Outer Range is like if The Young and the Restless was set amongst rich Wyoming cowboys, with a particularly odd supernatural plot. That doesn't sound so bad, but the show is just barely watchable because both the characters and the filmmaking are so weird and over the top that it's exhausting to wade through waiting for the interesting supernatural plot to move forward at its glacial pace.
This has got to be the most unpleasant and hostile collection of characters ever gathered for one series. Most of the characters seem literally mentally ill, and as a result they spend most of their time yelling at each other, pouting, staring dejectedly into the clouds, or muttering to themselves. It's really messed up and I find myself mostly thinking about whether the writers themselves are suffering from psychological problems, or if they are just regular guys who thought they could make this work as a concept.
I particularly find Josh Brolin's wife, with her bitter brand of Christianity hovering around her like Pigpen's cloud of dirt from Charlie Brown, to be deeply unlikable. The hippie chick who is a dead ringer for a young Hillary Clinton -- I don't even know where to start. Again, I find myself thinking about the filmmakers -- are they trying to make some point with this Hillary lookalike, or could they have not noticed? Again she is an utterly unlikable person, when it's a role that could have easily been written as a bright spot amidst the never-ending angst.
Often it feels like the filmmakers are trying to copy the vibe of some classic strange show like Twin Peaks, but they don't have the skill to pull it off or even the intellect to understand what Twin Peaks was doing in the first place, so they are just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Most of it doesn't stick.
This has got to be the most unpleasant and hostile collection of characters ever gathered for one series. Most of the characters seem literally mentally ill, and as a result they spend most of their time yelling at each other, pouting, staring dejectedly into the clouds, or muttering to themselves. It's really messed up and I find myself mostly thinking about whether the writers themselves are suffering from psychological problems, or if they are just regular guys who thought they could make this work as a concept.
I particularly find Josh Brolin's wife, with her bitter brand of Christianity hovering around her like Pigpen's cloud of dirt from Charlie Brown, to be deeply unlikable. The hippie chick who is a dead ringer for a young Hillary Clinton -- I don't even know where to start. Again, I find myself thinking about the filmmakers -- are they trying to make some point with this Hillary lookalike, or could they have not noticed? Again she is an utterly unlikable person, when it's a role that could have easily been written as a bright spot amidst the never-ending angst.
Often it feels like the filmmakers are trying to copy the vibe of some classic strange show like Twin Peaks, but they don't have the skill to pull it off or even the intellect to understand what Twin Peaks was doing in the first place, so they are just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Most of it doesn't stick.