On last week’s episode of Outcast we watched in horror as the darkness spread throughout the town of Rome. A beloved character is dead and another one is possessed. The only thing to stop the encroaching darkness is to shine some light on it. Will Kyle get to his daughter before Megan hurts her?
Megan
We have seen what a human experiences when they have been possessed by a demon, but what is it like for the demon to be inside a human? Demons, according to most religions, are the foot soldiers of Satan, but in tonight’s episode we realize that they are inexperienced when it comes to dealing with the use of the five senses that we have taken for granted. They are in the beginning of the possession, nothing more than frightened children: bloodthirsty, murderous, frightened children.
Wrenn Schmidt did a believable job of playing Megan as a new demon. She plays with the blood on her hand, with her dead husband’s eyes, with the open wound in her hand. These are new sensations for her demon and it is eager to learn more. There is no sorrow for the man who is bleeding out his life force on the floor. There is no recognition of the two little girls who find her in the bathroom. Megan’s demon is busy learning what it means to be alive.
When Anderson and Kyle arrive at the house, we expected Amber and Holly to be injured, but they were safe inside the closet. Why didn’t Megan attack them like she did Mark? Tonight’s episode is full of surprises.
Kyle
“I should have never left the house.” Kyle feels responsible for what happened to the town and to his sister. If he would have stayed hidden inside his house, maybe Mark would still be alive. The responsibility that comes with his superpower outweighs the good work done.
After dropping off Holly and Amber to Giles wife, Kyle convinces the Chief not to arrest Megan. She can’t be blamed for what her demon did, right? While Giles heads over to check on Mark’s body, Megan is eating garbage from the dumpster behind a fast food joint.
Demons
What is it like for the demon? Bright lights frighten them as does all unfamiliar noise. Megan, and the others who are carrying a demon, is suffering from sensory overload and she can’t communicate her fear. Megan is still inside her mind even if she is sharing it with a dark passenger. Megan knows enough to go to Kyle’s house because it is a safe place.
Sidney knows what a new demon needs and he knows where to find Megan. Unfortunately for Amber, Giles’ wife lets it slip to Kat that she has the girls. Aaron might not be a demon, but he’s just as bad. Following Sidney’s orders, he breaks into Giles’ home and takes Amber.
It was a welcome twist to the old demon possession story to see that demons need to be cared for until the possession takes hold. This is where Kat and Ogden come into the picture. They run a demon infirmary down at that abandoned warehouse. Kat tends to their wounds and sings a soothing lullaby. I wonder if they accept health insurance.
Conclusion
Whenever Brent Spiner is in a scene, I’m happy. Spiner has made Sidney a character that is both admired and feared… sort of like we view the Devil. Sidney is waiting on the road for Kyle to find him, then forces Kyle into the trunk. He’s going to keep the Barnes family together. Before locking Kyle up in a room with Amber, Sidney tells him that the demons don’t want to go back to where they came from and that their lives are connected. Sidney is the boogeyman, but he has his act together. Anderson keeps making dangerous mistakes and Aaron is one of them.
Kyle took a chance on saving Megan. He believed that he could save his sister because the demon had not taken complete control. But, after Anderson helps free him from the room, it isn’t Kyle who sends Megan’s demon packing. All through season one, the demons only wanted one thing: Kyle’s light, his life force. But Kyle is not the only one with superpowers. Amber, although only a little girl, is a force to be reckoned with. She has the gift and now all the demons know it.
I don’t care what you think about Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels and television series. This man is a genius. As a writer of a horror and science fiction series, I know just how hard it is to keep your work fresh and entertaining. In my opinion, Kirkman is the master of the apocalypse. In both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead he did his homework and he didn’t focus primarily on the shuffling dead, who were scary enough. No, Kirkman surgically and precisely peeled back the layers to reveal that humans are much nastier than any horde of flesh eaters.
Kirkman has done the same excellent work with Outcast. He has shown us how just how similar demons and Christians really are, and it is unsettling. Kirkman has given us a new lens through which to view the boogeyman and, most of the time, that boogeyman is us. Do I like the show? Hell yes! I’ll be looking forward to the second season. Until then, we can return to the world of the walkers when Fear the Walking Dead returns on August 21st.
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