The Outpost – The Blade of The Three

By: Patience Kapfer

Now that Garret (Jake Stormoen) believes that Gwynn (Imogen Waterhouse) is a false queen and seems to have been thoroughly indoctrinated by Sana (Jelena Gavrilovic) and The Three, it seems as though all hope at his return to the Outpost is lost. Meanwhile, Gwynn has been consistently encountering her own problems trying to feed her people, pay her soldiers and prepare for the impending war. To add to Gwynn’s problems, she has decided that after witnessing a demon in action she no longer wants Talon (Jessica Green) to summon an entire army of them to help fight the war. She also doesn’t believe that allowing more Blackbloods through the portal would be a good idea since they might turn out to be more like Rebb (Lilli Hollunder) and less like Talon.

When Gwynn invites Talon to her chambers to discuss the matter of summoning more demons she is clearly very nervous about how Talon will react. After broaching the subject it seems that she was right to be a little nervous. Talon insists that Gwynn needs the army since the Prime Order is without a doubt already on its way to the Outpost and with Zed’s (Reece Ritchie) help she will learn how to handle the demon (and Blackblood) army. Gwynn makes the mistake of saying, “Blackbloods are dangerous,” and referring to the demons as “monsters,” justifiably making Talon upset that her friend might think so little of her and her own kind. Before Talon can leave Gwynn orders her to send both the demon and Zed back through the portal that day, Talon makes sure that Gwynn remembers Zed and Vikka were responsible for saving her life and she should at least think about that before sending them back to the horrible place on the other side of the portal. Gwynn’s complete lack of understanding has definitely put a wedge between her and Talon’s friendship.

The soldiers and representatives of the people come to update Gwynn on the state of the Outpost. Unfortunately, there are not enough soldiers and the soldiers they do have are not receiving enough rest or weapons. There are mines that are full of the minerals needed to forge new weapons and men that are willing to work, but they will only work for a fair day’s wage. To continue piling on more problems at the Outpost the people are beginning to starve as there isn’t enough food to feed them anymore. The only solution Gwynn can come up with is to feed all of the people with the grain that is left in the winter storehouses for the soldiers. Even though Gwynn has no way to pay people to work and supply the soldiers, she at least has a way to feed the people for a little while longer while she looks for a solution.

Janzo (Anand Desai-Barochia) has officially run out of all patience with Naya’s (Amita Suman) ideas of how he can impress Talon and win her over. Every suggestion she gives him turns out to only cause greater humiliation for poor Janzo and he is respectfully done. However, it seems as though Naya might not think of her relationship with Janzo as merely platonic. As she inquires with Janzo about how his kiss went with Talon, the audience can feel the tension between them. She then asks him to show her how he kissed her, for purely scientific reasons of course. From her scientific inquiry, Naya declares that he couldn’t have done anything differently – the kiss was perfect. They are interrupted before the kiss can continue by the Mistress (Robyn Malcolm) who has brought all of her gold in order to make a statement to her sister (Glynis Barber). Even though her sister is adamant she has more power than the Mistress will ever have, Gwynn isn’t even the least bit interested in Tobin. Her sister can’t have the ear of the future king if Tobin doesn’t stand a chance at becoming the future king.

Even though Gwynn has been adamant that she is not marrying Tobin (Aaron Fontaine), he has noticed her problems have increased and is more cocky than ever that now she must marry him. Despite all of her struggles as queen and how badly Gwynn needs to be able to take care of her people, she says she “is not desperate enough to marry” Tobin. She says he “is not deserving of a place at my side.” He has no honor and cares for nothing but himself. Naya might speak for everyone when she says that what Gwynn just said was incredible, but also now what are Gwynn’s options? Gwynn’s problems may all be solved with a visit from the Mistress. She offers Gwynn her gold in exchange for being made royal adviser to the queen. Gwynn has reservations that the Mistress’ funds came from questionable sources and doesn’t want to be tied to criminal sources. The deal turns out to be too good to turn down and Gwynn makes the Mistress an adviser and Treasurer of the Realm in exchange for gold and the Mistress extricating herself from her suspicious activities.

Talon is responsible for sending Zed and Vikka back through the portal and is starting to think Gwynn was right. The people at the Outpost are afraid of Zed and she still doesn’t trust him. Zed wants to prove that he is trustworthy and insists on helping her with her injuries that haven’t healed yet. He also tells her he wants to help, and his people are amicable to compromise in order for them to also be able to leave the portal. His people do not hate the humans the way Rebb’s people do. Zed knows the names of every single demon and is willing to help Talon be The One and learn about her own kind, but that means Talon has to allow him to stay against the queen’s orders. Zed is exceptionally persuasive and Talon allows him to stay, but he must stay hidden so Gwynn doesn’t find out.

Zed goes through all of the literature and books that the Smith had kept, but only finds one piece of paper with a picture of the key from the Dragman on it. Talon denies knowing what it is or where it could possibly be, she says she’s never seen it before. Clearly, Talon isn’t willing to let Zed know the information she already knows because she doesn’t trust him. Janzo barges in as Talon and Zed are talking and is extremely frustrated to know that not only did Talon not send Zed back through the portal like she was ordered to do, but Zed is helping Talon the way Janzo has always helped her. Janzo agrees to keep their secret even against his better judgment due to his feelings for Talon, but later allows his frustration to be fully realized when Naya pays him a visit. When Janzo went to see Talon, he failed to show up for his meeting in the garden with Naya, essentially standing her up. After he relays his frustrations about only being seen as a friend to women, she admits she doesn’t think of his as only a friend.

We haven’t seen much of Marshal Wythers (Andrew Howard) since he left on his journey to find Garret. In this episode he finally arrives in the Capital posing as a Gate Marshal that is tracking an escaped prisoner. His story gains the trust of the man on watch immediately and he tells Wythers that Dred (Philip Brodie) rode in with a prisoner, but the prisoner is probably dead by now. He also tells Wythers that they would have taken the prisoner to the Institute whether he was alive or dead and points Wythers in the right direction. Wythers steals the cape of a man working at the Capital and makes his way to the Institute to find out for himself if Garret is still alive. With his disguise no one restricts his entrance and he easily finds Garret. Garret is surprised and happy to see Wythers, but he is completely unwilling to leave the Capital. Instead of going with Wythers, Garret says those at the Outpost want to commit treason against The Three and calls for the guards to arrest his father. Garret hopes that Sana can fix his father the way that she fixed him.

Things get really interesting at the end of this episode. When Sana goes before The Three they tell her that Garret pledged his heart and blood to her, not to The Three. But Sana is convinced that Garret is ready for his purpose now that he has rejected his own father. Garret is once again brought before The Three and pledges his heart and blood and affirms he is ready for his purpose. The Tormentor (Magnus Samuelsson) brings Garret’s father into the room and The Three tell Garret to kill his father. Without hesitation Garret removes his sword and plunges it into his father as The Three look on. The Three then say from this day forward Garret will not answer to the name Garret Spears, but is now “The Blade of The Three.” He is then told to return to the Outpost and kill the Blackblood and kidnap the false queen.