The Outpost – Regarding the Matter of Garret Spears

By: Patience Kapfer

In the previous episode not only do we find out that Garret Spears (Jake Stormoen) is alive, but we also watch him die and be brought back to life by The Three. While Garret is tormented (by the Tormentor nonetheless), Talon (Jessica Green) and Gwynn (Imogen Waterhouse) face their own struggles at the Outpost. Talon believes she has outsmarted Rebb (Lilli Hollunder) and saved the Dragman (Elizabeth Birkner) only for Rebb to kill the Dragman and burn all of the names she was going to give Talon. Talk about things not going in Talon’s favor at all. Rebb also makes an effort to win over Gwynn and convince her that she can provide the Blackblood army she needs to defeat the Order. However, Gwynn is extremely cautious of trusting Rebb and rightfully so after we see what she does to the Dragman.

This week we pick up with Garret and Dred (Philip Brodie), both in their own respective cells. It is interesting to note that even though Dred has spent his entire life at the hands of The Three, he is still being treated the same as a traitor to the Covenant. Dred tells Garret that The Three don’t have the stomach to do what is necessary to protect the Order and the Realm. He says he’s had visions of demons killing everything in their path and the Blackbloods conquering the Realm. Dred insists that this vision is prophecy and he killed all of the Blackbloods in order to save the Realm. The problem is that he didn’t consult The Three before he killed the Blackbloods, leading to his current situation of being in disfavor with The Three. During this discussion Garret defends the Blackbloods and says if Talon were to summon her army she would be doing it to defend the rightful Queen. That particular comment is met with Dred’s claim that Gwynn is, in fact, a false 1ueen and Garret is merely her puppet. Dred backs his claim up by describing what he saw in Gwynn’s secret compartment under her armoire. In her secret compartment, Dred saw the last remaining portrait of Princess Rosmund as a child. The real Rosmund looked a lot like Gwynn, but she had a misshapen face from being kicked by a horse. After learning this new information, Garret is rescued from his cell by Sana (Jelena Gavrilovic). On his way out, Dred calls after The Tormentor (Magnus Samuelsson) saying that he fulfilled his end of the deal by telling Garret what The Tormentor wanted so he deserved the bigger cell he was promised. This is leading us to really wonder if Gwynn is the real queen or not.

Garret is given medicine to help heal, but is not allowed to leave the room he has been kept confined to for the last week. His nurse tells him that the building they’re in used to be a palace and the room he is in used to have beautiful murals of the royal family painted on the walls and he shouldn’t think of it as being like a prison cell. When Sana comes in to check on Garret he demands to see the message she claims to have received from Gwynn. Sana goes to retrieve the message, but as we could expect it’s currently in the process of being written by someone who works for Sana – indicating that it is not a real message from Gwynn. The message says that Gwynn already has a new base commander, which means she never truly cared about Garret as more than someone to work for her. When shown the letter, Garret determines that without a doubt it is Gwynn’s handwriting (Sana’s scribe might deserve a raise for his handiwork). In all of his anger Garret burns the message and single-handedly tears apart the plaster covering the mural of the royal family. Once uncovered, Garret can see that the real Rosmund had a misshapen face as Dred had said.

Back at the Outpost Talon is attempting to memorize the last name she managed to find on the Dragman. Talon is hoping that maybe this demon could help to fight Rebb while Janzo (Anand Desai-Barochia) is worried that the demon will bring along another Blackblood that is like Rebb. It is impossible for them to know if all of the Blackbloods on the other side of the portal are like Rebb or if there is hope for more like Talon. Unfortunately, they may not have any other choice than to summon another demon to fight Rebb and risk what the other Blackblood may be like. Despite the severity of the situation, Janzo is still trying to use Naya’s (Amita Suman) advice to win over Talon. After she fixes his hair for him and tells him he looks cute, Janzo misreads the signals and attempts to kiss Talon. He explains what Naya has told him and she tells him to ignore what Naya says because he’s perfect the way he is. Sadly, Talon explains you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with and she doesn’t love him the way he loves her.

Gwynn also takes the time to get to know Tobin (Aaron Fontaine) a little more during this episode. He comes to see her and brings her a gift, all with the plan of eventually convincing her to marry him. Instead of a useful gift of gold to pay Gwynn’s workers, he brings her an outfit for their “wedding bed.” Gwynn says that “this lovely gift shows the nature of his character with amazing clarity…and that character is one of a snake eating its body from the tail end.” Gwynn is absolutely appalled by Tobin’s gift to say the least and orders him out of her throne room immediately. Clearly Tobin is extremely unfamiliar with the character of the woman he is trying to woo. Unfortunately, with the treasury basically out of money, Garret gone and Talon down to only one demon name, Gwynn is running out of options that don’t include Tobin.

Right when Gwynn feels like her luck really can’t get any worse, Rebb decides to pay her a visit. Gwynn orders more guards and to make absolutely certain that Rebb is unarmed, but she allows her into her throne room. Gwynn accuses Rebb of killing the Dragman and trying to defeat Talon for her gift, but Rebb insists the only thing she wants is the portal to be opened and the names summoned. Whether the names are summoned by Talon or herself does not matter. When Gwynn then asks her to write down all of the names right then and there, but without being able to force Talon to open the portal, Rebb says writing the names gains her nothing. Rebb then blows on a ring that emits a high pitched sound, seemingly summoning something. Rebb tells Gwynn that when she killed the Dragman she became their last hope to win the war. She gives her word that once she is able to summon the other names through the portal that she will help them win their war. Gwynn rightly states that Rebb’s word is worthless. There is a large commotion in the hall and when the door is opened we see that Rebb’s demon has killed every guard that Gwynn had positioned in the hallway and then proceeds to kill those in her throne room. Now Gwynn is Rebb’s hostage until Talon gives her what she wants.

After learning the Queen has been taken hostage Tobin takes this as his chance to redeem himself with Gwynn. Despite his state after spending the whole night at the bar, he rushes to Gwynn’s rescue. Tobin bursts through Gwynn’s window with the intention of fighting Rebb, only to be thrown out the window faster than he burst through by the demon. Naya runs to Talon and explains that Rebb has Gwynn hostage but will only release her if she is given Talon. Without hesitation Talon says that Rebb can have her and is on her way out when Janzo tells her there is no way she can fight Rebb without a demon of her own. He and Naya are adamant that Talon must open the portal and summon the one name that she has left even if another Blackblood comes through the portal with it. Talon opens the portal and summons the demon, but as is expected another Blackblood follows closely behind. Since Talon doesn’t know if this Blackblood is like Rebb, a fight immediately ensues. After knocking away Talon’s weapon this Blackblood asks where Rebb is while also explaining she is the head of the Black Fist – the more warlike of the two clans. We then find out that Rebb killed this Blackblood’s sister and the Black Fist believes they need to wipe out all of the humans. The new Blackblood’s clan believes that they can live in peace with the humans. Talon manages to convince the Blackblood that if he lets her borrow his demon, then it might help him gain her trust. Talon will not allow him to come along to fight Rebb since she doesn’t trust him yet.

Talon finally jumps through the throne room window to confront Rebb. Talon tells her she will give Rebb the Asterkinj once Gwynn is set free. However, Rebb doesn’t believe for a second that Talon would give it up so easily, so there must be something else going on here. As Rebb summons her demon to kill Talon and simply steal the Asterkinj from Talon by killing her, Talon blows into a ring just like the one Rebb has. Talon continues to stall her fight with Rebb’s demon by demanding that Gwynn is released before the fight takes place. It seems as though she might be putting off the inevitable, as no demon is coming to Talon’s aid. Rebb orders Talon to drop her sword and get on her knees, beckoning her demon forward. At the last moment Talon’s borrowed demon bursts through the window and attacks Rebb’s demon. A fight ensues with both of them falling to the ground outside the window. This gives Talon the opportunity to pick up her sword and fight Rebb herself. Talon appears to have the upper hand, knocking Rebb down, only to be grabbed through the open window by Rebb’s demon. When it appears the demon might drag her to her death, the demon is shot from behind with an arrow and falls to its own death. Rebb launches herself at Talon, but Talon grabs a knife from her boot and stabs Rebb while telling her, “I may not be ‘The One,’ but neither are you.”

Garret is extremely distressed that he spent so much of his life working for Gwynn and Calkussar only to be used by them. He feels as though he has been living a lie his whole life and chooses to stay with Sana. In order for them to make a life in peace together, the Three must bless it. Sana takes Garret in front of The Three, where he bows before them pledging his heart and blood and to serve them always.