There are some strange things out there, stranger than God himself. And the man torments himself each day, trying to figure out the answers and give meaning to things that he doesn’t completely understand. In “Outer Range” Episode 1, Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin) finds a bottomless pit on his ranch. The Pit, perhaps, is a cosmic anomaly that has the ability to transcend time. But what would an old cowboy who grew up in the wild west know about these things?
Royal doesn’t know what this strange Pit is, that has appeared on the west pasture of his land. Yet he uses the Pit to hide a body, a body that belonged to his rival’s son, Trevor, who was killed by Royal’s elder son, Perry. A man does what he needs to do to protect his family, and thus “Outer Range” Episode 3 explores his plight further.
‘Outer Range’ Episode 3: Recap & Ending
Strange things are happening in Amelia County, Wyoming. People are disappearing without a trace. At first, it was Perry’s wife, Rebecca, who has been missing for nine months now, and now it is Wayne Tillerson’s son, Trevor, who hasn’t returned home for a week. Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk, running for Sheriff, investigates Trevor’s disappearance and comes across his belt buckle, which Trevor’s brother, Luke, found outside the Pit’s bar. According to the forensic report, the blood on the buckle matches the DNA of Royal’s youngest son, Rhett. Without wasting any moment, Joy visits Rhett, who is preparing for the final rounds of his bull-riding competition. While Royal tries to keep Joy away from Rhett, Joy insists on talking to Rhett alone. At first, Rhett lies to her. But later, after winning the competition, Rhett gets drunk and misbehaves with an officer who apparently brings him to the station, where, inside the cell, Rhett finally confesses to hitting Trevor outside the pit bar. However, he doesn’t reveal the complete truth. He hides that Perry was there with him, or any other person, and therefore tells Joy that he went inside the bar after the fight and doesn’t have any idea about what happened to Trevor after that. Meanwhile, Royal arrives at the station to bail out his son, and while Joy is interrogating Rhett, Royal discreetly picks up Trevor’s buckle lying on Joy’s table.
While returning home, Royal shares a secret with Rhett and informs him that he has been lying about his family all along. Royal’s parents didn’t die when he was a kid. After his father’s death, Royal deserted his mother and younger sister and came to the Abbott ranch, where the family adopted him. While Royal doesn’t reveal anything more about his mother or sister, there could be some mystery around them that will be further explored in upcoming episodes.
The next day, Royal pays a visit to the mysterious girl, Autumn Rivers, who has been camping on his ranch. The last conversation between Autumn and Royal was cut halfway at the end of “Outer Range,” Episode 2, when Autumn curiously inquired about what he saw when she pushed him into the pit. At that moment, Royal didn’t reveal his visions, but during this visit, he hints that he saw something that belonged to the future, and thus Autumn concludes that Royal traveled through time. In exchange for this information, Royal takes a promise from Autumn to keep the pit and its mystery away from his family, and as soon as Royal shakes hands with Autumn, the mountain behind him disappears. But it’s not just Royal who witnesses the impossible. Deputy Sheriff Joy and the entire Amelia County became eyewitnesses to the strange event. And while they try to decipher what actually happened, Amy finds Trevor’s body on the mountain. Royal had earlier thrown that body into the Pit but didn’t have any idea about how it appeared on the mountain. However, the family doesn’t want to involve Amy in the crime, so Royal calls Joy, informing her about the body.
At this moment, Luke is in the station and compels Joy to arrest Rhett as the police have already found his blood on Trevor’s buckle. Joy opens her drawer to bring out the buckle and suddenly discovers that it is missing. And before she can react, she gets a call from Royal, who informs her about the body.
See More: ‘Outer Range’ Episode 1 & 2: Recap & Ending, Explained – What Did Royal See Inside The Pit?
Is Autumn From A Different Time?
There are many theories revolving around the mysterious Autumn Rivers, who is camping on Royal’s ranch and is obsessively inspecting the rocks on his property. In an earlier episode, she told Amy that she was trying to search for some occult symbols that looked precisely like the Abbott family brand. Coincidentally, the symbol was found on the same mountain that disappeared in “Outer Range,” Episode 3, and it is probably the same place where Trevor’s body appeared.
There is a theory that suggests that maybe Autumn Rivers is no one else but Perry’s daughter, Amy, from a different timeline. Apparently, it is for this reason why, in his visit to the future, Royal saw Autumn dressed in a uniform, and it can be speculated that it was not Autumn but Amy who grew up and started working for the government or the oil drilling company set-up on Royal’s ranch. Like Royal, even Autumn doesn’t remember anything from her childhood, and she told Royal that she got into some kind of accident when she was just a kid and later woke up in a hospital in Jackson. After the accident, she lost her memory and doesn’t remember anything about her past life except her name. So maybe a young Autumn (or Amy) went into the pit just like Royal, but instead of going into the future, she came into the past. Autumn also took some lamotrigine medications from the local drug store. That suggests that she has been struggling with seizures for a long time.
Another reason that suggests that Autumn could be Amy is Autumn’s emotional inclination toward Perry and attraction toward Billy Tillerson. Thus, if Autumn is indeed from a different timeline, then her handshake with Royal explains the disappearance of the mountain. This event was probably caused by the collapse of two different timelines. As Royal, who belongs to a different timeline, shook hands with Autumn, from another timeline, the two timelines merged into one, thereby bringing Trevor’s body back to the timeline to which it originally belonged, thus in a way resetting the timelines. However, none of these theories is confirmed by the end of “Outer Range” Episode 3, and thus every fact that deals with time is mere speculation, and probably the upcoming episodes will clear the air.
See More: ‘Outer Range’ Episode 4: Recap & Ending, Explained – Are The Mysterious Rocks From Outer Space?
