Everybody Hurts – The episode starts with Amy Abbott (Olive Abercrombie) swinging on a swing set while a commune leader leads a meeting about unlocking the infinite possibilities of the universe.
Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin) wakes to find Cecilia Abbott (Lil Taylor) fully dressed and staring mindlessly out of their bedroom window. After she complains about his tossing and turning, he joins her at the window to share his dream about Amy. It’s not long after witnessing Autumn Rivers (Imogen Poots) limping out of the house, on her way to church, that Cecilia leaves to make coffee before court.
Rhett Abbott (Lewis Pullman) is in bed with Maria Olivares (Isabel Arraiza) when he receives a call from Royal, reminding him of their court date. Rhett offers Maria to join him but she doesn’t think it would be the best time to make a reintroduction to his parents. She tries to raise his spirits by saying they know Amy is with Rebecca.
Luke Tillerson (Shaun Sipos) daydreams out of the front window as he watches his brother, Billy Tillerson (Noah Reid) return from the hospital. He later becomes troubled when he learns that Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton) has sent Billy’s nurses home because he doesn’t want strangers in charge of his care. Luke tries to convince Wayne to let him take care of West Pasture and the Abbotts, but when Wayne asks where he would start, Luke doesn’t have a response. Luke then leaves for court and tells Luke that Pastor Ken (Johnny Sneed) will be stopping by but don’t let him stay too long.
Despite Todd Barney’s (William Sterchi) best attempts things do not go well for the Abbott’s in court. Even with Amy missing and Perry Abbott (Tom Pelphrey) AWOL, Judge Pettigrew (Michael O’Neill) offers little pitty. If anything, Wayne cleverly uses it against them to bring attention to Trevor Tillerson’s (Matt Lauria) murder. Ultimately, the judge orders them to repay their $500,000 debt by Monday or forfeit the ranch.
While Autumn introduces herself to Pastor Ken by apologizing for the earlier incident, Perry gets a new Wyoming driver’s license under the alias Ben Younger. Afterward, he meets with Young Royal Abbott (Christian James), who teases him about his picture before introducing him to Mrs. Thurbee (Linda Rae Jurgens). Perry buys a new Stetson and asks if she’s seen Rebecca. Young Royal later reveals Thurbee to be his last living relative, although she doesn’t know it.
Autumn impresses Ken by helping with an unruly charge named Mustang Sally while Royal and Cecilia discuss a strategy for coming up with the $500,000. Wayne appears to want to start cashing in favors from neighbors and family but Cecilia would much rather rely on their goodwill with the bank. Their meeting with the Loan Officer, Lindsay Shankler (Rose Hau) doesn’t provide any relief, even after agreeing to the much higher interest rates. Cecilia attempts to appeal to the Abbott and Shankler family connection, but Lindsay claims Perry’s actions changed everything.
Luke is mindlessly daydreaming out the window again when Ken shows up with several parishioners to visit Billy. Luke is stunned to see Autumn with the group and when he confronts her after the visit, she schedules a later meeting at the Handsome Gambler. Autumn also gets a chance to speak with Billy alone and fills him in on her situation with Royal. When they return to the church, Autmun questions Ken about the validity of prayer. This clearly upsets him and he basically tells her wild theories aren’t welcome around here, but if she wants to ‘serve’ she can come back any time she pleases.
Perry attempts to make sense of Rebecca’s leaving him and his abandonment of Amy while saddling a horse with Young Royal. Although Young Royal and Perry’s argument doesn’t go so well, Autumn’s meeting with Luke is rather informative. He tells her about the holes closing up as well as seeing visions of her in an all-powerful transformation with loads of followers. He claims that Billy wasn’t there. When she claims she wants to see this for herself, he tells her that she’s been to the hole. She says she has but didn’t know you could take the mineral. Although he claims to not have any minerals to offer, he does offer her a ride home which she accepts.
Due to Luke’s absence at the Tillerson’s Farm, Billy attempts to retrieve his painkillers for the nightstand. While doing so, he becomes disturbed by a small model car and falls to the floor where he is later discovered by Wayne. After a bit of cryptic communication, Wayne learns that the model car contains a bag of minerals from the hole. Wayne gets it, feeds some to Billy, and then kisses him on the lips to soak up the remainder. After doing so, they both spend several minutes floating in ecstasy.
Autumn and Luke share a few words before she gives him a quick peck on the lips and rushes into the Abbott’s Farm. She interrupts what appears to be a glum diner party. After she learns about the auctioning of the property and joins them, things immediately go from bad to worse. After Royal immediately discounts Maria’s suggestions about the farm relief loan, she gets upset and leaves which prompts Rhett to follow. Cecilia is the next to go and that leaves Royal and Autumn alone to discuss the auction and Perry’s disappearance.
Luke returns home in a good mood that quickly sours when Wayne confronts him for leaving Billy alone. This leads to a long dispute about selfishness and responsibility. After Wayne practically tells him that he’s useless, Luke tells him that Trevor hated him and so does he. The back-and-forth insulting goes on for several more minutes before Wayne walks away and Luke breaks down in tears. After doing so, Luke grabs a fire poker from the mantel and proceeds to Billy’s room where it looks like he is about to kill him but reconsiders after noticing the mineral sitting on the nightstand.
Perry is at a bar when a lively Young Wayne (Daniel Abeles) shows up with a procession and is in a mood to celebrate. Perry later embarrasses him when he interrupts his make-out session to ask if Cecilia knows he’s out and about. Royal later tries to attack Perry when he goes outside to relieve himself but Perry adeptly sidesteps his attack and punches him in the nose.
Cecilia surprises Wayne when she doesn’t put up a fight after he turns down her request to borrow the $500,000. It isn’t until she admits to being too strung out to put up a fight that he reconsiders and agrees to give her the money under one condition.
Cecilia later reveals the condition as a personal apology from Royal along with the west pasture. This sends Royal into a fit of rage as he gets into his truck and speeds away. The episode ends with Royal visiting the black hole where Deputy Sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski) is exiting.
Outer Range Review
I can’t say that the episode was horrible but I certainly can’t say that it was superb. For starters, it was far too long. A lot of the scenes are filled with meaningless fluff. I can’t help but feel that it would be far more effective to either cut it or drag the series out to 9 or 10 episodes. Although I am a sucker for a good mystery, I feel that the series takes it a bit too far at times, only making things more confusing in the process.
Despite the laundry list of noted actors, the acting is weak at times, and horrendous at others. The whole scene with Wayne kissing Billy on the lips just felt strange. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. The entire series would be better off to just write off the Autumn character. That would at least make the episodes somewhat shorter. Despite the incessant complaining, I’d give the episode a 4.8 out of 10.
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