‘The Outsider’ Season 1, Episode 7 ‘In the Pines, In the Pines’ Review: Drives

With The Outsider approaching its ending, the characters involved become tense as ever. After a mysterious murder connects to two others exactly like it, things start to make less sense. As much as the horrifying evidence point to an illogical conclusion, one cannot deny its validity. Despite this, however, one remains skeptical and refuses senselessness as the answer.

On Sunday’s episode of The Outsider, Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) and Alec Pelley (Jeremy Bobb) attempt to locate Jack Hoskins (Marc Menchaca) and Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo). Meanwhile, Glory Maitland (Julianne Nicholson) tries to get a sense of normalcy as she goes back to work. Elsewhere, Claude Bolton (Paddy Considine) leaves his job for a fresh start as Yunis Sablo (Yul Vazquez) continues to keep tabs on him.

Quick Refresher: Holly’s findings led her to two cases similar to Terry Matiland’s (Jason Bateman). Her investigation led her to conclude that what they are after is an evil entity similar to a mythical ghost monster called ‘El Coco.’ Jack’s infection from the barn worsened and the creature has great control over him. Ralph’s own investigation parallels Holly’s, but he refuses to accept it as the truth, despite Jennie Anderson’s (Mare Winningham) experience with the creature.

Questions

Ever since Jack’s visit to the barn, much has changed. The strange wound at the back of his neck comes and goes as well as his erratic behavior. Jack knew that something out of the ordinary was toying with him, but he did not know how to confront it. Conflicted, he does what is asked of him: escort Holly to the meeting with the investigating team. However, the thing that has some control over him also forces Jack to try to eliminate Holly. During their unscheduled, unexpected road trip, one clearly sees Jack’s conflicted state. Jack tries to make sense of what is happening to him. He merely wishes for it all to be over, but some part of his conscience does not sit well with the idea of killing Holly.

Holly, on the other hand, was initially curious. After her disastrous presentation, one can understand why Holly quickly jumps Jack’s offer. At the time, Jack seemed like her only friend in the room [besides Jeannie, anyway]. Also, the idea of having more evidence to support her claim is not an easy one to refuse. Luckily, Holly’s quick thinking helps her out of the situation. To some degree, she does want to help Jack. Still, her safety is of greater importance if she truly wishes to help Jack. She cannot do anything good dead after all.

Normalcy

Everyone deserves a sense of things going back to normal. Unfortunately, the same is not true in the Maitland Family’s case. With the kids continuing their education through homeschooling, Glory decided that it is her turn to try to have a normal life. Glory’s boss, Lorraine Gladowski (Elizabeth Becka)was kind enough to offer the job as a real estate agent back to her. Sadly, Glory’s first [and likely only] customers acted a little too odd around her, knowing who she is.

It does not matter how long it has been since Terry’s death. People still looked at the Maitlands the way a medieval church saw an alleged witch. Glory’s desperation drove her to the point of going to court to sue the ones who mishandled Terry’s case. After all, they are going broke and any hope of earning money through her job was lost that day. From the start, it seemed that the world is against the Maitlands. At this point, however, even if they do catch the real killer, normalcy seems unlikely. Thankfully, the Maitlands have not completely given up on life which is likely why the creature/killer seems to get hungry at a faster rate. Not enough grief in the Maitland home for the monster perhaps.

In The Way

Eventually, Holly makes it back to the Andersons’ home. Her experience with Jack further backs up her claims but still, Ralph refuses to acknowledge its truth. Yul, on the other hand, simply wishes the case’s resolution, hence his openness to helping Holly. Holly had to figure out that Ralph did a little digging himself based on Holly’s a-scratch-passes-the-murderer theory. Now, we have the unsuspecting Claude who recently quit his job out in the open. Regardless of all these things, Ralph remains firm on trying to make sense out of the evidence, much to everyone’s dismay.

The sequence with Ralph and his therapist, Herbert Zucker (Steve Witting) present how close Ralph is to accepting Holly’s view of the situation. Frankly, a lot of things would be easier for everyone if they quit hiding behind lies and facades. Ralph, in particular, knows that what Holly says is the truth. He likely refuses to accept the truth because of how his ‘son’ randomly ‘appearing’ to him, telling Ralph to let him go. In his heart, Ralph probably knows what he should do. The only problem is that he finds it uncomfortable to believe in the unexplainable.

‘The Outsider’ Season 1, Episode 7 ‘In the Pine, In the Pine’ Final Verdict

This seventh episode of The Outsider sets up the beginning of a stressful, intense finale. Here we have the protagonists seemingly turning on each other. Also, there is a prevailing shield of lies that blocks their way to confront evil. Glory’s haphazard decision to start suing presents yet another problem alongside Ralph’s disbelief. It likely exists to delay the final plot’s unraveling. At this point, the series heavily banks on the chaos and ignorance factor in telling suspense stories. It is not necessarily bad, but it is not necessarily good, either.

The Outsider continues Sunday, February 23 with ‘Foxhead’ at 9/8c on HBO.