The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Guilty until proven innocent.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 27, 2020

Based on Stephen King's popular 2018 novel of the same name, HBO's The Outsider is a ten-episode mini-series that, on the surface, travels very familiar territory for TV drama. Small town ripped apart by an unspeakably violent crime? Check. Grizzled, world-weary police detective? Check. Family drama? Triple check. A supernatural force who feeds on depression and anguish, freely acting as a doppelgänger to trick law enforcement into thinking innocent townsfolk are actually murderers and in two places at once? OK...that's kind of a new one. While The Outsider unfolds slowly but surely during the course of roughly nine hours, its direction shifts...and not necessarily for the better.

Mild spoilers ahead. It's worth noting that The Outsider at least starts off on the right foot, as the first episode may just be one of the best hours of TV I've seen this year. We're dropped into the middle of an unfortunate discovery in Cherokee City, Georgia: young Frank Peterson is found dead with almost animal-like bite marks and saliva covering his body. The forensic clues lead to a very unlikely murderer: local Little League coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) who, under the direction of his former friend Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), is handcuffed right in the middle of a ballgame. After calling their lawyer Howard Salomon (Bill Camp), Terry's wife Glory (Julianne Nicholson) is beside herself with concern: she knows Terry's not guilty, and Terry for damn sure knows he's not guilty -- he was out of town the day of the murder, and he's even got surveillance video to prove it. So what happens when both the cops and the victim have rock-solid evidence backing up their story? Where do you go from there? End spoilers.

If you're the cops -- or the writers, now that I think of it -- you just have to side-step all that. After exploring a few conventional options (some of which come directly after a few more deaths occur, as well as a major plot twist), Ralph is urged to bring in outside investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), a specialist in retracing the steps at crime scenes. As Holly works her magic, the case veers down a supernatural path: with so much competing evidence mounting in similar murders around the region, Ralph and his team must attempt to suppress logical instincts and embrace more unconventional thinking. Before long, The Outsider shifts from a slightly off-kilter police procedural to something more like a really drawn-out episode of The X-Flies...or maybe even Chris Carter's underrated follow-up, Millennium.

That sounds fine enough on paper -- and to be fair, The Outsider has more than its fair share of great moments -- but pound for pound, it comes up a little short as this ten-episode series wears on. A lot of this is due to the stunt casting of Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland, whose very presence (and case) is gradually forgotten about as the investigation drifts into supernatural territory. The initial mystery of his fate has such a strong impact that you'd expect it to hang heavy over most of this season, but it really doesn't. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bait-and-switch, but the change in direction makes The Outsider feel like separate shows that aren't completely finished. This affects it more strongly during the second half when it hits a narrative speed bump and spins its wheels, while the conclusion -- though satisfying within its own set boundaries -- feels like the end of a detour rather than the intended journey.

Still, The Outsider has all of its fundamentals in order and that goes a long way. Performances are excellent across the board, from Cynthia Erivo's terrific turn as the savant Holly to slightly less prominent roles like Howard Salomon, Glory Maitland, and especially Ralph's wife Jeannie (Mare Winningham). These might normally be forgotten or even thankless roles in the wrong hands, but each performer imbues their character with a memorable presence that makes their scenes stand out. So too does the series' artful cinematography -- shared between Igor Martinovic, Rasmus Heise, Zak Mulligan, Kevin McKnight -- which is filled with excellent compositions and intense deep-focus shots, as well as a very solid original score by Daniel Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, who have collaborated on over one hundred film and TV projects. Although narratively The Outsider can't always measure up to these heights (or the bar set by its first few episodes), as a whole it's a series well worth looking into. Warner Bros., who has recently overtaken the distribution of HBO home video titles, makes it easier than ever to binge-watch with this compact three-disc Blu-ray package, which serves up outstanding A/V specs and a few bonus features for one decidedly non-HBO price tag.

One side note: don't let "The Complete First Season" fool you. As of this writing, HBO has not announced immediate plans to continue The Outsider, despite its almost obligatory open-ended coda. Even so, the lead and supporting characters are generally strong enough to at least entertain the notion of a continuing series, whether potential future seasons pick up where this left off or The Outsider ends up being more of a loosely-connected anthology.

The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Not surprisingly, The Outsider plays great on Blu-ray thanks to a wonderful 1080p presentation that captures its dark atmosphere and deep-focus cinematography. Colors typically run very muted with only a few prominent exceptions, such as scenes shot outdoors during the daytime and brightly colored clothing. With that said, it's almost criminally underlit at times, which can obviously add to the suspense...but usually just creates confusion during key scenes or feels inappropriate. (One great example occurs during a meeting between Glory and a school administrator, which takes place in the middle of a school day but looks like the office suffered a power outage.) Luckily, even its darkest moments don't suffer from any perceivable compression artifacts or heavy banding, nor do the rare white highlights showcase any signs of blooming. Skin tones, skies, grass, and other "signposts" look accurate within the boundaries of this show's stylized color schemes, while textures and other specific details pop nicely if the lighting is right. Each episode also runs at a reasonably high variable bit rate. Although I did not see The Outsider in its original streaming format, I can safely assume that this Blu-ray presentation exceeds it in most (if not all) areas of visual interest.

The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Outsider's DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is slightly easier to pin down, as it follows the template set by countless psychological thrillers before it. Dialogue is typically front-based and sounds uniformly excellent with clear channel separation, as well as good placement during more crowded conversations where it occasionally creeps into the rears. Those, as expected, are reserved almost exclusively for the original score and diegetic music -- especially the bass-heavy songs at the strip club -- as well as more ambient effects usually meant to heighten suspense. (I'm resisting the urge to call them "jump scares", although a handful of moments do qualify for that term.) All told, this is a satisfying sonic experience that routinely lulls viewers into submission before rattling their senses -- a tried and true formula that's no less effective here. Optional English (SDH) and French subtitles are included during the episodes only.

The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three-disc set arrives in a hinged keepcase with terrific cover artwork, a matching slipsleeve, and two inserts including a Digital Copy redemption slip and an episode synopsis list (remember those?). Although on-disc extras look plentiful on paper, they follow HBO's usual template of "short and surface-level".

• Inside Episodes 1-10 (Discs 1-3, ~3 minutes per episode) - These bite-sized featurettes include a general overview for each episode and cover such topics as the main and supporting characters, story, location shooting, the source novel, and other topics. Featured participants include author Stephen King, series creator Richard Price, executive producer Jason Bateman, writer Dennis Lehane, actor Cynthia Erivo, and more.

• Invitation to the Set (Disc 1, 1:04) - A quick "series trailer" very similar to the featurettes above.

• Jason Bateman on The Outsider (Disc 1, 1:22) - Actor / director / executive producer Jason Bateman briefly explains his initial attraction to the story and desire to adapt it successfully.

• Stephen King and The Outsider (2:29) - Stephen King, Richard Price, actor Ben Mendelsohn, and others talk about King's extensive body of work and the influences that led him to create the source novel.

• Adapting The Outsider (2:49) - Another short featurette that recycles bits and pieces from others, but adds a little more context to the adaptation process with series creator Richard Price and more.

• El Cuco, Baba Yaga, The Outsider (Disc 3, 13:10) - Stephen King, Cynthia Erivo, and other key cast and crew members speak about the consistent presence of "bad dream monsters" in different cultures throughout history, and how their existence influenced the source novel and this adaptation.

• Analyzing Holly Gibney (Disc 3, 2:50) - A brief character overview featuring Stephen King, Cynthia Erivo, Stephen Price, Jason Bateman, and others, as well as several clips from the show.

The Outsider: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

HBO's The Outsider, like many Stephen King adaptations, certainly has its fair share of memorable moments but is not a completely satisfying experience. This ten-episode mini-series begins strongly and gradually pulls back to reveal a larger -- and slightly less interesting -- picture, though we at least get a few memorable supporting characters out of it. But the majority of its second half feels like a lot of wheel-spinning that leads to an equally understated finale, which is the exact opposite of what most people are looking for in a suspense-driven drama. Still, this one's at least worth a once-over, as I felt motivated to see it through based on the strong initial impact. Anyone who falls harder for its charms will appreciate Warner Bros.' solid Blu-ray package, which offers great A/V specs and a collection of very brief but entertaining bonus features. Recommended, but more to established fans than complete newcomers.