The Outpost – Where You Go, People Die

By: Patience Kapfer

Picking up right where we left off last week Garret (Jake Stormoen) removes his knife from Talon’s (Jessica Green) side and shoves her away. In utter disbelief Talon asks Garret what he’s doing, to which he tells her he is stopping her from fulfilling her “so-called prophecy” to summon the slayers of men. Talon removes her own sword to try to protect herself as Garret stalks towards her, telling her that “wherever you go, people die!” and swinging at her with his sword. Talon insists she’s done nothing but try to help Garret and Gwynn (Imogen Waterhouse), but he tells her not to speak of the false Queen – something that might be the second indication to Talon that something is not quite right with Garret. Despite being wounded, Talon puts up a strong fight against Garret, determined to convince him that the Prime Order is telling him lies. Even though Talon believes Garret can’t kill her, he raises his sword and looks her in the eye while saying “hail to the Three” and prepares to issue the final blow. At that exact moment Talon opens the portal and falls through it to the other side, away from Garret with the portal closing behind her. Things don’t seem much better on the other side of the portal. The entire landscape is desolate and there are fires everywhere and the air is filled with smoke. Talon struggles to breathe and collapses from her injury.

At the Outpost Tobin (Aaron Fontaine) is not thrilled that Gwynn suggested he mend his relationship with his cousin Milus (Jarren Dalmeda). Despite not wanting to make amends with Milus, Tobin sent him an offer nonetheless in hopes that Milus is willing to help fight the Prime Order. While Tobin is out working, Gwynn pays him a secretive visit to convince him to take a break so she can spend time with him. Gwynn even made Tobin something to eat, although it turns out her cooking skills might not be the best and Tobin doesn’t sugarcoat that fact. Despite Tobin’s truthfulness, he still manages to pull Gwynn in for a kiss that she doesn’t reject. It seems Gwynn might actually be developing feelings for Tobin after all.

In the last episode Janzo (Anand Desai-Barochia) had the idea to take the plaguelings outside to leave them in the sun in hopes that he would have a breakthrough in his research on how to cure them. In this week’s episode Janzo goes to check on his experiment only to find that one of the plaguelings is now able to talk and act like a regular woman again. She’s miraculously cured by the sun! But if the sun cured her, Janzo wonders why the sun didn’t cure the others that he left chained up outside. Janzo, the true scientist that he is, wonders what’s so different about this woman that she was cured, but not the others.

In the meantime Janzo sets up a nice romantic dinner for Naya (Amita Suman). He tells her that every moment when he wakes up he thinks that he’s still dreaming and then when he realizes he’s not he can’t stop smiling. The dinner doesn’t go quite as Janzo planned, as he tries to get to know her better and learn about where she came from. This causes Naya to become upset because she feels guilty about betraying Gwynn and knows that Tobin knows what she’s done. Janzo wants to help Naya so tells her there’s nothing she can say to make him stop loving her, to which she tells him she’s the traitor. At first Janzo refuses to believe her, but then becomes angry. He says that the Prime Order threatened everyone’s family and the Prime Order was simply using her without ever planning to release her family. Janzo then tells Naya she has to tell Gwynn what she’s done and why she did it, and he thinks Gwynn will understand and help Naya.

Naya plans to leave to help her mother and sister, but Janzo will not allow her to depart. He tells her she needs to turn herself in or he will never forgive her. Naya is certain that Gwynn will have her executed, but Janzo tells her if she hasn’t surrendered by noon he’s going to tell Gwynn himself thereby leaving Naya no choice. As Naya is on her way out of the Outpost, she is confronted by Tobin who offers to escort her (more like drags her) to the Queen. Naya explains why she did what she did, but the fact that Naya didn’t turn to Gwynn after they were victorious over Dred and his army and instead released Dred she was therefore responsible for Garret’s death. Gwynn sentences her to execution for treason against the throne. Even the Mistress (Robyn Malcolm) is shocked at Gwynn’s verdict and instead wants to interrogate Naya to find out what she told the Prime Order. Gwynn allows Naya to tell them everything she knows, but still she must die immediately after.

Much to Tobin’s dismay his cousin Milus arrives at the Outpost with the letter that Tobin wrote him. In the letter Tobin said he would surrender all of the lands west and south of the Red-bank and all Milus has to do is shake Tobin’s hand and declare peace between them and declare himself loyal to the Queen. Milus is less than willing to declare himself loyal to the Queen, even for all the land that Tobin has offered him. Milus meets with Gwynn who offers him all of Tobin’s land in exchange for his help. She then says that “Tobin will not need any land because he will be married to the Queen,” surprising not only the audience, but Tobin as well. Gwynn has managed a deal that Milus could never refuse and he tells her he will begin preparations immediately.

Janzo goes to plead with Gwynn not to execute Naya. He begs her to do this one thing for him as a friend, but she tells him she can’t make an exception for Naya or she will be expected to make an exception for everyone. As Queen she needs to follow through on her decisions, no matter how hard they are. Janzo tells her he loves Naya. Gwynn says she loved her too, but this needs to be done. It is obvious that Gwynn doesn’t want to execute Naya, but as Queen she has no choice. Feeling hopeless, Janzo goes to see Naya one last time and barters with the guards with a tray of his finest ale and documentation that they will all receive free drinks at the Nightshade until the following winter if he is allowed to speak to Naya. At the bribe of free drinks, the guards allow Janzo to visit Naya in private. As Naya tells Janzo she’s ready to die, Janzo reiterates that he said he wouldn’t let that happen. And at that moment the guards all take a drink of the ale Janzo brought them and fall asleep. Janzo’s finest ale was actually full of cinder moss that not only puts them to sleep, but also will keep the guards from remembering anything from hours before. Janzo sneaks Naya out of the cell and gives her everything she will need to escape. Janzo sends Naya away telling her never to come back or they will execute her.

Back in the forest, Zed (Reece Ritchie) goes looking for Talon since she never returned from hunting, only to find her arrow stuck in a tree. He continues on and finds Talon’s sword left on the ground and the only sign of Talon is her blood on the forest floor. While Talon is on the ground barely able to stay awake due to her injuries, a group of Blackbloods finds her. Just as one of the Blackbloods raises his knife to her neck, Talon opens her eyes and attacks the man. As she stands her ground against the other two Blackbloods, she feels a terrible pain in her head as the portal slowly starts to open and she rushes through it to be met by Zed. With a renewed sense of urgency after having almost been attacked by Rebb’s people, Talon grabs her belongings and tells Zed they need to get back to the Outpost or Garret will kill Gwynn.

On the day of the royal wedding between Tobin and Gwynn the entire Outpost is abuzz. Even Naya’s escape can’t bring down the mood, as Tobin makes his entrance into the throne room. Gwynn looks absolutely stunning as she walks down the aisle to meet Tobin, who’s jaw drops at the sight of her. As they are set to begin the ceremony, there is a distant gasping and murmuring outside the castle. All of a sudden the doors to the throne room open and, to everyone’s surprise, Garret walks in. Gwynn runs to Garret, throwing herself into his arms in disbelief. Garret tells her she’s not safe there and she needs to go with him as he drags her out of the throne room. He continues to tell her that there are people at the Outpost that are going to harm her and when asked if she trusts him Gwynn nods and goes to him and they ride off on horseback. She tells him she’s so glad that he’s alive, to which he tells her she knew he was alive, she just didn’t care. And with that his horse picks up speed.