Season 2 - 7 episodes (2024 May 16)
Rent Outer Range on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Brian Watkins
Starring: Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Tom Pelphrey, Tamara Podemski, Lewis Pullman, Tom Pelphrey, Noah Reid, Will Patton
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
A rancher fighting for his land and family discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming's wilderness.
Verdict
Two seasons in and I don't know much more than when I first started the show. While the second season is more entertaining and less of a slow burn than the first season, we get a lot of adventures but no answers. I need confirmation that this show has a plan and a direction. We're no closer to knowing who's right and wrong. We don't know the nature and rules of the mystery. Could I like this season more after the third season provides insight, sure. Right now, this is an incomplete story and the results are pending. Even at the end of this season, a character tells us this is just the beginning. How can that be true after two seasons?
It depends.
Review
Season one's finale was crazy, leaving a lot of questions and few answers. Royal (Josh Brolin) is at the center of it, but he seems to have a mortal enemy in Autumn (Imogen Poots). With the final couple of episodes I wasn't sure of anyone's motives. The center of the show is this massive hole on Royal's ranch; what it does and represents. Those answers were still pending at the end of season one. They're still pending at the end of this season.
At the end of season one Royal and Autumn seemed like enemies, but in this season they team up. Billy Tillerson (Noah Reid) died in the final season one episode, but he's back and recovering. This season is certainly busier. We have characters inadvertently using the hole to jump around in time. Perry Abbott (Tom Pelphrey) jumps back into 1984 and meets a younger Royal. Present day Royal doesn't seem to have any recollection. Sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski) is in the 1800s and meets child Royal. It seemed like we had a Back to the Future thing going on. I wondered if Joy or Perry could alter the future. It doesn't seem like it, and the characters in the future have no memory of the past or the time hoppers. Is it some kind of alternative world situation? Those answers never come.
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| Imogen Poots, Josh Brolin play Autumn, Royal |
Numerous characters ingest the magic mineral and go on a wild trip. I couldn't remember if we saw that in the first season. Episode four introduces us to Royal's father. He's a difficult person, and he's a connection between Royal and Joy. Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton) takes some of the mineral and realizes Perry was in the past, but it's not a memory as much as a vision. I don't understand how no one remembers seeing these characters before.
I just don't get how the hole works. Young Royal jumps in from the late 1800s and ends up in the 1970s. Joy goes from present day to the 1800s and then back. Perry goes from present day to 1984. The common thread seems to be Royal, but what is the logic?
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| Lili Taylor, Josh Brolin play Cecilia, Royal |
On one hand this is a quick season, but on the other we haven't learned anything new about this mysterious hole. There have been more related adventures, but no definitive answers. Perry jumps in time again, at a point where he could potentially alter the events we've seen starting in season one, but the season ends before we see the possibilities. It could be he's in an alternative world. We don't even know if the logic of this world allows time to be manipulated or if it's constant and can't be altered. Properties have taken it both ways, though I side on time cannot be altered whatsoever.
In addition to why characters don't seem to remember past evens, Autumn didn't know she was Amy. Why doesn't she have any memories? Autumn wants to throw Amy in the hole based on some unspecified belief. That leads to the season's final showdown.
The season ends by telling us this is just the beginning. After two seasons, I don't know what this show is, and I'm not sure the writers do either. After this many episodes and basically no answers, it feels like we're being strung along.
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