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12th January 2020
02:05pm GMT

The clever thing about the adaptation is that it grounds the investigation in reality, with Mendelsohn (in a rare good guy role) attempting to make sense of the crime using evidence, motives, clues, all the usual police stuff, and all completely useless as he begins to realise that this series of murders may be beyond his understanding of the world.
It is a very slow burn of a show, in no rush at all in getting to the more supernatural elements within, and over the six episodes that were made available for JOE to review, it is clear that HBO are attempting to re-bottle that elusive, mystic energy that the first series of True Detective had in spades.
Those directors, those writers, that aforementioned cast - who joined by top-tier character actors like Paddy Considine, Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, and Julianne Nicholson - help to sell that mood. As does the constant reminder that even as the show is potentially heading down some very fictional avenues, the small town mentality of Maitland's crime means that both he and his family are guilty (even if he didn't actually do it), as his wife and kids find themselves harassed by their former friends and neighbours on a daily basis.
It makes for a grim watch, for sure. At times you wish they'd cut to the chase and get to actively chasing down the killer, if only to alleviate some of that depressing pressure that is ever-present. That is by far the biggest complaint of the adaptation, that there is an argument made that maybe it should've just been distilled down to a tight, two-hour movie.
Perhaps that slow burn will pay off in spades over the final four episodes that JOE has yet to see, but even as it stands, if you stick with it, you'll be rewarded with one of the most gripping adaptations of King's work in recent years.
The first episode of The Outsider will be available on Sky Atlantic/Now TV from Monday 13 January.
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