Surrounded and facing certain defeat at the hands of Yavalla’s horde, the last uninfected inhabitants of The Outpost prepare to sell their lives dearly, though treachery is still afoot within their ranks. Can Talon, Zed and Wren return in time to save the day?

Killing off Tobin last time out was certainly an unexpected move for The Outpost. It sort of got lost amidst all the drear that composed the majority of that episode but it was definitely (for me at least) an unexpected move, ending as it did the Love Triangle between Gwynn, Tobin and Falista and knowing how much the writers of The Outpost love their Love Triangles. But if that was dreary, this finale is something else entirely.

For starters, for about half of the episode we are focused on Talon and her father catching up by way of painfully stilted (and predictable) exposition dumps to catch us up to speed. Of course there’s a totally plausible and forgivable reason why he abandoned his family. Of course he’s actually not the cowardly wastrel Talon had so long assumed. Etc. and so on. Oh, and of course there’s a catch to using the Black Kinj to stop Yavalla – rather a terminal one at that. Cue everyone fighting to be the most strident in saying that no, they’ll be the one to do the deed. Yawn.

Back at The Outpost itself, the last uninfected remnants are trapped in the keep, and Gwynn is doing her best to rally the troops with inspiring speeches about how they can win while simultaneously confessing to Garrett privately that all is lost and they just need to make their peace with it. Stirring stuff.

Falista is now Gwynn’s devoted servant/new bestie and is distraught that she can’t control the power of the Red Kinj to save Gwynn and everyone else, per her late husband’s dying wish, and of course she’s had no training or indeed any real explanation as to how these things work and so… oh no, wait, she can suddenly control it rather effectively for a few seconds because the writers need to pause the action for a bit to allow for other plot elements to get into place.

And then. Then The Outpost does one of those things that every so often – whether by luck or judgement – it manages to do. It grabs you and gets you involved. A fair chunk of the final fifteen minutes suddenly becomes very watchable, with people acting their socks off in dramatic speeches punctuated by really rather good action scenes leading to a climax that not only feels good but also completes an arc our central character has been on since the very first episode of the show and manages to do it without hitting the viewer over the head with it. For one brief shining moment you allow yourself to believe that maybe The Outpost can actually be good.

And then it cuts to two characters who have no reason to be there discussing what just happened and then some Power Rangers-esque nonsense involving what I assume is going to be the next threat for Season 4, and I remember why I should never trust to hope with this damned show.

Oh, and Kinjes now provide healing powers to those who hold them. Presumably this is why Talon has always ‘healed quickly’, but I honestly don’t remember any time in the show up to now when this was mentioned. It really does feel like a sort of quick convenient retcon to enable a bit of contrived drama at one point in the episode. So, there’s that.

Verdict: It’s over, and now I can stop thinking about it until the next season hoves its inevitable way into view over the horizon. 2/10

Greg D. Smith