for not totally excusing her actions. The Farrells may be willing to fall in line behind her, for the most part, but she is not a black-and-white hero, which makes her more fascinating.

By the same token, Sherriff Wade Houghton (Thomas M. Wright), who should be in the right, is not a likeable person. It’s not necessarily any specific action Wade takes that makes my opinion of him go down (though he does do something pretty cowardly in the premiere that doesn’t help). Yet, while he is a non-corrupt cop, viewers won’t necessarily want him to win, which is a cool element that most television shows don’t have.

The closest thing OUTSIDERS has to a truly good person is Li’l Foster (Ryan Hurst), and I can’t help but admire that man. As naïve as he can be at times, and while he has fallen for tricks and lies, he is still someone who seems noble. Part of the warm feelings toward him are not dissimilar from wanting to protect a little brother, yet I can’t help but hope he will come to be great in his own right, and I hope he doesn’t lose himself along the way. Who he is now is terrific, and he’s easily my favorite character.

I won’t spoil anything, but I will say there is a not wholly unexpected, but still very exciting, development in the Sally-Ann (Christina Jackson) / Hasil (Kyle Gallner) relationship. The premiere also ends with a shocking thing happening to one of our main players that I kind of hope sticks, not because I want ill to befall this particular person, but just because I find it interesting and a neat story twist.

Get ready for OUTSIDERS, which returns Tuesday, January 24^th at 9/8c.

OUTSIDERS Interviews!

Article first published on Seat42F.

I had the good fortune to be invited to New York City recently to sit down with the cast and producers of WGN America’s Outsiders, who were filming their second season. Set in rural America, the show tells the story of an isolated mountain clan and the near by townspeople, with political intrigue and clashing cultures. Season one was very exciting, and with season two premiering in January, I was very excited to interview some of those involved in the show. I hope you enjoy our conversations!

Click below to watch the interviews.

OUTSIDERS RETURNS TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 AT 9:00 PM ET/PT

David Morse and Ryan Hurst

Christina Jackson and Kyle Gallner

Gillian Alexy and Francie Swift

Rebecca Harris and Thomas M. Wright

Peter Mattei and Peter Tolan

Inside OUTSIDERS

Article originally published as OUTSIDERS Review on Seat42F.

Not quite a year after the excellent Justified left the air, a new drama takes us back into the hollers and wilds of Kentucky. OUTSIDERS, which premiered last night on WGN America, is the story of a small town and the feral Farrells who inhabit the mountain beside it. While civilization and tribal culture have existed peacefully beside one another for two centuries, modernity is moving in from the outside, which threatens to shake up everything.

The Farrells themselves have an interesting culture. Led by the current “Brennan,” Lady Ray (Phyllis Somerville, The Big C), they brew their own moonshine, abhor money, marry cousins, and yet seem to get along pretty well. Sure, they go into town and steal things occasionally, but the locals have learned to put up with it, partially out of fear, and partially because the clan knows the limits of what they can get away with. A few, like Hasil (Kyle Gallner, Veronica Mars), push boundaries from time to time, such as when he tries to take up with a non-Farrell, Sally Ann (Christina Jackson, Boardwalk Empire), but mostly, they know their place. So it has been for two hundred years, and so it shall continue, or so some hope.

But the status quo is shifting as Big Foster (David Morse, Treme) seeks to take the leadership mantle from his mother, even after Lady Ray is reluctant to give it to him. When one of their own, Asa (Joe Anderson, Hannibal), returns from the outside with new knowledge and skills, there becomes a choice as to who the Farrells should be listening to. Events conspire to shift loyalties of some one way and some the other, and suddenly there’s a decision to make instead of a guaranteed line of succession.

This is where OUTSIDERS begins, with a people on the precipice of change. It will take someone strong to usher then into a new era, someone who understands the parties involved, but can see beyond petty feuds and backward traditions. It could be Asa, who has shunned the rest of the world after living apart from his family for unknown reasons. But if it’s not him, it’s not certain who else it could be.

In Justified, there was a lawman who kept the hill people in line enough. OUTSIDERS has its own deputy, Wade Houghton (Thomas M. Wright, The Bridge), but he’s far from another Raylan Givens. Instead, Wade is beset by his own demons, and may just be the person in town most terrified of confronting the Farrells. Which is too bad because, pushed to do so by the coal companies, Wade’s boss assigns him the unenviable task of evacuating the mountain.

OUTSIDERS is fascinating because of the various personalities it portrays, some of which will seem rooted in folklore more than reality to potential viewers. Yet, even with the superstitions present, the series is pretty solidly grounded by terrific performances and an interesting, natural story (more reality-driven than the network’s Salem). Perhaps most of those displaced by industry aren’t as violently resistant as the Farrells are bound to be, but it’s certainly a scenario that has played out in some form or another in numerous areas of the country.

I find little to complain about this show. WGN America is getting a reputation of shining a spotlight into dark corners of American culture and doing it well, and OUTSIDERS is a part of that proud tradition. It won’t appeal to everyone, to be sure, but it makes for good, quality television that many will enjoy if they just know where to look for it, WGN America not being a channel the majority of viewers typically keep an eye on. I recommend making the effort to check this one out.

OUTSIDERS airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on WGN America. If you missed the first episode, it repeats numerous times throughout the week. Check your listings.