The Outpost (2018)

Watchseries; I plan of giving this show a chance to see if it can entertain me. It has possibilities. While it may not for everyone, I had a good time watching it. This is a TV show for people that enjoy reading. I don't mean that in the way the people say I have a face for radio. I mean it in the way that some people just like to be entertained by a good story rather than be awed by something more spectacular than the last spectacle they saw. I will be honest. From what I've seen so far there doesn't appear to be anything new or revolutionary about the story or its production. It's starting out as a classic revenge (or search for justice) tale in a somewhat familiar swords and sorcery fantasy setting. The important word though is "classic". It's classic for a reason. People like these stories. They're a little bit escapism and a little bit like comfort food. In the end, unlike the real world, you're pretty sure the villain is going to get their just desserts. What you tune in to watch for is the path that the story takes to get there. Unlike, some high-end productions this one doesn't let your own imagination atrophy by showing you every minute detail of its world and its inhabitants right from the beginning. It's not spending its budget on making sure you get to see the muscles of the Grey-skins flex as they crush the bones of their victims. It's enough that you know the the Grey-skins are dangerous. They appear to be concentrating their resources on the story and the actors that bring that story to life. Important points are revealed as the story unfolds and others are be left to the imaginations of viewers that still have one. I will admit that in my youth, I played Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. The settings, the stories, the characters even the tropes are all very familiar to me and I still enjoy them. I enjoyed the first episode and I'm curious to see what happens in the next.

I plan of giving this show a chance to see if it can entertain me. It has possibilities. While it may not for everyone, I had a good time watching it. This is a TV show for people that enjoy reading. I don't mean that in the way the people say I have a face for radio. I mean it in the way that some people just like to be entertained by a good story rather than be awed by something more spectacular than the last spectacle they saw. I will be honest. From what I've seen so far there doesn't appear to be anything new or revolutionary about the story or its production. It's starting out as a classic revenge (or search for justice) tale in a somewhat familiar swords and sorcery fantasy setting. The important word though is "classic". It's classic for a reason. People like these stories. They're a little bit escapism and a little bit like comfort food. In the end, unlike the real world, you're pretty sure the villain is going to get their just desserts. What you tune in to watch for is the path that the story takes to get there. Unlike, some high-end productions this one doesn't let your own imagination atrophy by showing you every minute detail of its world and its inhabitants right from the beginning. It's not spending its budget on making sure you get to see the muscles of the Grey-skins flex as they crush the bones of their victims. It's enough that you know the the Grey-skins are dangerous. They appear to be concentrating their resources on the story and the actors that bring that story to life. Important points are revealed as the story unfolds and others are be left to the imaginations of viewers that still have one. I will admit that in my youth, I played Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. The settings, the stories, the characters even the tropes are all very familiar to me and I still enjoy them. I enjoyed the first episode and I'm curious to see what happens in the next.

The Outpost watchseries. Okay, dead-stop, I see a lot of man babies in the comments crying about the warrior woman trope, as they appear to be shocked that women are roughly 50% of the population. I'm not sure how much more backstory for her they expected in one already-expositional episode. So I'm registering an imdb just to put some things in scale. Now, I'll be honest, I wouldn't give it a "10" - I'm doing that to offset the completely unwarranted "1"s in the comments made by people who don't understand things like midsummer backdoor network pilot budgets or the fact that Women Exist. Reasonably, I'd give it a 5 in actual execution (for episode one) but a 9 in concept. So here's the deal.

Outpost already displays vast vision. While their cinematography is still finding its footing and fairly basic, they've already attempted to give us a large world with imposing landscapes just to begin, and there's a huge potential for more in that. It's VERY throwback. It's been called a love letter to the children of the 80s and 90s and I'm prone to agree with that. Admittedly the early bit actors were a bit low caliber. Some of the pacing is off but that is very likely an editing room choice and something I am completely okay with giving a few episodes for them to find their rhythm at. CW kids are spoiled to ideas like Flash and Arrow, which have comic franchise backing, or Supernatural, who had the luck of managing to drag David Nutter on board for their first few episodes - which you mostly know from Game of Thrones. For what I can reasonably expect them to have on call, there's a lot of heart in this. The story is simple, but in a flexible way; it is a classic fantasy but with all of the trappings we have built around a lot of our other classic fantasies. And before any other manbabies complain about those, sit down and tell me beyond "Kingdoms fight for throne, multiple magic god things" what sets even Game of Thrones apart - dynamic and characters. And we do have a potential set up for that. It's not above making light fun of itself, with flashback vibes to Pirates of the Caribbean and brief humors that I'm sure they'll find their beat on shortly, and parts of the soundtrack flatter that - but it's entirely original. The actors felt out their roles fairly actively even through the episode. I can feel Garret's charm begging for a chance to come out and I'm more than willing to give this show a season's run to see where they take that.

In sum, the Outpost is for anyone that grew up on shows like Xena, Warrior Princess. Give Jake enough time to shine as Garret and the manbabies will even have a good male lead to lock onto and compensate their tears over the strong female character being a major lure to the show. Similarly, the cast and crew is engaged and eager, and I imagine reasonable production notes and critique won't go unheard if you know how to not act like a toddler over it.

No tea, just facts.

Is it a masterpiece? Nope. But it has potential to be pretty good if people stop giving it 1s. What's the deal with that anyway? Just let it find it's feet.

When I started to watch this I was like "Oh no, this is terrible" but for some reason I kept watching it. To my surprise, it's been getting a lot better, filled with more interesting characters. I can't wait to see the next episode each week!

It really confuses my why this show has such low ratings. I get that the outpost is no match for something like game of thrones or westworld to which some reviewers compare it, but I liked it. Like (most) arrowstorm productions it shows a slightly cliché high-fantasy plot that tries to make the best out of a small budget and focuses on storytelling instead of huge cgi battles. Really looking forward to the second episode to see where this is going.

The Outpost is a hidden gem right now. It's so original and out of all the fantasy stuff out there, the story as it goes forward it keeps coming back to clues hidden in previous seasons in such a clever way and the mythology expands with each episode.

I'm surprised not enough people picked up on it and that it hasn't been expanded yet into a book series or something, It might feel like it's "The CW" but I highly recommend it if you're a fantasy nerd, it will be worth your time.