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OUTCAST’s “A Wrath Unseen” Showed Possession Comes In Many Forms (Review)

The opening scene of this week’s Outcast, titled “A Wrath Unseen,” felt like it was all going to be about (the finally named!) Sidney, the possessed, smiling character played by Brent Spiner, who showed up to the sparsely attended funeral of Kyle’s neighbor (which was nice since Sidney was the one who killed him and all). However, that opening sequence was the only time we saw Sidney–who made a point of shaking the reverend’s hand, but not Kyle’s–yet it was the wrath of someone not possessed that dominated the episode.

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This week primarily focused on Megan and her dealing with the reappearance of the man who raped her when they were both young, Donny. Considering the slimy, Sidney-like way he went over to her and Mark’s table in the restaurant, it wouldn’t have been crazy to guess that he too was possessed, but since he not only shook off Kyle’s physical interaction with him, but beat him up, Donny’s sins are in some ways far harder to face–demonic possession can’t explain away all the evil in the world; sometimes it really is just a person.

Donny said he was changed, but his need to see that Megan suffered, and that she too felt the consequences of what “they did,” showed him to be a vile monster all the same. Blaming an innocent young girl for his actions, even if he would no longer touch her, was just another way for him to violate her.

Mark’s wrath was easy to see coming–Megan certainly did–but hers, which we saw in the final scene as she took out her anger on those thrift store glasses, was far more powerful. She can say she’s not haunted by what happened to her, but obviously she is.

Which adds another element to her relationship with Kyle. She takes care of him and protects him the way he tried to care for her when they were younger, but they also share a past full of horror and suffering. They are both shaped by what happened to them, which they can’t seem to shed.

Megan wasn’t the only one confronting her past though, as Reverend Anderson also had to face the failure of his first exorcism, though his pride kept him from initially seeing what was so obvious. Demons come in all forms, and sometimes they sit in the first pew of your church and sing your hymns, but they are just playing games with you.

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Philip Glenister‘s Reverend Anderson continues to fascinate, because unlike Kyle and all of the people the reverend has tried to help, he chose this life for himself, at great cost. Realizing it may have all been for naught this entire time would crush a lesser man, but his faith–though far from god damned perfect–pushes him on, making him accept the difficult reality of his shortcomings.

Those tokens in his home aren’t trophies, they are scars of lost battles, which he will have to face again.

The other important story from this week’s episode, written by Robert Kirkman himself, involved Chief Giles looking into the mysterious trailer on his own. On this show I expect anyone new we meet to be possessed (everything feels ominous, scary, and potentially horrible, which is the highest compliment I can give a horror show), and long before the Chief saw Ogden burn down the trailer, I knew something was up when his vegetarian wife suddenly said she had a taste for meat.

Chief Giles may have appeared to be holding up Mark’s investigation last week, but he was really just looking into his own worst fears first. I have no idea where the trailer aspect of this story is going, but the creepy Ogden couple brings it from the deep woods and right into the heart of town. (Also, having a true believer of the reverend’s work as police chief certainly helps the good guys in this otherwise evil town.)

The evil presence in Rome, West Virginia is growing, but it’s not all from demons, and the anger that comes with it isn’t all from evil people. A wrath unseen is really just a wrath waiting to erupt, and it seems like it is ready to blow.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Tell us in the comments below.

Images: Cinemax

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