THE OUTSIDER: Episode 6 Breakdown & Ending Explained

This article we’re breaking down Episode 6 of The Outsider.

After the fifth episode was released early it feels so long since we got another entry in the show but the latest one definitely doesn’t disappoint.

It finally pulls all of the pieces together and ends on a big cliffhanger that teases what could be coming down the line. Throughout this, we’re gonna be recapping the entire thing and giving our thoughts on it and it’s ending.

There will be heavy spoilers here so if you don’t want anything potentially ruined then I highly recommend that you turn off now.

The Outsider Episode 6 Recap

Episode 6 very much centers around the titular character wishing to put an end to the investigation by any means necessary.

Last week Holly deduced that the monster currently living in Cherokee City feeds on grief and with Ralph getting rid of the loss of his son from his mind, he’s now free of it’s trappings.

The episode opens with Holly waiting to go and see Ralph about what she has deduced.

As Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes state: ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth’ and Holly has ruled out pretty much everything, leaving only one possible outcome.

We see a news report showcasing the death of Tracey Powel who last week we learned was complicit in The Outsiders operation at the town. The fingerprints of the two girls that Heath was accused of killing are found in Tracey’s car which puts him in the position of being an accomplice.

Powel helped to frame the nurse Heath Hofsteader and then had himself killed in a shootout due to the guilt which he was unable to live with. We learn in this episode that he and Heath were first cousins and it becomes clear that The Outsider chooses people who can work and move closely with the person that they are mimicking.

Powel’s gun was unloaded as we know and he did go to Hofsteaders house in order to try and get some form of redemption.

Powel did say that the Outsider had screwed both him and Hofsteader over and it is likely that he will do the same to Jack who plays a big role in this episode.

A Vision

Holly gets a bus across the country because her car broke down last time and she notices the boils and scarring on the back of Tracey’s neck. She too has a vision of the character who tells her to look out of the front window. Believing that the bus is crashing she runs to the front screaming but it’s revealed that this is all in her head. This actually almost causes the bus to crash and it gives the notion that if the characters get in the way there could be worse consequences for them than what they originally had.

Once more it shows that The Outsider is able to terrorise targets in their dreams and make them see things and visions. This has happened to several characters in the run so far including Jessa, Collins and of course Ralph’s wife Jeannie.

It is possible that Ralph’s vision of his son was a manifestation of The Outsider but personally I believe it was actually his son as it left a hopeful message rather than the one of Doom that the Outsider tends to bring.

Ralph does question this in the episode but that’s just how I took it.

This is because it wants the investigation to end at all cost and similar to Pennywise it is able to manipulate people into leaving it alone. This was a big part of the book IT in which the killer clown would mentally manipulate the police into not looking further into the disappearance of children and it’s clear that The Outsider moves in a similar manner.

Whilst it’s putting big roadblocks in the way, the biggest actually comes in the form of Ralph who refuses to believe that anything supernatural is going on.

Similar to the source material he is the most difficult to convince that something is going on and it exemplifies how The Outsider has managed to carry out it’s crimes for so long. Often people leading the investigation won’t believe what’s going on and this is showcased her.

Jeannie protests that the drawings showcases that Jessa’s story is true and she comes along to discuss with others their experiences.

Jack Theory Debunked

Now I feel like I have to make a correction to a theory from last time. If you checked out our prior video then you’ll know that we noticed that Jack’s sideburn lengths changed throughout the episode and this lead us to believe that the Outsider had taken on his appearance and left the real one in the woods screaming at trees.

It looks like this was just a continuity error as the Jack we see in this entry no longer has his mutton chops. I even went back through the season to check out how they appear from time to time and yeah it looks like they just messed up the length of them.

That doesn’t mean that The Outsider isn’t slowly turning into Jack however and this episode definitely paints that out however, I think now that the more likely conclusion is that it is in fact turning into the strip club bouncer.

El Cuco is clearly closing in on him and we learn that he is on parole as well. This would make him easier to frame as those with a criminal past look more suspicious.

We know in the case of Terry that The Outsider often cuts people to take their DNA and then use it to transform into them and as this happened with The Bouncer and not in the case of Jack it is more likely that this is what’s going on.

Jessa describes the Outsider once more to newly formed professional sketch artist Jeannie who once again comes to the same conclusion. I kinda feel like at some points the series is dragging it’s feet a bit and I don’t know how many times we can go through this with the young girl as it seems to put forward the same conclusion every time.

Jack goes and picks up Holly and tries to get to the bottom of what she has discovered but she rebuffs his requests after deducing that he’s being used by The Outsider.

We learn that Jack’s wife walked out on him months ago and though he says it was the happiest day of his life his body language says otherwise. As we know the monster El Cuco feeds on grief and despair and it could be that it picked Jack as a target in helping it move because he has just been through a massive amount of trauma.

He writes in the black ooze that has become a calling card of the character ‘Stop Her’ but whether he does remains to be seen.

Holly Explains Everything

After a therapy session, Holly presents all of the evidence with the group and draws the lines between everything. I wasn’t invited to the meeting but here’s what I’ve put together in terms of a timeline so far.

El Cuco moved to New York and murdered a child in the form of Maria, it then noticed Heath ask her out and decided to meet him the next day for a date. After the two got it on it then took on his appearance and followed him cross country where it met Heath’s cousin and used him to help it collect the two girls.

Both then pinned the murder on Heath and it took Terry’s DNA then followed him and the Maitlands across America and settled in Cherokee where it killed Frankie Peterson and framed Terry.

Holly presents a pretty tight case but Glory completely loses it again and feels like everyone has wasted their time going down this route that sounds like a Stephen King novel.

Ralph mirrors this too unable to believe that the apparent best investigator they could get has went on an investigation about the Boogeyman.

Every culture has it’s own version of El Cuco and when creating the book King actually wanted to show how legends were perhaps formed from our own superstition. I’ve mentioned several times how King viewed Ted Bundy as a vampire due to his ability to appear like a normal human on the outside that hid his need for flesh but even our own legends have their basis in reality.

Vlad Tepes the real-life tyrant that slaughtered countless people would go on to inspire Dracula and it is possible that a lot of our legends such as vampires, witches and werewolves come from people that acted this way and eventually became folklore.

What this series does is that it takes that notion which we now would laugh at but says that it is real and that these creatures do exist and have for centuries.

Jack Vs His Mother

Jack gets more messages, this time almost in the form of stigmata and has a fight with his mother. This is a clear callback to the source material in which the character’s parent died of cancer.

Knowing that he is scared the same thing will happen to him, The Outsider actually gives Jack cancer and asks him to kill Ralph in exchange for ridding him of it.

It’s creepy as hell and also kinda unintentionally funny and no wonder the guys so messed up.

We do see that it is all in his head as the attacks happen without her in the room at one point and though some think that The Outsider is bringing back the dead but rather just psychically manipulating them.

27 Days

We also learn that the Outsider takes 27 days to transform. This once more mirrors Pennywise who took 27 years of hibernation in between its attacks.

The Outsider sheds its skin like a snake and there is also lip service paid to the fact that it may not even be of this world. This could actually cement that the creature may be from another planet or dimension similar to Pennywise who landed on Earth and then began feeding on us.

I know you’re rolling you’re eyes right now but THEY ROLLED THEIR EYES AT HOLLY TOO.

Ralph flat out won’t believe that El Cuco exists until Holly does a new trick I’m gonna be doing with my iPhone to see if the wife has had anyone over.

This shows that El Cuco was in the house and did haunt Jeannie.

The metamorphosis leaves El Cuco in a vulnerable state and this is why it requires a helper. It’s also during this time that it sends out it’s radio wave-like messages to disturb people into leaving it alone whilst it recovers.

Glory calls Ralph over and says out loud that she thinks Terry may have even killed the child. Clearly she feels like she has betrayed her deceased husband and it’s one of the best-acted scenes in the series so far in my opinion.

Clearly El Cuco has been able to convince those close to the suspects for centuries that they carried it out as the truth seems so unbelievable.

Episode 6 Ending

We join jack who’s neck looks like mac and cheese and he lures Holly out to the Barn where Terry’s clothes were found. Clearly the character has had one of the worst nights of his life.

He promises her solid evidence and tells her not to tell the Andersons. I dunno, why Holly doesn’t instantly look at his face and figure out something is up but she goes out to the barn anyway.

Along the way she sees the rash on his neck and knows that she’s in trouble, with nowhere to go Jack grabs the wheel and forces her in the direction.

But what happens next, well Holly isn’t killed by Jack if that’s what you want to know and now that he has exposed himself the net is closing in.

With this being carried out by the character it confirms Holly’s theories that El Cuco is behind it all and from the preview of next week it looks like the two are talking about the beast and why it has taken Jack.

In the story Jack actually gets a rifle and a sniper location and tries to shoot Ralph as he descends on El Cuco’s hideout but here I think they may switch it up a bit.

Episode 7 Predictions

In the trailer for next week Ralph says that he knows Jack has taken Holly and I think the standoff could happen at the barn with Holly being a hostage.

El Cuco as we know is out in the woods and it’s unlikely that it would be hiding in The Barn waiting for Holly. It also looks like Jack may be the one to end his own life as he puts a gun in his mouth at one point.

I do think that this will just be something significant of his pain though rather than how he does go out.

The episode was another great watch and I’m really glad they’re finally pulling it all together. It feels like it’s all ramping up and who knows, if the Outsider loses Jack as an ally next episode it may be forced to step forward and reveal itself.