The Outsider (2020)

HBO | Release Date: January 12, 2020

6.4	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 77 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Stream On

Review this TV Series

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

alric1952Mar 16, 2020

That none of the professional critics have panned this HBO series, I decided I'd write one of my own. Aware that the story was based on a Stephen King novel, and how he often includes a lot of psychic mumbo-jumbo, Jason Batman's presenceThat none of the professional critics have panned this HBO series, I decided I'd write one of my own. Aware that the story was based on a Stephen King novel, and how he often includes a lot of psychic mumbo-jumbo, Jason Batman's presence drew me in. As expected, he delivered a fine performance and the series was engaging every moment he was on the screen. However, that last only two episodes. The rest of it revolved around a lot of chummy relationships and a detective suffering from OCD. Her eccentricities provide an oddball intuition, and these allow King to glide over the need to detail her arrival at any particular conclusions. There are also references to ethnic customs and superstitions, that imply that modern humankind is simply too smug to appreciate the noble wisdom in these quaint artifacts of culture. It's a cliche I'm tired of, and it's used by King here to prevent from having to explain in detail how such a thing existed without our catching site of it before. Our eccentric detective, of course, is all into it, and was hip to it right away. She had no problem taking that leap from the rational reality to a world of a demonic cannibal. After the first two episodes, I found this thing grueling, and I couldn't wait until it was over. Had this not been on HBO, I would have unplugged from it after Bateman departed the story. Instead, that I was just plain curious to see if anything of interest would really happen, or if it would plod along as dull as it seemed. It was all vague and unsure of itself, all the way through. My patience in waiting for some exciting reveal was never rewarded. The monster or creature or whatever it was was simply not that interesting, and you never really saw it for what it really was. It was a huge waste of time, and I expected more from HBO. I honestly don't get what people who liked it were seeing, and that's even more baffling: that so many can see it so differently from me, while I'm plum bored with it.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

All this user's reviews

CanikoMar 12, 2020

The first episode hooks you but the rest of the episodes are extremely slow pace, cliche, unrelatable characters and way too long.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

All this user's reviews

imthenoobJun 15, 2020

Terribly slow-paced and poorly edited. This 10 episode season should have been 8 instead. It would have quickened things up quite a bit and really improve the show overall, which was knee-capped fairly early on because pacing.

But thenTerribly slow-paced and poorly edited. This 10 episode season should have been 8 instead. It would have quickened things up quite a bit and really improve the show overall, which was knee-capped fairly early on because pacing.

But then again, The writing for this series was pretty bad IMO. Characters never fully explored, too many subplots that just don't amount to anything and the ending was utter nonsense. I wish it had been a more faithful adaptation to the book because that would have improved the story greatly.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

sadamo1Nov 11, 2020

Wow. The first 2 episodes were a 9 out of 10. Then, the rest is ridiculous. This is a 5, maybe 6 episode story that they milk for 10 episodes. I mean milk, and cream, and cheese and every dairy product out there. Jason Bateman is great. TheWow. The first 2 episodes were a 9 out of 10. Then, the rest is ridiculous. This is a 5, maybe 6 episode story that they milk for 10 episodes. I mean milk, and cream, and cheese and every dairy product out there. Jason Bateman is great. The ending is anti-climactic and really not worth the time.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

odysseus420Feb 22, 2021

The first couple of episodes were great and the detective lady is an interesting character but the show nosedives pretty quickly after that with a bunch of useless characters, boring dialogue and a meandering plot. It's funny how the TVThe first couple of episodes were great and the detective lady is an interesting character but the show nosedives pretty quickly after that with a bunch of useless characters, boring dialogue and a meandering plot. It's funny how the TV medium exposes how **** and formulaic Stephen King's dialogue can be (not always, but here it's pretty bad), with every character talking the same and always bringing up boring anecdotes with completely unearned gravitas etc.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews

Current TV Shows

By MetascoreBy User Score

1 92 The Pitt: Season 2

2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1

3 87 Hacks: Season 5

4 87 Industry: Season 4

5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...

6 85 The Beatles Anthology

7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4

8 85 Bait: Season 1