The slow dread of "The Outsider," HBO's series that defies Stephen King expectations

Taking on Stephen King, even by way of a story like "The Outsider," attaches expectations to a film or TV series that aren't always met. Between that and Bateman's directorial gloom coloring the first two episodes of "The Outsider" – the Emmy winner for "Ozark" is an executive producer of the series who directs the first two hours – the viewer experiences two types of energy that aren't a close fit initially. Fortunately King's stories live and breathe through his characters, their interior drives and quirks, which is where Cynthia Erivo's Holly Gibney enters and almost singlehandedly picks up the inertia holding back "The Outsider" and kicks it loose. As Howie Salomon, Camp becomes the immovable pillar around which Glory's livid anger dances like some wild flame, one of the many catalysts that propels "The Outsider" through more sedate stretches.