'The Outsider' Episode 8 takes series from thriller to horror by finally showing shape-shifting entity El Cuco
Episode 8 of HBO’s adaptation of the Stephen King southern gothic horror novel ‘The Outsider’ finally takes the show to a more urgent place. For the entirety of the season, the show has been noticeably controlled in its pace, sometimes very uncomfortably so. But ‘Foxhead’ was very uncharacteristic in that manner.
It began with Jack Hoskins (Marc Menchaca) taking a huge pile of weapons from his place, undoubtedly planning to create trouble, and possibly attempting to kill Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo). In the meanwhile, Holly, Ralph (Ben Mendelsohn), Yunis (Yul Vazquez), and Andy (Derek Cecil) followed Claude (Paddy Considine) to a small town in Tennessee.
They figured that if the supposed supernatural entity was transforming into Claude, they should be there the bear witness that the real Claude was not responsible for any murder. Ralph still has trouble believing in the concept of the bogeyman, something that Holly tries her best to explain. They bond during their ride to Tennessee.
For the first time ever in ‘The Outsider’, however, we see the existence of the creature. We hear it. Jack kills a man to steal his car. But not just for that. While Jack sits in the woods, we hear the sound of a creature eating. We see only a bloodied cap left by the end of it. And a little later, we see a hand arise from the back of the car while Jack is driving, and a voice tells him that it needs to eat. The one it had eaten right now was “too full of cancer”.
We see again, later that night, the creature eating again. And this time we even see a physical form. It looks like a human, only the face wasn’t visible in the dark. In all likeliness, it looks like Claude.
Here’s where it all comes together. A family arrives in Cecil, Tennessee, to attend the cave festival. The young boy in the family, perhaps ages ten or eleven, shows interest in visiting the secluded caves. A man in a mask approaches the boy and takes him to one of the caves. His voice sounds a lot like Claude’s. But the boy’s sister soon realizes he’s missing and raises a noise. Soon, the people at the festival see the boy with the masked man and catch them. One of them even removes his mask, but we still don’t see his face. Somehow, he escapes.
Finally, in the very last scene, we see a man, eating a dead deer, blood all around. El Cuco has officially arrived. This is a very big deal, considering how much the show has worked to create an eerie atmosphere where uncertainty has been key. While we still don't know what it really is, the very fact that El Cuco was acknowledged tells us there is obviously more than meets the eye.
The feel of a crime thriller is finally gone from the show. It now feels more like the horror story that it was always meant to be.
'The Outsider' airs on Sundays at 9 pm EST (8 pm CST) on HBO.