The Outsider HBO

[Freshwater Spartan]

Digging the show so far. I have read the book but have forgotten most of the plot. It's like I am experiencing the story again for the first time.

[Corvinus85]

Now we're finally getting some of that supernatural element and things are starting to fall into place, though I still expect twists. Really liked the episode, even though I wish they had changed the trope of

Spoiler

having an old Latino woman who just happens to cross paths with the investigator explain the supernatural to the investigator. 

 

[Gronzag]

It started so well, but then this 'savant' investigator lady appeared and now it feels like I'm watching an episode of Supernatural.

I'm half expecting to hear Dean say 'Ok, now how do we kill it?'

[RedEyedGhost]

Haven't read the book, but the show really feels like a Claire North book - particularly Touch (and a little bit of The Sudden Appearance of Hope), but darker.

[Martini Sigil]

It's kind of cool that Justine Lupe and Cynthia Erivo can both play the same character on two different shows and both be wonderful 

.... I'm dying to know what Hoskin's shopping spree was for....

[Heartofice]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:28 PM, Gronzag said:

It started so well, but then this 'savant' investigator lady appeared and now it feels like I'm watching an episode of Supernatural.

I'm half expecting to hear Dean say 'Ok, now how do we kill it?'

Yeah I’m not sure I’m loving the direction of the show after episode 4. This whole ‘El Cuco’ stuff felt a little bit lame, like something that happens in every movie.

And while I quite like Holly Gibneys performance , yeah I’m not sold on the whole savant thing either. 

[dbunting]

I like that the show still feels grounded in "reality" and hasn't quite gone full supernatural yet.

Spoiler

I got fooled a little because I assumed when the cop went on the shopping spree that he was setting up to kill a kid but it seems more like an offering at an alter?

I hope that the show can keep one foot solidly in reality while telling the rest of the story because that is what had me interested. I had no idea going into this what to expect. I mean, I knew it was from a King book but those first two episodes were done so well, acted, written, directed, everything.  I just hope they can stick the landing.

 

[Heartofice]

2 hours ago, dbunting said:

I like that the show still feels grounded in "reality" and hasn't quite gone full supernatural yet.

  Reveal hidden contents

I got fooled a little because I assumed when the cop went on the shopping spree that he was setting up to kill a kid but it seems more like an offering at an alter?

I hope that the show can keep one foot solidly in reality while telling the rest of the story because that is what had me interested. I had no idea going into this what to expect. I mean, I knew it was from a King book but those first two episodes were done so well, acted, written, directed, everything.  I just hope they can stick the landing.

 

Yeah the more the show starts to pull in standard King elements the less interested I become. I haven't read the book but feeling engrossed and wanting to get to the end of a TV show based on a King book seems a bit of a bad idea! 

Having said that, the first 2 episodes were great and I really enjoyed them, and there are certainly parts of the show that keep me locked in. 

[Nictarion]

Starting to worry this peaked with the first couple episodes...

[Corvinus85]

Yeah, me too. Some of the stuff is still pretty good, but there's a lot of plot dragging.

Also, still no Southern accents, except maybe the drunkard detective. And the NYPD apparently have an Apache helicopter, which wouldn't surprise me, but I looked it up, and found nothing on this. This kind of stuff can break immersion.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

 

55 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Yeah, me too. Some of the stuff is still pretty good, but there's a lot of plot dragging.

Also, still no Southern accents, except maybe the drunkard detective. And the NYPD apparently have an Apache helicopter, which wouldn't surprise me, but I looked it up, and found nothing on this. This kind of stuff can break immersion.

Yeah no one really sounds like a native Georgian to me. I keep having to be reminded that's where it is set. Ran is correct in that metro Atlanta has a more "East Coast neutral" accent pattern but this show appears to be set largely in the country, where the older characters especially would be expected to have at least some Southern inflections. 

I haven't read the book (and haven't watched last night's episode yet) but I binged the first five over the weekend. I'm still intrigued, but like @dbunting I'm a little wary of the supernatural aspects at this point. Feels like that stuff might be an excuse to oversimplify what felt like a truly complex and baffling mystery at the beginning.

[red snow]

It's dragging a bit too much for me at the moment. It's even more noticeable given how much happened in the first two

[red snow]

3 hours ago, Triskele said:

I'm disappointed to say so, but I agree with that sentiment big time.  I was really enjoying it after the first two episodes, and while I'll finish the show I'm quite indifferent at the moment to what happens. 

It's feeling like a 10 hour episode of X-files where the cold opener was the highlight. Maybe the creature feeds off indifference?

No idea if the book had pacing problems too (his books are usually long) or if this is an adaptation to tv issue.

There are interesting things slow boiling such as Mendelssohn's tragic dismissal of his wife's "nightmare" and the sense his family are victims too. 

How far away from her bedroom was the cop's baby's room in this episode? I hope they have a baby monitor

[dbunting]

So a few things, @Corvinus I thought the same thing when I saw the Apache. Also, now when I see your name I read it as coronavirus...sorry man

I don't mind the pacing too much. While watching it I was thinking that the pacing actually helps draw out his books because part of the issue with book to movie is so much is left out.

This episode I was ok with, still had the creepy feel to it, loved the scene in the woods with the lamp, loved the kitchen scene and the cemetery visits. And.... the worst, involves the preview so if you didn't watch it don't read

Spoiler

The preview showing them going through what looks like caves or something else underground. This seems so cliche' for a King book and I am not looking forward to it.

One question though. When the kid who stole the van came to the lawyers office and did the sketch of the guy he was scared of, didn't it look just like the sketch his wife drew? If so why didn't he react to it? If not, well, nevermind!

[The Monkey]

I agree with the pacing issues of the last few episodes, but I'm still hooked to fairly high degree.

It seems to be two different forces at play, one with the doppelgänger murders and one with the marks on the neck. Am I missing something in regards to how they are connected?

[Corvinus85]

6 minutes ago, The Monkey said:

It seems to be two different forces at play, one with the doppelgänger murders and one with the marks on the neck. Am I missing something in regards to how they are connected?

I think there's only one force at play, that commits the murders and uses an individual as a pawn for a reason not entirely clear yet.

[Leofric]

41 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

I think there's only one force at play, that commits the murders and uses an individual as a pawn for a reason not entirely clear yet.

My current take on it is the Dark Uncle, or the shapeshifter, is the true evil, and he marks and forces someone to be his guardian and watchdog during his transformation to his next form and to clean up loose ends.  

One thing that I found off is the shapeshifter seems to have changed his pattern.   The previous three victims, the woman in New York, the nurse in Dayton, and Terry, were all scratched while they were on vacation/away from home and the shapeshifter followed them home to commit his murders.   But now he scratched someone who lives in Terry's town, and is sticking around rather than traveling to a new location.   This is obviously being done so Ralph and Holly will get a chance to face him, rather than him vanishing to his next destination, but is a little annoying that they have Holly establishing this pattern, then they throw it away.

 

[Corvinus85]

36 minutes ago, Leofric said:

My current take on it is the Dark Uncle, or the shapeshifter, is the true evil, and he marks and forces someone to be his guardian and watchdog during his transformation to his next form and to clean up loose ends.  

One thing that I found off is the shapeshifter seems to have changed his pattern.   The previous three victims, the woman in New York, the nurse in Dayton, and Terry, were all scratched while they were on vacation/away from home and the shapeshifter followed them home to commit his murders.   But now he scratched someone who lives in Terry's town, and is sticking around rather than traveling to a new location.   This is obviously being done so Ralph and Holly will get a chance to face him, rather than him vanishing to his next destination, but is a little annoying that they have Holly establishing this pattern, then they throw it away.

 

I don't think this is a spoiler thread. My take on his behavior

Spoiler

In the prior cases, the authorities didn't spend additional time investigating. They ignored contradictory evidence and quickly put their suspect in prison. Here, Terry gets killed before his day in court, and Ralph starts second guessing his actions. I'm thinking Ralph losing his son has something to do with why he won't let this go, though I can't say it's clear to me. So now the shapeshifter is hanging around, threatening Ralph to stop, which is interesting, because this person or creature, through its behavior, actually acknowledges the possibility of being caught. It was more cocky in the beginning (the bird flip on the video at the train station)

But I'm not sure why, from the very beginning, it was haunting Terry little's girl. I don't know what's up with that.

It is odd that it scratched the bouncer dude at the strip club. Not just because of it now being closer to the previous victims location-wise, but also because its main purpose, based on Holly's findings, is to revel in the suffering of the families involved. So I always thought it stalks both victims carefully before making a move. The bouncer seems to be a bit of an improvisation, right now.

 

[dbunting]

12 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I don't think this is a spoiler thread. My take on his behavior

  Reveal hidden contents

In the prior cases, the authorities didn't spend additional time investigating. They ignored contradictory evidence and quickly put their suspect in prison. Here, Terry gets killed before his day in court, and Ralph starts second guessing his actions. I'm thinking Ralph losing his son has something to do with why he won't let this go, though I can't say it's clear to me. So now the shapeshifter is hanging around, threatening Ralph to stop, which is interesting, because this person or creature, through its behavior, actually acknowledges the possibility of being caught. It was more cocky in the beginning (the bird flip on the video at the train station)

But I'm not sure why, from the very beginning, it was haunting Terry little's girl. I don't know what's up with that.

It is odd that it scratched the bouncer dude at the strip club. Not just because of it now being closer to the previous victims location-wise, but also because its main purpose, based on Holly's findings, is to revel in the suffering of the families involved. So I always thought it stalks both victims carefully before making a move. The bouncer seems to be a bit of an improvisation, right now.

 

I'll stick with spoiler to be safe.

Spoiler

I thought that it was talking to the girl trying to get her grief. She said at first he was saying things about her dad to make her mad, but then switched to have her tell the guy to stop investigating.  Also, I thought maybe it was hanging around the cop and his wife because they are still grieving but it doesn't look like that now.

Hate to do this but I think I missed something. Who was the guy in the last episode that killed himself via the cops? Was he the previous "dark uncle" or human helper guy? I thought that sequence was being done to keep the investigator around or interfere with her some how but that didn't play out.

[Heartofice]

36 minutes ago, dbunting said:

I'll stick with spoiler to be safe.

  Reveal hidden contents

I thought that it was talking to the girl trying to get her grief. She said at first he was saying things about her dad to make her mad, but then switched to have her tell the guy to stop investigating.  Also, I thought maybe it was hanging around the cop and his wife because they are still grieving but it doesn't look like that now.

Hate to do this but I think I missed something. Who was the guy in the last episode that killed himself via the cops? Was he the previous "dark uncle" or human helper guy? I thought that sequence was being done to keep the investigator around or interfere with her some how but that didn't play out.

Have to admit I was getting a bit confused by that point, and I'm not sure the show has done a great job being clear as to what is going on, with the ever expanding story threads. My assumption was that this guy was a friend of the guy who killed himself in jail. I'm assuming he was a 'human helper'.. mainly because of the neck boils and the stuff he said at the grave side. 

My take is that there is only ever one 'Dark uncle', and a bunch of human helpers. The Dark Uncle has the ability to shift form somehow, clearly through cutting the skin (so I'm guessing the club bouncer guy is the new dark uncle?). But in general I think there are too many things we don't know yet.. I'm not sure if the shapeshifter element is the same as the one that talks to the helpers in their heads and needs sacrifices in the woods.. I'm guessing not at this point.