DISCLAIMER: This recap of Outer Range Season 2, episode 5, “All the World’s a Stage” contains spoilers. Read at your risk.
At the end of Outer Range, episode 4, “Ode to Joy” and also the end of Outer Range, episode 3 “Everybody Hurts”, we saw Royal (Josh Brolin) finding Sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski) climbing out of the hole in the West Pasture. Joy had been missing for days. Well, at least in the present day she had. Joy had, in fact, gone back in time to 1886 where she was stranded for four years. She lived among the Shoshone where she befriended a woman, Falling Star, who was originally from the 1970s. She also met a young boy named Royal.
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In Outer Range’s “All the World’s a Stage”, we see how a damaged Royal and damaged Joy will compare notes. We also get a plot point confirmed although one we already knew.
Waking Nightmare
Royal drives badly wounded Sheriff Joy. She’s in and out of consciousness after being shot in the leg by a homesteader in 1886. She asks what he was doing “by the hole” then what were you doing “in the hole?” In her delirium, she’s referring to the Young Royal she met and this current Royal. He wants to know who shot her but she asks again “What were you doing in that hole?” He replies “It’s my land, what were you doing on it?”
Cecilia (Lili Taylor) enters her house and an auction is happening. There are price tags on everything as people take things from her house. It’s clear this is a nightmare. Cecilia sees people breaking things, Royal and Perry arm wrestling. Maria is choking Rhett. The Tillersons are there. The ranch is sold. Then it’s quiet and she walks up the stairs and opens Amy’s (Olive Abercrombie) door – they sees the outside and a buzzard is plucking at Amy.
On the front porch, Autumn (Imogen Poots) wakes Cecilia from her nightmare. Ceci spirals and tells Autumn she doesn’t know what to do. Autumn asks how much time she has. Cecilia just wants her granddaughter and son back.
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One of Sheriff Joy’s men, Deputy Chinland (Sam Strike) spots Royal at a gas station where he’s getting water for Joy, and they chat. Joy doesn’t want to be seen. Royal drives out of the parking lot but Chinland sees Joy in the passenger seat.
As the cops follow Royal, Joy says to take her to the Wind River Reservation because Chinland and his partner won’t be allowed to enter. She wants to go to IHS (Indian Health Service). Joy says neither of them are ready to answer their questions.
At the Wind River checkpoint, two Res cops, Officer Edgar (Tatanka Means) and Officer Daniel (Tokala Black Elk) sit in their truck. Edgar tries to tell a story about a time traveler but he and Daniel both agree, the story needs work.
Then they see Royal’s truck and turn on their flashing lights. When Daniel looks in Royal’s truck, he sees the wounded Joy. Daniel alerts Edgar who is Joy’s cousin. At this point, Chinland pulls up behind them. Daniel holds him off while Edgar gets in the back of the truck to escort Joy.
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Kicking and Screaming
Autumn drags Cecilia to the church. She drops yet another bible verse, “Fear not for nothing is covered that will not be revealed. Nothing hidden that will not be known.”
Inside the church, Autumn yells at Pastor Ken (Johnny Sneed) because the Abbotts are in need. He didn’t know the Abbotts needed $500K to save the ranch. He tells Autumn his church or its congregants don’t have that kind of money.
Cecilia asks Autumn why she’s asking people from a simple church for money when her own family is rich. Autumn says because she wants Cecilia to see what these people are really like. Ceci calls her out and tells her to be the example she wants them to be – call her family and ask for the money.
She takes out her phone and dials her Mom however the number is disconnected, She calls her sister, the same thing. Ceci and Pastor Ken stare at her. Then he says, Beware of false prophets kicking and screaming for miracles while you’re unknowingly being rebuked for your vanity, ‘cause I see you for who you really are, and that’s a dime-store philosopher, sanctimonious huckster with nothing worth buying.” He bets her family abandoned her long ago.
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Cecelia comforts a crying Autumn in the parking lot. She tells Autumn that she’s something else and that they are alike. Ceci had forgotten she had that fight and Autumn just reminded her. She also says she’s only ever seen Amy get as mad as Autumn can.
A while later, Cecilia pulls up to a trailer. She tells Autumn not to leave the car. Autumn grabs a tire iron while she waits. Cecelia knocks on the door and Lewis Mays (William Belleau) answers with a gun pointed at her. Autumn jumps out of the truck. Cecilia says she came to apologize. Ceci says she’s trying to push past her pain. Lewis lowers the gun and calls Rebecca. He says to put Amy on the phone. But, Amy is mad and accuses her of running her mother off then hangs up on her.
Shared Stories
At IHS, a suspicious Edgar questions Royal about Joy. Edgar demands to know if Royal put his hands on his family. Royal replies “only to get her here.” He flashes back to when he shot his dad. He also thinks of the stag he saw right before. Royal shakes his head to stop the flashback.
Meanwhile, at the checkpoint. Chinland exits his police SUV and approaches Daniel. Then he places his gun belt, walkie and badge on Daniel’s truck. He says he needs to know if his boss is okay.
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At IHS, Joy is awake and wants to see Royal. In her hospital room, she thanks him. She says “Do you wanna start or should I?” Joy tells him she was in the West Pasture because she time-traveled through the hole. She lived in the 1880s for four years with the Shoshone. Joy says she met a boy named Royal who saved his life and she thinks it was him. He plays coy and wonders why she thinks that and then she nails him. “I just told you I traveled through time and you didn’t even flinch.” Point, Joy.
Royal says he always believed he shot his father in a hunting accident and he jumped in the hole to disappear. This could be true – he did see the stag right before he shot his dad. Joy says that’s not what happened while she was there. He points out she was only missing for a few days. She’s shocked.
She says they have stories. Old stories. She asks what Royal thinks the hole is. He doesn’t know. She says there have always been stories and signs in that area. Royal asks if she has someone to talk to. She says she has Martha. He stresses that his family is broken because of his lies. “Tell the truth before it’s too late.”
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As he leaves, he has a flashback of being in a stable right after he came through the hole. Young Royal introduces himself to a young Cecilia Abbott. Young Royal passes out and has a seizure. As Royal exits the hospital, Chinland is there and asks why he ran. Royal says he did what Joy told him to do.
Side By Side
At IHS, Joy spins a story to Chinland about being kidnapped by two meth heads. He wants her to do a sketch for a BOLO. She says she wants to move past it. He comments that she looks different. Her hair — which is all curly from the braids she was wearing in the past.
Joy uses Chinlund’s phone to call Martha. Matha (Morningstar Angeline) sobs when she hears her wife’s voice.
Cecilia and Autumn pull up to the Abbott Ranch and Luke Tillerson (Shaun Sipos) is there in his SUV. Ceci wants him gone before Royal gets home.
Autumn taps on Luke’s window. He is high on the mineral but brought some for her. Luke tells her she deserves to see her true self. He wants her to call him after she takes it and tell him what she sees.
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Later, Royal gets home. He tells her “It’s back” meaning the hole and she needs to see it. As Ceci and Royal ride out to the West Pasture, Autumn puts some of the mineral in her mouth. Her eyes then turn black. She falls to the floor and when she gets up and looks in the mirror, she sees Amy as the reflection. Then we see the perspective of Amy looking in the mirror and seeing Autumn as a reflection. Yep, they are definitely the same person. But we knew that.
Meanwhile, Royal and Ceci arrive at the hole. Cecilia wonders how Royal never talked to anyone all these years. He says she was by his side and he doesn’t want that to change.
Outer Range is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
RELATED: Read our Outer Range recaps, here.
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