Outer Range Season 2 Review: The Prime Video Fantasy-Western-Thriller Series Still Has A Lot To (Not) Say
Cast: Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Tamara Podemski, Lewis Pullman, Tom Pelphrey, Noah Reid, Shaun Sipos, Isabel Arraiza, Olive Abercrombie, Will Patton
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Blackhorse Lowe and others
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
From 16 May 2024, all 7 episodes of Outer Range Season 2 will be available on Prime Video, the second season of the TV series mixes various genres – from western to science fiction, from drama to thriller – and stars Josh Brolin in the role of Royal Abbott, head of a Wyoming family in whose immense ranch a mysterious hole that acts as a time gap appears and disappears. And if the first season was a surprise, due to the load of pathos and the ability to involve the audience that this series possesses, Outer Range Season 2 confirms that this story created by Brian Watkins still has a lot to tell. And not to be said, to maintain the suspense. So, let’s get to the heart of this review by summarizing the plot of Outer Range Season 2 without spoilers.
Never change a winning team. The cast of Outer Range has been reconfirmed as a whole for the seven new episodes of the second season, available on Prime Video from May 16th. Leader Josh Brolin has carved out an increasingly prominent role for himself not so much in front of the camera, where he continues to embody the tormented Royal Abbott, but behind the scenes. In addition to sharing production responsibilities with Watkins himself and Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner’s Plan B, Brolin directed one episode, the sixth, and personally participated in the casting to choose the interpreter of the young version of his character (chosen fall on the little-known Christian James).
Outer Range Season 2 Review: The Story Plot
The new season picks up exactly where the previous one ended. Royal saves Autumn after the shootout-chase with her and Billy Tillerson, believing her to be the older version (and who has therefore traveled in time like him) of his granddaughter Amy, and taking her home to his wife Cecilia, to whom he decides to tell the story of the mysterious hole and how he, when he was a child who had accidentally killed his father, found that gap and threw himself into it, ending up transported from 1886 to 1968. In the meantime, the Abbotts have to deal with both the estrangement of Rhett, who left with his girlfriend Maria after winning the rodeo, and the disappearance of Perry, who after being released on bail for the murder of Trevor Tillerson learned of the hole and threw himself into it, to look for his wife Rebecca who had just taken Amy away too, but also putting his family in serious financial trouble.
The antagonistic Tillerson family isn’t doing well either, but compared to how the first season ended there is happy news, in the sense that both Billy, who seemed to have died in the shooting incident, and Luke, who was overwhelmed by the bison when he inadvertently opened another mini gap by digging into the ground, they are still alive. And so is patriarch Wayne, who had suffered a heart attack after discovering what Royal had been hiding from him for years. It is easy to predict, therefore, that the feud between Abbott and Tillerson will continue in season 2, but Deputy Sheriff Joy has mysteriously disappeared and will not be able to act as the peacemaker. Let’s say again that in Outer Range Season 2 there will be different time planes, or rather different eras in which the characters will move, but we won’t reveal any further to avoid spoilers.
Summarizing the events of Outer Range Season 2 without spoilers is no easy feat, but we’ll try. To help readers find their way, we suggest reading our review of the first season of Outer Range. What is certain is that the narrative elements that characterized the previous season are all present. The hole in the Abbott ranch is always in place, fulfilling its role as a time portal from which the characters continue to enter and exit. This time they will use it, against their will, Perry Abbott, who in the penultimate episode of the first season threw himself into the hole after his father confessed his secret to him, and Sheriff Joy Hawk, who will find herself stuck in the past among a tribe of natives.
With granddaughter Amy missing, Royal and his wife Cecilia (Lily Taylor) work hard to reunite the family and save the ranch, which is mortgaged to get Perry out of prison. Throughout the episodes, we see them running here and there, confronting priests, natives, friends, and enemies, struggling to put the pieces back together and strengthen their marriage. Cecilia is made aware of Royal’s true origin, but she doesn’t bat an eyelid, completely taken up by worries of another nature. The role of Tillerson’s rivals has also been reduced. With patriarch Wayne having “miraculously” recovered from the illness that had brought him to the brink of death, all attention is focused on his children. Billy (Noah Reid) is knocked out after the car accident caused by Royal and is in no condition to let us enjoy his golden uvula, while his brother Luke (Shaun Sipos) is forced, against his will, to take care of him by the father’s will and their family feud is one of the subplots that give spice to the story.
Outer Range Season 2 Review and Analysis
In our, as always, unquestionable opinion, Outer Range is a satisfying TV series like few others, in several ways. First of all, from a visual point of view: endless panoramas, deep colors, a real delight for the eyes, almost like a nature documentary. Of a completely different kind is the cerebral satisfaction that watching this series gives us in which the mysteries are deep and complicated enough, without shortcuts but also unnecessary complications. Not to be overlooked, there is also the pleasure, for those who follow the series in the original language, of hearing the voice of Josh Brolin, who could also read the telephone book, sounding solemn and fascinating. If to all these general considerations we add a specific one on how Outer Range Season 2 can bring back the atmospheres of last season in a flash, catapulting the public into a narrative universe that has not lost an iota of its magnetic power, the vision of this second season it is practically obligatory for all those who love properly made TV series.
Faced with characters who are so underused that one wonders why they were included in the plot (see Rhett, Royal Abbott’s youngest son), there is one who has forcefully taken center stage since the first season. This is Autumn Rivers, the freak played by Imogen Poots. You introduced her to us in the first season by suggesting that she held the key to the mystery around which Outer Range revolves. Autumn seemed to know a lot of things, but after seeing her at work in the new episodes we are no longer so sure. The character seems to suffer from Lost syndrome: after a very effective introduction, she no longer seems to know which direction to take. While she convalesces at the Abbotts’ house after the car accident in which she and Billy were involved, she indulges in sudden confessions, outbursts of anger, unmotivated outbursts against priests and the church, and so on.
The mysterious black mineral in which the Abbott land is rich is linked to her character, one of the many intriguing elements scattered here and there in the plot and never fully developed. Royal even caught a scientist in the act on her property who was investigating the nature of the substance, a scientist with whom, in the new season, she has a heated discussion, but these are isolated scenes, which were not followed up. The only potentially intriguing development concerns the strange assonance between Autumn and Amy, Royal’s niece. We will see where this suggestion will lead us. The new season of Outer Range sees the previously identified flaws amplified. While there’s no shortage of twists and turns, the show seems to suffer from an overall lack of interest in what’s happening. And if the mystery of the hole seemed promising, once the mechanism was understood, the amazement towards the strange phenomenon disappeared, even among the characters themselves.
Brian Watkins and his writer’s room pepper the episodes with events and dialogues that lead nowhere, allowing themselves – even if to a lesser extent compared to the previous season – some surreal touches (even though stuck in a bed, it is still poor Billy who offers us a “What the fuck” moment with a similar ascension), but the serious tones once again prevail. And if the past has so far revealed itself in brief glimpses, similar to visions, the novelty of the second season is the large space reserved for the characters’ backgrounds or their forays into other eras. So, if Perry ends up going back in time to look for his wife and daughter, ending up finding a job in a place very familiar to him, an entire episode – the fourth – is dedicated to showing what happens to Joy when she finds herself in the middle of an assault between two native tribes and then catapulted into the 19th century.
A park of emotions, Outer Range seems to want to pepper a narrative that seems to run in circles with gimmicks, but the main problem seems to be the uncertain nature of a series that doesn’t know which direction to take. The seriousness of Josh Brolin and his wife Lily Taylor is alienating compared to the Tillersons’ over-the-top rude ways. But it is the tone of each scene that is different from the previous one, creating confusion in the viewer who is undecided whether to let himself be captured by the plot flashes that still anchor us to the vision or abandon the characters, hole, and mineral to their fate.
Outer Range Season 2 Review: The Last Words
Overall, Outer Range Season 2 seems to be a show best suited for fans who enjoyed the first season’s slow-burn approach and are invested in the characters and mythology. In the second season of Outer Range the defects previously found are amplified. While there’s no shortage of twists and turns, the show seems to suffer from an overall lack of interest in what’s happening. And if the mysteries shown so far seemed promising, once the mechanism is understood, the amazement towards the strange phenomena disappears.
Outer Range Season 2 Review: The Prime Video Fantasy-Western-Thriller Series Still Has A Lot To (Not) Say - Filmyhype
Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Blackhorse Lowe
Date Created: 2024-05-16 19:12
4
Pros
- Strong Performances: Actors like Josh Brolin and Tamara Podemski are commended for their performances.
- Deeper Character Exploration: Season 2 delves more into the characters' motivations and backstories.
- Leaning into the Weirdness: The show embraces its unique blend of sci-fi and Western themes.
- Standout Episode: "Ode to Joy" is particularly praised for exploring Sheriff Joy's past.
Cons
- Slow Pacing: Some viewers find the season slow-moving and lacking in action.
- Confusing Plot: The time travel elements can be complex and hard to follow.
- Uneven Focus: The show introduces new storylines that don't always feel fully developed.
