The Outsider Review

9.5  An excellently executed, slow burning, supernatural murder mystery *MINOR SPOILERS*

HBO’s The Outsider is set in the seemingly quiet Flint City, where an eleven-year-old boy, Frankie Peterson, is brutally murdered. Detective Ralph Anderson arrests popular town man and baseball coach, Terry Maitland, in connection with the murder due to eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence which clearly lead to Terry as the only suspect. However, there are also eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence that place Terry at a conference out of town at the time of the murder.  The plot thickens and Anderson, along with Holly Gibney, a private investigator, and others investigate the strange case, putting themselves in mortal danger.

The Outsider is, in my opinion, very King-esque, sharing more tonal similarities with recent film adaptations Dr Sleep, Pet Sematary and Caste Rock than some older adaptations, and more in keeping with the atmosphere of his novels. I’m loving the influx of new high-quality versions of King’s work.

The show is an excellently executed, slow burning, supernatural murder mystery.  It is VERY creepy; the soundtrack is so unnerving, and events unfold at a slow, subtle, yet full of dread, pace.

The first few episodes are the tensest and most intriguing. Horrific events which happen are shown in character’s reactions and the dialogue more than outright gruesomeness, for the most part. The witness testimonies and scenes showing the prime suspects movements, the CCTV recordings, etc, are well done, and keep the mystery going in the first half of the season.

The cast is impeccable, led by always brilliant Ben Mendelsohn as Detective Ralph Anderson, who is on excellent, quietly troubled, form here. As always King creates not just amazing macabre stories but truly fleshed out, believable and endearing characters, added to and amended for a TV audience.

Jason Bateman plays an interesting Terry Maitland (also Executive Producing), also strong characters are; Paddy Considine, Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Yul Vasquez, Julianne Nicholson, Marc Menchaca and Derek Cecil.

The myth and legend incorporated into the story adds the otherworldly level and are explained to the team by the fantastic Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, one of the King Universe recurring characters (played by a different actress in Mr Mercedes – Justine Lupe). I like both interpretations but prefer Cynthia’s, more of Holly’s ‘supernatural’ skill set is on show and her introverted tortured soul.  Various folklore and ancient tales were clearly an inspiration here, including a Dracula-Renfield-esque relationship.

An explosive finale leads to a loosely fastened tying up of ends, hinting that the show may go beyond the book with a further season/s.

“Who’s Terry?”