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 24th at 9/8c.
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