The Outsider Series on HBO:

[Martin]

The trailer is out for the upcoming series based on The Outsider.

Looks like it will premiere January 12, 2020 and run 10 episodes.

[One eyed cat]

I generally don't watch much television but the wife and I are both enjoying this so far. But I have to admit that neither of us has read the book.

[Martin]

I generally don't watch much television but the wife and I are both enjoying this so far. But I have to admit that neither of us has read the book.

I watched the first two episodes and am really enjoying it. It is a good book but the first 2/3 of the book were far better than the conclusion. I am interested in seeing how they handle the story when it goes off the rails. So far it is pretty true to the source material.

[Brian861]

I watched the first two episodes and am really enjoying it. It is a good book but the first 2/3 of the book were far better than the conclusion. I am interested in seeing how they handle the story when it goes off the rails. So far it is pretty true to the source material.

Again, I agree with Martin here as far as the book. The show remains unwatched on my DVR. You guys have a TBR pile, I have a TBV pile

[Sock Monkey]

Four episodes in and I really like it. There is a slow deliberate pace to the show, one which I am really enjoying. Ben Mendelsohn is giving one heck of performance. Ratings keep improving for the show with the last episode being up 36% from the premiere episode. While ratings don't mean that much since it's on HBO and it's not like the show would be canceled before it wrapped up series, it's good to see people jump on this train.

[fanatic]

Surprised there isn't much talk on the forum about this series. I liked the book a lot and enjoyed the first two episodes of the series. I have to admit that i am loosing interest in the series after 6 episodes.

[Martin]

Surprised there isn't much talk on the forum about this series. I liked the book a lot and enjoyed the first two episodes of the series. I have to admit that i am loosing interest in the series after 6 episodes.

I think I got three episodes in before life got in the way. It was pretty good up to that point. As I said before I am not sure how they will handle when the story goes off the rails. Not sure when I will have time to get back to it.

[Brian861]

Surprised there isn't much talk on the forum about this series. I liked the book a lot and enjoyed the first two episodes of the series. I have to admit that i am loosing interest in the series after 6 episodes.

I believe I'm only one episode behind and I'm enjoying it a lot more than the book.

[tyree]

I am really digging "The Outsider" am damned glad when I dropped several Charter premiums ( in an attempt to lower the bill from one thirty seven a month just to have the pleasure of viewing nothing but the true antichrist: commercials ), I kept HBO. I cannot see why Charter has issues with hooking me up only during the college football/basketball months then cutting me off, reinstating my account the following seasons but I guess I was being a tad nitpicky.
Just finished up episode 4 and am more intrigued, hooked than ever.
Very cool, original series with a stout, able-bodied cast.
Recommended.
Mark

[Martin]

I believe I'm only one episode behind and I'm enjoying it a lot more than the book.

Glad to hear, hopefully I will continue to enjoy the show!

[Sock Monkey]

I’m really digging the show as well. I thought episode five treaded water a bit, but that’s to be expected from the middle episodes. I’m debating on waiting a bit and then binging the last five episodes. Maybe episodes 6-8 together then 9 and 10.

[Brian861]

I’m really digging the show as well. I thought episode five treaded water a bit, but that’s to be expected from the middle episodes. I’m debating on waiting a bit and then binging the last five episodes. Maybe episodes 6-8 together then 9 and 10.

Like Martin stated earlier, hopefully they have done something better with the ending.

[Sock Monkey]

Okay, so the series wrapped up last night. I'm not sure if everyone is up to speed so after I give some generic thoughts, I'm going to go a little more specific in a spoiler tag.

Overall, I liked the series, though as the mystery was resolved about what was going on and shifted towards more to a "how do we stop this" plot line, I felt the show lost a little momentum. In hindsight, some of the issues were pacing-related and wished the show had picked up a little more speed towards its resolution. The acting was fantastic and found myself caring more for the well-being of the characters than I thought I would have.

Now more specifics:

Spoiler!

I had a couple of issues across the board with the series.

The first is the "minion" aspect of putting a human under the creature's control. While I thought this was more interesting with the guy who performed suicide by cop in an earlier episode, the way it plays out with Jack is a little too familiar ground for King material. It's a trope I'm not a huge fan of especially when a writer goes back to the same well.

The second is the finale in general. With a fantastic cliffhanger for the penultimate episode, I was ready for a rather tense final hour of television. Unfortunately, both the resolution to Jack's storyline and the ultimate confrontation with the creature (El Cuco is not the scariest of names) is rather anti-climatic. I didn't expect an action set-piece, but this wasn't much of an ending. The last half hour of the episode spent its time wrapping up story threads, which is fine, but since the main ending was on the lower end of exciting, it felt like the show kind of slow rolled to a conclusion.

Finally, the mid-credits sequence. In general, mid-credits sequences for television shows are lame. While in the theater the lights go up signaling the time to exit for an audience, this is not the case for a television show. Not a fan. BUT let's talk about that sequence. There's been some speculation on the interwebs about what it means and at first glance it gives a little thrill of "what's going on?", but ultimately, it kind of doesn't mean much. If the creature scratched people to be able to transform into them then it only matters if the creature is still alive. If the creature is dead, who cares? If creature isn't dead, then I don't care because I don't need a whole other season of tracking down the creature again.

Would I watch a second season? Maybe. Depends on the focus. I don't need a new X-Files with Holly and Ralph tracking down vampires and ghosts.

[Martin]

I remain stuck at three episodes. Life currently has other plans for me and I have not watched TV in about a month. When I have time I will watch the remaining episodes of Locke & Key and the then this.

[Sock Monkey]

I remain stuck at three episodes. Life currently has other plans for me and I have not watched TV in about a month. When I have time I will watch the remaining episodes of Locke & Key and the then this.

I think the show would work better binged rather than week to week. While the pacing of the show is deliberate, I think that week wait between each episode only amplified it. Looking forward to your thoughts once you get around to it.