TV Review: Outsiders S1 E10 “Day Most Blessed”

By Laury Scarbro

This episode has to be among the best of the season thus far, I’d easily rank it in my top three favorites. Spoilers abound in this recap, with another main character death. Proceed at your own peril.

After spending the night in the mine, Wade pulls through and manages to find a vent shaft. This shaft proves to be the method by which he’s found, after the police launch a search for him. He’s taken to the hospital, where he refuses a precription for pain medication. Fults tells Wade he found the wrecked cruiser, and Wade comes clean with him. He tells Fults he can report it or keep it secret. Fults covers for him, claiming Wade hit a deer.

The moonshine distribution has some repercussions. Donnie can’t keep it in stock because everyone wants some, and Asa can’t keep up with the demand due to the upcoming wedding. Jane Kersey, the wife of one of the miners, is the latest in the list of victims of the moonshine’s ill effects; as she works her way through the jar, she also works her way through her cupboards, smashing all of her dishes to bits. Her husband Pat comes in and stops her, but not before she takes a shard of a plate and opens a vein.

Little Foster pulls a gun on an unsuspecting Asa, and proceeds to tell him that he is going to kill the bren’in but he’s going to need Asa’s help to pull it off. Asa doesn’t want any part of it, out of fear the shot will miss and hit Gwin instead. That’s when Little Foster points out that since Asa saved his life, anything he does from now on is on Asa’s head.

Later, the miners arrive at the hobby store, questioning Donnie about the Farrells and the moonshine, and make threats of arson. Pat blames Donnie for Jane nearly killing herself. The interaction results in Donnie’s store window getting smashed. He reports the incident to Fults and Wade, naming Breece as one of the men involved. Wade goes to question Breece, who takes the blame for the incident. He gets arrested and spends the night in jail.

Hasil and Sally Ann are still hiding out in the abandoned house. The electricity is shut off, and they learn that the utility bill has not been paid in three months—since the previous owner died. Hasil goes to Haylie and asks for more money, which she gives. She then proceeds to follow him, having the address tracked down to find out who owns the house. The property belongs to the niece of the woman who had lived there, and Haylie offers to buy it from her, in cash.

Big Foster is showing more signs of being sick, but claims it’s just a sour stomach. The amount of coughing he does throughout the episode says otherwise, however. The night before his wedding is the pre-wedding party, and Big Foster is in good spirits. Gwin is not at the party, instead she’s sent for Asa who arrives as she’s trying on her wedding dress. The two argue about her getting married, but Gwin is convinced that she’s doing what’s right for the clan, saying she can change Big Foster. Their discussion is cut short when Big Foster returns home, ill and properly freaked out after hallucinating his dead mother. Asa, standing outside the window, hears everything that takes place between Gwin and Big Foster. Angry, he goes to visit Little Foster, imparting to him that he’ll create the distraction needed so Little Foster can kill the bren’in.

The next morning when Breece gets out of jail, he finds out the other guys have gone up the mountain with kerosene to send a message to the Farrells. The miners are caught after setting fire to a shack, which interrupts Big Foster’s gauntlet run. He takes off with some of the Farrell men and gives chase. He starts having more stomach pains in the middle of it and orders the others to keep searching, while he returns to Gwin and the wedding.

When the wedding ceremony gets under way, Asa interrupts, per the plan. He’s eventually escorted out, but before the ceremony can resume, Breece is brought in by the others who were chasing the miners. He swears that he wasn’t there to start any trouble, that he was trying to prevent the other guys from doing anything. Big Foster uses the moment as a way to prove to the clan that he is the rightful bren’in and he will protect them—by shooting Breece in the head at point blank range. The ceremony finally gets under way, after Big Foster orders the body removed. That night, Wade arrives on the scene where Breece’s body has been dumped in the middle of the street in town.

With the elevation of action in this episode and only two remaining in this season, I’m very curious to see how they manage to amp up the tension before the finale. Killing Breece and leaving his body in the middle of the road may not serve as the message Big Foster is hoping to send to the townies; I think it will have a “Code of Hammurabi” effect instead. I suspect Ledda may blame Wade for Breece’s death, but losing her father and now her husband could add to the reasons why the Farrells should be left alone.