THE OUTSIDER: Episode 7 Breakdown & Ending...

THE OUTSIDER: Episode 7 Breakdown & Ending Explained

the outsider episode 7 breakdown ending explained spoiler talk review el cuco stephen king book spoilers holly gibney predictions


This article we’re breaking down episode seven of The Outsider.

Last week ended on a big cliffhanger and this episode definitely feels like one of the tensest yet.

We’re gonna be going over the entire entry as a whole and giving our thoughts on it.

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

With that out the way, let’s get into our breakdown of The Outsider Episode 7.

The Outsider Episode 7 Recap


Episode 7 centers around Holly and where we left her last week. The episode does an excellent job of making us think that she’s on the highway to hell and whilst she comes out ok by the end of it, the 50-minute long ride really has you fearing for her safety.

The entry itself has a feeling of people being doomed to their fate and this exemplified in the opening shots when we see a cockroach sprawled on it’s back.

This signifies a lot during the episode and it can be applied to several characters.

When a cockroach has had it’s nervous system compromised because of insecticide, the creature will often flip over onto it’s back and have spasms.

It’s pretty much a death sentence for the roach as it is very unlikely that it will ever return to an upright position. It is possible that it will but often times the cockroach is stuck in this position until it dies.

Instantly this can be applied to Jack who is now 100% connected to the Outsider and should Holly survive she will bring this to people’s attention.

The Cockroach


Jack has gone fully off the deepened and is likely to come back to his normal, upright position and at points, similar to the cockroach he himself has been and ends up in the woods scrambling around.

From the roach, we cut to Ralph in bed on his back and he then sits upright.

Ralph’s belief in the rational has impeeded the case and left him unaccepting of the truth behind it. Many police officers before him have too been solid in this mindset and thus El Cuco has been able to continue it’s killing spree for centuries.

Similar to the cockroach they have been stuck in a position unable to move but what’s interesting about this shot with Ralph on his back is that he sits up, showing that he may have broken free of being stuck and is now willing to progress on the case with an open mind.

‘Keeping an Open Mind’ pretty much became a catchphrase in the source material and personally I believe that is what is represented here.

Ralph Refuses To Believe


Quickly this hope is squandered when Ralph tears down the sketches of the creature. I believe that these may be put up later to signify his acceptance of the supernatural and this episode is very much about him beginning to believe.

Jack does tell a joke about how many shrinks it takes to change a lightbulb and he says that it’s only one and that it’s the lightbulb that really has to want to change. This highlights that Ralph can do it but he has to be the one to.

It’s not long before he realises that Holly has been kidnapped and Ralph could have other big problems on his hands.

We learn that Glory could be contemplating sueing the Police Department.

She initially states she doesn’t really want to but these changes.

We also see that they finally found a nanny that wasn’t a reporter and she is returning to work.

So she has turned upright however she quickly flips back over and becomes stuck when she berates clients and we realise that three weeks was probably too soon to return to work.

After being said to be broke she changes her mind on the suing and goes ahead with it.

Holly And Jack


We then finally cut to Holly and Jack and the tension is at a fever pitch. Jack spews dialogue about how he didn’t believe in anything growing up but now he does since encountering The Outsider.

He doesn’t even seem like he’s hiding anything and instead this car ride early on even sounds like a therapy session. He spouts about how the creature is endless and could date back to before the big bang and how there may even be others.

Holly did state last week that the creature wasn’t of this world and because of this we guessed it could be from another dimension or from space similar to pennywise. Both Pennywise and El Cuco feed on emotion and can shapeshift and it is possible that they are both millions of years old.

We do know from King’s work that there are others out there like it.

Jack feels like he is the dominant one here and this is why he doesn’t mind confessing to Holly. It seems like he wants to work with her but every time he does the rash flares up.

El Cuco


He asks why El Cuco chose him and it’s said that it focuses on people who are dealing with loss and pain. As mentioned earlier it feeds on emotion and where Pennywise fed on fear El Cuco feeds on despair and grief.

Jack, as we know, lost his mother recently and his wife left him and this is why he was in a vulnerable position to be chosen.

We’ve theorized that Claude will be the next target to be chosen by the creature and this is given weight here when we see him losing his job because of the fight at the strip club last week.

He’s clearly a man down on his luck now and we already know that El Cuco is transforming into him due to the fact that when it was Terry it cut him.

El Cuco operates by cutting someone and then from this it takes their DNA and is able to mimic their appearance. We know the monster is currently going through a transformation and as Claude has just been let go it provides The Outsider with the perfect victim.

They do say that he quit but it doesn’t come across like that.

I could imagine that should Claude be found as the suspect of a crime that many would hold this job loss against him as something that could have pushed him over the edge.

Later in the episode, Holly confirms that Claude is next and that there is a ticking clock against him.

Ralph And Pelley On The Case


Ralph and Pelley discover Jack’s room and see that there’s blood everywhere because of the fight he had with his mother. Instantly they assume that he’s kidnapped and killed her and they manage to track the two using their phones.

Collins says shes transferring from her department due to life being easier out the way of murderers.

Holly does the old ‘I need the toilet trick’ and the tried and tested method of getting out of something nearly works but Jack asks more questions and she uses the next in line excuse of having her period.

God knows saying ‘I’m on my period’ has gotten me out of some tight situations, am I right girls?

She even tries to climb out of the bathroom window and I clearly jack hasn’t seen well…anything other than a strip club dance before.

Holly escapes and Ralph and Pelley have a similar conversation to Holly and Jack before about the supernatural. Pelley discusses his childhood in which he encountered something strange in the woods. Ralph shrugs it off again showcasing he refuses to believe.

jack with gun in mouth the outsider ending explained recap spoiler talk review

In the woods, Jack puts his gun in his mouth but can’t pull the trigger and he ends up on his back sprawling around much like the Cockroach at the start.

Holly has made it back to Ralphs and she discusses what’s been going on. There’s confirmation that The Outsider only feeds on children and that Jack may have wanted to take her to a kill box. We learn that he may have been grappling with everything as the gas station was in the opposite direction to the Barn.

Jack is a slave to El Cuco similar to how Tracey Powell was and we see that Ralph’s refusal to believe has been what is holding the case back. Ralph is pretty much standing in the way of everything and it’s time he either gets with the program or gets out the way.

He goes to his therapist and tries to find someone who is on his side about it and Holly has a nightmare at the end that she was murdered by Jack which could indicate that El Cuco is in her head and haunting her.

It is possible that Jack could be now hunting her as we did see that he is still alive and making his way back to town.

Ralph needs to get out of the way asap otherwise she could be someone he torments next and whatever happens, something needs to be done.

Episode 8 Predictions


From next weeks episode, we can see that Jack is now out and about and killing people with his rifle, this indicates how far he has come and what he is now willing to do. There is a police manhunt out for him so he will have to do whatever he can to avoid the long arm of the law.

The investigation seems to be making headway as they have brought Claude in for questioning and are asking him if he feels like something is fixated upon him.

Ralph isn’t there but as we know he is slowly starting to open up and this could be cemented but his first encounter with El Cuco next week in what appears to be in his home. There is also a masked festival which a child goes missing out, the person who looks to be escorting the boy away appears to be Claude on the surface, though his face is behind a mask but body wise they look very similar.

This could show that The Outsider didn’t have time to fully change it’s appearance but it was about 90% there and has decided that is close enough.

Claude looks like he has been locked up and the fight for his freedom will likely be what concludes the season.

Overall this was another gripping episode and with just three episodes left I can’t wait to see what happens.

Your Thoughts

Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on Episode 7 and what you’ve thought of the season so far. Comment below and let me know!

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