Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Outside,’ a family finds refuge in a farm to escape the zombie apocalypse that has taken over the world. The farm holds terrible memories for Francis, but it is the only place that he can keep his wife, Iris, and children, Josh and Lucas, safe. So, he decides to fight his fears and make it a place that they can call home. While he takes this opportunity to have a fresh start for the family, there are certain things that cannot simply be left behind. The most important of these things is the paternity of Josh, which results in a major conflict within the family and ends up costing Francis everything. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Identity of Josh’s Biological Father Exposes the Dynamics of His Family
While Francis is concerned about the safety of his family, the way he treats Josh is evidently different. One could say that it is because Josh is older than Lucas, whom Francis still considers a mere child. Moreover, the world has gone to hell, and Francis is preparing Josh for the things to come. At least, this is what he tells himself. However, he could treat the boy, who is still a teenager, more sensitively. Try as he might, his prejudice for Josh comes out, and it has to do with Iris’ infidelity.
Years before the zombie outbreak broke the world, Iris had an affair with Francis’ brother, Diego. She got pregnant and had Josh, which makes Diego his biological father. The affair didn’t remain a secret for long, and Francis was devastated to discover that his wife and brother had betrayed him. It is not revealed whether Iris came forward with the truth or whether Francis found it out some other way. In any case, the couple reconciled under one condition. Iris wanted Francis to promise that he would treat Josh as his son. For the sake of his family, Francis agreed, and for the most part, he did treat Josh like his own son. However, he couldn’t forget about the affair.
Francis’ anger towards Iris, Josh, and Diego resurfaced when the problems in their marriage started to show again. Despite trying to make things work with Francis, during which she also had a son with him, Iris realized that she couldn’t be with him anymore. It remains unclear whether she had another affair, but it is confirmed that she wanted to separate from Francis, who became even more desperate to keep her with him. This is why, when the zombie apocalypse happened, he saw it a second chance, because now, Iris had nowhere else to go and she had no other option but to be with him. This is also why he remains adamant about keeping the family at the farm rather than taking them to the military camp in the north because he is scared that once they reach there, Iris will leave him for sure.
Francis’ Love for Josh is Revealed in His Final Words
While his parents tried to keep the secret from him, it wasn’t lost on Josh that Francis treated him differently. Over time, he realizes that this must be because he is not Francis’ biological son. When he and Lucas find the family album and Lucas compares him to Diego, Josh realizes that Diego is his real father. At this moment, he also realises why whenever he or Lucas mentioned Uncle Diego, whom they both liked, Francis would lose his cool. Despite the revelation, Josh still considers Francis his father because, biological or not, he is the only father Josh has ever known. The more Francis tests him, the more adamant Josh becomes to prove his worth and live up to his father’s expectations.
While it may not seem like it to Iris, Francis does consider Josh as his own son. He allows his jealousy and insecurity to take over, and he takes his anger out on Josh, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about the boy. It becomes difficult to accept that he loves Josh as the events in the movie unfold because Francis gets more and more unstable. However, in the final scene, when Francis is shot by Josh by mistake, he calls him “my son” in his final breaths, confirming that despite his prejudice, Francis kept his word to Iris and raised Josh as his own. The reason he treated Josh differently was because of his own issues, having grown up with a violent father who thought that his son needed to toughen up.
When Francis comes back to the farm where he was raised in a highly toxic environment, he ends up becoming the version of his own, the very thing that he’d run away from years ago when he left his parents and vowed never to return. It is this Francis who sees Josh as a younger version of himself and decides to toughen him up like his father did. With this in mind, it becomes clear that it wasn’t his lack of love for Josh but a twisted sense of paternal obligation that led him to treat Josh differently. Rest assured, for all intents and purposes, he considered Josh his own.
