MovieChat Forums > Outcast (2016) Discussion > please, please, please keep these things...

please, please, please keep these things evil...


Please, please, please keep these demons/aliens/body snatchers/whatever they are completely evil. I'm a little afraid with the explanation we got this past episode (spoilers ahead if you haven't caught up to ep 8) that these things are going to straddle some lame "we're good guys" line.

So, Sydney character's explanation for the terrible crimes the other entities were doing was that "the first few days are rough." Add to that what the newly exorcised trucker guy told the reverend at the start of the episode, "I was taught that being touche by the devil was a bad thing, but, Reverend, I wasn't afraid...I was filled with warmth" or something along those lines. Then, there's the wife of the fireman who is being painted as this perfect merger between entity and host. All is happy and right with them, so why exorcise these things, right?

Ugh.

I do not care for a we just want to live in peace and harmony with human hosts bull**** storyline...if that is where the writers are going.

I think that's the worst and cheapest kind of twist in this genre. I've seen it too many times, and each time, it makes for a boring, long-winded, circuitous story with neither villains nor heroes.

Keep it simple, writers. Give us a baddie. Make them do bad stuff. Then have the hero do what the hero needs to do - eliminate said baddie doing bad things. We have enough drama and existential "what is evil?" crises in the real world already. So, please, for the sake of classic storytelling and on behalf of my fellow horror fans everywhere, don't pee in my genre and tell me it adds "layers", okay?

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I completely disagree. Vanquishing evil demons has been done to death, and so has the simplistic Heroes vs. Evil black-and-white-morality storyline you're looking for. It's hackneyed and boring. If that's what you want to watch, the Dukes of X-files are still cruising around in their black General Lee vanquishing Evil after 12 seasons.

Aside from their bad behavior when overwhemed, while first adjusting to being embodied, these entities seem somewhat more related to the alleged newage (rhymes with sewage) phenomenon of "walk-ins", where a soul departs a living body and is replaced by another soul, than to demons.

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my advice is go read the source material the graphic novels its based on instead of making crazy assumptions without knowledge it may shed some ligh on the direction they plan on goin.

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I don't enjoy the comic/graphic novel format as a medium for entertainment. If it were a text novel, I probably would have read it before it was ever picked up for TV.

I imagine there are probably oodles of spoilery articles out, were I to search them, if I wanted to be spoiled about where they're going. What exactly of my post do you consider "crazy assumptions"?

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I doubt you'll get much support for your views here on this board, but I'm also getting really tired of all these shows that preach a 'morally grey' message. Unfortunately, writers and viewers nowadays seem to think that unless they write like this, the show cannot be accepted as intellectually sound or stimulating, and that it wouldn't 'realistic'. Apparently, taking a stand is now the new evil.

But why not, instead of ineffectually resorting to pleading on this board, just stop watching the show altogether instead? That's what I'm probably gonna do after the season finale.

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Unfortunately, writers and viewers nowadays seem to think that unless they write like this, the show cannot be accepted as intellectually sound or stimulating, and that it wouldn't 'realistic'.


That's a damn shame. I admire that the writers are trying to add complexity to this. I get it. I do. They want to be different and keep it fresh. Who wants another Evil Dead or Invasion of the Body Snatchers, anyway, right?

However, I think preaching the morally grey message, as you wrote, is already tough enough to do in a Drama genre, let alone to try and do it effectively and in an entertaining way in a Horror genre. I think that's why a creating a Drama/Horror TV series - as this one is categorized - is almost automatically a death sentence. Who actually does it right? Which tv shows in this genre stick around? Can we think of any?

The Walking Dead seems to have more than its fair share of alienating its initial horror-fan audience members. American Horror Story continues to struggle. Hemlock Grove's latest season drones on and on. From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series...I had high hopes, but it too fell into this trap.

Shows like Supernatural, X-files, and Grimm don't count in this argument because they mix in comedy/action/thriller in their categories, which is why I think they stuck around so long.

I'd really rather not stop watching. I like the basics of the story, and I hope we get a juicy evil end game from these things. For me...it's just more fun to watch.


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I agree with you. Im also not so keen on the whole we arent that bad thing they seem start going. I have the feeling even the writers them self arent really sure what do from here on out because at the start of the series the "demons" were cleary evil but somehow they now try to swim back from that with some lame excuse.

Well I will wait how this will go in the next episodes but for now Im a little disappointed in how this turned out.

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Throgh my years I saw a lot of TV Shows , But this one " OutCast " is one of the best , I am sure the show is successful 100% , I hope it will last for years, The Acting is perfect , The Story is Amazing . One thing is making OutCast so Special is the smooth details of the story , Nothing left behind . This show should have Awards Every Year .

I've NEVER see something like or similar to OutCast .

I wish the main character understand how to use his powers for the Good and to help Others in the future episodes.

This Might be better than DC TV shows if the writer and the director play it right.

Take Care .

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I do not care for a we just want to live in peace and harmony with human hosts bull**** storyline...if that is where the writers are going.

I think that's the worst and cheapest kind of twist in this genre. I've seen it too many times, and each time, it makes for a boring, long-winded, circuitous story with neither villains nor heroes.


I hope they're neither Evil with a capital E or "nice." It seems more reasonable that they're simply self-interested and powerful enough to take advantage.

They're to the soul what infectious diseases are to the body. Very effective predators. So from the human point of view, they might as well be fairy tale type evil, since there isn't much of a possibility for compromise.

Either they are successful at taking people over and cause suffering or at least the extinction of human minds, or they get kicked out and lose the access to physical realm that they crave so much and either die or go back to the place they hate.

But I think it's also interesting to see their completely different point of view which is centered on their needs and welfare and which rationalizes the invasion as painless of no one interferes.

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Yeah I agree. They should show them as the enemy. Not pure evil but they effectively kill the people they possess and kill others in their way and cause suffering for selfish reasons. It's a war.

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I think the scenes of Sydney with the little boy were meant to show that the crap he is peddling to Kyle is just lies and charisma. At least I hope so.

In any case, why would you keep someone possessed just because their husband likes that she's a different person now?

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I took the Sydney/boy scenes the same as you and also believe everything Sydney says to and does around Kyle are nothing but lies and manipulations. I think Sydney, if not the devil himself, is at the very least the devil's right hand man.

NOT posted from my iPhone.

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The man known as Sydney who was possessed was already a serial killer. The possessing entity was not at all happy about this and let the current victim go.

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I hear you and agree. I actually thought it was aiming for that eerie and mysterious vipe they had in The Excorcist (1973), where you could feel something more was going on. Kyle's childhood experiences from episode1 certainly gave those feelings. That whole origin of evil channelled through bodies or objects needs to be explored much more. How far does the evil rabbit hole go?

But after around episode 4 the whole scary-mode turned slowly down. Maybe they decided to aim for a more traditional drama show ala Walking Dead where it's not about the zombies, but about the internal struggle of each character etc. The avatars/black matter/"devils" is just an appurtenance and not the real plot. That's just a shame imo, because this story has been told so many times before (and better), but nobody have ever elaborated fully on the other story! Blatty got the feel in The Excorcist, Polanski got closer to the grand scheme in The Ninth Gate - but we really need a TV-show to uncover the depths of this.

And what about episode 3 with the evil character of Blake Hollow? These avatar things can't be all neutral or good, because this guy was pretty bad-ass, but what happened to him? He's just out now, I thought they could take his character much further also considering Lee Tergensen is a known and good actor. That shows to me that somebody wanted it to go in another direction.

Something needs to happen in the last two episodes, otherwise I feel we only got the opening intro left to catch that eerie mood. So much potential..

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And what about episode 3 with the evil character of Blake Hollow? These avatar things can't be all neutral or good, because this guy was pretty bad-ass, but what happened to him? He's just out now, I thought they could take his character much further also considering Lee Tergensen is a known and good actor. That shows to me that somebody wanted it to go in another direction.


This character. exactly. There's so much evidence that these things are supposed to be innately evil creatures. I would even go so far as to say they are parasites that are just really good at tricking people into thinking that their intentions are good. However, like you said, if this character is just an example of the writers starting off with one idea and then changing their minds about the direction of the show? Well, I would be very disappointed.

Here's to hoping that Sydney's explanation was just a bunch of trickery. No matter how you spin it, no matter what the sob story is, there's nothing good about some outside entity taking over someone's body. I don't care what their backstory is. My body is mine, no one else's - so those things are bad in my books and they should stay that way for this story IMHO.

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Maybe the possessions are a metaphor for open immigration. It seems evil at first but will really be good for the "host" in the end.

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I sure hope not. We already get enough propaganda with emotionally loaded arguments.
And it's a pretty *beep* metaphor since open borders immigration is neither bad nor good if you don't specificy any other circumstances. Nor can I really think of a scenario where it's bad and then gets better.

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These things are evil! The fact that the 'partners or friends' of those that previously owned the body love them makes it harder to get rid of them because now they have allies who will cover up for them. They are manipulative and make us dwell on the grey area. If they were all out obviously bad then people will revolt and make more of Kyle's blood to get rid of them. These 'things' are smart and prey on human compassion and emotion to enslave people and eventually take over the world.

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If the 'things' are innately evil and Sydney is just tricking Kyle, then why did that whole pedophilic scene with Sydney happen in which we were told a private story from Sydney's point of view exclusively for the audience?

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I'm with you, definitely evil, people are reading far too much into what the master manipulator says. He's pulling all the 'demons' strings why wouldn't be pulling those of the viewer? I get the argument that the paedophile/murderer story was seen from his perspective, but there are plenty of evil cold blooded killers who are repulsed by those acts. I think after this weeks episode many going for the 'they are good' angle will probably change their minds. This show has been very good at tackling a different type of horror and the narrative is intriguing, of course we will have red herrings and manipulation of the viewing audience otherwise it would be too predictable. If the exorcist TV series is as good as this i'll be happy.

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