Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
“The Outer Range” may be a damaged family drama with the catchy hook of inexplicable, uncanny genre, but its most profound and moving qualities may be its ideas of faith and meaning and what happens when the unexplainable shatters what’s left of your beliefs.
-
An economy of dialogue and a protraction of plot serve Outer Range well, as the mystery of the big spooky hole in the Abbotts’ west pasture isn’t the point of the series so much as its psychological fulcrum.
-
For a show to embrace the strange elements of the cosmos and intertwine them with everyday life as well as Outer Range does is worth praising for that alone. It is both creative and cathartic, revealing much about the family at its center even as it finds splendor in the overwhelming awe of the unknown.
-
It’s impossible to touch on every nook and cranny of “Outer Range” without spoiling its surprises. Just know that every corner holds a secret, that every metaphysical query leads toward a more puzzling mystery. And yet, the emotional weight of the show never gets bogged down by reveals.
-
"Outer Range" certainly corrals one's attention, wrangling a herd of plotlines into just the first of eight episodes. ... The creator of "Outer Range," newcomer Brian Watkins, is clearly striving for a gothic-in-the-great-outdoors atmosphere and is successful at it, even without the portal.
-
Always weird, sometimes annoying, but frequently fascinating, Outer Range has Yellowstone's same sense of a cowboy family unaware that it has lived out its time—but in this case, the encroachment is not being done by modernity, but something antediluvian that's returned for a possession it left behind.
-
What meaning does anything hold next to the nothing of oblivion? The question courses through Outer Range, an alluring exploration of lives and lands that have been all but annihilated.
-
The show is mostly about how the hole’s very presence affects the Abbotts and the Tillersons, and the way their animus ripples down through generations. Its ambitions are subtle but powerful, and I can’t wait to see how deep the rabbit hole goes in future seasons.
-
This is a series that drops in hints and clues and moments of foreshadowing in sometimes frustratingly small doses (we want answers, now!), but when the reveals do come, we’re shocked and delighted, and somehow all the madness begins to make some kind of sense.
-
With no promise that more Outer Range is coming, some will find it worrisome. But if you can appreciate what you've taken in and can recognize the potential for something truly great ahead, you'll find Outer Range worth the confusion.
-
Quirky, strange, dark — and engaging.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 14 out of 19
-
Mixed: 3 out of 19
-
Negative: 2 out of 19
-
Apr 21, 2022
-
Jun 19, 2022
-
May 10, 2022