The Outsider Review: Must/Can’t (Season 1 Episode 10)
There is an air of justice on The Outsider Season 1 Episode 10, “Must/Can’t,” this feeling of everything once more being in its right place. Minds are changed, cover-ups are rampant, but the status quo has returned at last.
That is, unless you’re Holly Gibney.
The confrontation at the start of the episode is far more brutal than expected. Everyone isn’t going to make it out of the finale alive, but the quick succession of deaths is jarring and a terrifying way to start things off. The methodical attempts in a fog of war situation end up like pure chaos on a battlefield, where nothing is certain and everything is confusing.
Richard Price’s writing and Andrew Bernstein’s direction really know how to create this sense of hopelessness in the situation.
But it’s the cave sequence where the meat of the episode is. It’s a rather casual meeting between Holly, Ralph, and The Outsider, this meeting of skeptic, believer, and entity. The scene feels like a crossroads of avenues and opportunities, where Holly wants to learn, Ralph wants it all to end, and The Outsider only wants to survive.
Claude being the one to settle the whole situation is a nice little bit of irony, reality taking out the doppelganger, but it comes as a little too fast. The confrontation can’t go on forever in a stalemate, but things remain so much of a mystery still. We get to hear how there could be others, but it’s with uncertainty. Just one little bit of extra information would have gone a long way.
And yet, Ralph’s version of gloating turns out to be exactly what the show needed. He’s teasing the tiger and pulling on its tail, getting out ten episodes of anger and frustration in one swift rock crushing. He’s right that exposing The Outsider to the world would only make things worse for both itself and the world beyond, so the cover-up is the only move forward.
Thankfully, everyone is more than happy to be part of a cover-up. It’s win-win, really, and it all molds together perfectly. Justice is smooth and swift now that everyone knows their role, and while it may not bring everyone back, it’s a time of calm and acceptance ahead.
Except, of course, for Holly.
It’s not quite clear when Holly could have been scratched, or if it’s only an implication meant to make us question everything. The only person to really touch The Outsider throughout the whole episode is Ralph when he stabs its hand, and the only person in contact with Holly is Ralph hugging her. With the cave-in, it could easily be that a rock scratched her, similar to Ralph.
There’s also the radical idea to take Holly at face value when she says that outsiders recognize other outsiders. It’s meant to be a take on being different, but what if it’s literal? Jack has a chance to shoot Holly and doesn’t take it, her damning shout stopping him in his tracks. Could all of her questions in the cave be a hint that she, herself, is an Outsider, and all of the season has been slowly confirming it?
It paints everything in a different light, that Holly may have been so interested because she is noticing things about herself. Her need to hear what The Outsider has to say, and how The Outsider is curious if she’s ever come across some of her own (and even says he can feel other presences like his own), could all come down to two Outsiders finally finding each other.
There is a look of disappointment on Holly’s face when Ralph strikes the final blow to The Outsider’s head. Is it disappointment that all of that knowledge is now potentially lost, or that it’s starting to dawn on her that this is how outsiders are treated in this world? Her past is full of being poked and prodded, just as Ralph says in his speech in the cave, so maybe she feels something for it, despite all the pain it’s caused.
All hypothetical, but it’s an interesting way to frame everything.
The Outsider Season 1 Episode 10, “Must/Can’t,” closes out the miniseries with a great hook to make theories and discussion continue on, but what’s there already is just as great to decipher. The beautiful imagery of Holly and Ralph descending into hell, edited to show The Outsider in waiting, is the kind of thing that goes a long way to making The Outsider something that lives on past its finale date.
The show holds a wealth of brilliant performances, but it’s Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo who leave the show with this powerful reminder of how pain can be internalized in their performances by drawing attention to their subtle behaviors and how they are able to hold our attention during the silence.
It’s a gloriously well-made story, despite some small bumps with stretching the story out. Based on the finale, it’s worth the extra mileage, as we have reached a more-than-satisfying conclusion. There’s enough left to think about, and to think on, and while some things may be left unexplained, Ralph’s view and the ending of fellow HBO show Watchmen may be the best way to approach it: perhaps it’s better that way.
What did you think of this episode of The Outsider? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Outsider airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.