Spoiler Warning - ...for once, i can't think of any spoilers for the comic as we're heading into new territory with this episode. So TV only spoilers today!!
'Outcast' has never really been about the head-scratchers. Yeah, there are bigger mysteries afoot, but for the most part, our characters have suffered in their pasts and are suffering in their present, so it's kind of hard to get too worked up about the future, even if we know danger is most definitely afoot, Will Robinson. It's a show that presents mysteries but never makes you wait too long to start giving you some answers.
As "What Lurks Within"opens, we're in an unfamiliar setting. And even though we're pulled out of the normal milieu of Rome, WV, it doesn't take but a moment or two to realize it's a flashback to before Sidney was...whatever the hell he is now. And yet what we don't know is that pre-possession Sidney was actually worse than he is now. Working at an arcade, pre-Sidney appears to be a convivial older gentleman. But as the flashbacks progress, we see the arcade for what it is - a hunting ground.
Later in the episode, he tells Kyle that before...whatever the thing inside Sydney's body can be called...got inside him, the un-possessed man was a monster. We see him keep a kidnapped child locked in a room waiting to be at best raped, at worst mutilated to death. So we're left to wonder...what if the demons (for lack of a better, or at least confirmed, term) aren't really all that bad? Sidney argues convincingly that that is the case.
I read a while back that typical demonic possession takes place over three distinct stages: infestation, oppression, and possession. But when Sidney and Kyle have their jailhouse heart-to-heart, Sidney reveals that the process is far quicker, nearly completely random, and not necessarily traumatic to the host. Again, this raises questions of whether or not the entity is in fact the sort of demon we're used to talking about in our pop culture terms. But here again...after Mildred and Caleb, we're given the story that this process doesn't have to be bad. The human host may actually enjoy it, or at least come to accept it, and find themselves better off. Sidney teases Kyle's grief by stating his mother could have had an okay life if Kyle hadn't interfered with her possession. And it's an idea that sticks in Kyle's mind and makes him re-examine everything.
Giles and Ogden discuss this later on, too, in regards to his possessed wife, Kat. Ogden reveals he is even more in love with her now than he was before the possession, and all the weird and suspicious shit we've seen him do in the seven episodes prior was more or less to protect her. It's a very strange and disarming revelation, and it certainly throws Giles for a loop.
But while Kyle is busy trying to figure out what's really going on around him, Anderson is edging closer and closer to a breaking point. His rambling and very public attack on Sidney may have convinced Giles that the man is evil, but the rest of the town think he's nuts. Before long, the church elders he answers to decide to fire him. And though his relationship with Patricia is still going strong, it alienates her asshole of a son, who retaliates by going to the police station to falsely clear Sidney of Anderson's assault. And also breaking into Sidney's house, trying on his black fedora as though he was trying on the hat of his hero, and waiting for Sidney to get home from jail so that Aaron can outright seek his help and guidance. It's actually pretty fucked up and does nothing to endear me further to this little ginger turd.Aaron's actions only further everyone's suspicions about Anderson. And so what is Anderson's response to the entire town thinking he's crazy? Well, obviously, he decides to kidnap Kat and try to violently force Kyle to exorcise her. Unsurprisingly, it does not go well, and they end up in a brawl. So basically, Anderson's just winning all kind of friends today! Seriously, this is completely unlike Anderson of the comics who was somewhat arrogant, but never this completely unhinged. And in the comics, once Sidney carved up Anderson's chest, Anderson had a clear idea that he was in way over his head. The TV Anderson, though, is desperate, and operating from a place of abject terror, of knowing something is terribly wrong and not being able to convince anyone of it. He does have to do something but he can't figure out yet that he's going about things all wrong.
Only somewhat removed from all this drama is the Holter family, whose much less demonic problem is still just as dangerous and destructive. Mark loses his job, Donny has blackmailed them for all their money, and Megan no longer trusts her husband. Yet with all their problems, they are still willing to help Kyle look after Amber, and close the episode with a nice family dinner, prefaced with a prayer that is far more necessary than they realize.
At this point, pretty much every character on the show knows they are in immediate danger. What makes it even more terrifying and suspenseful is that, though they know about the danger, they still have no idea what it is, or that it's capable of freeing a kidnap victim - cutting his ropes and telling him "run!" It's hard to win a fight when you're not even sure what you're fighting.
FINAL SCORE 8/10
Outcast airs its season finale Friday, 8/12 on Cinemax at 10/9c
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