Prime Video’s Outer Range is a mystery thriller set in Wyoming, USA, where a rancher and his family face supernatural occurrences when they discover a mysterious portal on the western part of their land.
Episode 5 recap: “The Soil”
The first of the two new episodes opens right where the last one left off with Wayne driving back home after knocking out Royal. He’s manic and overjoyed at the fact that he discovered the hole.
As he screams about finding it, he has a stroke and we switch to another flashback scene that showcases Wayne’s childhood. We realise that as a little boy, Wayne stumbled upon the void and witnessed another boy of his age climb out of it. That kid is hinted to be Royal (since he does not remember anything before the age of 9).
Back in the present, Wayne collapses and is admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile, Royal has a nightmare and wakes up to walk back home. He leaves home early morning and travels to the Rare Earth Department of Wyoming and meet with Dr. Nia Bintu, a geologist whose business card he nicked from the Tillersons’ house.
At the Abbott ranch, Perry and Rhett have a talk about their interrogation and Autumn tries to break into the house to get her necklace back. She is caught red handed by Cecilia who asks her to leave. However, before leaving she mentions Royal’s changed behaviour which bothers Cecilia a lot.
Royal then meets with Dr. Nia Bintu and tries to learn more about the stone. However, he sees a picture of Nia with the mysterious organisation BY9 and refuses to leave the stone in her care for study (it is the same logo he saw when he appeared on the other side of the hole). Later, he finds out that BY9 is a mining company.
Joy continues her investigation and finally comes across an employee at the bar who tells her that he saw Trevor fighting with Perry. This gives Joy the lead she needed but she bids her time before acting rashly.
Cecilia goes to meet Patricia but the latter insults her due her Perry’s alleged hand in Trevor’s murder. After returning home, she finds a dead babe bear in her yard.
Meanwhile, Luke and Patricia try to figure out how to keep the business going after Wayne’s stroke. Since Wayne did not leave a power of attorney, their have to wait until Wayne’s will is executed. They try to shift the ownership of the ranch to Luke.
We then see Rhett spending the night with Maria and Perry again has a conversation with Autumn about his wife. He confesses that he thinks she left him because of their living situation as Rebecca didn’t want to live at the ranch. He cries thinking that the last time he saw her, they argued.
Autumn responds that there may be a way for him to know what happened to her without really knowing what happened which leaves Perry shocked.
In the closing scene, we see Royal break the stone on Autumn’s necklace and accesses the soil inside which dissipates into his hands. Doing this shows him a vision of the future in which he sees himself dead and surrounded by Cecilia and Autumn (this version still wearing the necklace).
She somehow manages to see the living Royal and calls out his name.
Episode 6 recap: “The Family”
Episode 6 of Outer Range sees Royal meet Autumn near the pit and offer her a ride on his quad bike. He drives past her campsite and Autumn sensing trouble jumps off.
They then have a heated exchange about the rock and the mineral inside it which Autumn thinks is linked to time. Royal threatens her to stay away from his family or else he’ll kill her. He leaves her and drives off to burn her campsite.
Meanwhile Joy contacts her superior and tells him that he’s ready to arrest Perry and Rhett for Trevor’s murder. The story checks out except the coroner’s report on Trevor just being dead for eight hours when was found.
Joy is told to not to make the arrest because the coroner cannot be wrong and the bar fight took place days before that. They cannot make a clean case out of this. The next day at church, Joy’s partner Martha feels humiliated when the pastor indirectly insults their homosexuality in a prayer.
Elsewhere, Patricia and Luke are told by the family lawyer that Wayne left everything to Billy. Patricia leaves Wabang to get the matter fixed and tells Luke to keep this from Billy.
An injured Autumn tries to hike back to her campsite and chances upon a full grown bear. Petrified, she lies down on the ground as the bear approaches and smells her. As the animal comes face to face with her, she hears a voice that says, “show him” and the bear leaves.
Joy on the other hand has an argument with Martha about the incident at church and Rhett goes to meet Maria again. While talking, Maria confesses that she wants to be with him but the Abbott family will always have a pull on him.
He asks her to give him a chance and she questions him about Perry’s involvement in the murder. Rhett, visibly flustered, lies that he is not covering for his brother but Maria sees right through him and walks off.
On her way back, Autumn runs into Billy who is hunting elk and walks with him while narrating a story about an astrologer. The two reach the mysterious pit and stare at it in awe.
Back at the ranch, Cecilia enters the shed alone and stays in company of the dead bear. As she spends alone time there, Royal comes to check up on her and the two have a heartfelt conversation. Royal does not see the bear however as they speak to each other from opposite sides of the wall.
Autumn returns to her campsite and funds it burnt to the ground. She walks into town and checks into a motel as she calls her benefactor. Visibly disturbed by not having her medication, Autumn meets with Perry and tells him that Royal tried to murder her.
Clearly on edge, she tells him about seeing Royal disposing Trevor’s body and asks if Perry would accompany her to turn his father in. As Autumn heads back to her room she sees the door open and finds Billy in the bathtub.
He asks her about the pit and she tell shim that it is time, just sitting there and waiting for them. Elsewhere, Perry heads home and tells his family that he handed a confession letter to the police.
This kickstarts a verbal and physical scuffle between the brothers and then Royal also gets involved. Rhett is furious that despite him putting so much on the line for his brother, he confessed.
Perry instead mentions that he did it because Autumn was going to testify against Royal. Hearing this, the Abbott family patriarch gets mad at his son for not staying away from Autumn. As they fight, some glass breaks and hits Amy who runs out of the house, clearly traumatised by what she’s sees.
We then see a police car heading towards the ranch.
Review
- Episodes 5 and 6 present a somewhat clear picture about the nature of the void and reveal it to be a manifestation of time which finally provides some answers.
- However, now more questions have risen pertaining to Billy and Autumn’s relationship, the way the mineral of time works and the consequences of Perry’s confession.
- The dynamics between various characters and their partners is a widely explored theme in the show. Royal and Cecilia, Rhett and Maria, Joy and Martha and now possibly Billy and Autumn, all represent versatile stages of relationships which can be a bit repetitive.
- The pacing of these episodes is a bit inconsistent. Sometimes the inactivity level is extremely high and then suddenly the narrative pulls into overdrive, taking the viewer by surprise.
- The narrative is slowly hinting at an intermingling of timelines that has probably existed since ages and if executed correctly can be really intriguing.
- The entire cast is still on their A game but Imogen Poots as Autumn is a stellar act. Her perfect concoction of mystique, friendliness and derangement is absolutely brilliant. It is almost impossible to dissect her character because of her varied phases and sides.
Rating: 3.5/5
Also Read: Outer Range season 1 episodes 3 and 4 recaps & review