The Unknown
Episode 7 of Outer Range starts in the past with Royal speaking to Perry at the Roller Disco. He’s been in a fight and has ended up hitting the Tillerson boys. Perry is confused about the anger he’s feeling. Royal tells his son it’s not just him but before he can open up and tell him about his past, Royal stops and stays silent. More secrets are being kept here but alas, they will be revealed shortly, don’t worry! In the present, Joy takes Perry in for questioning, where he remains adamant that Rebecca may not actually be dead. His cryptic chatter isn’t enough to get him out from behind bars though, as the Abbott family find themselves on the cusp of being torn apart. The bail has been set for $500,000, and with Perry’s court date set, the Abbott’s are under strict instructions to make sure their son shows up on the day in question. If not, then the ranch will be forfeited completely. Perry returns home and heads up to see Amy. She happens to be scribbling in her journal, and jotting down the familiar insignia we’ve been seeing in Autumn’s journal and also on the cliffside. Amy throws her arms around her father, and asks him about Rebecca. Perry swears he doesn’t know what happened to her. The thing is, when Royal mentions the same thing to Perry, he doesn’t believe him. While the Tillerson boys ride out to the hole, Rhett updates Autumn on what’s happening about Perry. When she leaves, she runs into Billy, who admits he’s had a vision of her and how she’s the leader over all of Mother Earth. Billy has decided he’s going to follow her no matter what. As the pair start kissing (really stretching the word kiss here), Billy pledges himself to her, which sees Autumn carve that familiar insignia on his chest. She also tasks him with stopping Royal no matter what. Billy eventually finds Royal by the side of the road, having car troubles. Naturally, he drives him to the abandoned roller disco – the same one we saw at the start of the episode – and holds him up at gunpoint. After throwing some big threats at the ranch owner, Royal promises not to go near Autumn. Just before Billy leaves, he says “I think something bad’s gunna happen to your granddaughter.” In Billy’s absence, Luke starts choking out their father in his bedroom with a pillow. Billy heads back just in time to stop him, asking the same question every single viewer has had too “Why do you sing, boy?” Perry and Royal ride out to the hole together. Autumn is the one who told him about it, while Royal admits that his knowledge of his area goes back further than we thought. Specifically, during his time as a boy. As a child, Royal accidentally shot his father while out on a hunting trip, and in doing so wanted to disappear. This was back in 1886 and in finding the hole (it’s unclear whether Royal actually conjured this up himself or not) he jumped in. Climbing back out, Royal emerged in 1968, which now puts those scenes involving Wayne and the charred-black boy from his visions into perspective. That black appears to be the mineral from the land, and was actually Royal all along. Royal ran for it, and, presumably, was taken in by the Abbott family as one of their own. Perry has heard enough though and decides to jump in the hole. In doing so, it sets up a devastating chain of events to come.
The Episode Review
So we finally get some clarity over what this hole is, and it would appear that it’s some sort of time portal. It’s still not clear exactly how everything slots together but the hole looks like it’s manifesting different years. Now, I’ve been saying this before but I’d imagine Autumn is actually Amy from the future, sent back to make sure time stays on-course. After all, it’s Autumn’s doing that’s caused Perry to jump into the hole, which could be the reason for the ranch being handed over to the authorities in the future we saw Royal briefly occupy. Hearing Billy question his brother over why he’s singing is a pretty amusing nod to the audience, while the show itself continues to deliver tease little pockets of surreal comedy and eerie, atmospheric beats in between its character driven drama. Ultimately though, this episode paves way for a dramatic finale to come, as everything is left wide open for where this may go next.
