'Outcast' Recap: 'Mercy'

Written by John edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

​When it comes to stories that feature good versus evil, the characters that populate both sides of that all-important equation tend to be fairly by the numbers and true to their cause. Our heroes will do whatever it takes to make sure that lives are saved, and that evil is defeated in the most noble of fashion and our bad guys and gals? Well they will stop at nothing to make sure their dastardly goals are achieved, and nothing will stand in their way in making that happen and we enjoy that kind of black and white storytelling simply because it helps us to escape the spoils of the real world.
 
Because in reality, nothing is ever that black and white and good and evil are subjective terms that people sometimes bend to the will of the moment and I think seeing those lines blurred in fiction is precisely why I felt so damn uncomfortable watching this week’s episode of Outcast, since ‘Mercy’ worked hard to make both of these things as ambiguous as possible since it featured all kinds of unexpected surprises. For example, there were some fascinating answers that came about in this tale in regard to many of the mysteries surrounding this season. Like the fact that these ‘demons’ have been present on our planet for millennia and have helped to forge some of our beliefs from a religious standpoint and we also learned how the mysterious Helen figured out how to ‘subdue’ Beacons in order to weaponize them. 
 
But while it was nice to enjoy some answers and move that part of the plot along. I made mention of the fact that I was uncomfortable watching this particular tale and that it felt too realistic for its own good and well, I wasn’t kidding when I said that. Because this entire episode was filled to the brim with things we see in real life and that we despise. Take for example the cold-blooded revenge present in this tale courtesy of the Good Reverend Anderson since he put Sidney through a little knife related payback. And even the people we should be trusting at this point had their own moments of darkness since the Mid Wife, who works with the ‘saved’, tried to terminate Megan’s pregnancy regardless of any knowledge as to whether or not the baby might be okay and even evil is seeing a splintering effect since Doctor Park is taking the future of his people into his own hands as well since he straight up wiped out senior leadership in one fell swoop. 
 
If anything, this sudden push by so many characters to fulfill their own agendas made the episode feel extremely chaotic and said chaos was only compounded by the fact that a blast from Kyle’s past showed up in Rome as well by way of Blake, whom you may recall as the first possessed person that Kyle was unable to heal and it would seem that he’s back in the fold for far more mysterious reasons. Because Blake opened up his journey in this tale by ranting and raving about how the Beacon would bring about the end, but the end of what exactly? Does this mean that Kyle Barnes is likely suited to send all of these monsters back where they belong? Or can a beacon cause more trouble than we are aware of and I have to admit I am fascinated by what exactly is motivating Blake to seek out Kyle, because it’s clearly not grounded in revenge since he took the time to help Megan out in her hour of need.
 
In the end however, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, seeing everyone pulling to fulfill their own personal agenda was simply an unexpected twist to the story, and quite frankly, it complicates matters further. Because everyone pulling in their own directions could have unintended consequences for plans on both sides and well, I get the funny feeling that we are in store for more chaos in the weeks to come now that Evil is without senior leadership and direction and Good, is lost and clueless as to what it will take will to finally defeat these awful, awful creatures and well, that sense of the unknown has me excited in a weird way, especially when it comes the mystery surrounding the man who has his hands on Kyle’s mom because I can’t wait to see if he is who I think he is, and once again, I’ll be counting down the minutes until the next episode to see exactly where this twisted and chaotic tale is headed next. Until then. 

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