THE OUTSIDER (S1E5) “Tear-Drinker”: The Grief Eater Grows Impatient

Last week, more investigations similar to Terry and Heath’s were revealed. Detective Jack Hoskins (Marc Menchaca) is still being coerced by the dark force swallowing the deep-South community. Ralph (Ben Mendelsohn) finally got a sketch of the man who stole the van. And Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo) is considering the possibility that a supernatural evil may play a part in these seemingly connected cases.

It has never been more clear that Richard Price, who is one of the chief writers of the show, has made a slight error making The Outsider a 10-episode adaptation instead of an 8-episode adaptation. “Tear-Drinker” is the fifth episode of the series, and one of the more unfulfilling 60-minutes of the series yet. Even so, there’s nothing necessarily bad about this episode in terms of atmosphere, dread, and tension. However, the episode seems to be an extension of last week’s episode, “Que Viene el Coco”, which opened the discourse on the Grief Eater, a fabled evil that may be the cause of this clinical cycle of pain and woe that crosses states and cities.

In “Tear-Drinker”, Imminent Doom Is Lingering

We open to a shot that zooms in on a dead body on the street. Cops surround the body, but the circumstances are yet to be explained. As the camera zooms closer and closer to the corpse, the victim’s neck has the same infection as Detective Jack Hoskins. I can only imagine Jack Hoskins will suffer the same fate.

Three hours earlier, this man with the burn mark visited Heath’s house and made his bed. At the same time, Holly Gibney is going back to Dayton with a fresh pair of eyes. She visits Heath’s house as well and sees what this unknown person did, considering it an act of contrition (though she doesn’t know who made Heath’s bed). Holly does briefly encounter the man who broke into Heath’s home at Heath’s grave, but he mostly keeps quiet, and storms off to essentially commit suicide. It goes to show you that this man would rather die than live with smothering guilt, deftly depicting the severity of Jack’s dilemma, and alluding to his future demise if the cycle continues.

The mystery carries on as Holly starts taking pictures of buildings around the graveyard where Heath and his victims are buried. When she compels Ralph to do the same with Terry Maitland’s grave, they discover that the barn where they found Terry’s clothes is near the cemetery where Terry is buried. Odd indeed. It’s true that Holly’s unorthodox requests are starting to irk Alec Pelley (Jeremy Bobb) and Howie Gold (Bill Camp), but Ralph goes through with them all. By the end of the episode, Holly is on her way back to inform the team about what she found. That is one scene I can’t wait to see.

Back at home, Jack Hoskins is deteriorating. At Tamika Collins’ party, he refuses to hold her baby and he flees the party, imploring Tamika to stay away from him because he fears for her and her baby. In one of the more disturbing scenes of the episode, Tamika dreams of her baby being taken away by the hooded man, who may very well be the Grief Eater. At first, we can’t tell it’s a dream, but it does appear like a threat.

Speaking of threats, Jeannie Anderson (Mare Winningham) wakes up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, only to stumble upon the hooded figure in the kitchen. She drops the glass, stepping on the pieces of glass as she walks to the table to sit down. The hooded figure tells her exactly what he told the Maitland girl a while back: Ralph needs to cease the investigation or he and Jeannie will die. Jeannie does tell Ralph about the dream she had, but Ralph doesn’t take it seriously. Although, a flustered Jeannie does sketch the man she saw in the kitchen, and ends up giving it to Ralph. Surprise, surprise, it closely replicates the kid’s drawing of the stranger.

In a later scene, Jack meets up with Ralph to apologize for his indolence and ineptitude with the Maitland case, and he now asks to be part of the investigation. Evidently, this isn’t Jack’s idea, and this is the hooded stranger’s way of keeping an eye on Ralph’s investigation. But then again, there’s a part of me that hopes Jack will come clean, or he’ll attempt to disobey the stranger and impede the stranger’s plans. Unfortunately, I do believe Jack is doomed.

The Outsider Anticipates Numerous Possibilities

It’s safe to say that “Tear-Drinker” is the slowest episode of series. Still anchored by its consciously low-lighting and bass-infused music, the atmosphere is still firmly in place. Whilst casing the graveyard, an engrossing collection of wide shots create the sense that the Grief Eater roams nearby. In this episode, Jeannie and Ralph are threatened, Tamika’s baby is threatened, and Jack Hoskins seems destined to die a horrible death. How will the hooded stranger respond to Holly Gibney as she’s on her way to advise Ralph of the Grief Eater? Will Ralph believe her?

HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel should’ve been 8 episodes instead of 10. Most of what transpires in “Tear-Drinker” could’ve been included in “Que Viene el Coco”. The Outsider still has many tense moments in this episode — including the blood-curdling scenes with Jeannie and Tamika. But the measured pace is beginning to feel like it was put in place to forcefully expand this story into 10 episodes, not just for the slow-burn effect. That said, the mystery is still majorly contagious. Shortcomings aside, I’m still hooked.

Are you all caught up on The Outsider? What are your thoughts on the recent episode? Let us know in the comments!

The Outsider is available to watch on HBO every Sunday at 8.