'Outcast' S01E03 Review
The episode begins with two couples at a bowling alley. As one of the men seems to be having trouble with his skills and begins feeling ill, the married couple takes the man back home with them. The husband goes to the store to get his friend some items to combat his "flu". Left alone with his friend's wife, the troubled man brutally murders her.
Kyle and Reverend Anderson are called in to investigate the man, as it's revealed that the two men from the murder incident are actually cops.The husband of the murdered woman believes his friend to be possessed, as Kyle and Anderson set up shop. Initial tactics seem to fail in exorcising the demon, but Kyle asks it if he knows him, and the demon eventually replies with "Outcast".
Remember, other demons have called Kyle this, as the demons seem to know about Kyle's "power". Kyle eventually snaps (shocker) and begins pummeling the demon. As Kyle is cut, his blood drips into the demon's mouth and again seems to be a weakness to the demons. This time, however, the spirit stays in its host's body. with Kyle telling Anderson that he thinks whatever it is, it's here to stay.
A few other plots include Megan and Mark, who are Kyle's sister and brother in-law, respectively. Mark, a cop, is hung up on the trailer he and the sheriff discovered on last week's episode. Holter gets approval to further investigate the scene, as he finds hair fibers, a fingernail, and a gold watch in the trailer. Chief Giles would then take his evidence after Holter tells him the results would take a month to get back.
Megan also had something strange going on, as she sees a man while driving that stopped her cold. She tracks him to a hotel and gains access to his room. It's unclear what this man, who's name is Donnie, has done to Megan in the past, but whatever it is has to be major, as she is having intense feelings and flashes.
On a sad note, Kyle's neighbor, Norville, was discovered dead by Kyle. As Kyle returned home from the prison, he went to check on his friend, only to find him dead in a chair, having slit his wrist with a straight razor.
This episode served as more of a "building" episode, laying groundwork for further plots after the initial introduction of the show, which was fine. It was a bit of a slower episode than the first two, but it falls in line with the way shows typically work.
One note, I find myself thinking that the actor playing Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister) isn't very good. He seems to be over-acting a lot to me and he takes me out of the scenes that he's in. I hope to eventually see Kyle split from him and go his own way. The common theme of them exorcising a demon, arguing and fighting during the process and then acting like everything is OK after Kyle drips blood on it is getting old, with the same situation happening in all three episodes to-date (though the last demon is still possessing it's host).
My rating: 7 out of 10
