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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
19
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
TV Guide MagazineJan 21, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The Outsider is deluxe King, befitting a tall tale that gains imaginative power by slowly weaving its spooky and supernatural elements into a gripping detective story. [20 Jan - 2 Feb 2020, p.8]
The Daily BeastJan 13, 2020
Season 1 Review:
[Mendelsohn's] stellar turn is complemented by uniformly great work from the entire cast, with Nicholson (a criminally undervalued actress) as the standout. ... Some too-convenient plot developments aside, The Outsider casts a chilly pall that creeps into one’s bones.
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Jan 13, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Its writers and directors massage the tale’s foreboding evenly and with skill, although it takes about three episodes to get it moving. ... Fortunately King’s stories live and breathe through his characters, their interior drives and quirks, which is where Cynthia Erivo’s Holly Gibney enters and almost singlehandedly picks up the inertia holding back “The Outsider” and kicks it loose.
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RogerEbert.comJan 10, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Tone and style go a long way for “The Outsider,” starting with how it leaves a lingering impression that’s as equally searing as the show’s abrasive acts of violence. But then as the series loses some of its grace, the tone plays out like a crucial factor that validates some of its kookier developments.
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Jan 10, 2020
Season 1 Review:
“The Outsider” rarely feels padded. Most everything moves the story forward, without waving a flag labeled “exposition.” The production does drift into some arty cliches — dissonant strings and low frequency sound effects to create tension, chamber music to underscore an atrocity, creeping camera moves, shallow focus and, as mentioned, darkness (so much darkness). But, more often, “The Outsider” places its faith in people, and it pays off.
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Jan 10, 2020
Jan 10, 2020
Season 1 Review:
[Price and Bateman's] focus is on the peculiarities of the mystery and the procedural aspects of the investigation, which are unpacked with grace and clarity via interrogations and well-executed time jumps. Mendelsohn, too, is a steady centerpiece, confidently playing a flawed, emotionally broken lawman.
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Jan 7, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Given the wildness of the story, The Outsider sometimes feels ludicrously tony, but it’s undeniably gripping—a beach read rendered by real artists. The series is so clever that it might take you a while to realize that it’s essentially Dracula. ... Or, perhaps even more fitting, The Outsider suggests a merging of Kolchak with Price’s The Night Of.
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Jan 9, 2020
IndieWireJan 9, 2020
Season 1 Review:
HBO’s 10-episode series is still hampered by a few of the original story’s trappings, but its author knows better than to take his audience’s trust for granted. With the help of a great cast (led by Ben Mendelsohn) and eerie, stark direction from Emmy-winner Jason Bateman, “The Outsider” isn’t on the level of Price’s past work — but it’s far better than this story has any right to be.
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Jan 10, 2020
Jan 8, 2020
Jan 10, 2020
Season 1 Review:
“The Outsider” doesn’t rival “True Detective” for jolts or for insights about the human condition or the impulses that bring about crime. And its slow pace emphasizes the absence of what crime dramas can do so well. The stakes here seem to be massive; gradually, it becomes clear that an epidemic of darkness is overtaking many. But getting there, with so little in the way of character or freshness of tone, simply exhausts even an interested viewer.
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Jan 7, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The performers — also including Mare Winningham as Ralph’s wife, Julianne Nicholson as Terry’s wife, and The Night Of‘s Bill Camp as a local lawyer — are all strong, but in service of storytelling that doesn’t always deserve them. Imagine the more overheated aspects of True Detective, but with more blatant nods to demons and far less impressive visuals.
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