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Hostage negotiations CONTAINS DETAILED SPOILERS
Writer: Ben Richards
Director: Bharat Nalluri
THE ONE WHERE We meet bad guys in the wildnerness who take one of the transporter arrivals hostage.
VERDICT It opens with a beautiful shot of an escape pod lying amidst sand dunes with two ghost-like moons hanging low on the horizon – gorgeous. And the South African scenery is stunning; nobody can deny that. But while this second episode of Outcasts is better than the first, it’s still drab in almost every other way (thank heavens they wrote out that kid, though). This show is essentially just a bunch of people standing around arguing with each other: there’s no light relief, no warmth, nobody to connect with. While there are some interesting plot strands coming into play now – notably hints about a virus and a bunch of ACs, Advanced Cultivars – they don’t make up for those huge faults.
NITPICKS Instead of making this episode about a stand-off with the ACs (why should we care about them when we don’t even care about the main cast yet?), why not spare some time to show us how all the new arrivals from the crashed ship are welcomed and integrated into the society? I can’t have been the only one wondering where they were going to sleep... Oh, and please stop giving Tate terrible speeches.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE The show’s only vaguely likeable characters, Cass and Fleur, have a nice little double-act going on. And Tipper has a dinosaur on his desk, implying that he’s a fan of Firefly ’s Wash.
DIRE-LOGUE “Sadly, in those chaotic days before our departure, money and influence spoke louder than brilliance.”
BEST LINE
Julius: “It’s not my intention to step on any toes.”
Tate: “I do have particularly delicate toes.”
Jayne Nelson
