Run to the hills.
By Matt Fowler
Premiering Tuesday, January 26th, from executive producers Paul Giamatti and Peter Tolan, and creator Peter Mattei, is a new backwoods Shakespearean power struggle series called Outsiders – about an isolated mountain clan clashing with local law enforcement in the town nestled below their homestead in the hills of Appalachia. A series that’s part of, I assume, WGN America’s renewed investment in outdoorsy stories set in glum forests (which started with Salem and will continue with Underground in March).
And it’s good. It’s not fully formed yet, and the Farrell family – the headlining crazed denizens of the wooded mountains who storm into town, intimidate the locals, and blatantly steal supplies whenever they feel like it – are a straight-up unlikable bunch, but there are notes of promise here. They’re deep-rooted bullies who only care about their own, and they’re only going to get more hostile and repugnant if David Morse’s Big Foster Farrell gets his way. Foster, an angry, unwise elder ready to have the leadership torch passed to him by his supremely superstitious matriarch mother, Lady Ray (Phyllis Somerville).
Kyle Gallner as Hasil in WGN America’s Outsiders.
Rounding out the Farrells here are Sons of Anarchy’s Ryan Hurst as Lil Foster, Big’s dutiful but sometimes doubtful son, and Veronica Mars’ Kyle Wallner as the friendly(ish) Hasil, a rock-kicker who takes a star-crossed interest in store clerk Sally Ann (Boardwalk Empire’s Christina Jackson). Most interesting here though, and the main reason this pilot episode held my attention, is Joe Anderson’s Asa. A family member who suspiciously left and spent 10 years away out in California and has now suspiciously returned. Well, he didn’t just return. He came back six months ago, story-wise, and has spent all that time shackled in cell. As part of his repentance. Now Asa works as an unintentional splinter within the clan. A controversial “outsider” among his own people.
Also sprucing up the story is Thomas M. Wright’s Sheriff Wade. Our man on the ground. A guy who knows more than he’s telling about the Farrells, and a local leader who’s hesitant to work at the behest of a corporation out to evict the Farrells and plunder the mountain for its coal. A noble stance, though one that also makes Wade a bit frustrating since he flat-out allows the Farrells to run roughshod over his own people. Their only saving grace being that they don’t do it too often.
Outsiders tackles a segment, sub-sect of our populous that you don’t really see that often on TV or in movies. Most recently, Justified dabbled in hill folk and their particular culture, but it never went all-in like this. The pilot, “Farrell Wine” stands as a good set-up, though there is a particularly violent moment in the third act that pushed against my efforts to engage. It just came off as silly.
Outsiders holds promise, though I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be turned off by the Farrells or root for them because they’re so rugged and defiant. It’s not too far off from the sub-culture of bikers, like on Sons of Anarchy, but at least SAMCRO didn’t trample all over those who didn’t bother them. Conveniently, the Farrells believe in money even less than they believe in being good neighbors. And instead of being self-sustained, they rely on the town “providing” them with necessary goods. Now, I’m not sure how long the show can stave off the promised showdown between the Farrells and cops, but it’s a decent start.
Outsiders premieres Tuesday, January 26th on WGN America.
