The Outpost
“Bones to Pick” (Episode 105)
August 7, 2018
Last week’s episode of The Outpost, had Talon and Garret sparring, Gwynn and Talon enjoying a girl’s night out, the Mistress ending her ties with Worm, and ended with Talon alone on the floor bleeding after being stabbed again! If you haven’t caught up with my previous recaps, you can read them here!
On to this episode…. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
Talon survives her stab wound and sees the Demon kill another person, despite her efforts of demanding it to, ‘Let him go!’ She commands this in her native language, and the Demon seems to understand her, but just doesn’t listen to her.
Calkussar, Gwynn and Garret go to the hilltop for Kell’s funeral. While they are there, Wythers and Danno search Gwynn’s room to see what secrets she is hiding. Danno finds a lock under her dresser and opens it. Wythers opens a box that Danno found.
Inside the box is a ring, what appears to be an Elizabeth cameo, and an object carved out of bone or shell. Wythers knew immediately what this meant. He looks surprised yet satisfied at his findings. Lilly, the handmaid, comes into the room and sees Wythers and Danno snooping around. Wythers snaps her neck.
“It was an accident.”
Talon goes to Janzo, so he can help dress her wound. He asks what did this to her, because he sees that it wasn’t a blade. Talon doesn’t tell him and just asks him to help fix her up. Elinor looks down in the basement and sees Janzo with Talon. She assumes they are having relations and says that she is proud of her son. She asks him to write a letter to Worm’s supplier. Janzo expresses his concern about not knowing who is on the other side of this. Elinor says that she doesn’t want the Inn to be her life’s achievement; she wants more.
Wythers visits Calkussar and Gwynn. He asks Garret to leave, but Calkussar says that he can stay. Wythers says that he asked Lilly about Gwynn’s heritage and that she was paid handsomely for her interview and fled. Gwynn doesn’t buy it and asks what he’s done to her. He responds that she’s gone where you can’t reach her.
Wythers accuses Calkussar of betraying the king. After the palace was overthrown, the royal family was executed except for the daughter. Calkussar sacrificed his daughter instead. His wife couldn’t live with what he did, so she hung herself. Garret draws a sword on his father. Wythers says that he wrote two dispatches to be delivered to the Prime Order in case of his early demise. Garret lowers his sword and Gwynn asks him what he wants. He wants Gwynn to release Talon so that he can execute her and deliver her body to the Prime Order.
“A true leader must sometimes sacrifice one for the good of many.”
Wythers wants to protect the Outpost from having the Prime Order come in and take control. Gwynn releases Talon from her bond, and she is to be executed immediately.
Garret goes to see Talon to warn her that Wythers will be executing her. Wythers men show up not long after Garret, and find Talon. Wythers orders Garret to cuff her and he does.
The Bones arrive at the Outpost and Wythers tells them they are not welcome. The leader of the Bones, Tiberio Shek (Cokey Falkow), tells Wythers that they are guests of the Prime Order and are looking for the Blackblood that Magmoor mentioned. Wythers laughs at the thought of someone with pointed ears and black blood would be at the Outpost and continues to bring Talon to the guillotine. Garret asked him why he didn’t just turn Talon over.
“I don’t serve the Prime Order any more than you do.”
Talon is in the guillotine again. Wythers doesn’t want Talon to go to Shek because he think the Bones would torture her for years. He feels that his way is quick and easy. The Demon jumps up through the drain and grabs Wythers. Talon tells the demon in her native language to stop and let him go. Danno lets her loose. Garret comes in and sees the Demon. Talon tells it to go away in her native language and it obeys. Garret asks what that was and what Talon is? She tries to explain that she can’t control it, but she’s learning. She tells them that they have to let her go so that she can rid them of the Demon.
“I want you to fix this. All of it. Make it go away. I want my Outpost back to the way it was before you set foot here.”
Talon goes to see the Smith. He asks if the Demon obeyed her. She says that it did after she fought it. He tells her that it knows she is the only hope for its kind to let more through. “Next time it may bend you to its will.” Talon wants to send it back and never open the portal again. She just needs to learn how to open the portal. The Smith tells her that is something he does not know how to do, but insists that she knows more about her powers than she thinks she does.
The Smith says that when Talon has banished the Demon, come back to see him. He has a surprise for her and wants to tell her more about her heritage.
Talon goes to the Inn and Garret finds here there. He’s hurt that she didn’t tell him who she was. She asks him if she disgusts him and he says that he doesn’t know what to think. The Demon that she controls is killing people that he is responsible for protecting. She reminds him that she doesn’t control it and asks if he told Gwynn. He told Gwynn that Wythers let Talon go but didn’t say why. She asked why Gwynn would turn on her and Garret tells her that she had no choice. Garret asks Talon if her plan is to take care of the Bones first, and then the Demon? He tells her that she has her priorities wrong. Talon tells Garret that she has waited her whole life to find those men and that she can’t get rid of the Demon until she clears her mind of everything else.
Shek goes to see the Smith. He asks how it is possible for “one to remain” and then he remembers the girl in the tomb that the Wolf was supposed to kill. The Smith says that his arrows never miss and the Shek asks him if he intended to miss. The Smith says that there is something about her and there are forces at work, but the Shek doesn’t listen and kills the Smith.
Talon goes after the Bones. She kills one, and starts to fight another. After falling from a rooftop, Talon is pinned by the man without her blade. Garret shoots him and saves her life. The Demon kills two more Bones. Shek traps the Demon as he intends on killing Talon. He tells her that the Wolf is the Smith and that his arrows killed many Blackbloods that night. She doesn’t believe him. Shek tells Talon that he was paid by Everit Dred, and if it wasn’t him and his men that killed the Blackbloods, someone else would have been paid to do it. Talon stabs Shek and kills him.
End Credits.
Thoughts:
Where to begin? So much was revealed in this episode about the story and also the personalities of the characters as well. First, I’d like to start off with the ‘trust’ that Talon was building with Gwynn. I would have really liked to see her build a friendship with Gwynn. These characters play off each other really well since they are complete opposites. They balance each other out in a perfect yin and yang sort of way, but I don’t think we will get to see that play out. It seems as though that sense of trust has been completely diminished, now that Gwynn gave up her bond. I thought we were making progress here, but it seems like we are back to the beginning now. I hope the writers to have something great in store for Talon and her trust issues, so I will wait and see.
Wythers! He is the one person in the Outpost that I am so torn with emotions for. His first priority is protecting the Outpost from any threat, all for the greater good. It’s almost heroic of him to look out for the people of the Outpost. He may not be a solider like Garret, but he cares about protecting the Outpost just the same. I want to believe he does the right thing, but then he goes and kills Lilly. Here, he’s only protecting himself. So what is it that truly motivates him? Is he looking out for the people of the Outpost or is he only looking out for himself? I don’t think he needed to kill Lilly, and this brings me back to what Garret said about not killing more innocent people.
I was surprised by Wythers’ frightened look when he saw the Demon. I would not have expected him to be completely terrified of it. I was equally surprised that Garret only seemed startled by the Demon. I guess maybe he has seen more as a solider than his father has at the Outpost; I’m curious if that will be brought up between the two.
I am amazed that Garret can sit with Talon and suggest that she is keeping things from him, when he won’t reveal the reason Gwynn gave her up. Here we are again with the issues of trust, but this time it goes both ways. I was glad to see that Garret wasn’t giving up on Talon and that he helped her when she was compromised by the Bones. At the same time, I want to believe that Talon is a strong woman, capable of taking care of herself (as we have seen time and time again) – I would have liked to see her handle the situation without a knight riding in on his horse to save the day.
I am going to guess that the blade the Smith finished is Talon’s surprise. He was still alive when Shek left him, so I hope the Smith survives long enough to tell Talon that he left her alive to do great things. Will Talon be able to forgive the man he used to be or will she be upset that he helped in slaughtering her village? I hope she will continue to learn about her heritage with or without the Smith. He seemed like the guiding light for her. I hope that light doesn’t dim and that she continues to learn on her own.
Episode Score: I would have given this episode a 5, but that rooftop fighting scene reminded me too much of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I give it 4.5 out of 5 Casey’s.