Diksha Sundriyal
Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, ‘The Outsider’ takes place in the aftermath of the brutal murder of an 11-year-old boy, Frankie Peterson. The first episode of the show takes us to the crime scene, and with the help of multiple witnesses, the cops create a case against Terry Maitland, who emerges as the only viable suspect. In one hour, the story moves forward quickly and we are given a glimpse of who the actual enemy could be.
The Crime
It starts with a man on a walk with his dog. As they pass through the park, the dog picks up on something and leads the man into the woods where they discover the Peterson boy. Later, the cops arrive, with Ralph Anderson as the lead detective on the case. The sight is shocking, for the cops as well as the viewers.
The camera starts slowly, first focusing on the blood, moving forward to the boy’s face and then down. We see his throat ripped out and that his insides have been laid bare. And then there’s the stick that was used to sodomize him.
The Suspect
On questioning the man who found the body, the cops find the van that had been used to abduct the boy. Digging around a little bit, they find out that a high school teacher had seen Maitland driving the van. She also saw him pick up Frankie Peterson. The boy’s bicycle was broken and she assumed that Maitland was giving him a ride home. Next, they have the statement of a young girl who claims that she saw Maitland come out of the woods. There was blood all over his mouth and some on his clothes. His hands were bloody too. He told her he had been hit by a branch, but she knows he was lying. After the conversation, he drove away in his white van.
The next person to build upon this story is a bouncer at the strip club. He tells Anderson that Maitland had arrived at the bar to clean-up. There was blood on his clothes which he claimed was from a nosebleed. However, there was also blood on the back of his jacket, in which case, the excuse of a nosebleed doesn’t make sense. In the club, Maitland changed clothes, which he may or may not have had with him, and then, he called for a cab.
The cab driver confirms the story and says that she picked him up. He asked her to leave him at the train station. However, CCTV footage reveals that Maitland didn’t really buy a ticket.
The Arrest
Convinced that they have an ironclad case, Anderson decides to arrest Maitland in the middle of a game in the presence of hundreds of people. Maitland is surprised and repulsed at the charges against him. He refuses to talk until his lawyer, Howie Saloman, arrives. Finally, the entire case is laid out in front of Maitland and his lawyer. He is told that there is everything from fingerprints to DNA to witnesses to surveillance footage that leaves no room for error. He should just accept he did it and be done with it. A twist comes when Maitland gives a foolproof alibi, with witnesses, fingerprints and video footage of his own.
Read More: Where is The Outsider Filmed?
