Summary
“The Peace You Promised” tackles morality and law and order while still finding new, interesting pairings for its core cast in another surprisingly decent episode.
This recap of The Outpost season 3, episode 2, “The Peace You Promised”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
The appeal of The Outpost has always been that it’s an uncomplicated pastiche of late-‘80s fantasy properties, and it has always worked on that level, even when it was terrible. But now it’s pretty good – this is still an inexplicable development, but let’s just roll with it – and part of what’s making it good is a genuine consideration of moral complexity. Thus, “The Peace You Promised” opens with Garret having murdered the Blackfist assassin who attempted to kill Gwynn in the premiere, and having to face the consequences.
This opening is both aspects of The Outpost working in tandem. There’s a pretty strong action scene before Garret is eventually taken into custody, complete with the right music cues and exciting choreography, but then he’s taken before Yavalla and presented with the implications of what he has done. Yes, he was protecting the queen, which is his job, but he was also acting out of a lust for revenge, not any real sense of justice. Gwynn was no longer in danger. And because of that, despite her idealism and Talon’s objections, Garret is sentenced to death in the traditional Blackblood way – drowning.
Nobody in their right made really thought Garret would be executed here. Talon turns to Janzo for a sneaky solution that lets Garret appear dead but be resuscitated very shortly afterward. But the point is that the Blackbloods publicly execute him. That matters to the on-going storyline of the Outpost’s citizens being under oppressive rule. The plot to keep him alive will inevitably backfire later. And it keeps him separate from the main thrust of the narrative so that he can do his own thing for a while.
Fittingly, Talon delivers the life-saving but death-faking substance to Garret via a kiss, but the budding romance is really the one between Janzo and Wren, who’re working together to decipher the mysteries of the box. Wren works as a nice counterpoint to her mother and the rest of the Blackbloods in general – she isn’t a spiritual or military leader, but a dorky boffin much like Janzo. It’s a smart pairing, as is the one of Tobin and Munt, who’re sent on their own quest outside the Outpost. Both of these two rose from the ranks of supporting players to an integral part of the show’s overall tapestry, and it’s cool that The Outpost can keep pairing people off in new, interesting ways.
But it’s that core thread of morality that winds all the way through “The Peace You Promised”. With another attempt on Gwynn’s life, during which Captain Calkussar is fatally stabbed by Blackfist leader Yobahn, Garret’s predicament is able to be reversed. Yavalla is forced to put one of her own to the sword, or at least into the water, proving that the Blackbloods might set the rules, but also that they’re willing to abide by them. The most compelling question now is what’ll happen when those rules start to be broken more frequently?
What did you think of The Outpost season 3, episode 2, “The Peace You Promised”? Comment below.
