Peter Mattei’s Outsiders Returns Tonight

If you said I would enjoy a show that's a polyamorous marriage of Sons of Anarchy, Justified, and Vikings, I’d say two out of three ain’t bad (sorry, SAMCRO). But Outsiders, whose second season premieres tonight on WGN America, has grown past those comparisons, striking its own claim for the long-haired iconoclast set.

Ryan Hurst as Li'l Foster Farrell in WGN America's Outsiders

The Chronicle spoke to show creator Peter Mattei last year, when season 1 premiered. The sometimes Austin/sometimes Brooklyn writer said that the show was based partly on the idea that "the real story of our times is income inequality, the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, the one percent and the 99 percent, and all these things that we've been thinking about for the last few years." (See "Appalachian Blues," Jan. 22, 2016.) A century-entrenched clan of pagans thriving in the Appalachian mountains who discover a mining company wants to blow up their land for the riches below (Steven Seagal’s On Deadly Ground, anyone?), may not be the most understated route, but Mattei, along with writer Peter Tolan (known for many things, but the first thing in my book will always be writing for HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show) have crafted a tale that explores the disenfranchisement and struggle of a marginalized society with inventiveness, grit, and all the fire, brimstone, and chaos distilled into an experience akin to the epic moonshine the Farrell clan (yeah, it's not a subtle show) brew. Outsiders is a prescient and entertaining allegory for these strange and uncertain times we live in.

Outsiders season 2 premieres Tuesday, Jan. 24, 8pm, on WGN America. Feeling left behind? Catch the first season on Hulu.