TV Review: Outsiders S1 E11, “Mortar”

By Laury Scarbro

In the wake of Breece’s death, I expected things to go just a bit differently. Thankfully, I was wrong about Ledda blaming Wade, but he does indeed blame himself. Normally, I would say that’s a bad thing, but the new and improved Wade uses that guilt to propel himself into taking action that he should have been more willing to take several episodes back.

At the wake held for Breece, it’s pretty clear emotions are running high and only children have the capability of making their anger and grief obvious. The medical examiner’s report points in the direction of the Farrells, which coupled with Ledda’s tip-off about Donnie selling moonshine for them, leads Wade to keep an eye on the hobby shop.

Big Foster’s sickness is worsening, and as Little Foster has a crossbow trained on him and ready to fire, he realizes his father has no idea if what he’s seeing is real or not. Little Foster questions Gwin about it and warns her that if her intention is to kill the bren’in, it’s something she can’t come back from.

Asa meets with the council, who start giving him some resistance when he lays out his plans. He is questioned as to why they should listen to his plan and his response is that he is the one mentioned in Lady Rae’s prophecy. Later, Phillup accompanies Asa to meet up with Abel, to secure more guns. The exchange results in the Farrells getting roughed up and having their money taken from them. The two men go to Donnie’s and accuse him of setting them up, which of course he denies. As they’re leaving, Wade arrests them, taking them in for questioning.

At the station, Phillup refuses to answer any questions, but Asa chooses to instead goad Wade. He denies having anything to do with Breece’s murder, and after Wade leaves the room, holds up Breece’s crime scene picture. Wade returns to the room, and Asa names Big Foster as the killer, saying he can help Wade capture him. He also explains that the mark on Breece’s face is the symbol (the elder futhark rune, Algiz) of divine protection, and whichever one of them brought Breece’s body back into town wanted Breece’s spirit to be safe.

Fults responds to a call saying someone has broken in, Hasil and Sally Ann are forced to leave the abandoned house after Hasil beats the hell out of poor Fults. Sally refuses to live out in the open and wants Hasil to take her to his place on the mountain. Hasil is understandably reluctant to do it, but he wants Sally Ann to be happy, and she’s just not going to be happy living by the creek. They make it most of the way up the mountain and Sally Ann’s exhausted and refuses to go any further despite Hasil’s urging that they keep going. Krake conveniently happens by and introduces himself to her.

Wade lies in wait with the rest of the police where he and Asa agreed to meet. Meanwhile, Asa gets Big Foster and a few others together to go settle the gun dispute, but their route is altered after Big Foster hallucinates his mother again. The Farrells make it out to Abel’s place, where things erupt into violence pretty quickly, but not before Big Foster overhears Asa trying to warn them. Luckily, Big Foster’s hallucinations take over again before he can do anything about Asa. The other men set fire to the house and everyone takes off, with the guns they came for. Wade gets a report of the gunshots and fire and heads off to Abel’s, but all he finds to indicate who was responsible is a lone feather on the ground. The episode concludes with Wade at home, removing his wedding ring before going to bed.

Although I’m very curious to see how Sally Ann will be received by the Farrell clan, I’m not overly optimistic. Krake’s reaction to her seemed genuine, but these are a people who frown on mixing with those not of the mountain. I don’t believe that she’s going to be happy there, or anywhere, that doesn’t have the amenities she’s accustomed to, so that hike up the mountain may have been a wasted trip.

I’m not sure I’m happy with the way that Asa’s playing into the power of being “the returned one.” Prophecies tend to be questionable at best, completely wrong at worst. It’s all in the interpretations and the point of view involved. Just ask the characters in Star Wars about that sometime. I realize that Asa has to show initiative in order to get things done. Standing around in the dark, whispering and conspiring, just doesn’t get the job done.

It’s pretty clear at this point that Gwin has been poisoning Big Foster, and it’s just a matter of time before either the poison takes him or the hallucinations push him over the edge and he loses his sanity. Not that he had much to begin with. I sincerely wish she hadn’t had to sell herself into a marriage she didn’t want in order to make it happen, but if she hadn’t, I don’t believe she would have survived very long.

Finally, Wade Houghton, the long-suffering addict who didn’t want to get involved in this whole mess from the very beginning, has finally stepped up. There were signs of it several episodes ago, but he slipped into old habits. Nearly dying in the mine, coupled with the death of his brother-in-law, has pushed him into being the man he should have been all along. He’s even finally removed his wedding band, which shows that he’s ready to move past the pain he’s been living in since his wife’s death. Whether it will last or he’ll slip back into old habits is anyone’s guess, but I believe he’s heading in the right direction.