HBO's 'The Outsider' Episode 4 Preview: Title 'Que Viene El Coco' hints at child-hunting shape-shifter
Episode 4 of HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Outsider’ is called ‘Que Viene El Coco’. It’s the name of a famous painting by the Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya. The painting depicts a cloaked, menacing figure that pertains to the legend of “Coco”, a shape-shifting monster whose origins lie in Portugal and Spanish Galicia. Often used as a myth to scare misbehaving children, Coco is said to hunt for naughty children.
The myth of Coco somewhat falls in line with the plot of ‘The Outsider’ in many regards. For one, the story so far has hinted at the existence of a shape-shifting apparition, maybe the same man that Jessa (Scarlett Blum), the daughter of Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) kept seeing in the dark of the night. The man who had a message for detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn). He supposedly told Ralph to “stop” and if he didn’t, “bad things will happen”.
This man, according to Jessa, first looked like her dad Terry, then less so -- “He looked blurry, like someone tried to erase him” -- and finally completely different and more muscular. This definitely hints at the existence of other-worldly creatures that can take the shape and form of others.
For another, it all began with the rape and death of an 11-year-old called Frankie Peterson. While Terry was blamed for the murder, there was enough evidence to prove both the charge and otherwise.
Episode 3 saw the introduction of Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), a private detective who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, synesthesia, and sensory processing disorder. Holly is also on the autism spectrum. The episode also saw the suspense around the supernatural elements of the show grow stronger with further contradictions in the case of Frankie’s death.
So what can viewers expect in episode 4?
According to HBO’s short Summary, “Holly pursues a possible connection to an eerily similar case in Dayton, Ohio.”
In episode 3, we saw glimpses of this story in the form of Holly coming across an article related to a murder of two girls in Dayton that could have been similar to the one of Frankie. We also saw, what at first felt unrelated, the suicide of a murder convict -- the same one who was charged in Dayton.
The promo for the episode begins with police officer Jack Hoskins (Marc Menchaca), wandering in the woods with a gun. One can see angry blisters of some kind on his neck, the same ones that he got when he had visited the barn -- where Terry’s clothes were found -- in the night. Jack was suddenly attacked by something in the dark, only moments after he caught a glimpse of a faceless man (perhaps the same one Jessa keeps getting visited by).
We see Ralph telling State police lieutenant Yunis Sablo (Yul Vazquez), “Something on one of those tapes… There might be a real game-changer,” as he examines surveillance footage from the strip joint where Terry had visited, supposedly after killing Frankie.
The promo also sees a young African-American girl in a hospital-like institution, a possible hint that the episode might delve deeper into Holly’s troubled childhood when she was subjected to a battery of tests to understand why her mind functioned the way it did.
We also catch a glimpse of Holly’s notes that has the word “scratch” written in all caps and underlined. It might be Holly examining the odd scratch Terry had received when he had visited his father in Dayton. Which also might be the same Jack got in the barn.
We also see an old man saying, “It wasn’t him, you know.” In all likelihood, it’s Terry’s aged father who is institutionalized in Dayton. His father is known to be schizophrenic.
The promo ends with an old woman telling Holly, “This day and age -- we find it so difficult to believe in anything we can’t explain.”
‘The Outsider’ airs Sundays, 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST) on HBO.
