Inside ‘The Outsider’: The Mysterious Scratches In HBO’s Stephen King Adaptation, Ranked
HBO’s The Outsider (an adaptation of the Stephen King novel) is turning out to be a hell of a slow burn as the drama series unfolds. The fourth installment, “Que Viene El Coco,” aired on Sunday night, and the show’s prompting plenty of questions, but this week, we need a break from thinking too seriously, so I’m ranking something very bizarre.
The Outsider‘s murder mystery ties in those supernatural touches so famous to the works of King. We’ve witnessed the frustrations of detective Ralph Anderson after his big fail in arresting Terry Maitland, only to discover baffling details about the murder of Frankie Peterson. Ralph’s been puzzling over contradictory evidence tying Terry to two places at once. And obviously, Terry can’t defend his innocence after being shot and killed, but I think everyone’s accepted by now that he likely wasn’t guilty. Meanwhile, King favorite Holly Gibney has been hacking away at a doppelganger theory, and all of this is going nowhere fast. (It should be noted that screenwriter Richard Price has made some curious changes from King’s source material, which we’ll discuss here.)
This week, Gibney uncovered two other murder cases where suspects appeared to be two places at once. No answers surfaced there yet, but the episode did end with hints at King’s take on the mythical El Cuco, a ghost-monster that is pretty much the bogeyman. If you type this episode’s title into Google translate, you’re gonna end up with “What’s up, coconut?” That’s not much help at all, so it’s safe to say that the TV show wants us to think about this Goya painting (which does flash onto the screen during Holly’s bathtub-bound research) that is literally titled, “Que Viene El Coco.” That’s the most straightforward this series will probably ever be, and this is all followup after Holly learns about a spirit called “the grief eater.” Maybe he’ll be tied to hoodie guy.
It’s all quite stressful. Again, it’s a slow burn, and to get through this, I think a diversion is in order. A lot of characters on this show are suffering from scratches. Maybe it’s time to take note of them all, since this might be, you know, spreading some evil? Yes, let’s do that. And rank the scratches from least to most mysterious.
5. Terry Maitland, The Accused
This scratch is ranked lowest because, honestly, it’s the one being overplayed into oblivion. There’s a lot of lip service coupled with a lot of ambiguity, and I get that Terry’s plight directly ties to the central mystery, but I feel that we saw too much talk about this scratch before we actually saw the scratch happen. It’s the scratch that promised a lot of drama without much payoff. Glory insisted to Ralph that a cut is just a cut, but one of the Maitland daughters seemed to believe that this cut was worth mentioning to Ralph. However, Terry (at least the one who got arrested) never mentioned this cut, and we also never saw murder-Terry with a cut either. Maybe it was hidden, who knows? All we know is that Terry probably got scratched by Heath (an orderly or nurse at his father’s medical facility) when they both “slipped” in the hallway.
We’re not sure if it was truly a random encounter and accidental slip (the hallway was obviously freshly mopped) or if something nefarious was afoot. Maybe all of the above. Heath’s coworker said he wasn’t acting like himself that day and was super hostile, so this was probably “doppelganger” Heath? It’s frustrating and seems like it might lend itself to future plot holes. In other words, I’m not a huge fan of this scratch because it feels like overkill. We’re supposed to care a lot about it, and I somehow don’t.
4. Claude Bolton, Strip Club Manager
Claude’s only trying to do his job and doesn’t know what to think about Ralph endlessly paying “friendly” visits to him. Makes sense. It’s never a good sign when a cop keeps visiting any type of borderline-illicit establishment. However, there’s some intrigue here, so it’s no wonder that Ralph’s curious. By now, we’ve been reminded a few times that murder-Terry went to the strip bar (I guess it’s the only one in town because everyone goes there) to change clothes when he got “a bloody nose.” At a loss for more clues, Ralph pores over the CCTV footage while looking for a “game-changer,” and he finally finds one. He becomes convinced that Terry scratched Claude, who previously hasn’t mentioned this to Ralph, and he seems pretty surprised when Ralph asks him about the interaction. However, neither Claude nor a Claude doppelganger went on to commit murder (that we know of). This lead is bound to go somewhere else, even if no games are changed, because Ralph’s gonna lose his mind if it doesn’t yield results.
3. Heath Hofstadter (Heath Holmes in the King novel), Shady Nurse
The evidence of this scratch is so offbeat that it’s somewhat compelling. Actually, we’re not sure how this wound occurred. Heath apparently had a one-breakfast stand (as revealed following sensual-ominous fried-egg eating) with a woman named Maria. Heath’s back was bleeding during sex, and it looks like she sure as hell came into contact with the blood. Or maybe she scratched him deeply enough to draw blood? That would be an interesting twist. Subsequently, both Maria and Heath ended up being convicted for murders in cases that bear startling similarities to Terry’s case. By now, the drill sounds familiar: forensic, eyewitness, and CCTV evidence ties all three of the defendants to two different geographical places on the days of the murders. All of this is entirely bonkers and reminiscent of the classic sex-is-bad horror trope that never dies. Then again, it’s safe to assume that if Maria’s arc fits the same pattern as Heath and Terry, then she probably has a doppleganger, which makes sense, given that she claims to have not hooked up with Heath.
It’s no wonder that Holly found herself discussing the case with a bartender, who made a seemingly wild suggestion that prompted Holly to declare, “You can’t catch murder, it’s not a virus.” Well, maybe murder is a bacterium? Anything is possible at this point.
2. Ed, A Strip Club Patron
Hear me out here. Believe it or not, I didn’t intend upon discussing the cruelest wedgie of all time again, but it’s chipping away at me because it didn’t happen in King’s book. For whatever reason, Richard Price decided that this wedgie communicates something about Jack’s character, and I’m intrigued to see how that plays out.
It bugs me so much that I’m counting a wedgie as a “scratch” simply so I can discuss it again, but in all fairness, you can’t possibly convince me that this act did not result in a flesh wound. Despite the overall lukewarm buzz so far for The Outsider, people have noticed this wedgie. It has been roundly called out and described as “atomic,” and I have to wonder what the intent was here. Jack Hoskins didn’t deliver this humiliation after receiving his scratch, so we can’t blame a doppelganger. Or a virus. We only know that Jack was angry because his vacation got cut short. I think we need some followup justification because, yes, this is mysterious.
1. Jack Hoskins, The “Ornery” Detective
Yes, we need to talk more about freaky Jack. Admittedly, this GIF makes it look like he’s enjoying his post-scratch experience, but let me assure you that this moment is followed by howling noises, although the visuals are obscured by the awful lighting choices of this show. This scratch, which turns into a severe-looking burn, went down in a barn where authorities uncovered a bunch of forensic evidence tied to Frankie’s murder. Also in the barn, Jack howled like crazy, and this appeared to be an extremely violent encounter, but in the book, King wrote the moment differently. In text form, it was as if Jack had only felt that someone had “caressed him with just his fingertips.” Richard Price changed things up for the small screen, probably to make things more dramatic. I’m not sure if that worked, but so far, the ominous nature of Jack’s behavior is working for the story. Aside from Holly, he’s the most intriguing character.
One more thing: in the book (unlike the above scene) Jack looks in the bathroom mirror, and then the reader witnesses evidence of some sort of otherworldly presence. This entity informs Jack that he’s suffering from cancer, and in order to be healed, he must obey commands. In the HBO series, we only see Jack (later on) muttering, “Whatever you need me to do.” Apparently, whatever it is that Jack is supposed to do does not include visiting a doctor, but it makes him love lamps. It’s the most mysterious scratch!
HBO’s ‘The Outsider’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00 pm EST.
Questions Linger Over Investigation Into Jeff Bezos' Hacking
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Cybersecurity experts said Thursday there were still many unanswered questions from an investigation commissioned by Jeff Bezos that concluded the billionaire's cellphone was hacked, apparently after receiving a video file with malicious spyware from the WhatsApp account of Saudi Arabia's crown prince.
The experts said the evidence in the privately commissioned report does not show with certainty that Bezos' phone was actually hacked, much less how it was compromised or what kind of malware was used.
The report on the investigation, which was managed by FTI Consulting and overseen by Anthony Ferrante, a former head of the FBI's Cyber Division, was made public Wednesday.
In it, investigators said a digital forensic review concluded with “medium to high confidence” that Bezos' phone was compromised via malware sent from a WhatsApp account used by Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Two U.N. experts issued their own take on the report's findings, calling on the U.S. to investigate further. They said it appeared the Amazon founder may have been targeted because of his ownership of The Washington Post, which was publishing reports critical of the crown prince by columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Turkey in October 2018, five months after Bezos' phone was apparently hacked.
The report's conclusions drew heavily from the unusually high volume of data that left Bezos' iPhone X within 24 hours of receiving the video file from Prince Mohammed's WhatsApp account on May 1, 2018, a month after the two exchanged phone numbers. The size of the file, the investigators suggested, indicated a malware payload may have been included.
The investigators said Bezos' phone began transmitting large volumes of data — an increase of some 29,000% — after receiving the video file.
The report further pointed to messages later sent from the prince's WhatsApp account to Bezos that showed “apparent awareness” of private information. One included a meme with a photo of a woman the report said resembled the woman Bezos was having an extramarital relationship with before going public with his divorce.
Another, sent two days after Bezos was briefed in phone calls last February about a Saudi online campaign against him, advised the technology mogul that what he was hearing was not true. “There is nothing against you or amazon from me or Saudi Arabia,” the message said.
The report additionally pointed to Saudi Arabia's documented use of spyware against critics and other adversaries as further potential proof.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud called the allegations "purely conjecture" and said if there was real evidence, the kingdom looked forward to seeing it.
Cybersecurity experts said that while it was likely a hack occurred, the investigation did not prove that definitively.
“In some ways, the investigation is very incomplete. … The conclusions they’ve drawn I don’t think are supported by the evidence. They veered off into conjecture,” said Robert Pritchard, the director of U.K.-based consultancy Cyber Security Expert.
Similarly, the former chief security officer at Facebook, who now directs a cyber policy center at Stanford, wrote that the report is filled with circumstantial evidence, but no smoking gun.
“The funny thing is that it looks like FTI potentially has the murder weapon sitting right there, they just haven't figured out how to test it," Alex Stamos wrote on Twitter.
One sticking point centered on WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption, which the report said made it “virtually impossible to decrypt contents of the downloader to determine if it contained malicious code" — meaning the investigators could not conclude whether the video file sent from Prince Mohammed's WhatsApp account was infected and used to hack Bezos' phone.
Bill Marczak, a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab, disputed that assertion, saying it is possible to decrypt the contents of a WhatsApp file. In a post written for The Medium that presents ways to further the investigation, Marczak shared a link to decryption instructions and code.
The FTI investigators did not reach out to WhatsApp to seek assistance, a Facebook spokesperson said.
FTI's Ferrante did not respond to emails and text messages seeking comment. The company said in a statement that all FTI's work for clients is confidential and that the company does not “comment on, confirm or deny client engagements.”
Matt Suiche, a French entrepreneur based in Dubai who founded cybersecurity firm Comae Technologies, said the video file was presumably on the iPhone because the report showed a screenshot of it. If the file had been deleted, he said the report should have stated this or explained why it was not possible to retrieve it.
“They’re not doing that. It shows poor quality of the investigation,” Suiche said.
Still, security professionals and the report itself said the fact that investigators failed to identify any embedded malicious code does not mean there wasn't a hack because sophisticated spyware can erase itself, leaving no trace.
Steve Morgan, founder and editor-in-chief at Cybersecurity Ventures, a cybersecurity research firm in New York, said the report makes reasonable assumptions and speculations, but does not claim 100% certainty or proof.
“Given their detailed analysis and all of the evidence they reviewed, their conclusions are reasonable,” Morgan said. “The tools they used, including forensic software and hardware from Cellebrite, are widely acknowledged to be amongst the best available,” he said.
Theresa Payton, founder and CEO of Fortalice Solutions, said the report is credible in her opinion, but leaves some questions unanswered, including whether the crown prince's WhatsApp account may have been hacked by a third party, meaning he was not the true attacker.
“Unless Mohammed bin Salman has a thorough forensic review of dates, times, phone logs, geocoded locations, and logins, it’ll be hard to know for sure who was behind that WhatsApp message,” she said.
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Associated Press Technology Writer Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.
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Read These Books Before They Hit the Big (and Small) Screen
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The age-old debate of whether the book or the movie is better is about to kick into high gear in 2020—thanks in large part to a handful of the most celebrated books and stories being made into major films and TV shows this year.
From a sci-fi masterpiece Dune to a Charles Dickens classic to a Jane Austen revamp, we've collected an array of beloved characters (and the tales their attached to) before they hit the silver screen (or a TV) near you.
From Hulu's highly anticipated adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere to Netflix's sophomore effort P.S. I Still Love You, you're going to want to keep that nose in the books so you can wow (and have amazing rebuttals) at your next date, brunch, or family gathering.
Check out 16 of the best books coming to life on screen below.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Plot: Little Fires Everywhere follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and an enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. The story explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger in believing that following the rules can avert disaster.Premieres: March 18 on Hulu. Watch the trailer here. Starring: Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Plot: In the year 10191, a spice called melange is the most valuable substance known in the universe, and its only source is the desert planet Arrakis. A royal decree awards Arrakis to Duke Leto Atreides and ousts his bitter enemies, the Harkonnens. However, when the Harkonnens violently seize back their fiefdom, it is up to Paul, Leto's son, to lead the Fremen, the natives of Arrakis, in a battle for control of the planet and its spice.Premiere: TBD. Watch trailer here.Starring: Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides alongside Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, and Zendaya.
P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before) by Jenny Han
Plot: This story will focus on Lara Jean's new relationship with Peter Kavinsky. But wait! This is a high school romance movie, so it is required to feature a love triangle (and does).Premieres: Feb. 12 on Netflix. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo.
Emma by Jane Austen
Plot: Jane Austen's beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending, is reimagined in this delicious new film adaptation of Emma. Premieres: In theaters Feb 21. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Nighy and Johnny Flynn.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Plot: This story is set in Yukon, Canada and is about a sled dog surviving in the wild of Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. Premieres: In theaters Feb. 21. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Harrison Ford.
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Plot: The story focuses on a woman who, after her ex allegedly dies by suicide, thinks she is being hunted by someone she can't see.Premieres: In theaters Feb. 28. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Elisabeth Moss.
The Personal History of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Plot: Follow the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity, with his own adventures and the web of friends and enemies he meets along his way.Premieres: In theaters May 8. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Ben Wishaw, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi and Gwendoline Christie.
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Plot: An agoraphobic woman drinks wine all day and spies on her neighbors. Nothing bad will come from that, right?Premieres: In theaters May 15. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Amy Adams.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Plot: Artemis Fowl follows 12-year-old genius Artemis Fowl, a descendant of a long line of criminal masterminds, as he finds himself in a battle of strength and cunning against a powerful, hidden race of fairies who may be behind his father's disappearance.Premieres: In theaters May 29. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Tamara Smart, Nonzo Anozie, with Josh Gad, and Judi Dench.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Plot: This 1911 novel is about an orphan, Mary Lennox, who has to live with her uncle on a country estate in Yorkshire.Premieres: In theaters April 17. Watch the trailer here.Starring: Colin Firth.
Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love by Matt Logelin
Plot: This memior is the definition of a tear-jerker. Logelin describes raising his daughter after his wife (and childhood sweetheart) died soon after childbirth. Premieres: Fatherhood will hit theaters April 3. Starring: Kevin Hart, Alfre Woodard, DeWanda Wise and Lil Rel Howery.
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Plot: Ben and his dragon, Firedrake, set off to find a dragon utopia, free from humans.Premieres: In theaters Aug 6. Starring: Felicity Jones, Patrick Stewart, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Freddie Highmore.
Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
Plot: Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt along the tranquility of a cruise around the Nile when Linnet Ridgeway has been discovered to be found dead. But who did it? Premieres: In theaters Oct 9. Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie and Letitia Wright.
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Plot: The Witches follows a young boy who accidentally stumbles into a conference of, well, witches. They turn the interloper into a mouse, and he has to figure out how to change himself back.Premieres: In theaters Oct 16. Starring: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Plot: Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd volunteers to accompany a ten-year-old girl on a 400-mile journey back to her relatives. Years earlier, the girl had been taken captive by a Kiowa tribe. Now, she feels unmoored among her Texan family. Jefferson grapples with what's best for her.Premieres: In theaters Dec 25.Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Neil Sandilands and Chukwudi Iwuji.
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
Plot: Set in post-war West Virginia and Ohio, Donald Ray Pollock's book follows a preacher, a husband and wife duo who are serial killers, and more.Premieres: TBD on Netflix.Starring: Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Mia Wasikowska and Eliza Scanlen.
For more reading, check out stars' January 2020 Celebrity Book Club Picks.
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