'Outcast' Recap: 'Not My Job to Judge'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

It really is quite amazing what a difference a year can make when it comes to a television series. Take Outcast for example, because a year ago, this series was working to find its storytelling stride as it peppered in just hints of what was to come for the overall plot line all while delivering some supremely disturbing and brooding moments and now, a mere year later, this series has grown in ways I never thought imaginable. While the scares and quality writing remain, the series has found the perfect balance storytelling wise that it was searching for, to the point where season two is moving the plot forward at a breakneck pace and it’s packing in one incredible storyline after another into a single episode, and for proof, look no further than last night’s entry in Kyle Barnes’ harrowing journey, ‘Not My Job to Judge’.
 
Because this particular tale in essence ran several plotlines concurrently and really, perhaps the best place to start today is to pick up where we left with off Megan last week, since we discovered in this tale that the good Reverend rescued her from her suicide attempt and in an effort to put her life back together and put her pain behind her, Megan and Holly went back home…with disastrous results. Because everywhere Megan and her daughter looked, there were reminders of the horrors that happened under that roof and it was far worse for Megan since she seemed to vaguely recall her brief time as a demon, and well, her journey in this episode constantly had her teetering on the edge but eventually she seemed to agree with her daughter that the time had come to move on from this place and that was a fine realization on her part, especially when one considers that Megan is pregnant. 
 
While Megan dealt with her past and her pain, Anderson and Kyle more or less got back to work in putting an end to the evil that is slowly consuming Rome and, in the process, they uncovered quite a few surprises. The first one being, that Chief Giles is taking his hunt against the ‘infected’ to a whole new level, by having them kidnapped by a handyman named Bob, who just so happens to run the local junkyard in Rome and that’s quite the benefit to the Chief because Bob’s ultimate goal is to put the possessed down and hide the bodies and well, that’s not exactly a plan that Kyle is good with. Of course, Giles makes the case that this is the only way to deal with the matter since it seems so many of these souls cannot be saved, but Kyle reminds him that some lives can be saved and oddly enough, he inspires everyone in the room to help him deal with a particularly tough possession and it was quite cool to see Kyle play the hero in this fashion. 
 
As for the other surprise in question, well we finally learned exactly who the mystery woman is/was that Sydney was mourning over in the last episode. It turns out that she was a prior iteration of Sydney and thirty years ago Bob was able to stop her machinations with the help of another Barnes, Kyle’s father, and well, that’s quite the revelation to have drop in our laps because it’s a tad terrifying to know that this is the second time now that anyone has had to deal with such a disturbing matter and it’s stunning to know that the Barnes family continues to be involved with such a mess and it would seem that the problem is only going to get worse before it gets better. Because somewhere, hidden away from prying eyes, Sydney is working hard to build a new triage center for the newly possessed so that he can continue to build and nourish his Army and it would also seem that he has a new ally in Aaron, who despite being badly burned and in pain, is filled to the brim with hate and is ready to unleash whatever hell Sydney has in mind…
 
In fact, perhaps the most disturbing revelation to come out of Sydney’s story in this tale, is that he may in fact be the Devil since he hinted strongly at that possibility and even rattled off the many names/forms mankind has come to identify him with. But, when all is said and done, this was just a magnificent episode. Sure, it may not have left us with a ton of cerebral moments to chew on, but it didn’t have to. It’s moving us toward something larger, and the revelation about Kyle’s father is fascinating to say the least and I love that this season truly is balancing out its overall story by giving us a combination of thoughtful and powerhouse episodes and I can only imagine what kinds of new horrors and wonders await us in the weeks to come as Kyle continues his uphill battle against this strange and powerful evil. Until next time.   

---