The Outpost Recap: Pledging Allegiance

This recap of The Outpost Season 2, Episode 4, “Regarding the Matter of Garret Spears”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.

The matter of Garret Spears is a simple one: Can he be persuaded to turn against his love and queen, and instead pledge allegiance to the disembodied torsos of the Holy Three? The short answer is yes, for now. The long answer is almost certainly not because Garret isn’t stupid and the manipulation by his captors has been so breathtakingly obvious that it’d be insulting if he hadn’t figured it out already.

We can pretend for a while, at least. And the evidence against Gwynn was compelling enough that a man in a severely depleted state might just believe it. There’s testimony from Dred — bargaining for a bigger cell — that the real queen has a misshapen face, and that proof of the fact is in a secret compartment under Gwynn’s armoire. There’s a forged letter, apparently from Gwynn herself, stating she has fulfilled the commander role, thanks very much, and no longer requires Garret’s services. The healer lady is kindly and vaguely flirtatious and seems genuine. You can kind of see Garret’s point of view.

But no matter. “Regarding the Matter of Garret Spears” actually spends less time on this story strand than it does the ongoing issues between Rebb and Talon. The former, running out of options, visits Gwynn again, and using her demon she’s able to overpower Gwynn’s guards and take her hostage. Talon naturally wants to run straight to her aid, but apparently, she’s incapable of defeating Rebb in straight combat. Instead, Janzo suggests using the name left behind by the Dragman to summon another demon, which she does. And behold another demon. But also behold another Blackblood, a man this time, who, after a brief disagreement, explains that Rebb is his enemy. We have the ingredients for a fight here, folks.

And a fight there is. The demons tussle — the CGI here, while not great, admittedly made me thankful this scene occurred in the second season and not the first — while Talon and Rebb get into it. It’s a decent scrap, by the standards of The Outpost. And despite frequent insistence that Talon is no match for Rebb, she beats her handily and kills her. In the process, she gains a new ally in the recently-summoned Blackblood and his demon buddy. “Regarding The Matter of Garret Spears” ends, meanwhile, with Garret taking a knee before the Holy Three and pledging his allegiance.

State of the Realm:

• Janzo’s wooing of Talon embarrassingly continues, snatching a quick kiss on Naya’s advice and almost getting assaulted for it. He confesses his undying love for Talon and she does the right thing in response: She laughs at his ridiculousness and says it’s perfectly fine for her not to be in love with him. Hopefully, that whole thing is done with now.
• The Mistress and her sister enjoy a slap-up meal with a side order of sisterly resentment, but it doesn’t go well. We do, however, get to learn a bit more about why the Mistress is the way she is.
• The kingdom remains a mess, and Tobin remains its best hope for financial and military aid. The problem is he’s still being played as a broad caricature of lecherous male entitlement and all his offers are wildly narcissistic and self-serving. For all its flaws, at least this is a show in which the women can stand up for themselves.