'The Outsider' Episode 8 Promo: Claude tells Ralph and Holly something is inside his head, house and mirrors
In episode 7 of ‘The Outsider’ -- titled 'In the Pines, In the Pines' -- Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) attempted to save Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo) from officer Jack Hoskins (Marc Menchaca). Hoskins at this point seemed completely under the control of the much-teased supernatural entity in the Stephen King gothic adaptation.
In a brief moment of sanity, Jack opened up to Holly, asking her why the creature chose him, “I very much believe there is something out there, that's worse than I can imagine,” he said. He told Holly that “it” has asked him to “cater, shop and spy” for it, and that something was going to happen to him. Holly assured him that he would be alright as long as she stopped the malevolent creature. As he calmed down a bit, she escaped.
So, what is in store for viewers in episode 8?
According to HBO, in the episode titled ‘Foxhead’, “Holly, Ralph, Yunis and Andy follow Claude to Tennessee in an attempt to isolate the evil force and prevent its next kill.”
Viewers will recall that ex-convict and manager of the Peach Crease strip club Claude Bolton (Paddy Considine) had run into Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) -- or whatever supernatural entity was impersonating Terry -- right after the murder of 11-year-old Frankie Peterson. And in that brief run-in, he was scratched by Terry.
As we already know (or suspect, because ‘The Outsider’ has maintained its rule of not revealing anything concrete) scratching is what spreads the entity from one person to another. Claude being that person would mean that another cycle was about to begin and another innocent child (or children) would lose their life to this mysterious shape-shifting entity.
The official promo for the episode begins with an unidentified man being shot to death, presumably by Claude. We see Claude being questioned by Ralph, Holly and the others as to whether he felt okay in the head. Claude tells them that it was as if someone or something was not just inside his head, but also his house, and his mirrors.
The preview further cuts to a paganistic festival of sorts with people all around wearing animal masks, and a girl screaming about not being able to find her younger brother. We also see Holly and Ralph’s ideologies clash, with Holly telling him that if he did not believe in what they were doing, he was putting not just himself, but everyone at risk.
The festival, of course, need not have been a pagan one, but masks, especially animal ones, have deep ties with pagan rituals. It also symbolizes a change in one’s persona, that goes in sync with the mysterious El Cuco’s legend of shifting shapes to hunt its prey.
Whatever it is, one thing is for sure, as we near the end of the series, things are about to get scarier and messier. One can only hope HBO ties up the series nicely.
‘The Outsider’ airs Sundays at 9 pm EST (8 pm CST) on HBO.