Review: The Outsider

On January 12, 2020, HBO will premiere a new series titled The Outsider, which is based on the novel by Stephen King of the same name.

The show opens up with the discovery of an 11 year old boy’s lifeless and nude body in the park named Frankie. 

An arrest is made quickly. It’s not some outsider, but one of the town’s most well-liked citizens-Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) who is a little league coach, teacher, father and husband.

Detective Ralph Anderson (Paul Mendelsohn) has everything it needs to convict him, but does he have the right person?

There is also a lot of circumstantial evidence and a video that shows Maitland was somewhere else at the time of his murder.

His wife Holly (Julianne Nicholson) continues to maintain his innocence, but Detective Anderson doesn’t really want to hear it.

True to Stephen King’s style, strange things start to happen like supernatural-ish stuff that’s hard to explain such as dark, hooded figures in bedrooms, mutilated deer and words written in blood  appearing suddenly on the skin. All that is accompanied by blood, fire and the dreaded spiders.

In other words, all things that Detective Anderson can’t explain through evidence.

Stephen King has stated that The Outsider (along with Stand By Me) are his two favorite works and is a little concerned that the showrunners may stray a bit from the book, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Many of his novels that have been adapted for movies such as The Shining, Misery, Needful Things and Cujo did stray a bit.

Most writers tend to have issues when people take a creative licensing hatchet to their work.

However, it doesn’t seem to be the case with HBO.

Also appearing in this show are: Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Paddy Considine, Marc Menchaca, Yul Vazquez, Jeremy Bobb, and Hettienne Park.

The show will have 10 episodes and is surely going to keep King’s legion of fans happy as well as garner him some new followers.

The Boob Toober TV Show Review of the Week:

The Boob Toober TV Show Review of the Week:

Fast Facts:


The Walking Dead


Season 10, episode 7, ‘Open Your Eyes’ 


Director: Michael Cudlitz


Written by: Corey Reed


Air date: November 17, 2019 


Network: AMC



Every episode of The Walking Dead usually has a couple of storylines in it and this week’s episode, entitled, ‘Open Your Eyes’ was no exception.


Probably the main storyline was that of Siddiq (Avi Nash) because this was officially the end of his Good-bye Tour which actually began in episode 3 (‘Ghosts’) and ended in the latest episode (‘Open Your Eyes’).

Although Siddiq’s tour seemed longer than previous characters, it was extremely well written and acted especially when it came to his newly acquired PTSD due to being forced to watch the Whisperer’s decapitation of several characters such as Enid, Tara and Henry.

Not only was Siddiq forced to watch their murders, but he was left as the lone survivor of the group that The Whisperers had abducted.

Hollywood has adopted an uncomfortable obsession with PTSD too often glamorizing it and portraying it as something heroic. 


The Walking Dead took the time to show the truth of the syndrome; something ugly and crippling right down to the flashbacks and Siddiq waking up in places where he couldn’t remember how he got there.


The character suffering while trying to appear normal is what many PTSD survivors go through every day.


Siddiq’s Good-bye Tour was especially intense and heartbreaking.

All writers, regardless of the venue in which they write, have a tell. It is almost like a type of fingerprint.


The writers and production staff on The Walking Dead are no exception.


Their tell for the last 10 seasons are what the Boob Toober refers to as the Good-bye Tour.


The Good-bye Tour is used whenever they’re about to kill off a character that has been an integral part of the story.


For characters that were just written off, as was the case with Morgan Jones (Lennie James); Dwight (Austin Amelio); Jadis/Anne (Pollyanna McIntosh); Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln); and Heath (Corey Hawkins), there was no real tour for them.


Of course there was a storyline that led up to their disappearance, it just didn’t contain the typical ingredients that are required for a Good-bye Tour.


These ingredients are a type of storyline that covers their journey on the show as well as conversations with other characters that were important relationships with the soon-to-be-deceased characters.


The show has done these tours from the very beginning of its inception, starting with the death of Ed Peletier (Adam Minarovich) in season 1, episode 4, ‘Vatos’.

Sometimes the show will try and do a fake Good-bye Tour as was the case in season 6, episode 1, ‘First Time Again’ when they tried to lead viewers into thinking Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun) was not long for this apocalyptic world.

They used props like the watch Herschel gave Glenn and Glenn calling Rick dumbass as he did in episode 2 of season 1. The show even had Glenn and Nicholas (Michael Traynor) engage in numerous dialogues going from enemies to friends.

The ruse worked as fans took to social media to debate and dissect whether Glenn was actually dead.

Of course he wasn’t, but his real Good-bye Tour began in season 6, episode 12, ‘Not Tomorrow Yet’ and ended in season 7, episode 1, ‘The Day Will Come When You Won't Be’.

The second storyline is the continuing descent into hell of fan favorite Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) who has gone from abused and passive wife to a care-giver of two parentless girls to a one-woman war machine to Greta Garbo impersonator (“I just want to be left alone”) to doting queen-wife and mother.

She has added another personality to the overcrowded cast in her head: that of a sociopath.


Once the loyal best friend of everyone’s favorite redneck, Darryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), Carol has taken to using him to justify her actions and shield her from reality. 

When everyone was writing her off as delusional, Carol needed Darryl to believe her which he begrudgingly said he did. Even though his brusque "Yep." didn't sound all that convincing, it was all she needed to justify her actions.


At this point, it appears that Darryl’s friendship is only valuable as long as he can provide her with what she wants; his silence and his loyalty.



Once Carol learned that the Whisperer (James Parks) she had captured did have one tidbit to offer her, that Alpha had told the group that she killed Lydia, he was no longer any use to her. 

However, Lydia was another story.

Her insane obsession with Alpha (Samantha Morton), the leader of The Whisperers, for killing her adopted son Henry made her feel justified to not only use Alpha’s daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy), but to inflict as much emotional pain on her as the physical and emotional pain Lydia experienced at the hands of her mother.

As is typical with a sociopath, she was convincing when it came to making people believe that she truly cared for the young girl and actually had Lydia believing that she identified with the abuse; that they were both survivors of cruelty by someone they trusted.

 
The third storyline is about secrets. Secrets are never a good thing especially when it involves a character like Darryl Dixon. Secrets, as was the case of the type of dysfunctional family that he grew up in, are destructive.

As the saying goes, sociopaths don’t have relationships, they have victims.


Darryl knows only too well that secrets are as sick as the people who keep them and as the secrets he’s had to keep lately start piling up, there won’t be a happy ending.


So let’s look at some of those secrets.


Michonne and Darryl have kept it a secret how they got their matching scars on their backs. This is understandable.


Michonne has also sworn him to secrecy over the agreement she made with Alpha; to keep Lydia safe. 

This agreement has not kept their people safe. It is also a secret they agreed to keep from certain people like Aaron (Roscoe Marquand), 

Eugene (Josh McDermitt),

and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam). 

All three hold leadership positions and having this knowledge is necessary in order to strategize their next move in order to survive.


Keeping a secret like that from other members of Alexandria who lost loved ones at the hands of The Whisperers isn’t going to go over well for Michonne once they find out.

Darryl, in return, has kept Carol’s behavior a secret from Michonne because deep down in his good ol’ boy southern heart he knows she’s nuts and can’t be trusted. He also is worried what Michonne will do because now there is an empty cell or two.


His lack of trust was evident in episode 6, ‘Bonds’ when he insisted on going out with her and when he searched her bag while she went to relieve herself. Which was a little un-Darryl of him.

It’s likely Darryl also knows who let Negan out of his cage which he intends on keeping that little gem to himself.


He’s also keeping it a secret that Magna (Nadia Hilker) and Kelly (Angel Theory) have been stealing food and other supplies from the Hilltop. 

This secret may be a little more understandable because he has warm fuzzy feelings for Kelly’s sister Connie (Lauren Ridloff).

People may underestimate Darryl.  They think because he’s quiet, he’s good at keeping secrets. Darryl also has a moral code that he lives by and it’s a matter of time before he decides he doesn’t want to be the gatekeeper anymore.


And when he gets to that point, it ain’t gonna be pretty.


Another secret that impacted both Gamma (Thora Birch), who is Alpha’s newest victim/devotee, and Lydia was the fact that Alpha told the group that she had killed Lydia.

The reality of Alpha’s duplicity has destroyed Gamma’s trust in her.


Now the issue is, what is Gamma going to do about this new information especially after seeing Lydia still breathing with her own two masked eyes?

She has basically two options:

1      Gamma could leave and go out on her own or join the people at Alexandria. After becoming captivated by not only Aaron’s stories, but Aaron himself, going to live at Alexandria is a possibility. There is also a part of her who wants to see her nephew again and maybe then she can began to heal from the guilt she now feels over killing her sister in order to protect Alpha.

2       She may decide to narc on Alpha, but she’ll need proof as she knows only too well how well Alpha has the other Whisperers under her control. Gamma also has to take into account the loyal and formidable Beta that would become a big problem for her survival. 

      The one obvious option is for her to team up with her newest kindred spirit, Lydia, as they are both stumbling around the forest crying and alone. They would possibly need two other Whisperers who want to leave group and Gamma would know who they are. Unbeknownst to Gamma, Lydia has Negan in her corner who is now a member of the Whisperers. It is also a possibility that there may be more Whisperers willing to take up their cause if some of them were actually at one point members of the Sanctuary.

Finally, Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) was finally outed as a Whisperer even though most fans already knew this. 

Although he is probably confident that his secret will remain intact, he has underestimated Rosita (Christian Serratos) and the depths of her relationship with Siddiq who was baby daddy to her daughter Coco. Nothing is more dangerous than a fierce mama bear. 

Although it is doubtful she will immediately entrust her latest paramour Father Gabriel, she will definitely go to her BFF Eugene Porter

 and her favorite go-to-guy Darryl Dixon.

Here’s a tip Dante: doctors don’t seem to live long during this particular zombie apocalypse. 

On Sunday, November 24, The Walking Dead will air one final episode before taking their break so don’t expect the showrunners to tie everything up in a nice little bow just in time for the holidays.

They don’t tend to do anything like that because, after all, we’re still waiting to find out what the hell happened to Heath and it’s been two years. 

Reference: All pictures the courtesy of AMC and The Walking Dead