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Critic Reviews
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These extended sojourns on the mountain, though beautifully shot, are self-serious to the point of spoof. That said, the performances--a supremely shaggy David Morse as Big Foster, a mercurial leader of the clan, Joe Anderson as Asa, who returned to the fold after a decade in the outside world, and Thomas M. Wright as troubled deputy Wade Houghton Jr., with a mysterious link to the Farrells--are strong throughout. And there's much in the material that resonates.
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This is a firmly grounded and compelling drama that’s both ripe for lampooning on Saturday Night Life and rich in story possibilities. Its us-against-them template holds solid over the first five episodes.
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Sweeping and complex with a large cast of characters to delve into, The Outsiders isn’t necessarily new or gripping television, but it’s structured drama that delivers results thanks to the likes of Peter Tolan and Paul Giamatti at the helm as executive producers.
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The pace and writing are meaningful and sometimes verge on elegant, as Outsiders patiently explores the power dynamics in the town and the strange world on the mountaintop above.
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Though Outsiders seems to have high ambitions and a complex story to tell, it’s not pretentious. There are great elements to it that are reminiscent to the FX series Sons of Anarchy and Justified, although it also occupies its own unique space.
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The world of the show feels lived in, especially once it discovers its sense of humor, evidenced by an escalatingly destructive drinking-and-bonding session between Foster and Asa. For all its essential artificiality, Outsiders’ cast resolutely keeps things natural.
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Some of the scenes verge on action-movie absurdity (most of the stuff involving all-terrain vehicles feels like a real-world hiccup of the Mad Max series), but there are low-key, even tender moments, too, sometimes with a touch of odd humor.
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Outsiders is slow going in its opening chapters, and the best hope for the 13-episode run is that the series does generally improve as it progresses, by the fourth and fifth episodes finding moments of dark humor, while hostilities between the corporate interests and the family gradually escalate. Although Morse is compelling as always--boozing, scheming and defiant by turns--the real standout is Wright as the stammering, weary sheriff.
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Tethered by Morse’s violent portrayal, Outsiders spins its story on a pace unlike most other prime-time shows.
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Outsiders is a decent addition to the [bearded strongmen struggling for power] field, with just enough peculiar intrigue, world-building, and acting heft to make its existence--sorry--justified. [29 Jan/5 Feb 2016, p.103]
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Jousting on ATVs aside, there’s not a lot of exciting, forward plot momentum in the first few episodes, but later episodes spend more time with characters in town, and episode four includes a plot twist that will either make viewers sit up and take notice or prompt them to turn off the TV.
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If the half-baked subcultural anthropology doesn't grab you, Outsiders starts slow, but begins detonating little pockets of insanity in nearly every episode, proving that audacity without dramatic foundation can be amusing, if not necessarily good.
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It's a mixed bag of a series that can seem smart or silly from scene to scene and is less convincing in its epic poses than in its most ordinary moments.
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Outsiders is a fantasy-tinged family saga that promises to be a hoot but turns sluggish and humdrum after a few episodes.
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The ambition’s an admirable one, and Outsiders clearly has ambitions. But what it doesn’t have is much of a story or all that much conviction in the one it’s telling.
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Over the first five episodes made available for review, the show--created by Peter Mattei with producers including Peter Tolan (Rescue Me) and Paul Giamatti--amounts to a hill of beans. Beans with a lot of gassy verbiage.
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Relentlessly grimy and brutally violent, Outsiders is an exhausting trek through mountain muck.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 43 out of 63
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Mixed: 7 out of 63
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Negative: 13 out of 63
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Feb 15, 2016
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Jan 27, 2016
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Jan 27, 2016