'The Outsider' Episode 3: An unidentifiable liquid, a grotesque rash and the introduction of PI Holly Gibney
This article contains spoilers for the released episodes of 'The Outsider'
In Episode 3 of 'The Outsider' titled 'Dark Uncle', we find that the investigation behind the rape-murder case of 11-year-old Frankie Peterson still seems to puzzle all the officials.
We see the rise of many questions related to the case. PI Holly Gibney enters the investigation and she seems to be the only hope to find the missing puzzle pieces to the case.
Let's do a short recap of the first two episodes. Terry Maitland, who was publicly arrested in relation to the crime, claims he had no hand in it but fingerprints had Maitland at the crime scene and in Cap City, where he says he was attending a school conference.
The dreaded question? How could the man be at two places at once? Lead investigator Ralph Anderson had unfortunately witnessed the death of Terry Maitland, who revealed to Ralph on his deathbed that he was not responsible for the death of the child.
Let's not forget, there's also a "hooded man" in the distance who seems to watch things play out and Maitland's daughter Jessa seems to be getting visits from this man.
As confusing as the events seem to be as the murder is being investigated, Ralph was put on leave following protocol after being part of a shootout. He, though, does not give up on a case that seems to be at a dead-end.
Now, back to the present. Evidence that was found at the barn had Cherokee City send Officer Jack to check it out. Getting drunk before he has to do his job, Jack makes it to the barn and began scoping out space.
He then gets startled by a dark figure while something touches the back of his neck and he leaves screaming in pain.
Meanwhile, Detective Anderson finds out that Terry Maitland's father is housed at an old-age home and Anderson meets Detective Sablo to go over the evidence that was found at the barn.
The evidence included a belt buckle that Terry was supposedly wearing in surveillance footage that was found at the club. The club owner had previously described the bloody clothes that Terry was wearing, and clothes matching this description was found by a farmer.
Sablo tells Anderson that some of the prints are too faint, maybe even from an elderly person. Another piece of evidence included a black substance that has everyone baffled as the lab can't come up with a clear identification for the substance.
Anderson, Sablo, Howie, and Alec are not able to figure out the story behind the prints and so Alec suggests that they bring in PI Holly Gibney on board. The woman, even though eccentric, is considered to be the best in re-tracing steps and is asked to retrace Terry's steps in Dayton, Ohio.
Holly seems to have an immense amount of knowledge when it comes to history and also seems to have a photographic memory. Holly's insights suggest that it sounds like a doppelgänger and that's left at that, for now.
Back at the Maitland household, Terry's youngest daughter Jessa asks her mother to call up Anderson saying that she has to tell him something. Jessa tells Anderson that the man she saw told him to stop, or bad things would happen.
When Anderson tries to question the little girl further to figure out what bad things would happen, or what he should be stopping, Glory, Terry's wife, stops him. After Jeannie, Anderson's wife convinces Glory, she allows Jeannie to speak to Jessa.
Jessa reveals that she has seen the man on four occasions, and the first time, he "looked like Daddy, but wasn't" while the second time he looked "a bit" like her father but his face was blurry as though it was being "erased".
Jessa tells Jeannie that she's not scared of the man, but angry and tells Anderson, "I think you’re the one who's supposed to be scared." If you've watched scary movies, little girls who see things doesn't settle well.
As if this wasn't confusing enough, we are shown a scene in which an inmate is sharpening the lens off his spectacles while another scene shows a second inmate cutting his leg open to reveal a weapon of his own.
Holly Makes it to the old-age home that Terry's father is at but is not allowed in because she isn't family. She then reports to Anderson that the home didn't know that Terry was dead and had also come to talk to his father during the investigations.
Later, we see her in her hotel room reading the news about the search for two sisters that have been missing and were later found dead. A local hospital worker was arrested for the crime, and we find out that the same man we see in the jail cell sharpening his glass lens into a weapon.
While the scene cuts back to the jail cell, we see the second inmate enter the first inmate's cell getting ready to fight but the first inmate ends up slashing his own throat. We then cut back to a scene where Jack tries to help himself rid the rash on his neck that he got from the bar, saying, "Whatever you need me to do."
‘The Outsider’ airs on Sundays, 9 pm EST on HBO.