Outer Range Ending Explained and Autumn’s Identity

Outer Range Season 1 Finale Spoilers Follow

It is certainly safe to say that nearly no one anticipated this psychedelic strangeness from a western-themed drama starring Josh Brolin. Still, Outer Range was advertised as a mystery drama, so who are we to believe it?

On the Abbott ranch, people went missing, murders were covered up, and a mysterious hole in time opened up. Who would have thought of all that? And yet, it barely touches on what happened in the last episode.

If you thought things were already tense on the ranch, Autumn’s (Imogen Poots) interference and freedom caused Royal (Brolin) and his family more trouble as they tried to deal with Perry’s confession of murder. But more deaths are coming, and the truth about Royal’s mysterious past is finally revealed.

Maybe the talking bear knows what we need to know. Intrigued? How the hell weren’t you? “Talking bear” is what we said. Well, if you still don’t understand after the finale, you can always read about how the story ends.

Outer Range ending explained

The Abbott family is “spread thin like butter on too much bread” in the last two episodes of Outer Range (if you can’t use a Middle-earth phrase at this point, when can you?).

Royal and his wife Cece (Lili Taylor) had to put up the ranch as bail for Perry to get out of jail, but Autumn is about to ruin their plans. In fact, she seems to be the one who is making a lot of bad things happen. She’s pretty angry that Royal left her hurt in the middle of nowhere, so it makes sense that she wants to get even.

When Autumn is sent away from the ranch, she meets a talking bear. Yep. Just go with it, because it fits with how crazy the show is.

Autumn is persuaded by the bear to tell their neighbor Billy Tillerson the truth about the strange portal on the Abbott ranch (Noah Reid). After their weird trip through the ranch, during which he saw the portal, Autumn sees him as a friend.

Their unofficial deal is sealed when she carves the Abbott family crest into his chest and gives him the most disgusting, slobbery kiss ever. Autumn thinks she’s going to do wonderful things that have to do with this portal, so she’s asked Billy to make sure Royal doesn’t get in her way.

He tells Royal this while holding a gun to his head and saying, “I think something bad is going to happen to your granddaughter.” This is an important detail to keep in mind.

Billy warns Royal about Amy, and Royal almost listens to him. Almost. That is, until he sees his son Perry (Tom Pelphrey) jump through the portal and out of this time, hoping it will save him like it saved his father all those years ago.

What Happened To Royal?

Well, it turns out that Autumn, the master manipulator, is suddenly eager to talk about this portal, and she has even shown Perry. What happens during their conversation isn’t shown in full because it goes on behind the scenes. Perry only tells Autumn that his missing wife Rebecca is not really gone because, in Autumn’s words, “nothing’s ever really gone.” Oookay…

No matter what else is said, it is enough to make Perry want to ask Royal about his own connection to the portal. Royal finally lets go of his painful past when he tells Perry that he accidentally killed his father when he was a young boy while hunting.

He wanted to disappear because of his sadness and guilt. This was the first time the portal showed up in front of him. He jumped in in 1886, and he came out of the building in 1968. Yes, Royal is a man who lives in the past.

A sad story about pain and loss that ended with an explanation of how he came to live with the Abbotts. What did Perry learn from the story? “I’ll jump in to save my own life.” Anyhow, this action seemed to cause the portal to close, and Royal’s grief over the death of his son makes him want to kill Autumn.

Billy has told his brother Luke (Shaun Sipos) about the portal. Luke then has the idea to turn the land into money once they get it from the Abbotts in a legal battle (or so they hope). But when Luke finds out that the hole is no longer there, he keeps digging.

What Happened To Rebecca?

Rhett is the one who starts to figure out what happened to Rebecca (Lewis Pullman). Even though his family is having trouble, they all go to his last bull riding match (except Perry, who is in the hole).

In the first of two rides, Autumn calls Royal and tries to trick him. It works, and he goes back to his hunt for the killer. During this time, Rhett fights the bull and gets hurt. In the middle of all the chaos, Amy gets away and is called back by her mother Rebecca, who has been gone for nine months.

Rebecca says that she had to hide when people ask her where she’s been. All done. She hasn’t been seen for nine months, and the only clue about why is a vague footnote. Even though she doesn’t say much, when she asks Amy to leave with her, it feels like danger is coming.

In the end, Rhett doesn’t get much attention, but he wins the ride and decides to leave town with Maria, who has been his long-term crush and now his love (Isabel Arraiza).

Who Is Autumn?

What a tough situation this is! Since the beginning, there has been a lot of talk about what might happen, but now, finally, we have proof. When Royal finally finds Autumn, he finds out the truth.

What happens next is a great Western showdown, topped off with a “yeehaw” from Autumn, and then a shootout in a car chase.
The car that Autumn and Billy are in flips over, killing Billy. Autumn works hard to get away, and Royal is about to shoot her when a herd of buffalo runs toward them, making them both duck for cover. (Don’t worry, we’ll explain the buffalo, but let’s take it one step at a time.) When the crowd dies down, Royal goes to see how Autumn is doing (is she dead? Still alive? He should know). He sees the scar on her head at that point.

This scar looks like the deep cut Amy got when a stray piece of glass cut her during the fight between her father and his sons. When everything fits together, he realises that Autumn is really Amy. She is a woman from another time, just like he is. This makes me think of what Billy said about Amy’s terrible fate. She seems to have bad luck wherever Rebecca takes her, which could be what started this whole chain of events.

This seems even less likely when we think back to the scene where Autumn is talking on the phone while loading her guns for her fight with Royal. During the talk, she asks, “How long until a skip bail goes to auction?” She is probably talking about Perry. She then says that if she doesn’t get that cash quickly, she needs to get money from “the trust.”

This means two things. First, the land must be tied to her in some way, or it wouldn’t go to her if Perry skipped bail. and two, she has been in charge of some things, if not all of them, from the beginning. We have heard Rebecca call someone “mum” on the phone, so it’s possible that this is about her, but that’s just a guess. Royal is so sad and sorry that he has to carry a limp Autumn back to the house and put her in Amy’s bed.

Then he tells his wife the truth about everything, and that’s where we leave the Abbott family: hurt, confused, and with more questions than they had when we started.

What’s With The All The Buffalo?

We did say that we would explain the buffalo, so here it is. Remember how deputy sheriff Joy (Tamara Podemski) was determined to find out who killed Trevor Tillerson? Well, the investigation also sent her to Frank Harlan’s ranch to look into some strange things going on there.

We don’t know why Joy finds the Abbotts’ symbol on the rocks, but she does, along with a trail of the same strange dust that lives in the rocks on the Abbotts’ land. The rocks and dust were also connected to the portal (at this point, everything seems interconnected). Joy follows the trail, which leads her to a group of buffalo that are making a lot of noise. This is the same herd that came out of the hole Luke dug when he (successfully) tried to find the portal and almost ran over Royal and Autumn.

Throughout the whole series, Royal keeps coming across a lost buffalo that has two cherokee arrows stuck in it. Joy’s family history makes the connection between them even stronger.

Some Native American tribes’ spiritual and cultural lives revolved around the buffalo, but the animals were brutally killed during the colonisation of the Native Americans in an effort to weaken the tribes. This is why Joy is so amazed to see them all together.

In an interview with The Wrap, Outer Range showrunner Brian Watkins said that the theme of loss goes beyond what the Abbott family goes through and includes what happened to the indigenous people. This could be what the buffalo stands for, but Mr. Watkins, we’re still waiting for you to tell us more about this.

The following two tabs change content below.
My name is Gourav Singh, and some of my favorite hobbies include watching movies and television series, playing sports, and listening to music. For my blog posts, I prefer to write about themes that are lighthearted and fun to read and write about. To keep things light and entertaining, I'll include funny observations on life or a summary of the most recent entertainment news. Check out my blog if you're in the mood for some light entertainment.
Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 23 Zara Hatke Zara Bachke Review Jara Hatke Zara Bachke Movie Release Date Raghav Juyal GF Shehnaaz Gill Shehnaaz Gill’s Bold Fashion Moments