The tensions between Gwynn, Tobin, Falista and Garrett boil over. A suspicious hawker of a ‘miracle cure’ for the infection arrives at the Outpost. Talon sets her will to the task of retrieving the one weapon that might stop Yavalla.

If there’s one thing that the writers of The Outpost seem to like as much as a love triangle, it’s a fetch quest. There’s always some mysterious doodad or map to such that needs to be found in order to advance the plot, and this week is no different as Talon determines that the only way to stop Yavalla once and for all is to retrieve the Black Kinj. Of course, in order to do that, she’ll need to go on a quest to find her (possibly dead) father who may or may not be able to tell her where it is, and he’s in the Plain of Ashes and just for added fetch quest bonus fun, the part he’s in requires a map all of its own to navigate and – wouldn’t you know it – the location of that map isn’t straightforward either. Sigh.

Meanwhile, the simmering tension that’s been bubbling between the queen, her two exes and Falista finally erupts, or rather mildly boils over a bit. Falista finally loses her temper with people paying enough attention to spot the glowing red thing in her head while they writhe in pain and she ends up locked away for having tried to harm the queen. This of course makes Tobin angry and he confronts Spears in a drunken fight which never really feels like either of them really has the heart for it and ends a bit limply. Not as limply as the Falista/Gwynne side of things though – for a moment it looked dangerously like Falista might actually get something to do or grow as an actual interesting character but thank god, the writers remembered they don’t do that sort of thing and it all got tamped down again before any damage could be done.

And then there’s the mysterious (and highly suspicious) trader who suddenly appears claiming to have a miracle cure for the infection. Janzo isn’t buying it of course but despite him being The Smartest Person in The Outpost (according not only to him but every other main character who constantly says so) the guy is allowed to sell his wares quite freely until Janzo proves that he’s just selling a common fruit juice and conning everyone. Still, at least that delay gives time for some drastically bad decision making to be done by someone that will ratchet up the stakes a bit going forward.

Perhaps most fascinatingly mis-served this time out though is Wren. Having seen her mother literally survive being set on fire and decapitated, she’s decided that she absolutely has to die. Given how much conflict she’s felt to this point, the change feels abrupt to say the least but that’s as nothing compared to a late episode revelation involving a character’s hitherto completely unmentioned sibling and a necessity for her to accompany Talon on her quest into the Plain of Ashes for the most contrived reason ever.

Oh well, at least Garrett gets his shirt off again in this one.

Verdict: I’m not sure about it being so hard to be queen but it’s definitely getting harder to keep watching. 4/10

Greg D. Smith