Possibly Autistic character in “The Outsider”
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ASPartOfMe
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Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 38,083
Location: Long Island, New York
‘The Outsider’ Review: A Stephen King Thriller Goes Lights Out
Quote:
The Outsider, based on the Stephen King novel, is a thematically dark story. In a small Midwest town, local cop Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) arrests beloved teacher and Little League coach Terry Maitland (Bateman again) for the brutal killing of a young boy. There is overwhelming evidence that Terry did this, but equally overwhelming evidence that he couldn’t have possibly done it. As the investigation unfolds and grows increasingly messy and violent, there are more child murders, suicides, shootings, and increasing hints that something more monstrous than man’s inhumanity to man is at work.
Though the circumstances of the murder quickly baffle Ralph and the other cops — particularly how there is video evidence of Terry being out of town at the time of the murder, even as multiple eyewitnesses and DNA samples link him directly to it — it takes Price a while to lean into the potential supernatural aspects of the tale, or to introduce Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), an eccentric private investigator who may have extra-normal gifts of her own(*).
(*) King introduced Holly in one of his other book series, which has been adapted (for DirecTV’s Audience Network) as Mr. Mercedes, where Justin Lupe from Succession plays the role.
Holly is perhaps on the autism spectrum, and speaks almost entirely in clear, declarative sentences.
Though the circumstances of the murder quickly baffle Ralph and the other cops — particularly how there is video evidence of Terry being out of town at the time of the murder, even as multiple eyewitnesses and DNA samples link him directly to it — it takes Price a while to lean into the potential supernatural aspects of the tale, or to introduce Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), an eccentric private investigator who may have extra-normal gifts of her own(*).
(*) King introduced Holly in one of his other book series, which has been adapted (for DirecTV’s Audience Network) as Mr. Mercedes, where Justin Lupe from Succession plays the role.
Holly is perhaps on the autism spectrum, and speaks almost entirely in clear, declarative sentences.
A number of media sources are describing the character as possibly being autistic.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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