#big foster farrell

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S2E09 Stills- Loyal to the Bone- Hasil, Sally Ann, and Big Foster

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Is it too early to start shipping Big Foster and Haylie Grimes?

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Is this going to be the Outsiders version of Misery, with Big Foster as James Caan? If so, sign me the hell up. 

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Does anyone else feel like Outsiders season 2 would be a lot better if they’d gone ahead with the plan to kill off Big Foster and then maybe let Asa live? Because I think about that each episode, and each episode I tell myself well maybe there’s some important reason they did what they did, but no, I keep feeling like each story arc and plot point would have been better served the other way. What do you all think??

[lafiametta]

Outsiders Season 1 Rewatch: Episode 5 (”Demolition”)

(Feel free to check out my posts on previous episodes: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4…)

Re-watching these episodes has been a really interesting experience – there’s a lot I didn’t really catch the first time around, stuff I was too busy to notice, and while I’d like to say the good things outweigh the bad, there really are some aspects of the plot/characterization that have not aged so well in the past few months. 

Let’s start with the good: while I don’t much care for her character, Haylie Grimes is absolutely fascinating to watch, like a predator on a nature show just waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting gazelle. Her interaction with Ned at the beginning of the episode is priceless (”This is not a business for little girls”) and watching her go toe-to-toe with Wade is amazing, just for the way she keeps trying to get to him, like putting that bottle of Oxycontin pills in the gift basket she brings over to the sheriff’s office. She’s made of steel, with no cracks in the armor – except for one tiny moment when Wade accuses her of causing the sheriff’s death… and then all at once, the shutters come down again, and she’s back to being the manipulative viper we all know and love (to hate).  

And I know I’ve talked about Wade and how much Thomas Wright brings to the character, but it really can’t be said enough, especially during this episode, where it’s clear that Wade’s now facing a responsibility (being sheriff) that he never really wanted. And even in the scene where he’s searching for Caleb – a scene that seems weirdly shoe-horned into this episode, as it doesn’t seem to fit with any of the other pieces – his frantic sense of desperation (as he drives through the nighttime streets) and his relief, confusion, and fear (once he finally finds his son, who sleep-walked all the way to school because his dead mom told him to in a dream) is totally palpable.

Things that are not so good: it’s becoming clear at this point that the writers don’t really have that many ideas about what to do with Little Foster’s character. (It’s kind of sad, actually, because all he wants is for his dad to love him and for G’Win to love him and it’s pretty clear neither one of them really do. The only one who actually seems to be looking out for him is Lady Ray, when she warns G’Win that he could “dry up and blow away” if his heart gets broken.) It’s like once they used him in the Pit Fight scene, the writers couldn’t figure out what his character was good for any more, which is pretty disappointing. (Although things will improve in this regard by the end of the season, and based on that Season 2 promo, it looks like he’s getting a much more interesting story line come January. Yay, prison! It’ll be just like watching Sons of Anarchy!) 

G’Win doesn’t fare much better, having totally failed the Bechdel Test this episode (and, honestly, most of the episodes this season). It’s just so incredibly frustrating, because G’Win could be a really fascinating character in her own right – she clearly knows a shit-ton about healing and medicine and the history of the clans, but all we get is her talking about Little Foster to Asa, or about Asa to Lady Ray, and everything is all about her relationships with men, and it really drives me up the wall. 

Also, can I just offer a little public service announcement to television writers: LOVE TRIANGLES ARE FUCKING BORING. Most of the time, it’s just an indication of lazy writing, because it’s super easy to just make make that character – and all their actions and discussions – focus on the love triangle. And it’s not even necessary for the sake of interesting drama: you can put obstacles in the way of romantic couples without introducing another person into the mix. (Exhibit A: Hasil and Sally Ann. They’ve got 99 problems, but a love triangle ain’t one.)

And I know I shouldn’t complain when the writers make real attempts to develop characters (I already ran through my complaint budget last week, when I went on and on about the lack of characterization in the show), but the way they tried to redeem Big Foster this episode was fairly irritating. Because we’ve already established that Big Foster is The Worst: he neglects and manipulates his son, pathologically lies to get what he wants (or to avoid the consequences of his actions), makes choices that leads to the death of another son, and manually suffocates his own mother (and that’s just in the first four episodes). But now the writers are, like, “No, no, he’s not that bad! He really does believe things! He has true convictions! He’s not trying to kill Asa because he’s a violent psychopath, he just feels threatened by Asa…” Seriously, I’d be more sympathetic to this line of thinking if I hadn’t just watched Big Foster do just about every terrible thing a human being can do to another human being. 

(I will say that David Morse really does try to sell this redemption angle, and I almost end up buying it just from the way he delivers this chastisement to Asa in the barn: ”I’m something you’ll never be: loyal… to my family, to our way of life. So you say whatever you like about me, alright? I don’t hear your words. ‘Cause you drifted away. Now, you’re drifting on back. Nah, you ain’t nothing but a breeze… and not much more.”)

But then I roll my eyes at what is essentially a ten-minute version of Asa and Big Foster playing live-action BattleBots with two CAT excavators. (And then – shocking, I know – Big Foster tries to kill, or at least maim, Asa by smashing the cab of his machine.) In the end, they stop fighting among themselves long enough to blow up/destroy some of the coal company’s machinery and watch in glee as the fireball explodes over the night sky.

Now the real question is: what did Asa have in mind when he asked Big Foster to come down with him to mess with the coal company’s equipment? Because we know that Asa’s method involves more subterfuge and strategy (like the way he secretly pours poison into Ned’s family’s water tank at the end of the episode) and he doesn’t really approve of using direct violence/destruction that can be traced back to the Farrells. Was he hoping that Big Foster would be injured or killed during the excursion? Did he want him to get caught and then arrested? (Of course, Lady Ray did tell him in the previous episode that Big Foster was “[hers] and [hers] alone to reckon,” but we all know Asa doesn’t always follow directions well.) Sadly, we’ll never know, because the show doesn’t tell us these things and Asa’s as much of a closed book as ever.

Now I know you must be thinking: wait, as a die-hard Sasil fan, why didn’t you love this episode in spite of all its minor (non-Sasil-related) flaws? Isn’t it enough that your two precious babies finally got down to sweet, sweet business? To which I say, yes, of course, any episode that has Hasil telling Sally Ann that he imagined their first time being outside under a tree with the stars shining will win kudos and accolades in my book (and, seriously, he had thought about it that much? so fucking adorable!), but re-watching the scene itself filled me with a few qualms that I still have trouble totally setting aside. 

In general, these two completely slay me – I love the scene where Hasil gives her the carved bear and she kisses him, and I’ve talked about how this scene is so well-done and allows us to see so much about the characters and the way they think. (For different reasons, I also think the scene near the end of the episode with Sally Ann and James is masterfully crafted. So much is conveyed in so little time; the script is economical but brilliant, and both actors totally sell the interaction.) 

Essentially, my qualms come down to the sex stuff – and not even the fact that they have sex at all, but in the way that it happens. Many of us, when we first saw the episode, were pretty taken aback by the haste of the encounter, and in later analysis I tried to make as much sense of it as I could, but with time and distance, something about it still feels off to me. Like Asa’s star-spangled-spoken-word poem two episodes earlier, the fact that Sally Ann and Hasil go into the house, take off their clothes, and have sex pretty much immediately (with basically no foreplay) just has the writers’ fingerprints all over it, at least in my opinion. (Again, the actors sell it so well, what with all the ass-slapping and the laughing, that I want to buy it, but I just can’t imagine that these two wouldn’t have taken their time a little more. For most people, first times – even when the parties involved are super into each other – are slower and more awkward than that.) The scene right after kills me, though: the way he looks at her so intently, the way she stares off into the distance and then smiles at him when he asks how she is… sweet Jesus. 

Grade: B- (raised a grade for the way Wade says the words “butter cookies” + lowered a grade for all the time the episode wasted showing Breece at his non-job + raised a grade for all the weird little production design touches, like the carved duck decoy Wade uses to decorate his new office or the cat furniture and Bowflex in Sally Ann and James’s home + lowered two grades for the fact that the BattleBots sequence went on for-fucking-ever)

[lafiametta]

Outsiders Season 1 Rewatch: Episode 4 (”Rubberneck”)

(Feel free to check out my previous posts: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3...)

All in all, this was a solid workhorse of an episode. A few plot strings got tied together and we can see a nice linear progression of events, especially when it comes to Asa (which I’ll talk about in a bit).

What I also like about it is that we really can see some smooth manipulators at work (Asa, Haylie Grimes, G’Win, and Big Foster) and how they’re able to get what they want out of some pretty unsuspecting victims (Hasil, Ledda, Breece, and Little Foster). 

Big Foster, of course, reminds us why he’s The Worst -- in his two interactions with his son, he builds him up, embracing him, telling Little Foster that he’s his “best son” (words Little Foster has probably been waiting for years to hear), only to tear him down with his manipulative insinuations about G’Win and Asa. (Some of which are true, but still, Big Foster’s such an asshole about it that it’s hard not have your heart broken for Little Foster six ways to Sunday.) And partly, Big Foster is doing it for fun -- just look at his shit-eating grin when he watches Little Foster beat up Asa after Big Foster shows him proof (the rabbit’s foot) that Asa has been hanging around G’Win’s greenhouse. (Plus, Big Foster needs a proxy for his mischief now that Lady Ray woke up and has threatened to tell everyone what he did to her if he takes another false step.)

G’Win is not quite The Worst, although I really do hate the love triangle business and this episode is full of it. Poor Little Foster: once he’s done being manipulated by his father, he goes to G’Win and asks her to marry him (just to prove his father wrong), only for her to slip her way out of it (not saying no, not saying yes) by blaming his father and his “poison” for instilling doubt about her feelings in Little Foster’s mind. She also manipulates Asa a little (or at least tries to have her cake and eat it, too) when she tells him at towards the end of the episode that she loves Little Foster and is going to stay with him (because “he doesn’t run”), only to immediately start making out with him (Asa, not Little Foster). At least they’re in Asa’s cabin, though, so maybe the whole freaking mountain won’t be able to watch them do it through the windows...

Oh, but Haylie Grimes -- talk about a master operator! Her style is more self-deprecating (”What, li’l ol’ me? Don’t listen to my dumb ideas...” *bats eyelashes*) but damn if doesn’t work on some of the less shrewd members of the male population of Blackburg (the sheriff, Breece). And even though the sheriff is all “don’t tell me how to do my job, lady,” she still gets what she wants, which is for the sheriff’s office to retrieve the coal company’s backhoe (which the Farrells stole during their wanton destruction of the equipment in the last episode). Now, it all ends rather disastrously -- for the sheriff in particular, who ends up getting his head cut off in what looks to be some kind of bear trap -- and now with Wade in charge, she’s got even less influence with local law enforcement. Breece is an even easier mark: he can just be won over with a new truck and a fancy managerial job as a “community liaison officer,” although Breece’s life seems pretty sad, so maybe we’ll just let him have that as a win. (What’s super funny, though, is that Wade pretty much sees straight through Haylie’s bullshit -- or maybe he’s just too scared of the Farrells -- and all of her tricks are basically powerless. Third possibility: he’s too blasted on Oxycontin to care.)

Asa is up to all kinds of tricks in town, mostly on his quest to turn the situation with the coal company drone to his (and the clans’) advantage. He figures out he can get the drone repaired by the local electronics guy (Donnie), but only in exchange for some Farrell Wine, and he can only learn more about the coal company executives from Ledda, who he knows to be sympathetic figure, because he saw her at the town hearing defending the rights of the Farrells to stay on the mountain. (She’s so nice to him -- she offers him coffee -- and then he steals her laptop! He does bring it back when he’s done with it, but, still, Asa, that’s a jerk move and you know it.) 

Asa also manipulates the hell out of Hasil in an otherwise super cute scene where he asks Hasil about his “girl” and teaches him how to spell Sally Ann’s name (in sugar, as if the whole thing could  possibly be more saccharine!). Because we all really know what Asa wants -- the second bottle of Farrell Wine Hasil stole, so he can exchange it for repairs on the drone -- and it’s so clear how he’s buttering up Hasil in order to get it. (And this is our only scene with Hasil this episode! Boo! Whatever, let’s just look at Hasil’s happy face as he stares down at Sally Ann’s name, shall we?)

The other thing that’s kind of interesting about this episode is that it tries to highlight the two different approaches that Big Foster and Asa have when it comes to dealing with the dangers of the coal company. Big Foster’s method is just to do what the Farrells have always done -- sneak down and destroy/sabotage property and threaten violence -- with the full confidence that it’ll continue to work in the future. Big Foster’s traditional methods are meant to contrast with Asa’s newfangled ones -- rather than just steal property (which can be replaced), Asa literally threatens the coal company where they live, by using the repaired drone to take secret footage of Ned Osborne (and his family). The plot points of Asa’s work in town are pretty easy to follow: first he sees Donnie (to get the drone repaired), then Ledda (to find out more about the coal company executives), then Hasil (who will give him the second jug of Farrell Wine), and then he finally starts spying on the Osbornes. (And, of course, the footage of the Osbornes at the end of the episode is meant to mirror the drone footage of the Farrells at the beginning of the episode, showing how the coal company’s tricks can be turned against them.) But even within the show, it’s clearly confirmed that Asa’s approach is the better one: Lady Ray tells Asa that she thinks there’s a reason he came back, that he’s “the only one who can save us.” (Now what goes unsaid is that there’s a third possibility: that the mountain can save itself. When the sheriff and Wade and Fults are hiking their way up, they’re spied upon by Phelia, and then for some reason they get lost -- remember how this also happens in Episode 13, with all the police? -- and then the main threat -- the sheriff -- ends up dead via a bear trap that just happened to be in his way. There are definite hints that the mountain has quasi-supernatural self-protective qualities, and I like that the show puts them out there without necessarily hitting us over the head with it.) 

The one thing I have to say, though, is that through all this pretty well-developed plotting, I wish that there had been more time for characterization. When it comes down to the question of the balance between plot and character, it’s clear that Outsiders favors the former, which often makes for exciting television, but not necessarily the kind that sticks with you over time. I mentioned in my post on the last episode that Asa suffers from this lack of full development when it comes to his character, and honestly, I think just about every character aside from Hasil and Big Foster could use more development. Lady Ray, for example, is such a tantalizing figure, and we should have learned so much more about her life and her background (especially all the questions surrounding her husband, Big Foster’s father). I would love to know more about why she feels so torn about Big Foster, why she won’t report his crimes to the Elders (aside from just, “well, he’s my son,” or even worse, “the writers won’t let me kill or banish him because we need him as an antagonist in later episodes”). (I’ve also talked about how we should have learned more about Sally Ann as a character, but I could go on and on about that for far too long, so I’ll stop now.) Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!), I wish this show wouldn’t sacrifice developed characterization in the service of plot -- you can have both! I promise!

Oh, I know I kind of glossed over it but, yes, during this episode a man really does get his head cut off in a fucking bear trap. And then it tumbles, tumbles, tumbles down the mountain. (I guess it must stop at some point...) Laying aside the feasibility of it all -- that bear trap didn’t really look big enough to catch a whole human head in it; also, are bear traps really strong enough to instantly cut through a spinal cord? and, seriously, why would the sheriff decide to go up the mountain with just two deputies and no back-up? -- it’s our first really *shocking* moment on Outsiders (aside from the manual suffocation of Lady Ray in the first episode). But so many more to come, though...

So now Wade’s the sheriff... and he’s got to deal with the Farrells. Whoo boy. Yeah, I’d be digging in the dirt for my lost Oxycontin pills, too, if I were him. 

Grade: B+ (A solid episode, but no Sally Ann? No Krake? Also, I miss Butch and Donnie is not a decent substitute. But extra points for the brilliant moment of dark comedy when we see the third emergency responder having to carry around the sheriff’s severed head in a Ziploc bag)

[msredo]

Catching up with “Outsiders” S01EP10 : well, ain’t that some fucked up Farrell shit!!!

Wade was the episode’s MVP for me. Good one line quips : “Just because I have a mustache and this badge doesn’t mean I am a racist”, “I’ve always wanted to tell you you’re a turd” (to bad the one he said it to ended up...well, you know...”big Fostered”...I’ll get to him next). I liked that he seems to have decided to climb back to life after literally hitting rock bottom and enjoyed his “no more fucks left to give” attitude. His deputy sheriff i also a keeper. Hope he doesn’t get ...you know...Farrelled too.

Talking about Farrells and fuckery, Big Foster level of psychopathology surprised me...in a good way. I quite enjoyed how unpredictable and dangerous he’s been acting. I am also glad his guilty conscious (and his mother’s ghost) catching up with his son of a gun’s ass. His shit is gonna hit the Farrells so hard... He is making a good fucked up Bren’in. I find him quite entertaining right now. 

I wish (or may be not) I could say the same about G’win but I am utterly UNimpressed by her more and more each episode. Like, at first I though she was playing some long leg Games of throne power play and then that she was even trying and poisoning Big Foster. That made her a tiny bit interesting. But then there was that scene with Asa and I was like : WTF is that? Like, really? Why? That made absolutely no sense. Why did she asked for him? What the fuck was that bull she keeps talking about doing it for the clan and “trying and changing him”?! UGH! Just UGH! Adding to that the absolute zero chemistry veering on awkwardness between those two actors/characters who were supposed to be having this angst and repressed passion-filled heart-wrenching moment but felt like watching paint dry, and I was hoping Lil’ Foster pathetic assassination attempt would indeed accidentally kill HER.

As for Asa, I am still not understanding what his big plan is (and on the verge of  not caring) and I am still struggling to even glimpse one iota of charismatic leadership in him. (Also the way the actors try so HARD to sound like what he think a Farrell should sounds HAS to stop). Why is he the hero again?

Thank Beysus for Sasil and their cute puppy love for adding so much love, grace and beauty in there. I loved that we got to learn about Hasil’s backstory, and I liked the way he described his relationship with the clan. Even though their scene were weirdly cut, it really feels like they are in some kind of bubble/honeymoon, cut from the outside world (his and her), given a lil bit of respite before they get hit too by the shit storm that’s gathering all around. And I bet that nosy Coal company lady is gonna play a part in pulling that shit trigger. 

I kind of like how the writing has more and more problems piling against the Farrells, either as direct or indirect consequences of their behaviour, pushing Wade to take action despite all his efforts not to, and leading to some fated big confrontation. It’s not the most subtle, nor the best well executed, but somehow it kind of work for this show. At least for now. Maybe it’s due to the fact that it’s a short series so it doesn’t get boring for too long. Anyway, good show. Looking forward to see where it will keep going.