Outer Range – Season 2 Episode 5 Recap & Review

All the World’s A Stage

Episode 5 of Outer Range season 2 starts with Royal taking Joy and heading to the hospital. Royal can’t get any straight answers from her, and it seems her wound may be infected. As Royal does his best to keep her lucid and talking, he stops by the gas station to pick up some gear, including water. Unfortunately, Royal also gets the attention of the police too, who begin tracking his car. In order to lose them, Joy suggests they head for Wind River.

Joy attracts the attention of a couple of Native officers, who buy them some crucial time and allow Joy safe passage through. Despite getting to the Wind River hospital, Royal is questioned over his part to play in all this. 

When Joy awakens, she asks for the “white guy” (that being Royal). He heads in and Joy points out how she time travelled through the hole. She brings up Royal saving her life and how he shot Levi to save her. Despite Joy being gone for 4 years, it has only been a few days in the present timeline.

Joy contemplates what all of this means, along with the signs (like the mountain blinking out of sight) and how to comprehend this. Royal points out that the first lie is the hardest and then it just gets easier and easier. Unfortunately, this also led to his family being torn in half. So as his final bit of advice to Joy before he leaves, he implores her to start telling the truth. Joy though, calls after him and believes they’re going to have lots of conversations like this in the future.

Joy doesn’t take his advice and decides to lie to the police, concocting a story about being kidnapped. She’s going to have to do sketches and try to figure out who these people are too, which doesn’t pose well. Jess is desperate for Joy to press charges and try to get answers, but Joy just wants to put it behind her. When Jess hands over his phone, given Joy’s is stuck in the past (we’ll forget the potential anachronistic chaos this could cause on time itself) and rings Martha. The pair are finally reunited. At least via telecommunication anyway.

Elsewhere, Ceci has a dream about losing control, with Autumn selling the ranch at an auction. When she awakens, she finds Autumn watching over her. She’s intentionally vague over what she dreamt and Ceci is spiralling. She struggles to hold it all together, and when Autumn tells her to move, Ceci smashes a glass against the wall and tells her to shut up.

Upstairs, she admits she feels helpless to Autumn. The latter decides to take charge here and encourages her to ask for help and work together. She brings Ceci over to the church and demands the Pastor help and get the 500k needed.

Whilst there, Autumn tries to ring her mum and sister… but neither of them pick up. It appears that they’ve both abandoned her, and the Pastor calls Autumn out for being a “false prophet”. As for Cecilia though, she notices the rage and that seems to do the trick in believing Autumn is Amy.

Cecilia shows up to see Lewis and he holds a gun up to her. He’s pissed at Cecilia showing up with a shotgun and messing up his party. He curses her. In fact, Lewis rings Rebecca, of all people, and he passes the phone over to Ceci. It’s Amy, and she mentions how she’s livid at whatever she said to Rebecca and as a result, Amy tells her grandmother she doesn’t want to talk. Cecilia is broken, despite the thin sliver of hope that young Amy is still alive, her heart is broken.

Back at the ranch, Luke shows up to see Autumn. He admits he found the mineral and hands it over to her so she can “see for herself”. He’s curious to know what she’ll see by ingesting this and eventually drives away, leaving her alone.

As the episode draws to an end, Autumn looks over the bag of minerals in her room. While she swallows some, Ceci and Royal head out to the hole together. Alone in her room, Autumn looks up and through the mirror, where her reflection is that of Amy. It pretty much confirms that she is definitely Amy.

The Episode Review

This season, Outer Range has really been a show of two halves. The first has started to deepen the mystery and answer some of the big questions we’ve had over the direction of the show. The second half however, has felt far more methodical and laborious. We’ve now had 2 episodes where not a lot has happened aside from finally confirming that Autumn is actually Amy. It’s a mystery that’s finally solved… but ultimately something that wasn’t much of a mystery after the reveal at the end of season 1.

The show has definitely been a bit of a slow-burn but now that we’re gearing up for the end of season 2, let’s hope we actually get some answers going forward now.