TV Review: Outsiders S1 E07, “Decomp Of A Stuck Pig”

By Laury Scarbro

This episode of Outsiders takes on the aftermath of the ill-fated trip to the gun shop. It affects everyone a little differently, but will surely have long-term repercussions.

Wade, still in his post-chase guilt phase, digs the drugs out of the garbage and ingests them, disregarding the chemicals he put in the bag. It makes him sicker than a dog, but this is a man desperate to not feel. He’s got such a good heart, it’s almost painful to watch. Later on, he goes back to retrieve the body and cover up what he’s done.

Back on Shay Mountain, Big Foster and his gang return home, with Tice’s mother, Shurn, inquiring about her son’s whereabouts. He pretty much blows it off, but she won’t let up. Lady Rae gets involved, accusing him of trying to get guns again. He keeps on making ridiculous excuses until Hasil steps in, saying he saw Tice being carted off by the cops in a body bag. Shurn tries to go after Big Foster with an axe, all the while Big Foster swears he wasn’t at fault. He’s put in chains and taken to the box.

Wade orchestrates a false report on Tice, making it look like Tice had been kidnapped by some guys, and has the report made through a police department in West Virginia. His hope is to get the body as far away from the scene of the crime as possible. Asa ends up going into town to see about getting Tice’s body back. According to their beliefs, if Tice is not buried on the mountain, his spirit will haunt Asa forever, since it was his fault Tice got killed. It takes a little bit of coercion, but he finally gets Wade to take him to retrieve the body from the other police department. Conversation between the two is awkward and tense.

Afterwards on their way back, the two discuss how Tice actually died, Asa revealing that he knows it was a hit-and-run, and calls Wade out for lying to him. Wade proceeds to tell Asa the story of how his father was killed, and claims that he is no threat to the Farrells. After nearly running off the road because of a deer, Wade sees Tice’s dead body flash up in the rear-view mirror.

Lady Rae and Gwin talk about Asa, and whether or not he is who Lady Rae thought he was. She claims sometimes he is dark and sometimes good, saying she’s not sure he’s the one who should lead after all. The strongest of them should lead, and insinuates that the strongest among them is Gwin. Gwin leaves to have some water brought for Lady Rae’s bath. Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Big Foster is no longer in his cage, Little Foster took his place. Big Foster arrives at Lady Rae’s while she’s in the tub, and he ends up pushing her under the water, she doesn’t even try to fight him off. When the deed is done, he takes her hand and kisses it as thunder rumbles on outside.

When Asa and Wade return to the mountain after sunrise, Wade finally gives in to his guilt and admits what he did. He tells Asa it was an accident, that he didn’t mean for it to happen. Asa leaves him behind, with Tice strapped to his ATV, telling Wade to get the mining company to back off, or else Wade’s boy will die. When Asa makes it back to the camp, he learns of Lady Rae’s death. The clan goes to relay the news to Big Foster, who demands they kneel before him. Without Lady Rae naming a successor, they really have little choice.

I’m not going to lie; this one was a little difficult to watch. It lacks the action of previous episodes, and Lady Rae’s death scene left a lot to be desired. For someone with so much fight, so much spirit, to just go out like that, it really didn’t do her justice. Was that was the intent, to show how the leaders of this clan posture and preen and try to look more important than they really are? That’s my best guess, because I really can’t believe she would let him just kill her.

Things are probably about to get much, much worse for Asa with Big Foster at the head of the clan, and unless someone can find a way to keep him under control, he’s going to make things seriously go off the rails where the mining company is concerned.