SKEVIKOR IS COMING: REVIEW FROM THE OUTPOST EP. 407

 

Season 4 (3b) of The Outpost reaches its perigee with the release of ep. 407, The Power of The Masters, an episode that, if it seemed too short to many of us, was undoubtedly due to its energetic narrative spirit. The plots advance rapidly without us hardly noticing and, when it seems that the series is going to reveal some momentous event, it stops to show us the credits, hooking us more and more, taking over our souls and claiming them in the same way as so called Gods do it with the kinjs they once possessed. The virtue of The Outpost is precisely that, to offer what is just and necessary for the viewer to come thirsty for action, romance and adventure next week. On this occasion, the chapter is galloping between several different scenarios.

We already knew Gallwood and The Capital very well, and we had even had the opportunity to visit Aegysfort a little, but to those three sites there is now a fourth, the town of Relman, to which Talon and Luna are forced to go in their search for the key Skevikor, while their friends Garret, Zed and Janzo try to preserve order in Gallwood in the absence of Tobin and Falista. Fateful is the innocent queen's fate, whose political career seems to culminate here, paradoxically, in the same way that circumstances claimed Gwynn's life. Falista had always called her weak, but deep down she was nothing but envy. She envied that Gwynn had been as respected and loved by her people as she was hated by all of her subjects. Falista wanted to open a new stage of peace through treaty and diplomacy, amending the mistake of her ancestors in expelling the Blackbloods from the kingdom ... in short, to be a better queen than Gwynn. However, sometimes fate has very cruel ways of teaching a lesson: be careful what you wish for. Falista has not only left this orbit as a legitimate usurper, but she has done so without hardly achieving any of her purposes, except for the will to return the kinjs to the gods. We have barely been given a moment to regret the farewell of Georgia May Foote's character, which many of us didn't even dislike. Perhaps it was because of the sweetness in her voice, because of her naivety, because of her innocence, or because of both at the same time. To me, personally, Falista always seemed like a girl who enjoyed playing with a scepter and a crown. I thought the series, in one way or another, would try to save this antagonist to give her a second chance as a protagonist. It doesn'tseem that she is going to be like that, at least for the moment, so, no matter how much it weighs us, goodbye, Falista; may we meet again...

Fortunately, Tobin used his only escape from certain death, his own kinj. However, the life of the 'new' and 'risen' Tobin was entirely linked to Falista. Both of them were up to ride into the sunset together once they had disposed of their kinjs. Tobin now finds himself alone on the throne for the first time and doubts hang over him after this unpredictable setback. There is always a rip for a ripped and every sheep has her match in The Outpost, so it's no small wonder who the writers would match Tobin with. We must admit that, although there are more understanding characters with this new humanoid and mortal race, who usually sleep in pupae like butterfly larvae awaiting the end of the metamorphosis, Tobin has all the ballots to become a staunch enemy of these beings, whom we get to know a little better every day thanks to Janzo's inquiries. Unfortunately, the death of the queen has also confirmed a doubt that had been floating in the air for weeks, the degree of influence and the power of mental subjugation of the gods. When Garret pressured Tobin to turn him against Falista, the knight always argued that his loyal wife was no longer a free spirit, which is somewhat true. Non-gods - what type of god is a god who can die - can establish collective telepathic communication with all those who possess kinjs and make them susceptible to their whims, something that is both an advantage and a disadvantage for Talon and Zed, since as long as they carry them, they will always be traceable, which will make it very difficult for them to hide their thoughts and hatch a plan to defeat them, when the time comes.

Yes, when time has come, because now the top priority is to find the key to the Skevikor before they do. And Talon and Luna have devoted themselves to that mission, who, in their journey through the woods, don't speak again about personal or sentimental matters. However, there is someone who is concerned - angry, rather - and who has shown us many times throughout the episode: Garret. With a ring and a promise to keep, nothing seems to stand in the way of the young captain, who the soldiers of Gallwood's guard don't trust when he explains that Tobin has appointed him provisional regent of the outpost. As it is, Garret chokes on speeches and draws his sword, because the edge of a weapon is worth more than the words of a man ... things are clear and chocolate is thick. His arrival doesn't contribute to maintaining the little order in the weaponyard. It's hard to see Garret in this state of unrestrained rage because, let's face it, it's not reason that rules him right now. Talon is the epicenter of his thoughts and any problem to be solved is an uncomfortable distraction.

The tavern scene is funny and very illustrative. Zed and Garret are not at their best as men: they are not quite up to scratch in love, because even Zed's flirting with Nedra ends up in a black bottomless pit as a result of what could have and was not avoided. Wren, Nedra and Talon are the last living blackbloods, but Wren is expecting a son from Janzo who is not going to be purebred and Talon has a crush on Garret, so Zed hopes to play a bigger role in the blackblood lineage so, unless Talon changes his mind, the warrior hopes to solve the ethnic problem of his people in this way. However, he will have to distill more intelligence to woo tough Nedra, which amuses Garret, who sarcastically reminds him of that question Zed asked him in the woods regarding Talon: "Is she your breathe?" 

The captain takes advantage of that conversation to elicit more details from Zed about Talon's strange and distant behavior in recent days, to which his friend responds bluntly. Talon has spent a lot of time serving others and now she's focused on her people, who need her more than ever to re-root themselves in a world that doesn't welcome them with open arms. Garret suspects, not without reason, that Zed has remarkably influenced her, trying to force her into blackblood affairs, causing her to hesitate between her heart and what is right, and perhaps he smile as they have a few drinks in the tavern, but in the outskirts of that casual atmosphere, Garret is a very different person.

Maybe we shouldn't take his fits of rage into account, because Spears is undoubtedly angry, not at anyone in particular, but at the world itself for conspiring to keep him away from Talon. On the other hand, it's true that Garret used to obey orders from him as a soldier, and that should have taught him to control his feelings when they come between him and his goals. Spears may not go down in history as the best of the regents, but at least he doesn't prove to be much more incompetent and inept than Tobin and Falista. He lacks the applied psychology and the patience of Janzo, who finally manages to add new notes to his book of discoveries: 3-1-3 communicated through his chrysalis, his naviaspore, with the Masters, the name with which his species designates the dominant hierarchy, that is, Vorta, Tera, Janya, Kultor ... those who were known as The Seven by other earthly cultures.

He and his sleeping friends are servants who simply obey their telepathic orders and, perhaps, both these and humans or blackbloods were used as vessels to store their souls. It's even possible that the souls stored by the Masters had been stolen from them and that these are the fifth essence of the kinjs, which in the blackblood language is translated as “soul”. Our question here is whether the kinjs, which are containers of the souls, power and wisdom of all who have possessed them, could be used to revive those former possessors in the same way  when Gwynn and Yavalla died their kinjs returned to their former owners. If there is such a possibility, the only way to check it would be by killing the gods. If there is magic, we can still hope to meet again with those beloved characters who left us.

And, as a river of discord floods Gallwood, amidst the creature's menacing presence and increasing disputes between Garret, Zed, Janzo, and Wren, Talon and Luna rush to find out the key's whereabouts, a quest that leads them to recruit a former character missing since Season 2. Naya (Amita Suman), who was then revealed to be Janzo's long-lost sister, whose farewell at the end of Season 2 added a touch of bitterness to the final victory against the Prime Order and the Plaguelings, reappears to support the two adventurers and lead them to the secret hiding place where Dred stored all kinds of mysterious artifacts of power and priceless value. It's worth highlighting here the expertise and thoroughness of The Outpost twriters, who have managed to weave together such an isolated and irrelevant plot seamlessly in previous seasons of the series. The Prime Order, the order of the dragman girls and the Masters, those creatures that could finally be nothing but aliens, seem to converge around the key of the Skevikor, as if the Prime Order, despite everything, has struggled to protect the secret of its location. So much interest in protecting such a contraption invites us to think that it can be a reservoir of energy powerful enough to unleash a great cataclysm, so what is the point of hiding something that is harmless or useless? That vortex of intrinsically related storylines could mean that the end of the series is coming...

LOVE AND RESPONSABILITY: REVIEW FROM EP. 4X06 OF THE OUTPOST

In this episode, directed by Imogen Waterhouse -our once great queen Gwynn-, our friends try to prevent the tough and mature Tobin and Falista from fulfilling the will of the so-called divine beings who flood their minds with visions with precise instructions to obtain the only thing that matters to them, their precious kinjs, while along the way they discover and learn more about these pale, horned creatures with black blood. All We Do is To Say Goodbye is a brilliant and eloquent episode, a chapter with a frenetic rhythm that leaves the viewer with honey on the lips and that, above all, is an episode of characters, fully focused on their concerns and in their decisions, which will mark them psychologically.

Some of them, as it often happens in the theme of this season, face constant dilemmas that force them to decide between what they themselves consider correct, and what their peers think should be the ideal according to their traditions or their culture, as is the case with Wren. Her last Blackblood companions pressure her to act as the High Priestess she should become as the sole heir of Yavalla, since the knowledge and history of her people are passed down from priestess to priestess and. If she refuses, not only her survivors life will be in danger, but also  their memory, which provides lessons for the future.

To be Yavalla's first-born, Wren received neither great affection nor great support from her mother, perhaps precisely due to the fact that blackblood priestesses must avoid being mothers and the transfer of knowledge is carried out by other means than the blood. Nedra, a childhood friend of the brothers Zed and Corven, is against blackblood children receiving mixed education, which motivates Wren to carry out even more eagerly that position for which she doesn't feel at all prepared, because she doesn't believe in magic as much in the human science. But above all, Wren trusts Janzo, and knows that the mistakes made by the ancestors of the people who forced their people into exile in the Plain of Ashes cannot be blamed, because that implies misjudging innocent people who had nothing to do with those dark events. Basing the education of the later Blackblood children on the customs and traditions of the Blackbloods is meaningless in a shared world where they have to coexist with other races and which often severely punishes tribalism. Therefore, Wren is determined to find a balance between her spiritual responsibility and her duty as a mother, because she is not only the mother of Janzo's son, but also the alma mater of her people, in the most transcendental sense of the word. Education, dialogue and interculturality are the pillars on which Wren wants to support the future of Blackblood society.

We ignore most of the secrets of the Blackbloods, but with the help of Janzo, Wren and Luna, we have learned a little more, because if there is one thing that distinguishes this chapter from the previous ones, it is because of its high content of mysteries and findings. Janzo, determined to unravel the enigma of the Skevikor key, finds next to Luna a cavity that houses a colossal hive of dormant chrysalis that contain strange creatures very similar in appearance to the gods. Somehow, the jambs of the portal illustrate as vignettes what appears to be the story of the exile and origin of the Blackbloods, curiously linked to Luna's training in the Dragman Sanctuary. All this, together with the telepathic instructions issued by Tera, Janya and Vorta to bring Tobin and Falista to their presence in the capital, suggest that the Skevikor could be an artifact destined to awaken the beings that doze in the Gallwood crypt, whose souls seem to reside in the bodies of Tera and Vorta. The dragmans would have been in charge of hiding it or keeping the secret of its location, which invites us to think of a time of wisdom and cultural exchange between humans and blackbloods hundreds of years ago, long before the banishment of the pointed ears people.

All We Do is To Say Goodbye involves personal resignations and changes in the thinking of each character, even taking other directions that could separate them. A goodbye without going back. Until now, Zed had been silent and tolerated with more or less jealousy and reluctance the love affair between Talon and Garret. However, now the warrior questions many things, and one of them is Talon's responsibility towards his people. Zed has always been a loyal and obedient soldier who needs to put his finger on the wound to believe something foreign to his conscience. Not that of his is exactly a declaration of love in captivity, but in some way or another, he justifies the need to join Talon in perpetuating the blackblood bloodline. However, Talon is very clear about who he really loves and will not put the customs of his people before her own desires, but neither will the whim of a man over the well-being of those around her, which translates into a strong blow for both Zed and for Garret, the latter eager to finally rejoin her after once more outwitting the guards and the bars of Gallwood. Talon and Wren try to be understanding and understand other people's point of view. The difference is that Talon wants to find happiness and build a new future for herself regardless of her own past.

Each dawn implies a new dusk, and this in turn is the prelude to a new day. Shadows and lights dance in Tobin's heart. The light of his destiny as king of Gallwood and the shadow of his love for the indomitable Falista have prompted him to rebel against anyone who violates both wishes. Blinded by such sins, he has abandoned his most loyal friends and learned to believe what he would never have dreamed of as a child. The evolution of his character is noticeably palpable in this episode, especially in that face-to-face duel with Talon and Garret on the outskirts of the camp, a scene as dramatic as intense. Tobin has just made a critical decision: he leaves Gallwood's fate in the hands of Garret Spears by giving him the ring as a symbol of his commitment. Deep down, what Tobin wants most is to be by Falista's side and he is willing to take any risk in order to enjoy her company, even if that may mean his own death.

Even if he doesn't officially state himself, Tobin's gesture actually constitutes a personal resignation. It's an act of compassion and loyalty towards Garret as a good friend of him, and a goodbye, as his ways separate. But even that doesn't assure Garret a triumphant kiss from Talon, and it's hard to discern what their feelings are. The relationship between the two protagonists has turned cold, perhaps because Talon grudgingly acknowledges that Zed is right and her duty should be to take care of her people, or because accepting responsibility means choosing a different path than someone else wouldn't have choosen ... Who knows! The romantic swings between Talon and Garret are increasingly oscillating and there is no doubt that some behaviors of the Sir Knight have been reprehensible. It's as if Talon doesn't trust him anymore or prefers to distance him from her because she thinks that her obligations entail carrying banners of a different sign and color. 

When Luna asks for an explanation for her refusal to have Garret accompany them to the sanctuary, Talon paradoxically uses the excuse that both of them have more in common and that Luna seemed uncomfortable having to relive bitter memories in that place. Talon insists that she is her friend, but what friendship can be formed if there is no mutual trust? Talon is not even able to being honest to herself and despite everything she demands trust from others. 

Talon's reaction in the woods, much to Zed's amusement, perplexes Garret, who will rightly wonder what fly has bitten his girlfriend. We don't know how it will affect him from now on, but one thing is for sure: if Garret had put right before duty, and even love before right, perhaps now, love evaporated, he will focus more on his duties  regarding the kingdom Tobin has given him in his absence. Maybe Garret should say goodbye to Talon...