Outcast - Season 2

[Ambient Sheep]

It seems hardly any time at all since we were discussing the last episode of Season 1[nb]No, SMBH, I never did get round to rewatching it, but I still have it on the TiVo, so will hopefully check it out before seeing the new season.[/nb], but the new one is here already.

Starts on Monday, 3rd April 2017, at 10.15pm on FOX.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Blimey that is all a bit quick. I can only hope that this second season ups the pace a little as last year was tortuously slow at times, if it doesn't I may stop watching and just read the comics instead. Indeed if it wasn't for Brent Spiner I might've already done so, but I bladdy love him so will do my best to stick with it.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Hurray for even more dourness, and long, sad stares.

[Puce Moment]

I'm going to give it another go, although I find the last season a bit too broad. Great cast though.

[Bazooka]

Yeah the cast was good, without them it would be like watching an episode of Supernatural at times and nobody wants that. I started watching it last time around, got around 5 episodes in, left it a few months and binged the rest on a plane flight.

Will watch the new series, but needs to up it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Christ if this show cut out all the boring scenes where characters are walking around a dimly lit building I swear it'd only be about fifteen minutes long. I guess it wasn't too bad an episode, at least a couple of plot lines were sort of resolved

Spoiler alert

(the Rev owning up to killing the kid, the bloke who was married to the possessed woman killing himself)

[close]

and there was the odd nice visual moment

Spoiler alert

(the barbed wire, stupid lead bloke getting the shit kicked out of him)

[close]

but it still dragged on a fair bit. And

Spoiler alert

no Sydney

[close]

, which is all a bit of a crime. I'm going to stick with it due to my current housebound situation and as a lot of shows I really liked have recently ended and little has replaced them, but if it gets any worse then I'm definitely out.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I see everyone rushed to watch it then! ;)

Episode Two was kind of okay, it wasn't as slow as some episodes,

Spoiler alert

Sydney was thankfully back, that horrible autopsy scene with the fucked up corpse made me squirm, and Megan doing a Lady Macbeth in the bathroom amused. Plus the Rev got to witness a horribly violent death and be found innocent all within five minutes, whilst they thankfully didn't drag out the missing daughter mini-plot either.

[close]

There are still problems with it (Kyle's still bland,

Spoiler alert

Megan's ongoing misery

[close]

) but I have to confess to enjoying it to a certain extent.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Episode 3 - Weaker than last week, it opened with a great scene of

Spoiler alert

Sidney in a murderous mood, and his scenes with the now scarred annoying kid were fun too, but then it got rather bland. There was too much Megan and why they haven't got one of the possessed and showed her what happens when Kyle touches them is beyond me, hell the Rev or the cop could have just filmed it later on in the episode, these people can afford camera phones can't they? Then they could send it in to the FBI or put it online and the whole world would know what was going on. Being less pedantic, Kyle's mini roadtrip also seemed all a bit  pointless, and why they'd let the daughter out of their eyeline given current circumstances is beyond me. On the plus side they've made the Reverend likeable again as he's no longer an angry shouty punchy twat man, and at least the plot is slowly moving forward,

[close]

but I still can't say it's that great a show. Above average, maybe, but little more than that. Which is frustrating as all the elements are in place for it to be a much better series.

[Bazooka]

I need to catch up with this new series, but based on the last series it has the foundation to be great, yet nothing to really set it apart from every other demon based episode of the X-Files, yet still miles ahead of shit like Supernatural.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I need to catch up with this new series, but based on the last series it has the foundation to be great, yet nothing to really set it apart from every other demon based episode of the X-Files, yet still miles ahead of shit like Supernatural.

That's pretty much the case, and I'm not really sure I'd recommend it to people unless they specifically loved the genre.

Episode 4 - Started well with

Spoiler alert

Aaron stabbing his mum to death, but the rest of the episode was filled with dullness. Sure, the church burns down at one point but even that's bland and by the numbers. After this wise old black cop, the rev and dull leading man agree to never do anything without the other two being present, only for the Rev to bugger off on a solo mission to annoy Aaron five minutes later. But is it all a waste of time? You betcha!

[close]

Very poor stuff, and the easily the worst episode so far this season.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I know, I know, I should get a blog and no one's watching this, but someone might one day. Some other crazy person.

Episode 5 was directed by Ti West, who I'm not a huge fan of but I know a lot of people like him (bar that fucking awful segment in the ABCs of Death which everyone rightfully hates) and it did look a little more stylish than the average episode, and was also probably the best so far.

Spoiler alert

There's a nice bit of tongue biting at the beginning, which is the kind of scene I'd like to see more of, along with plenty of Brent Spiner on top top form. And stuff actually happened this week, we got a bit of exposition from the now dead mayor, wise old black cop being (briefly) possessed, and Megan finally saw Dull Leading Man not only fly about in the air but also get rid of all that oily goo that was inside the wise old black cop's tummy. Looks like both are severely fucked up at the end of the episode, but I'm sure next week's will begin with them recovering in hospital.

[close]

Ah, if only it could be this good every week.

[Bazooka]

I will catch up at some point, even if it's just on the background whilst I eat a whole pineapple.

[Ambient Sheep]

I will catch up at some point, even if it's just on the background whilst I eat a whole pineapple.

Yeah me too.  They're all on the TiVo, I just have to persuade myself to rewatch the last one of the previous season first, so I can remember what I loved/hated about it to tell SMBH here! :-p

You can tell something's wrong with it however, by the way that I'm not getting round to it the way I do other stuff, can't you?

I know, I know, I should get a blog and no one's watching this, but someone might one day. Some other crazy person.

Hey, hey, at least you have SOME co-viewers.  My Marley's Ghosts thread managed one other person who'd watched the first ten minutes of one and given up, and that was it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Hey, hey, at least you have SOME co-viewers.  My Marley's Ghosts thread managed one other person who'd watched the first ten minutes of one and given up, and that was it.

Ah, I was just messing about, though I raise your Marley's Ghosts thread with my Moone Boy Series 3 one! ;)

[Small Man Big Horse]

Episode 6 - This show is starting to get pretty good at pre-credits sequences,

Spoiler alert

this week's seeing Dull Leading Man being strangled by his dead mom, and then after the credits he dies! And everyone dances with joy! Or sit around looking miserable, it's one of the two, and of course he's not actually deceased, Sidney's just kidnapped him for a bit. Meanwhile Wise Old Black Cop seems fine despite falling from a great height, bar that he's all fatalistic now, so his wife shoots a cop to cheer him up. The middle section dragged once again but at least everything's resolved by the end of the episode, plus as an added bonus Sidney kills Aaron, which got a big cheer from me.

[close]

[Bazooka]

Episode 6 - This show is starting to get pretty good at pre-credits sequences,

Spoiler alert

this week's seeing Dull Leading Man being strangled by his dead mom, and then after the credits he dies! And everyone dances with joy! Or sit around looking miserable, it's one of the two, and of course he's not actually deceased, Sidney's just kidnapped him for a bit. Meanwhile Wise Old Black Cop seems fine despite falling from a great height, bar that he's all fatalistic now, so his wife shoots a cop to cheer him up. The middle section dragged once again but at least everything's resolved by the end of the episode, plus as an added bonus Sidney kills Aaron, which got a big cheer from me.

[close]

I still haven't started watching but still read the spoilers, can't remember anyones name other than the Rev and Data from Star Trek anyway. This programme doesn't seem to be advertised at all, in fact had it not been for Kirkman/The Walking Dead I wouldn't have even gave the series a go.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I still haven't started watching but still read the spoilers, can't remember anyones name other than the Rev and Data from Star Trek anyway. This programme doesn't seem to be advertised at all, in fact had it not been for Kirkman/The Walking Dead I wouldn't have even gave the series a go.

Yeah, if it wasn't for Sheepy starting the thread I wouldn't have known it was back, and none of the tv sites I regularly visit are covering it. Which is a shame in a way as the last couple of episodes have been pretty decent, with the show finally starting to deliver on the promise it initially showed.

Episode 7 - No pre-credits sequence this week which is a shame as they're often the best bit. Most of the episode was character work but at least it was carefully handled and mostly interesting, there's a nicely tense feel to a lot of the scenes, notably in the one where we finally get to meet Sydney's superiors.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Episode 8 - A bit of a filler episode, and a little frustrating given that the Rev's got Sidney tied up but all he does it carve a cross in to his chest and taunt him a bit. Indeed thanks to Stupid Kyle he's the one who ends up benefiting from the meeting. Meanwhile Wise Old Black Cop and Wife are still out and about murdering people, a character I can barely remember from the first season turns up again, and Mysterious Doctor kills Sidney's superiors. There were some good things about the episode, like the attempted abortion and the discovery of the bodies in the junk yard, the final scene, but too often it felt quite meandering.

[Bazooka]

Thanks Sir, still not started it yet, but I look forward to your weekly reports to keep me up to date.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Thanks Sir, still not started it yet, but I look forward to your weekly reports to keep me up to date.

That's appreciated, though I'm mainly typing them up because I can't find any recaps elsewhere on the net and know I'll need them when I've mostly forgotten what happened once season three finally arrives. That is if there is one, I've no idea what it's ratings are like.

Episode 9 - Kyle gets kidnapped yet again to take him out of  the game and it's a fairly weak episode until the final twenty minutes where it gets good, with two major deaths, both of which I'm gutted about and I'll miss the characters a lot, the second death especially. It's the season finale next week and I really hope it delivers, as much as the second season has been an improvement on the first it's still too slow and without a satisfying ending it'll have annoyed me overall.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Say what you will about Outcast, at least it gets more reactions here than Fear the Walking Dead.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Episode 10 - Which no one could be arsed to torrent, and it took me about an hour to track down a streaming site which hosted a copy, albeit one with Spanish subtitles. Anyway, it's the season finale! Man, I can feel it in my bones that this is going to be an exciting one! Sure, the opening twenty minutes are boring as fuck, but in a minute it's going to get good, right? Nope, not really, there's some okay scenes with Kyle and his dear old papa (but with Kyle not bothering to ask all the important questions) whilst Megan and her daughter are doing puzzles the bad guys, which is exactly as exciting as that sounds. There's no real sense of tension, and it doesn't feel like a season finale at all until the final fifteen minutes. The ending feels rushed too, where it turns out that Kyle's Dad's plan is to gather together a whole load of the beacons and slaughter them, which he does until Kyle refuses to take part and the Reverend and co turn up at the last minute to spoil everything. Okay, he technically saved Kyle and Amber's lives but he may have also doomed humanity to everlasting misery, and given how rubbish those lives are he clearly did the wrong thing.

I guess overall this was a season which showed some promise and was definitely an improvement on the first, but it failed to deliver and considering that most of the cast that I liked are now dead, and that the new replacement villains are rubbish, I can't be arsed with it anymore. That is even if there is a third season, it's yet to air in the US somewhat oddly and the viewing figures for the first season were poor. I plan to read the comics though to see what happens next, and hopefully they'll be a bit more exciting.

[Bazooka]

It's a shame really, demons have been done to death and not very well 90% of the time. This show seemed like it might be a sign of hope for the demon genre but maybe not.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Just read the comics this afternoon and here's some random notes I made whilst doing so - Contains spoilers for issues 1 to 27:

Kyle is much more likeable in the comics, though the Rev seems a bit weaker. Megan and Kyle's wife are in it a lot less too, whilst unfortunately Old Wise Black Cop doesn't exist, with his replacement Middle-Aged Bearded White Cop being a bit rubbish.A lot of the supporting characters from the tv show don't exist here, including the Asian Doctor, all of the Possession Survival Group types, and Aaron and his stupid mother, the latter being undoubtedly a good thing.

Megan's possession is more disturbing here, she attacks both her husband and her daughter and it takes Kyle ages to get that pesky black crap out. The husband also survives the incident, though she comes close to murdering him.

The Rev flat out murders Sidney in the comics, brutally slicing him up, causing everyone to say "What the fuck dude? Woah, you've gone way too far this time you mad idiot".

When Kyle's Dad finally turns up he's some kind of he's almost a superheroic figure, able to unpossess people with a simple touch. Often leads to them dying as well, but hey, you can't have everything. He seems to be a more benevolent figure too, and teaches Kyle to use his powers more effectively, but I have a feeling his endgame might be the same as the one we've just seen at the end of season two.

Not sure if I'm going to carry on with the comic either to be honest, given it's equally slow pace, plus this image below summarises one of my biggest problems with it:



No you haven't Sidney, you lying bastard. And inevitably we didn't get those answers at any point...

Oh, and did anyone ever watch the second season in the end?

[Ambient Sheep]

Oh, and did anyone ever watch the second season in the end?

It's still sitting on the TiVo, along with S01E10 to rewatch first.  It should get started on in the next month or so, as I'm actively catching up with stuff over the summer hiatus.