The Outsider (2020) Review

 

The Outsider (2020)

The Outsider follows Detective Ralph Anderson, who, after the brutal murder of a child, is left investigating a case that raises more questions than answers, as the further he digs, the more supernatural the case becomes. 

A complaint I have with lots of shows anymore is the whole, “you have to get past the first few episodes, then it gets good” crap. The Outsider does quite the opposite though, starting out fast and hard for the first few episodes, then seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth. It utilizes a broken but almost genius narrative structure that keeps things fresh and constantly evolving at the outset but then it turns into episode after episode of practically listening to elevator music and watching paint dry. Usually, especially with Stephen King, I’m left asking for more, but this comes off begrudgingly slow and long winded as it goes in circles for hours, in what probably should’ve been concentrated to a 5-6 episode miniseries. 

Which is a shame considering the potential this story and it’s concept held, as person after person is framed and subsequently killed for a brutal murder or murders that they never committed, always being in 2 places at once. It introduces a bunch of supernatural elements to a world devoid of such thoughts and introduces them well enough to feel eery and suspenseful, though by dragging us along, said suspense looses it’s interest by seasons end. We’re left with so many more questions than answers, like where does Ralph’s son fit into ANY of this? Who is the mystery cop they’re pinning the murders on? And are there more of these things and is ours even dead/killable (A question that will never get answered as the show is limited to one season)?

The show does however sport a nice cast, starring Jason Bateman, Julianne Nicholson, Mare Winningham, Yul Vazquez, Bill Camp, Jeremy Bobb, Paddy Considine, Marc Menchaca, Cynthia Erivo, and Ben Mendelsohn. I appreciated how they used Bateman’s nice guy persona as a weapon early, just wished we got more use out of him. I felt Erivo really embodied the quirky, outsider-y elements to reoccurring King character Holly Gibney, though Mendelsohn just looked comically bored and exhausted throughout, which is a tough sell when he’s your lead. 

Based on the novel by Stephen King, The Outsider, directed by Richard Price, had all the early makings of being a suspenseful, deep-rooted mystery, thriller, instead however, using the meat of the season to make zero progress and practically having me begging by season’s close to just be over already, though we did get an explosive finale for our troubles. 

7/10