TV Show Review

TV Review: OUTCAST: Season 2, Episode 2 [Cinemax]

Philip Glenister Outcast 2.02

Outcast: 2.2 Review

Cinemax’s Outcast, season 2, episode 2, got the slow build rhythm of season 1 going again; but there were enough potentially useful developments to keep it from being a total downer. Kyle (Patrick Fugit) wasn’t given much to do, this ep, other than poke at a few character leads, and tend to the fragile state of his remaining family. The Mark cover-up going into effect didn’t help, in one such case.

With Anderson (Philip Glenister) on ice, Team Bad Touch boiled down to Kyle & Chief Giles (Reg E. Cathey) playing Good Cop, Bad Cop, in an effort to get a solid lead on Sidney’s (Brent Spiner) whereabouts. As well as the whole Power of Kyle Compels You thing’s been going, Kyle seemingly opening up a vein, each time, seems a little on the expensive side; but, hey – you can’t beat that visceral imagery, I guess.

Considering that Kyle & the Chief share some of original Team Bad Touch’s Hawk v Dove dynamic, the tactic had dim prospects. The opening interrogation did reveal more to the Occupation’s grey area, however, as the subjects seemed less like demonically possessed & minion, more like illegal refugee & loving harborer.

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Amber (Madeleine McGraw), in the meantime, was left keeping an eye on the remaining Holters. With Megan (Wrenn Schmidt) going full Lady MacBeth – over what she did to Mark, while Occupied – the question of her stability was put to good use. We were meant to consider that PTSD can make you every bit a threat as a test-driven Occupied, in this case. There was no way a show like this was going to give up its child-endangerment angle – especially now that Amber is built into the plot.

It did bother me, a bit, that Megan still seemed unable to connect her experience to the larger family history; but PTSD does make for a useful cover, regarding such oversights (like “oh, yeah – I still got a kid” jumper’s remorse). Amber’s one note deliveries, on the other hand, does risk becoming as frustrating as her precocious pro-activeness. We may have to start counting how many Amber alerts go out, per season/ episode (alcohol optional).

The least interesting of Outcast’s threads, the self-undoing of Anderson, just got harder to watch. As much as I expected some kind of bait-and-switch – y’know, just to mind-frak the reverend – I have to gear up for the possibility that this will drag on for another season. Oh, had he but waited a few days, before adding a side of  burned bridge to his arsonist murder miss, things would be so much less… complicated, going forward; but: melodrama. Worse, still, it means that Ginger Spite is still out there (but now as ugly on the outside as – you get where I’m going with that line).

In any case, his time behind bars did scare him straight, thanks to the timely Occupation of the neighboring cell’s occupant; so Team Bad Touch looks to be getting a 2 Hawks to 1 Dove upgrade. I don’t know what that means, yet – Anderson has been strong, in the role of being the weakest link.

The 2nd season’s 2nd episode left me with that steady drip feeling, again. As long as there is some kind of payoff to it (like there kinda was, last season), I suppose I can sit through another slow build season. There will have to be more than just the Occupation of the Week, and hyping the Merge, however. Make stuff happen, guys.

Leave your thoughts on this Outcast 2.2 review, and this episode of Outcast, in the comments section, below. Readers seeking more TV show reviews can go to our TV Show Review Page, our TV Show Review Twitter Page,  our TV Show Review Facebook Page, and our TV Show Review Google+ Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish  articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.

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Sam Joseph

Sam is an Avid consumer/observer of Geek culture, and collector of Fanboy media from earliest memory. Armchair sociologist and futurist. Honest critic with satirical if not absurdist­­ wit with some experience in comics/ animation production.
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