Max Power said:

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True Detective season one remains my number one season of tv in history by a comfortable margin. It had me from the very beginning all the way to the end, it's great on any rewatch as well.

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So was the ending the same as the books?

Sort of.

But it was written in the books a helluva lot better than it was produced on screen. This was a stinker after Bateman left.

Proposition Joe said:

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Sort of.

But it was written in the books a helluva lot better than it was produced on screen. This was a stinker after Bateman left.

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Was Holly scratched or infected (or whatever that was at the end) in the book?

Good question. Curious to hear the answer.

TCTTS said:

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Max Power said:

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True Detective season one remains my number one season of tv in history by a comfortable margin. It had me from the very beginning all the way to the end, it's great on any rewatch as well.

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Agree 100%

TCTTS said:

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They address it at the 20:10 mark (or -56:42)...

https://www.theringer.com/2020/3/9/21172335/the-outsider-season-finale-devs-season-premiere-and-an-interview-with-president-of-amc-sarah-barnett

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Thank you for sharing this. That wet-fart of an ending to The Outsider has now led me into Devs, due to this podcast episode. I will be hopping over to the Devs thread as soon as I finish episode 2.

Devs is legit. Welcome aboard.

TCTTS said:

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Good question. Curious to hear the answer.

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I looked it up. From what I understand, the show was similar except in two respects: 1) jack was not a sympathetic character in the book at all. He was never portrayed as a victim but rather a Henry Bowers type like from IT who had a personal vendetta against Ralph which made him want to help the creature and 2) in the cave, Holly implies strongly to El Cuco that the reason he likes children is because he's a pedophile, not because children "taste" better.

The Holly getting scratched thing was brand new as far as I can tell. Someone correct me if that's wrong.

Quote:

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Holly implies strongly to El Cuco that the reason he likes children is because he's a pedophile

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Sounds like King for sure

I kind of thought that el cuco had like 'jumped bodies' or something and basically let itself die. That was the only explanation I could come up with for that ending. It's powers have been extremely unclear so it wouldn't be that crazy.

That ending....couldn't have been more boring or expected.

This show was huge bag of meh.

brucoh said:

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This show was huge bag of meh.

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I wouldn't go that far. It had some redeeming qualities. But the very strong start sure set me up for disappointment.

I recorded all of the episodes and then binged it over a couple of days. My thoughts are that it was too long. It could have easily fit into 7-8 episodes. It started strong, but then it dragged, and the ending was a let down. They spent half of the last episode doing clean up after the climax.

double aught said:

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brucoh said:

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This show was huge bag of meh.

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I wouldn't go that far. It had some redeeming qualities. But the very strong start sure set me up for disappointment.

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I would. It was a great premiere episode and then the rest was boring and drawn out. I kept going because I thought it would still payoff with a good ending to wrap the story up. Nope. I won't ever recommend this to anyone. I will tell anyone not to waste their time with it.

bobinator said:

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I kind of thought that el cuco had like 'jumped bodies' or something and basically let itself die. That was the only explanation I could come up with for that ending. It's powers have been extremely unclear so it wouldn't be that crazy.

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Well that would be yet another new superpower for this entity.

Good to know. Thanks.

I'd say a second season is more likely than not at this point...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/outsider-racks-up-strong-ratings-hbo-1283475

Yeah but that's kind of why I thought it. For all of it's supposed superpowers it kind of went out SUPER easy.

I believed they implied the pedophilia part with the first victim -- I believe not only was it mutilated but was also sexually assaulted. I might be remembering incorrectly though.

I liked it. Might have been able to reduce by a few episodes.

Hollie didnt have contact with the monster so the scratch could have been from the cave in or anything else...

If there is a second season the only character I care about returning is Holly.

MBAR said:

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I think the criticisms are completely fair but in the moment of watching it I didn't care. I guess I felt satisfied with the ending even though I admit it makes no sense and was done in a very confusing way.

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I can generally ignore stupid and embrace the fun. But my issue here is they basically made it an incoherent mess where some key aspects ended up hard to follow

Well that was a big cluster F. Don't know how else to explain the finale.

I don't really have much of an interest in a season 2, but I'm sure they will make one. And I'm sure I will begrudgingly watch it to see if it gets any better.

I liked the season overall until the finale (loved the Bateman episodes and thought it was decent after that), but thought the finale was pretty laughable.

so basically this was a different version of fallen and holly is the cat at the end.

I loved the first few episodes, but the last two really let me down. Between the ever changing powers of demon and the stupid decisions of the characters, it turned underwhelming quick.

Man - you guys are a strange bunch.

I think the show was shot extremely well, I liked the core group of characters. I REALLY loved Ben Mendelsohn in this. It explored the dark side of grieving, loss, and death and wrapped it into a dark crime supernatural story telling that never felt cheesy or rushed.

Sure - we knew who the killer was episodes before any of the characters did or wanted to believe, THAT WAS THE POINT. We see how a totally rational group of detectives, wives, lawyers, PI's slowly come to a conclusion that what they are dealing with is out of their world and their coming to grips with that realization. EP8 Foxhead was probably one of my favorite episodes.

I don't see how you can continue this into a second season with this cast of characters. Feels like a one-off to me. I didn't read the Stephen King book (and by the way. Holy hell- how many novels has Stephen King written? He's been practically tied to everything lately and it's making my head spin) so I'm unfamiliar with how the books handles the series, if there is one.

Poignant, brilliantly written and shot, fantastic score. Could've been maybe an hour shorter overall. 9.3/10

cr0wbar said:

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Man - you guys are a strange bunch.

I think the show was shot extremely well, I liked the core group of characters. I REALLY loved Ben Mendelsohn in this. It explored the dark side of grieving, loss, and death and wrapped it into a dark crime supernatural story telling that never felt cheesy or rushed.

Sure - we knew who the killer was episodes before any of the characters did or wanted to believe, THAT WAS THE POINT. We see how a totally rational group of detectives, wives, lawyers, PI's slowly come to a conclusion that what they are dealing with is out of their world and their coming to grips with that realization. EP8 Foxhead was probably one of my favorite episodes.

I don't see how you can continue this into a second season with this cast of characters. Feels like a one-off to me. I didn't read the Stephen King book (and by the way. Holy hell- how many novels has Stephen King written? He's been practically tied to everything lately and it's making my head spin) so I'm unfamiliar with how the books handles the series, if there is one.

Poignant, brilliantly written and shot, fantastic score. Could've been maybe an hour shorter overall. 9.3/10

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I think most people agree with you. I know I do. I loved everything about the cast and way the show was filmed. The journey soured for me though and the "resolution" left much to be desired.

I think most people felt like I did where the show started with a bang and kinda ended with a whimper (much like a real Stephen King novel).

Great acting; solid dialogue some of it was very good; loved the clock ticking back ground noise during a couple tense scenes; loved the tense score. Could have been two shows shorter; but I enjoyed the characters so don't care.

I think expectations just went through the roof at the start. Still a really good series IMO, but the flaw that some pointed out are really fair. The story at the end was pretty nonsensical and comfusing.

I still liked it though.