This episode finally dumps a whole lot more complexity on
just about everything – which is what I’ve been saying for a while. Especially since
Anderson is the worst
After a series of events, Giles decides to arrest Sidney, the demon leader, despite Anderson’s objections (more on that later) which gives Kyle a chance to talk to him and introduce a whole lot of complexity.
He describes how he and his fellow- I’m going to call
them demons because I have no idea what they are – basically land in people at
random (good or bad) which pretty much screws up all of Anderson’s prayer
theory. And when they land they’re confused angry and generally “rough”. Which
is why there’s a lot of violence with the initial possessed. But he also says
the two sides merge together – and the reason why Kyle’s mother is in a coma is
that he literally ripped half of her away. He says, if left alone, the two
sides can merge peacefully.
On top of that, we return to the idea that it can happen
to anyone – good or bad. Because Sidney is possessing a paedophile and possible
serial killer; and when Sidney took over he let the man’s victim go and,
presumably, is not continuing his predation (but proof that the host is still
alive – he’s clearly still tempted). Exorcising Sidney brings a paedophile back
to town. Who is the monster there?
Of course he could be lying…
But then we have the example of Elizabeth Odgen, Lewis
Ogden’s possessed wife. He’s been acting suspicious for some time which Giles
has been following up, not because he’s possessed but because he’s been helping
them. The serial killer trailer is a place to lock up the newly possessed
during their violent stage so they can get their shit together. He describes
how he loves spending time with the new Elizabeth, how she is still in there,
part of the new Elizabeth and he doesn’t want this to stop
Ok… part of this does humanise the possessed – but he
doesn’t really focus on how Elizabeth is still there and she likes what she is
or anything. This focuses on the fact that Lewis likes this Elizabeth. It’s not
about her, her freedom, her expression, anything – it’s all about the person he
likes. He will have her possessed because this is the woman he enjoys. This is
not about her, freedom, expression or anything and kind of reduces her to an
object or tool. His preference is what dictates her existence.
And into all this nuance we have Anderson – who tries to
kidnap Elizabeth and force Kyle to perform an exorcism, attacking him when he
refuses. While he screams about filling his church pews. Yes, again we’re
confronted by Anderson’s true motive – while he talks about souls, ultimately
it’s about his reputation, it’s about filling his church, it’s about him
looking big and shiny and impressive. It’s his ego. This is all his ego.
Which takes another hit when the church council/whatever fires him. And evicts him from the rectory. Bye bye Anderson, please do let the door hit you on the way out.
Giles turns his back on him – if they have a problem he’s
handling it his way because Anderson’s way certainly isn’t working. And Kyle
isn’t performing any more exorcisms until he knows exactly what’s happening. It’s
not that he believes Sidney, but he’s not going to risk harming more people
until he has the answers. This is a very sensible position so of course
Anderson is outraged
Anderson turns to the one person still with him – Patricia.
Who deserves better than this arse
She also deserves better than her arse of a son who continually shames her, lies to Giles about Anderson carving the pentagram into his own chest and is generally awful. He ends up staying with Sidney which is… troublesome given his paedophile host.
The bright spot is Mark, Megan and Kyle. Mark and Megan
are still all touchy after Donnie, Mark possibly losing his job and everything
going to hell. Especially as Mark continues to try and attach some blame/shame
on Megan for not wanting to talk to him about her rape and continually
justifying himself. He pulls some back at the end though when he pulls out a
sheaf of money – he’s sold his shiny truck and bought a junker so she can buy
her ring back – because that’s one thing he won’t let Donnie take from them. It’s
touching and sweet and a sign they may be heading for the mend
Kyle also talks about Allison’s possession. He talks to
his daughter about it so she knows that Allison wasn’t the one who attacked her
– and he tells Megan so she finally knows why he attacked Allison. But also so
she will help him find her as he worries about what she’ll do if she remembers
that she attacked her daughter – what that memory will do to her.
So we just got a double shed load of exposition which is
now So Very Complicated and a whole lot of family development which is also
complicated – but real. Things are looking up and I'm glad Outcast has more meat than just "evil demons to be exorcised"
