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Created by Stephen Merchant and Elgin James, The Outlaws, a much-awaited dark comedy, is finally out on Amazon Prime Video for viewers in the United States. The Outlaws is an edearing and heart-felt tale of friendships and redemption told through the stories of seven strangers from different walks of life who get involved together in community service.
The series boasts a stellar cast who embody quirky and vibrantly different characters who all converge at a common point. They are outlaws who have been convicted for minor crimes they have committed and have come together to serve their sentence- 100+ hours of community service- under an adorably goofy supervisor. Things get heated up when one of the members gets caught up in money embezzlement and the entire group finds itself involved with him.
The Outlaws summed up
Stephen Merchant and Elgin James have delved deep into characterization and dug beyond stereotypes to bring viewers a vibrant range of figures. Starting with Rani, the “studious Asian good girl” suffering from kleptomania, the series also has the small-time crook Frank, a right-wing businessman John and his rival left-wing militant Myrna, a nerdy divorced lawyer Gregory, the wealthy social influencer Lady Gabriella Penrose-Howe, and then our protagonist Christian Taylor, whose real name is Ben.
The series ultimately transcends the usual divisions of race, class, politics and social status to bring together the characters under the same banner- the banner of community and friendship.
The series starts off by introducing the seven characters. Despite their differences, they have to serve together under the watchful eyes of their supervisor to fulfill the court obligations of 100+ hours of community service that would ultimately clear them off their sentence.
However, when one of the members, Ben who poses as Christian Taylor, gets involved unwillingly with a dangerous gang and ends up laundering money, the entire community steps up to save him from the prison sentence that hangs over his head.
The shoutout to Banksy
It is easy to miss the ode to Banksy that is embedded within the series. In one of the scenes viewers find Frank coming across a mural that shows a rat amidst two painting cans, and Frank comments that it’s “awfully good.” Realizing that it is a grafitti and not a real rat, Diane asks Frank to paint over it. In the final moments it is found that Frank is painting over a graffiti with “Banksy” written over it.
Banksy is a famous English graffiti artist-activist and some of his renowned creations including the "Hula Hoop Girl", "Rage", "Flower Thrower", and "One Nation Under CCTV" have caused quite some sensation. The graffiti that Frank painted was actually done by Banksy and he had himself agreed to the destruction of it for the series. Even the credit section of the series mentions Banksy so it is indeed his creation.
Catch The Outlaws, now available on Amazon Prime Video.
