Each week Joe (@bstolemyremote) and Terry (@gaylydreadful) discuss the most recent episode of HBO’s The Outsider, alternating between our respective sites -- queerhorrormovies.com and gaylydreadful.com.

Episode 1.05: “Tear-Drinker” After returning from an eye-opening trip to New York, Holly searches for clues at several locations connected to the Dayton case; Jeannie finds herself shaken by an unnerving incident at work and delivers an ominous warning to Ralph.

TERRY

Well, Joe, we’ve hit the midpoint of the season and The Outsider is starting to pull the mysteries together. The threat to Ralph (Ben Mendelsohn)’s little group is becoming more pronounced and real while the narrative diverges from the book (from what I remember) by providing us more context on the previous murders. All in all I think this was an exceptionally-paced episode that, while the very brief crisscrossing scenes still bug me, felt a lot less disjointed.

This time, the cold open operates as an introduction to The Outsider’s previous assistant (or, to borrow a vampiric trope, Renfield) and a way to see what the future presumably looks like for its latest slave, Jack (Marc Menchaca). Its previous Renfield is named Tracey Powell (Drez Ryan) and he’s introduced lying facedown on the concrete after, it’s later discovered, he commits suicide via police. That nasty, yet familiar, blistery burn is on his neck.

We also learn that Jeannie (Mare Winningham) works as a counselor at a recovery center and, after having an ominous brush-in with a hooded man in her waiting room, has a night encounter with The Outsider in her house. He mumbles the same threat Jessa told the group a couple episodes ago. What I liked about this sequence is that it actually made me fearful for Jeannie’s life. Mare brings such a motherly feel to Jeannie that I can see my own mom in her and so when her life is in jeopardy, I felt it.

I’ve been kind of “meh” about the change with the Andersons’ son in this adaptation. In the book? Away at school. Here? Dead from cancer. But it feels too convenient; it’s simply a rationale for the viewer to quickly forgive Ralph and give him more motivation for arresting Terry (Jason Bateman) so recklessly and publically. It feels a bit cheap and on-the-nose for me: saddle the antagonistic police detective with a dead child to make the audience empathize with him more. But the way this episode tied together Ralph and Jeannie’s undying grief for their child as a way of examining how they both are dealing with the torturous situation they’re in worked really well for me. It redeemed the kind of tropey nature of the narrative choice.

Though I’m not sure we needed the dream ghost of Derrick at the end of the episode…

The diversion from the novel I’m most appreciating, though? More Holly (Cynthia Erivo) and her investigation! Even though it, too, feels a bit contrived, I really like her relationship with the bartender that she frequently bounces ideas off of--and who apparently drives her places? Because of her, we learn that the Greek version of The Bogeyman is called “Baboulas,” a cannibalistic creature that eats children. We mused last week about the use of El Cucu and this episode continues the trend of setting up clues that this creature lives in all parts of the world and while it has different names, the threat is the same.

As a fan of the book, I have to say I’m enjoying the extra mile it’s taking to set-up and delve into the way The Outsider operates. But what about you, Joe? How did this episode treat you? Are you enjoying Holly’s investigative research? What do you think about her security “friend” Andy (Derek Cecil)? Is he going to be more involved in the series, do you think? And are you still sour on the King staple human sidekick, Jack?

JOE

Innnnnnteresting. I’m glad that you enjoyed this episode, but I can’t say that I feel the same way. While you’re right that this felt like a bit of a breather to delve into Ralph and Jeannie’s grief and tie some other loose ends together, it also felt like The Outsider spinning its wheels a little. While I’m sure that I’ll be proven wrong, this feels like the first inconsequential episode of the series; we may have learned a few tidbits, but for the most part, “Tear-Drinker” feels like it’s addressing a bunch of stuff that we already knew.

Now, with that said, I’m still totally loving Erivo as Holly and everything to do with her investigation. One of my favourite “actor-y” thing is when you can see the character processing and, all throughout this episode, it feels like you can see the wheels spinning in Holly’s head as she tries to make heads and tails of the derelict spaces near all of the cemeteries and crime scenes. We, the audience, knows that this is a space created for The Outsider by their Renfields (though as Jack angrily admonishes early in the episode, even these infected folks don’t entirely know what their purpose is).

I did enjoy Holly’s interactions with the bartender as well (not gonna lie, I definitely caught a vibe between them and I thought their day trip might end with a little something something. Am I alone here, Terry?) Still, it was nice that Holly spent her final evening with Andy, even if it didn’t go quite the way he had hoped. Sidebar: that, gents, is how you acknowledge consent or the lack thereof. Did Andy get mad that his anticipated sex sess with Holly didn’t go as planned? No! He was simply happy to spend time in the same bedroom as her.

Plus: you know, she left him a parting goodbye gift in the form of an Easter Egg to keep him involved in the investigation. Gimme your over/under odds, Terry: what’s the likelihood that this will eventually get him killed?

As for the Ralph and Jeannie stuff, it was...fine. I, too, love Winningham and she killed the scenes where she was scared (both at the recovery center and at her home in the middle of the night). I appreciated that this episode delved into some of the thornier elements of their relationship in the aftermath of their son’s death and why Ralph is less inclined to believe she actually saw The Outsider. Still, you’ve got to think that when she’s able to reproduce an exact replica of the image that the kid drew last week, there’s something more going on than a dream!

Overall, though, there were a few three scenes that dropped this episode down for me. The first is the flashback to Ralph drunkenly waking Jeannie up after Derrick’s death, which seemingly exists solely so that Ralph will disbelieve her in the present. On the surface, that’s fine, but Ralph literally explains “remember when you were on those antidepressants and sleeping all of the time” etc, etc. So why do we need that scene if he’s simply going to explain it here?

Then there’s that suuuuper bad scene with Derrick. It felt very Touched by an Angel and not in a good way.

And then there’s the scene at Tamika (Hetienne Park)’s baby shower when she follows Jack out of the house and berates him for not wanting to hold her newborn. I’ve loved Park since her stint on Hannibal and I’ve been really dismayed at how The Outsider is underutilizing her, but the dialogue in this scene was ATROCIOUS. It was entirely unbelievable and not enough time has been spent on their relationship to explain why Tamika would care so deeply about Jack. The way that she’s reacting is the way you would react to a slight by an ex-lover, not a prickly co-worker. Thus far The Outsider hasn’t struggled with characterization, mood or dialogue, but here there were failings on all three, so it’s the weakest episode of the series for me.

But enough grumpiness, Terry. What did you make of Holly winding up in traffic due to Tracey’s suicide? Are you intrigued by the suggestion that Claude Bolton is on the cusp of becoming the next Renfield? And shall we talk about the delicious scariness of The Outsider’s two nighttime appearances (Jeannie’s house and Tamika’s nightmare)?

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TERRY

Ahhhh! So this might be an episode where people who’ve read the books and those who haven’t might come to an impasse of sorts. Because I appreciated the attempt, at least, to flesh out characters a bit more. The book’s narrative is so focused on, well, narrative that at times I felt like it left some character interactions in the dust. So, I appreciated this moment of reflection before the story goes full Hunt The Outsider.

A couple quick notes: Oh absolutely there was chemistry between Holly and the bartender. I thought something would happen between them and was disappointed when the moment was shared with Andy. Also, completely agree: gentlemen watch Andy and understand consent. Thanks, Andy. But yes. He’s a goner. Here’s an early RIP to you, my friend.

I’m also glad you brought up the Tamika-Jack interaction because...what was that? You hit it on the head that the writing was unbearably bad and that it felt like a spurned ex-lover. Our only interaction between the two of them has been at the precinct where she’s tried to be somewhat nice and he’s brushed her off. So, this exchange came completely out of left field. And, not to side with the man who’s going mad, but some people just don’t want to hold a baby...I’m one of them.

Moving on, though, I don’t think Claude is going to be the next Renfield...I think he’s going to become the next iteration of The Outsider. And that’s going to cause problems for everyone. And speaking of our supernatural hoodie dude, I absolutely loved his nighttime visit with Jeannie and the way it was filmed. I mentioned earlier how it actually made me fearful for Jeannie for the first time, but I also really enjoyed the gravelly, almost inaudible mumbling from the creature. It’s exactly how I envisioned it from the book and it added an offness to the whole scene. Tamika’s nighttime visit didn’t bother me, though, but when it was morning and the baby was gone I did feel a tightness in my chest. That was an effective, albeit cheap, fake-out.

So, I know this episode didn’t completely work for you but did the more horror-esqe scenes do anything for you, Joe? Did you like the way the episode bookended with Tracey’s death? And how excited are you for Holly to finally be with the group?

JOE

Well, I am worried about what kind of reception Holly is going to receive considering even Ralph seems to be having reservations about her results. I’ll confess that her car troubles immediately felt like a narrative crutch to delay the PI from joining the others, so I hope this is only a brief setback.

As for the horror-esque stuff: yes, it ABSOLUTELY worked for me. As we’ve discussed several times over the last few weeks, The Outsider is masterful at creating a sense of dread thanks to its prestigious direction, sharp sound design and high calibre cast. When Winningham saw The Outsider standing in her living room, it gave me a chill (and, literally, just did again as I wrote this). And then when she drops the glass and steps on it when it commands her to?! Eep, Terry! It’s astounding when you consider that this scene is really just a person in a hoodie and a woman in a nightgown having a conversation, and yet it is SO powerful.

I, too, was less taken with the fake-out involving Tamika, though I’ll confess that I did wonder for a hot second if the show would pull the trigger and follow-through on a child abduction. Considering how many dead kids The Outsider has racked up in only five episodes, I wouldn’t put it past Richard Price and his team (nor King, for that matter, who has never hesitated to kill a child).

As for Tracey’s death...I didn’t like it much, but that’s mostly because I’ve grown to hate in media res stories. I find them to be lazy writing. In my opinion, there’s very little to be gained from opening an episode (or film) and then jumping back several hours or days; all it does is remind me that I already know where it’s heading. In the case of Tracey, we’ve barely learned anything about the character before he dies, so his suicide makes even less impact. Ultimately it felt unnecessary, even if I did like the irony of Holly winding up stuck in the resulting traffic jam.

So we’ll see how things go next week. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the show doesn’t abandon the character development from this episode, but I hope it is incorporated a little more organically without sacrificing so much plot. I guess we’ll find out when we hop back over to QueerHorrorMovies for 1.06 “The One About the Yiddish Vampire.”