Outcasts: Series 1, Episode 5 – Dork Review

I’m not arrogant enough to believe the programme-makers read these flights of internet fancy, and even if they did, a show like Outcasts must be filmed so far in advance that it wouldn’t make a blind jot of difference.

However. In last week’s review, I hoped for a storyline that didn’t revolve around the Advanced Cloneivars, not to mention a slowing of the broadcast pace. A week later, my prayers seem answered. But will it prove to be a mirage?

Walking To The Beach In A Dream

Admittedly, the feral clones are present, but they’re backdrop to the central (more interesting) plot, in which our human pilgrims travel out into their new world, and discover it may be a more complex place than they thought. If it turns out to be a science fiction form of purgatory or afterlife, I might cry.

Assuming that isn’t the case, this is a nicely dreamy episode. The pace is as glacial as ever, but the floaty feel makes that seem more a deliberate effect than a drama with an inflated sense of its own significance.

The uncertainty of everything makes it hard to learn much, but it has lovely moments, and I think it’s important to give us episodes like this rather than constant squalid angsting. And even if there aren’t any solid answers, it gives the writers a lot to follow up in future episodes.

Collective Sense Of Doom

Although I am enjoying the new beach-based mysteries, as well as the Julius Berger stuff back at base camp, my knowledge that ratings have been less than stellar is causing worry. Will there be a satisfying resolution to all this, or merely a vague conclusion, then a cliffhanger into a series two that may never be?

Shame, as I’m starting to get enjoy many of the characters. I was always going to love Hermione Norris, but Daniel Mays as Cass is also doing a great job. (If you didn’t see him in the sitcom Plus One, please watch it on 4OD. It’s brilliant, and there’s only five episodes.)

So, Outcasts had a good week. Not to mention, they only aired one episode rather than two, which explains the unusually timely nature of this review. You can watch it on iPlayer now, then let me know whether you liked it too.

More Outcasts on Dork Adore | Outcasts: Episodes 1 & 2 – Dork Review

Nick Bryan

Nick learned to read and write at an early age. This has developed into an unhealthy need to either write stories or consume them for later dissection. He reviews film and TV on Dork Adore and The Digital Fix, lives in London and enjoys a nice white beer.

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