While Garret and Janzo try to persuade Talon to take the throne in the wake of Rosamund’s death, Zed also tries to persuade Wren to take on her mother’s role as High Priestess of the Blackbloods. But the power struggles within the Outpost are only just beginning, and may be overshadowed by a new threat.

Once again, it’s that time when I have to watch The Outpost. How is this the fourth season? Am I – to paraphrase the bad guy from Zoolander – taking crazy pills? Oh well, once more unto the breach, and so on.

Seriously though, after what’s been a pretty good twelve months for genre television, The Outpost reminds me all over again just how badly it can go wrong when it wants to. I could barely remember what had happened at the end of the previous season which turned out to be a blessing because it’s literally all change and most of what went before is meaningless now.

Remember how Talon saved the day and everyone basically bowed down to her at the end of the climactic battle and we were left in no doubt that this outcast had now risen to take her rightful place as leader of the world? Nope, she doesn’t want it, so most of the first half of the episode is spent with Garret and Janzo trying to persuade her in repeated and increasingly dull exchanges where she basically advances the same reason each time – she doesn’t want to.

Their urging becomes a tad more pointed once it becomes clear that Falista suddenly not only wants the throne but also potentially has a legitimate claim to it by way of blood. Oh, and she’s now a little power drunk with the Red Kinj, so there’s that. Didn’t she fear and loathe the thing last season and wasn’t she the newly humbled bestie of Gwen and oh god why do I even bother?

Meanwhile the Blackbloods have a succession issue of their own now that the High Priestess has died, and Zed thinks that Wren is the perfect candidate. Unfortunately she doesn’t because…she doesn’t want to. Also, she has another more pressing issue on her mind which is a) painfully obvious from the first hint and b) is basically a thinly veiled excuse to get some corny dialogue about trust thrown into the mix at one point.

On top of all these wranglings, the show lobs in about four other sub plots – the weird, Power Rangers-esque new bad guys who are….well, it isn’t clear who they are or what they are after but they are clearly bad. Falista desperately pines after Tobin but isn’t sure she’s prepared to pay the price needed to bring him back. The Loquiri are vanishing for reasons unknown and there’s a mysterious assassin after Talon whose motives, when revealed, are both facile and indicative of another plot point someone just came up with on the fly for the sake of it.

By the end of the episode, it’s a total mess, with plot threads dangling everywhere, characters acting completely differently from not very long ago and nothing really making any sense. But in the interests of balance, I should add some positives. It certainly looks like the show has been given a slightly bigger budget by the studio at last. And I did rather enjoy the fact that the episode eventually ended, leaving me not having to watch it anymore.

Verdict: It’s back and it’s just as bad as I remember. Still. 2/10

Greg D. Smith