S01.E04: Que Viene el Coco

[formerlyfreedom]

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While retracing the Maitlands’ recent family vacation in Dayton, Ohio, Holly pursues a possible connection to an eerily similar case and gains valuable insight from a local former detective . Glory faces increased scrutiny in her daily life. Jack’s behavior grows progressively more erratic.

Airing Sunday, January 26, 2020.

[AimingforYoko]

Wow, it was pretty lucky Holly just happened to run into La Dama de Exposición.

In other news, I like her with Andy. I hope that works out after they catch El Cuco.

[WaltersHair]

I will not Google El Cuco, I will not Google El Cuco....

This is like a sick, deadly form of telephone. I usually hate series where children are murdered or hurt. It's my personal line in the sand. But, I like Mare Winningham, Holly and the guy who plays the detective.

The weird thing is there are actor doppelgangers here too. That kid who killed everyone at the court house is a ginger Christian Bale. The lawyers investigator looks like  Nick Offerman. I feel like I know that actor in the lead, but have never seen anything he's been in.  Strange feeling.

Still hanging in there.

[LoveLeigh]

4 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

The weird thing is there are actor doppelgangers here too. That kid who killed everyone at the court house is a ginger Christian Bale. The lawyers investigator looks like  Nick Offerman. I feel like I know that actor in the lead, but have never seen anything he's been in.  Strange feeling.

Still hanging in there.

"Doppelgangers?" I am out. 

[ferjy]

5 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

La Dama de Exposición.

Snort!

So it’s definitely taking a supernatural turn. What a thing to tell your children, they’ll be eaten by a monster if they misbehave! There’s years of impending therapy on the horizon. 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by ferjy

[ferjy]

5 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

I will not Google El Cuco, I will not Google El Cuco....

I googled El Cuco. 

5 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

The weird thing is there are actor doppelgangers here too. That kid who killed everyone at the court house is a ginger Christian Bale. The lawyers investigator looks like  Nick Offerman. I feel like I know that actor in the lead, but have never seen anything he's been in.  Strange feeling.

lol You know, I feel the exact same way about Ralph. Either he has “that face” or they haven’t listed everything the actor has been in. 

Not sure about the story anymore, but the characters and actors are worth the watch. Stephen King has always been good at character development, something that is often lost when his books are adapted for the screen. It’s done well here though. Although I haven’t read this particular book, so I don’t know how true the characters are to the book.

 

[Lily H]

This show is so awful, I can't believe it's Stephen King.

[pasdetrois]

As of episode 2 the show lost its way. So disappointed.

The moody and off-kilter visual framing is a poor substitute for real storytelling tension.

I stopped reading King a long time ago. Maybe his books are best served by movies, where all the elements can be presented more cohesively.

I'm hanging on for the actors, but using FF.

[Chaos Theory]

Ok I think I am out.   My HBO record is still in tact.   The story I care about (Terry’s family) is hardly touched and the boring ass crap (doppelgängers really and the weird investigator) is the main focus.   
 

The sad thing is this could have been an interesting mystery even without the supernatural element.   A man accused of a heinous crime.  His family forced to live in the town afterward.   Weeks, months,  even years go by.  Maybe even one of the daughters grow up to be a cop and have a murder similar to the one that put her father in prison.

See wrote it for you.
 

I will more then likely keep on my DVR but won’t be in any hurry to watch.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[terrymct]

They're giving Terry's family enough attention, showing how terrible it is for his wife and kids with everyone apparently taking out their anger over the murder on them.

The investigator is interesting.  I keep thinking that she's on the autism spectrum, but given that she was tested so thoroughly and that this is from a Stephen King story it seems more like she has a sensitivity to something supernatural.     She's investigating backwards and we're seeing the demon or whatever it is working it's way forwards.   

I'm not clear why the strip club owner didn't end up with a doppleganger after Terry scratched him.  Maybe the demon didn't find him useful somehow.  I think we're seeing the process of the nasty detective's doppleganger being made.  I can see why the demon needed a deer to eat, but what's with all the lights?

[patty1h]

I wanted to like this but every episode gets more glacial and slow.  Each time I glanced to see how much time was left in the episode, I was surprised at how much time was left and how little had happened onscreen.   I'm finding the scenes with Holly the most boring and tedious - she is a complete vacuum.  When she's onscreen, it drags for me.   Whoever directed this one loves looonnng drawn out scenes, like the shots of Holly walking, standing, sitting in her car, waiting for the bus to Rikers, sitting on the bus, watching the bus go over the bridge.  So much padding of scenes to fill the hour.  I don't care if she hooks up with the ex-detective either.

I'm not thrilled with the doppelganger kid killing monster aspect, but maybe the execution will make it compelling.  At least it's not aliens.  I want more time on the dude with the neck rash - he's selling the creep factor of being under the control of El Cuco or whatever.  I'd like more Ralph too - the actor holds my attention.   

[teddysmom]

12 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

I feel like I know that actor in the lead, but have never seen anything he's been in. 

Ben Mendelsohn? He's fantastic.  I've seen him in several projects this is the first where he is a lead.  That scene where he shows the others the drawing, just the resignation in his face like "we're fucked". 

[izabella]

I think I've lost track of the plot now.  I don't really know what Holly is investigating anymore.

[patty1h]

I know that the black prisoner (name?) was the guy who worked in the nursing home and who killed the two sisters.  We saw him sharpening the eyeglass lens during the whole hour, but I'm lost on the scene with the white dude was who came into his opened cell and confronted him.  Was he a prisoner who had an earlier beef with nurse guy and I forgot or was this put there so we see that the entity is a puppet master who can pull strings and has total manipulation.  If it's the latter, I wish it had been explained better because otherwise that was a lot of lead-up to the nurses suicide in front of some random extra.

[iMonrey]

I'm still enjoying it, but . . . el Coco? Really? The monster is a Disney cartoon? 

Also, according to the legends, the children are devoured by the Coco because they misbehaved. So, victim blaming much?

I also want to know why this show is called "The Outsider." Who, exactly, is the Outsider? Is it the Coco? Is that just another name for it? I don't get it.

I have no idea what's going on with the neck rash guy - can't even remember his name. Whatever it is doesn't seem to be following the same pattern as the three killers that Holly has identified so far. 

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Was he a prisoner who had an earlier beef with nurse guy and I forgot or was this put there so we see that the entity is a puppet master who can pull strings and has total manipulation.

I didn't assume the would-be assassin was anyone in particular, since it's a common trope that child killers in prison usually get the shiv. But he did enter the prison with the shiv hidden underneath his skin (we saw a scene where he was digging it out of his leg, it was gross.) Don't know if he was hired by someone to murder the child killer or just acting on his own.

Edited January 27, 2020 by iMonrey

[ferjy]

10 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

doppelgängers really and the weird investigator

But that’s classic Stephen King.

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I have no idea what's going on with the neck rash guy - can't even remember his name. Whatever it is doesn't seem to be following the same pattern as the three killers that Holly has identified so far. 

He’s Jack, the anal cop. The “outsider” (i.e. El Cuco/devil/monster) is controlling him. I guess Cuco needs a patsy to do his bidding.

9 hours ago, terrymct said:

I'm not clear why the strip club owner didn't end up with a doppleganger after Terry scratched him.  Maybe the demon didn't find him useful somehow.

I think there may have something to do with the previous victim’s family still being alive. The monster lives on people’s grief, he’s been destroying the whole family involved (he’s shown looking on, checking out the family of the victim). Maybe the whole family has to be wiped out before the next doppelganger comes to be. Seems the new murders didn't take place until the previous family was all gone. We still have the father on life support from the last tragedy. Maybe once he dies, the strip club owner’s doppelganger shows up?

[blixie]

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 I feel like I know that actor in the lead, but have never seen anything he's been in.

You are probably more familiar with fellow Australian Noah Taylor, he's been in things like Peaky Blinders and Edge of Tomorrow w/Tom Cruise, Ben Mendolsohn and him are definitely twinsies though, as you can see in this still from when they started out together in the film the Year My Voice Broke. Excellent film worth finding. 

[blixie]

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I think there may have something to do with the previous victim’s family still being alive. The monster lives on people’s grief, he’s been destroying the whole family involved

Yeah I was wondering this too, I was glad they explained that the boogie man lingers because it feeds on grief since that's why the show is working for me. People often want to reconcile their grief with justice or rather then injustice of having lost someone or something. I think that's how Ralph/Holly are linked. He lost his son and she's recently lost her mother.  Even though she's open to the unexplained she's still desperate to have it explained to track it back and find out how it works. 

It makes sense that if it wants/needs the destruction of Glory and the kids before it can harvest a new person, and instead had to resort to merely controlling Jack. Funny that Jack was nicer than he's been all season now that he's fully possessed by El Cuco. 

[iMonrey]

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I guess Cuco needs a patsy to do his bidding.

Whatever the hell that is. So far it's making a junk pile out of lamps in the middle of the forest. El Coco is El Loco. 

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It makes sense that if it wants/needs the destruction of Glory and the kids before it can harvest a new person, and instead had to resort to merely controlling Jack.

In the previous cases it was the family of the murdered child who all died - not the family of the doppelganger. I don't reckon Terry's family to be in a particular danger, at least not from the Coco. And the latest murder victim's family have all died now. I'm expecting something to happen with the strip club owner if the show follows its own logic. Whatever the hell is going on with Jack seems to be a different issue.

[scottiB]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

In the previous cases it was the family of the murdered child who all died - not the family of the doppelganger. I don't reckon Terry's family to be in a particular danger, at least not from the Coco.

Heath's family all died: his brother by overdose; his mother by driving into telephone pole. Maria's father and uncle were shot and killed in a bar by the victim's father (who didn't commit suicide onscreen, if he did at all). Her family did take a hit.

I agree with you that Terry's family is fine but because they weren't overcome by grief. They are grieving, yes, but not open to suggestion. The daughter told Ralph, that the night visitor didn't make her scared, he made her angry. Glory is angry about the situation: Ralph, the school, the neighbors.

I think that's why, perhaps, he needs to have Jack kill a deer for him. He lost out on desert calories.

[Affogato]

18 hours ago, ferjy said:

Snort!

So it’s definitely taking a supernatural turn. What a thing to tell your children, they’ll be eaten by a monster if they misbehave! There’s years of impending therapy on the horizon. 

 

Boogeyman is a classic. 

[blixie]

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Heath's family all died: his brother by overdose; his mother by driving into telephone pole. Maria's father and uncle were shot and killed in a bar by the victim's father (who didn't commit suicide onscreen, if he did at all). Her family did take a hit.

Right the entire family might not need to die, but I can't think of why else it wouldn't just move on to the next with the strip bar guy, does a supernatural entity really care if the cops are on to him? Like having Jessa tell Ralph to "stop" or something bad is gonna happen, like pretty sure you gonna make something bad happen either way. I guess he means specifically to Ralph.

 

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but because they weren't overcome by grief.

Eh Maria's brother and uncle were hitting on waitress and yucking it up in bar they weren't exactly grief stricken when they got blown away. I certainly don't believe that Jessa/Glory aren't grieving.

Edited January 28, 2020 by blixie

[scottiB]

6 hours ago, blixie said:

Eh Maria's brother and uncle were hitting on waitress and yucking it up in bar they weren't exactly grief stricken when they got blown away.

No, but the grandfather was -- which is why he killed them. They didn't kill themselves. I'm just surprised the grandfather didn't kill himself after he shot them. Then is would have been a 2 for 1.

[Starchild]

Maybe this thing can only be/control one person at a time. Maybe once it's done with Jack it will go on to the bar owner. 

[atlantaloves]

I am as confused as the rest of you, but for some reason I am loving this show anyway.  It's simply freaking me out! The black private detective is my bitch, I love her. 

[Dminches]

People are using the term "doppelganger" but for some reason I thought this "monster" is able to take on the life form of someone else so it can pretend to be that person.  Doppelganger infers that there is another real person who looks just like someone else.

 

[sugarbaker design]

Doppelganger also has a more sinister definition:

An apparition of a living person.

 

[Milburn Stone]

I was one of the many saying "sure hope it doesn't turn supernatural," but the way they're doing it, I'm digging it.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Milburn Stone

[tennisgurl]

This show is moving slow, but I am really interested in where it is going, as slowly as its taking to get there. Its really creepy hearing how not only is this Boogieman/doppleganger horribly killing children, it creates a horrible ripple effect were not only the families of the children destroyed, but also the lives of the people the whatever impersonates and their families as well. Are these just the inevitable results of these horrible crimes, or does the darkness touch everyone involved in the case? I like the idea that this thing could be a sort of primordial origin of every boogeyman style creature in every worlds mythology, its super creepy. 

I missed seeing the Maitlands, but checking in on the other, now destroyed families of both the accused killers and the dead kids was an unnerving worst case scenario for them that raises their stakes even more. We have seen him/it/whatever lurking around, so it seems like it feeds off of the grief it creates for even more of a snack, either eating what happens naturally, or making things worse. 

I really like Holly, and given that this is a Stephen King story, I assume that her random psychic powers will end up being very useful in the future! I also like her and the other detective guy.

[littlecatsfeet]

My attention is sort of drifting from the actual show at this point but my ears did perk up a little at the El Coco story. I live in the Southwest; my BFF in high school was Hispanic, and this sounded a lot like a reference to "the Cucuy" (pronounced coo-coo-ee) that I would hear at her house all the time.  It was basically the same kind of thing, a boogeyman. ("don't go back there, the Cucuy will get you!"). Just for verification, I googled around and found this http://mexicounexplained.com/el-cucuy-mexican-bogeyman/; there's even a children's book (!) about it. But AFAIK, the Cucuy didn't put people under its spell or have anything to do with dopplegangers, could be just a cultural variation in the legend or something King is using a little poetic license on.

 

 

[Roxie]

Just another piece of information - Holly Gibney was also a main character in Mr. Mercedes, although played by a different actress.