By 
This article contains spoilers for Outer Range season 2.
Many shows in TV history have lived and died by their mysterious nature. Ongoing storylines in classics such as The X-Files, Lost, and Fringe had fans theorizing about main characters’ fates, the creative team’s intentions, or the deeper meaning of it all. Recently, shows such as From, Severance, and Yellowjackets have the same kind of devout following, and the same overarching enigmas that keep audiences coming back for answers.
When looking back at Outer Range’s first season, it’s easy to understand why the show was picked up for a second, and why the show had to come back – to unravel some of those riddles that season one left behind. While the sophomore season might have created more questions than answers, at least some of the puzzles have been solved. But don’t worry, if you’re still feeling out of the loop, you’re likely not alone. Hopefully we can help clear the fog a little more.
Where Did the Time Travelers Go?
When season 1 concluded, two of the main characters were thrown into the time stream, one more gently than the other.
Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk (Tamara Podemski) was merely wandering in the land adjacent to the Abbott ranch, investigating a murder, when she suddenly heard a thunderous rumble. Investigating further, she witnessed hundreds of bison stampeding across the plains in numbers too vast to be modern times. Hawk realized she was certainly not in her time anymore when she then saw a community of teepees in the distance. In season 2, her inquisitive nature gets the best of her, as she gets closer and closer until she’s in the middle of a First Nations’ tribal battle. She narrowly escapes, but is followed by certain members of the Shoshone that surround her and draw bows. Only by sheer luck, and her knowledge of the language, is she taken back to their village.
There, she meets “Falling Star” (Kimberly Guerrero), another time-refugee who tells Joy she’s originally from the 1970s. Falling Star confirms that they are in the late 1800s, and most likely stuck there.
Meanwhile, or perhaps more accurately, in a completely different era, Perry (Tom Pelphrey), who lept into the massive void on his family’s ranch, awakes in 1984. In a daze, he stumbles from the West pasture to his homestead, years before he is born to find a younger version of his parents, Royal (Christian James) and Cece (Megan West). Perry invents the dad joke worthy persona of “Ben Younger,” and asks Royal and Cece for work. They turn him away, telling him to go to the Tillerson ranch.
After casually thanking his would-be parents, he begins the long walk into town. Eventually, he sees his father’s reliable old truck, just not “old” in this timeline, outside the bar. Perry walks in and begins small talk with Royal, which is typically the only kind of talk he’s interested in. However things change when Perry takes another leap of faith revealing to Royal that he too, jumped into “the same hole you did”, revealing that he’s not only from the future, but Royal’s oldest son. The stoic Royal takes Perry on his word almost immediately.
Did the Tillersons Get the Land?
With Perry out of the same space-time continuum, the Abbots face yet more drama, as if a potential murder conviction, time travel, and a missing granddaughter weren’t enough.
Cecelia (Lili Taylor), put her family farm up to post Perry’s bail when he was arrested for the murder of Trevor Tillerson. Without Perry present (pun intended) – that land is forfeit. Unless the Abbotts can come up with half a million dollars, their land will be auctioned off.
Like a vulture smelling a soon-to-be carcass, Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton) is circling over the Abbotts, knowing it’s only a matter of time until he owns the entire Abbott ranch, and can get his hands on the mysteries of the West pasture, which is his true intention.
Fortunately, Autumn (Imogen Poots), who has been taken in by the Abbotts appears to be “born again” (in a very aggressive way) and manages to convince the Pastor Ken (Johnny Sneed) to get the community to help the Abbotts pay the $500,000 bond. Ken reveals to Cecelia that one of the more wealthy members of the community has agreed to help so that she and Royal (Josh Brolin) don’t lose the farm that has been in her family for generations.
This has not changed Wayne’s resolve at all, and with even more tragedy and drama heaped upon him after the murder of his youngest son Billy (Noah Reid) by Billy’s own brother, Luke (Shaun Sipos) – Wayne is more dangerous than he has ever been, as he seemingly has very little to lose.
Did the Abbotts Get Amy Back?
When season 1 concluded, one of the cliffhangers was the fact that Amy (Olive Elise Abercrombie), who was temporarily left alone at a rodeo, was scooped up by her mother, Rebecca (originally played by Kristen Connolly in season one, but replaced by Monette Moio here). Rebecca was one of season 1’s greatest mysteries as well, as she has been missing for quite some time. Joy revealed to Perry early on that the FBI was halting their investigation, and many presumed Rebecca to be dead.
Cecelia, wracked with guilt, and terrified for her granddaughter, never gives up the search, and eventually hears from a member of her church that several people saw Rebecca take Amy away that night. Knowing that Rebecca has taken up with certain colorful locals in the past, Cecelia and Royal begin investigating where Rebecca and Amy might be.
Eventually, they land on a commune that helps abused women. Rebecca obviously lied about her situation to get her and Amy a place in the group, but. Autumn, having been taken in by the Abbotts, overheard where Rebecca took Amy. At first, it appeared she sprung into action to be protective, or to prove herself to her now surrogate family.
Instead, Autumn, alongside Luke Tillerson manipulates Rebecca into giving Amy up, to drive her out to the Abbotts West Pasture and push her into the void. Autumn believed that without this, her path would never start, and so in a sense, Autumn had to do it to save herself.
Is Autumn Actually the Future Amy?
While nothing is definitive, in the Outer Range universe, this is certainly the most likely explanation. In this show, this is Occam’s Razor, when living on the razor’s edge, it could change at any time.
However most of season 2 is spent convincing everyone (audience included) that this is the case. Royal was convinced of it in the finale of season 1, and after taking Autumn in, taking care of her, and explaining everything to Cecelia, the two grandparents begin to teach and dote upon Autumn, which seems to open her up to the possibility more and more.
Perhaps the most convincing argument lies within the supernatural elements of the show, as Autumn invests the strange black mineral found in the Abbotts’ West pasture and has a vision. In that induced fever dream, she can look through Amy’s eyes, and sees herself as the young girl. So far, the void has never steered people in the wrong direction, so it remains to be seen if this is merely a bad interpretation of events, or if Amy and Autumn are in fact the same person.
Is Royal’s Glimpse of the Dark Future Still a Possibility?
While the very specific visit two years in the future that Royal had in season 1 was never specifically seen again in season 2, there were certainly strong hints that the “river of time” is flowing that way.
One memorable part of that quick glimpse into the future was how the West pasture was being ravaged by heavy machinery. Oil drills seemed to be mining what can only be assumed to be the black ebbing mineral that is the source of the void’s power.
Last we saw Rhett (Lewis Pullman) he was discussing the future plans of the land with university interloper Dr. Nia Bintu (Yrsa Daley-Ward). Royal visited Dr. Bintu in season 1 when he won Autumn’s necklace (which had a rock made up of the same mysterious mineral) in a poker game, and asked Bintu what the mineral was. Ever since, she’s been hounding Royal to allow her to research there, even going so far as to steal soil samples from his land.
Rhett, looking out for himself and girlfriend Maria (Isabel Arraiza) tells Bintu that if she were willing to pay him, he might be able to convince Royal to allow them to drill. Perhaps this still happens in the future, and those drilling apparatuses belong to the university.
The role Autumn plays in this not-so-distant future also remains to be seen, but if the recurring vision Luke had of his future remains true, it appears as if Autumn will still be the lead of this cult-like community surrounding the void and the Abbott ranch, and Luke will be right by her side.
Luke, who almost got addicted to ingesting the mystery mineral, consistently envisioned Autumn, all donned in yellow, preaching to a cabal of followers. This was very much like what Royal saw when he jumped two years into the future, that strange, massive alliance, full of family, friends and foes, and yet they all seemed to be part of the same “cult.”
Where (or When) Is Everyone Now?
At the end of season 1, audiences were left wondering where (or when) two main characters ended up. Nothing has changed as season 2 concludes, except who those two characters are.
Joy, as mentioned before, has made her way back to present time, and appears to have her own mysteries to deal with since she has an inherent connection to the void. This includes strange blackouts, a loud ringing in her head, and a veritable zoo of wild animals following her.
Those same headaches are starting to bother the second most experienced time-traveler, Perry. While Young Royal pushed his would-be son back into the void in 1984, Perry did not return to the Alpha timeline. Instead, he inexplicably ended up at the start of season 1, just before he accidentally killed Trevor Tillerson.
It was perhaps his only shot at trying to fix things, but instead of merely preventing his past self from beating Trevor to death, he accidentally caused his own death. The slightly younger version of Perry was distracted when time-traveler Perry shouted out, trying to stop things, and ended up being punched in the throat by Trevor. That injured Perry fainted from the lack of wind, and cracked his head on the pavement when he hit the ground. Now, Perry finds himself in familiar territory, but in a twisted version of deja vu, ends up dragging his own corpse to the void, changing clothes with him, and dumping the body in the hole.
What this means for the timeline remains to be seen in a possible season 3. The fact that Perry never killed Trevor means the ranch will never be put up for bail, and might prevent a lot of drama. But since time, and the rules of time travel appear to mean less than nothing in Outer Range, that is by no means a certainty.
One sad certainty is that Amy, like her father, is now lost in time. Amy was accidentally pushed into the void when Sheriff Hawk tried to save the young girl from the crazed Autumn. Hawk ended up wounding Autumn, but as she fell, Amy ended up being launched into time. Last she was seen, she awoke at an undisclosed, but modern looking time, remembering nothing about herself. The only thing she thought she knew is that her name (you guessed it) …was Autumn.
Perhaps the only certainty is that Outer Range has, so far, remained an unfinished book. With the “rules” of this universe being erased and rewritten all the time, perhaps that book will never be finished, but in a perfect timeline, its ending will one day be completely explained.
All seven episodes of Outer Range season 2 are available to stream on Prime Video now.
The post Outer Range Season 2 Ending Explained: Where and When Is Everyone? appeared first on Den of Geek.
