The Outsider Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Tear Drinker
Paul Dailly
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There's a traitor in Holly's orbit, and she doesn't even know it.
The Outsider Season 1 Episode 5 pushed Holly and Andy closer together with Andy staying overnight in the hotel room.
I can't even begin to stress how stupid it was of Holly not to scour the room before leaving to make sure there was nothing tied to the case that she did not want anyone else to know.
Holly is a thorough person who leaves no stone unturned when she's investigating, and I refuse to believe she wouldn't have thought of all the way things could go wrong in her head.
With Andy, it could be a case of curiosity got the better of him, but it's also possible he's been using her all along to follow his investigation, something that would allow him to get some recognition.
If the latter is the case, then he's played Holly very well. He's portrayed himself as an unlucky in love man, desperate for a connection with someone.
Then again, a betrayal from him could be the thing that toughens Holly up, so she doesn't share finer details of the cases with other people.
Ralph: If you don't give them the information, you may not be much use to the case.
Holly: Humor me.
The information, in this case, is particularly sensitive because it strongly points towards supernatural forces being behind the slayings.
If that becomes public knowledge, it will create quite the shit storm in the media with everyone jumping on it and people arriving in town to find out more.
I do get the sense that Holly will be removed from the case at some point, only to be reinstated when she is needed.
Her demands to Ralph to go to Terry's grave and get her pictures were out there, and Ralph doesn't like being told information on a need-to-know basis.
With a subject as sensitive as this one, they should be transparent with each other. Ralph is already well aware that something unexplained is the dominant force here.
Even if he didn't understand Holly's request, he would have had the drive to fulfill it if she told him the truth.
If you give me a chance to come on board, I'll show you what an asset I can be.
Jack
Holly thinks there's no way she will be pulled from the case, but there's going to be so much scrutiny in the media about how a group of detectives can't find a serial killer.
The force will be called into question, and that be the reason why Jack has suddenly realized he needs to take on a bigger caseload.
He's been possessed by this thing for too long, doing whatever is requested of him but doing absolutely nothing that is within his job description.
That is problematic for many reasons, but he's probably only taking an interest in things at the request of the hooded figure. This person or thing wants to be in the know about everything.
Jeannie's encounter with it was particularly telling. It went to Jessa first and has been stalking other people ever since. Jeannie's meeting with it was only the tip of the iceberg.
Ralph is a man of science who is intolerant to the views of people who believe in occult things. But the last thing he expected was for his wife to be the one to tell him to nix his involvement in the investigation.
Now that he knows Jeannie's sketch of the thing is the same as what the kid who stole the van drew, he needs to decide what is the best course of action, and fast.
Tomika's encounter was worrying because it showed the supernatural being holding her child. The directing during those scenes made them exhilarating.
Heath Hoffsetter never laid a hand on those girls and Terry Maitland didn't go near that boy.
Holly
This being an HBO and Stephen King production means anything is possible, but I hope Tomika shares the story of the dream with Ralph to further drum into him that something needs to be done.
Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern comes into play here. We're now on at least four sightings of this thing, and that should be downright frightening at this stage.
The only person with a connection to the thing was dead by the end of the hour. Poor Holly thought she was finally getting close to cracking the case, and she lost the only person who could give her solid results.
Entering Heath's home should have been more difficult. You would think it would have been barricaded up to the point that nobody could enter, but Holly has her ways.
The bed being made over the boards was an odd development, but it might signal that the people being taken over by the thing are more lucid than we've been led to believe.
What? What? What is happening to me? Were the lamps not enough?
Jack
"Tear Drinker" was the slowest episode of The Outsider to date, but it did zero in on the psychological aspects, meaning that it is preparing the characters for what's to come.
It's difficult not to worry about everyone because this thing is spreading like wildfire. The bodies are starting to pile up, and the similarities between the cases are becoming clear.
What did you think of Andy stealing Holly's paper? What is his plan? Do you think Ralph is not thinking about the bigger picture about what's going on?
Hit the comments below.
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Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
