![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoSo, I had assumed that the adaptation of Stephen King's The Outsider was a movie, but it's actually a 9-episode HBO series. Whoops! That was a surprise when I went to pick up my library holds. Anyway, I've been watching it on and off over the past couple of weeks; if I weren't so short on time, I would have gone through it much more quickly.
I will say, I'm rather glad that it's actually a series - a lot of stuff happens in this novel, and I don't know if it would work as well if it were broken down to a movie-length story.
Like the novel, this isn't one to pick up if you don't enjoy procedurals. The police/mystery/investigative angle is already there in the premise, and it doesn't go away here.
There are a lot of changes, but in general I found the adaptation choices interesting rather than annoying. Partly this is because I'm not overly attached to the narrative/characters in the novel, but also because the lack of straight-up retread kept it fresh.
Holly Gibney was my favourite character in the novel, and I really liked her here too. She's played by Cynthia Erivo, who I haven't seen in anything before - guess I might need to seek out some of her other work. TV!Holly is quite different from book!Holly, especially in terms of vibe - TV!Holly comes across as more grounded and confident, to me. Still a very unusual person, but more sure of herself than book!Holly.
There was one thing that I feel kind of mixed about -
So, in the TV version, Holly acquires a friend/love interest during the course of the investigation, and then he's killed off during the final showdown. I feel kind of like... dude really didn't need to be there.
On the other hand, I found the relationship-development stuff between Holly and Andy pretty nice? Like, I enjoyed their scenes together. On the third hand, since it's curtains for him, it's kind of hard to enjoy the relationship because it doesn't get a chance to go anywhere. So, I don't know - I could have done without it. Andy is pretty extraneous, and there are a lot of characters in this thing as it is.
After looking up information about this series, I see that a second season was scripted, though the series was not renewed. I find it surprising that a second season was planned. There isn't anywhere to go after this; the book is done. (Unless King wrote/planned a sequel that I don't know about - always possible.) I suppose there could always be something with Ralph and Holly teaming up to investigate another crime that turns out to be something weird, but I don't know if that works for me.
Overall impression: I enjoyed both the novel and the series; the series isn't a strict retread, and that kept things interesting. Holly was great. Both book and tv adaptation are enjoyable on their own merits.
One thing that the novel does better than the series, though, is that the horror is much scarier in the book! A lot of the scenes that I found pretty creepy or viscerally unpleasant weren't as effective in visual form. Possibly this is because a lot of it was relying on kind of existential, figurative stuff that's hard to get across in a visual format.
I will say, I'm rather glad that it's actually a series - a lot of stuff happens in this novel, and I don't know if it would work as well if it were broken down to a movie-length story.
Like the novel, this isn't one to pick up if you don't enjoy procedurals. The police/mystery/investigative angle is already there in the premise, and it doesn't go away here.
There are a lot of changes, but in general I found the adaptation choices interesting rather than annoying. Partly this is because I'm not overly attached to the narrative/characters in the novel, but also because the lack of straight-up retread kept it fresh.
Holly Gibney was my favourite character in the novel, and I really liked her here too. She's played by Cynthia Erivo, who I haven't seen in anything before - guess I might need to seek out some of her other work. TV!Holly is quite different from book!Holly, especially in terms of vibe - TV!Holly comes across as more grounded and confident, to me. Still a very unusual person, but more sure of herself than book!Holly.
There was one thing that I feel kind of mixed about -
So, in the TV version, Holly acquires a friend/love interest during the course of the investigation, and then he's killed off during the final showdown. I feel kind of like... dude really didn't need to be there.
On the other hand, I found the relationship-development stuff between Holly and Andy pretty nice? Like, I enjoyed their scenes together. On the third hand, since it's curtains for him, it's kind of hard to enjoy the relationship because it doesn't get a chance to go anywhere. So, I don't know - I could have done without it. Andy is pretty extraneous, and there are a lot of characters in this thing as it is.
After looking up information about this series, I see that a second season was scripted, though the series was not renewed. I find it surprising that a second season was planned. There isn't anywhere to go after this; the book is done. (Unless King wrote/planned a sequel that I don't know about - always possible.) I suppose there could always be something with Ralph and Holly teaming up to investigate another crime that turns out to be something weird, but I don't know if that works for me.
Overall impression: I enjoyed both the novel and the series; the series isn't a strict retread, and that kept things interesting. Holly was great. Both book and tv adaptation are enjoyable on their own merits.
One thing that the novel does better than the series, though, is that the horror is much scarier in the book! A lot of the scenes that I found pretty creepy or viscerally unpleasant weren't as effective in visual form. Possibly this is because a lot of it was relying on kind of existential, figurative stuff that's hard to get across in a visual format.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 03:20 am (UTC)King wrote a sequel! It's called If It Bleeds.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-20 03:55 am (UTC)Aha, if there's a sequel then a second season script makes more sense than I thought. Thanks for the title, will have to check it out eventually!