Josh Brolin’s Series Is Too Strange to Be Entertaining

Science fiction and westerns don’t seem like two genres to fit together, but they can occasionally work together to create incredibly compelling thrillers, as we’ve seen with Westworld, which is now in production.

Using those two plays, a new Prime Video series has been created that features some serious family-oriented storylines, as well as a cover-up. Does it appear to be a lot? Read on for more information.

opening shot

There is a lightning flash. Suddenly we hear someone say, “Do you know anything about a Greek god named Kronos?”

The heart of the matter

Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), a Wyoming rancher, has been dealing with some grueling events in his family’s life and the operation of his ranch. The Tillersons, who run a commercial ranch next door to his, claim his fences need to be moved because they own the land on which they stand.

It’s been nine months since their son Perry’s (Tom Pelphrey) wife went missing, and he and his wife Cecilia (Lili Taylor) are suffering as a result. And their son Rhett (Lewis Pullman) seems to be struggling with his burgeoning career as a bull, which the film says may be due to his penchant for drinking.

There’s also something else: While searching for roaming cattle, Royal comes across a large hole on the outside of his farm. It is an unusual looking hole, as it appears to have been dug by something other than a human.

It also doesn’t seem to have a bottom. When he reaches into the cloud that has gathered around the opening, flashbacks from his childhood, as well as visions of the future, flow like a waterfall in his mind. When he extends his arm, it seems as if hours have passed between them.

Having a premonition that the police would end the investigation into Perry’s wife, Perry and Rhett went to the local watering hole that evening to drown their sorrows.

Perry surrenders to Trevor Tillerson (Matt Lauria), who brings Perry into a fight by bringing up the subject of his missing wife (also played by Lauria). Even though Rhett walks out to take care of Trevor, once inside, Perry has the upper hand and nearly beats Trevor to death. The time it takes to get Trevor back to the ranch is too late. He is dead.

During Perry’s attempt to fend off Trevor’s brothers Luke (Shaun Sipos) and Billy (Noah Reid), Royal decides the most appropriate method of disposing of Trevor’s body is to throw him into the well. Autumn (Imogen Poots), a “poet” who had asked permission to camp on the property, manages to arrest him.

What television programs will it think of?

Outer Range’s fusion of the western and science fiction genres is reminiscent of Westworld, but the family drama is more like Yellowstone than anything else.

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Our point of view

Outer Range is intended to be both a hefty multi-generational family drama and a mysterious mystery series at the same time. Most of the time, though, it’s just uninteresting.

There are many dark or near-dark sequences in the first episode of the drama, which was developed by Brian Watkins, and characters that don’t seem to have much more shadow than the people in the dark scenes.

In the show’s first episode, it’s pretty obvious that the writers struggle to maintain the quirkiness while still incorporating elements of more traditional drama. At first, Autumn seems a little weird, but that’s all her personality has to offer.

However, when she expresses an interest in buying Royal’s ranch and then becomes cryptic after witnessing him dump Trevor into the mysterious hole, it doesn’t seem quite justified.

The whole mystery doesn’t feel like it’s deserved in any way. Royal is a gruff and stoic character – Brolin’s bread and butter – who keeps his emotions in check despite the difficulties his family suffers.

Nevertheless, he discovers a gaping hole, puts his arm in it, tries to fill it, tries to hide it, screams at it, and then… decides to use the gaping hole to cover up the murder of his sons? It seems that we have skipped some stages in this process.

We’re not even sure if the hole occurs at the same time as the onset of fall or not. We think so, but there are other things going on with Royal at the moment and he is losing track of time. Despite his stoicism, he is on the brink of collapse inside.

However, we don’t know exactly how long we will have to wait until we experience one of these emotional breakthroughs. Lots more closed eyes moments, more cartoonish conflict between the Abbott and Tillerson families, and more cryptic comments from the enigmatic fall are all things we look forward to in Season 2. We can’t even keep our eyes open while writing about it, let alone look at it.

Our thoughts

SKIP IT. If it’s possible to watch it, Outer Range is a visually stunning film with strong performances from Brolin, Taylor and Poots in lead roles. However, neither the family drama nor the alien components are fascinating enough to make up for the show’s meandering pace.