REVIEWS TV
W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^067
In addition to
starring as Terry
Maitland, Jason Bateman
also directed the first two
episodes of The Outsider.The Letter For
The King
Please mister postman
Release Out now
Showrunners Alex Holmes, Charles Martin,
Felix Thompson
Cast Amir Wilson, Ruby Serkis, Gijs Blom
Distributor Netflix
Certificate PG
FormatIt’s no surprise after the success
of Game Of Thrones that we should
expect a slew of binge-worthy fantasy
TV series. First Netflix delivered The
Witcher and now it brings us The Letter For
The King.
Being much tamer (no swearing, no nudity,
very minimal blood) than the aforementioned
two series, The Letter For The King is aimed at a
younger crowd and is based on a very successful
Dutch novel named De Brief Voor De Koning by
Tonke Dragt (though it wasn’t translated into
English until 2013).
The story follows Tiuri (Amir Wilson,
His Dark Materials) who inadvertently gets
lumbered with a secret letter that must beThe Outsider:
Season One
Stranger with my face
Release Out now
Showrunner Richard Price
Cast Ben Mendelsohn, Jason Bateman,
Cynthia Erivo, Paddy Considine,
Mare Winningham, Bill Camp
Distributor Sky Atlantic/HBO
Certificate 15
Format VODRichard Price, crime fiction king
and veteran of shows like The Wire and
The Night Of, might seem an odd fit
for a supernatural Stephen King novel
but his perspective makes The Outsider what it
is. There’s no glorying in the iconography of the
King catalogue, no winking cameos, and although
uncannily intuitive PI Holly Gibney also features in
Mr Mercedes, she’s played by a different actor. This
series is grounded, focused and plays its horror as
real as it possibly can.
Which is exactly how a show that spends so
much time on Ben Mendelsohn’s beleaguered
Detective Ralph Anderson trying to come terms with
the idea of a supernatural monster we know exists
from early on keeps such a tight grip through itsten episodes. The first few hours unwrap the horror
slowly: a young boy has been savagely murdered,
and overwhelming evidence points towards little
league coach and family man Terry Maitland
(Jason Bateman). But Terry couldn’t have done it, he
was out of town with his family. Can someone be in
two places at once?
It’s not until the season’s halfway mark that a
name is given to what Ralph and Holly (Cynthia
Erivo) are chasing, but the grief and trauma left
by its actions are made immediately explicit.
These characters are lost and suffering, and it’s
compelling watching them face the possibility that
something unbelievable may be the cause of their
pain. The fact that the cast is so ridiculously strongobviously helps, as tension is routinely built simply
by cutting to Paddy Considine’s haunted Claude
Bolton scratching his arm.
While the show does spin its wheels occasionally,
the bigger genre moments are where it wobbles,
with a screeching monster in Karyn Kusama’s
otherwise brilliant episode feeling particularly
unnecessary. However, as the season builds to its
grand finale it all comes together, the real and the
unreal, as a rag-tag group of woefully unprepared
people head into the woods to face a monster.
Jonathan Hatfull
delivered to the king to stop an imminent threat
to the kingdom by the king’s wayward son.
Along the way Tiuri hooks up with charming,
ballsy Lavinia (Ruby Serkis – who’s dad, Andy
Serkis, also appears, and the two bring along
some of the funnier moments to the series) as
well as a group of young knights who have also
been tasked with retrieving the letter (though
for the wrong reasons). Together they trek across
the three kingdoms with many-a-foe in pursuit
to deliver the cargo. But as their quest gets more
perilous, unassuming Tiuri realises just how
important he is to the future of the kingdom...
Written by Will Davies (How To Train Your
Dragon), TLFTL finds its stride after a couple of
clunky opening episodes and it quickly settles
into a fun, if somewhat middling, series.
Our lead core group of young knights are
charismatic (imagine if the Stranger Things
gang became Knights of the Round Table) and
there is plenty of witty dialogue to go around.
The magical element is interesting too, if not
fully developed, and there are some wonderful
stand-out moments, namely a lovely exposition-
filled cartoon segment later on in the series.
However, it’s hard to feel overly invested intheir journey once it seems that almost every
episode follows a ‘get-in-trouble-get-out-of-
it’ path. However, there are enough nice side
moments, diverse characters and interesting
world-building to stave off that fantasy-sized
hole in our hearts.
Rachael Harper
067_SFN_170 2x TV.indd 67 19/03/2020 15:32REVIEWS TV
W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^067
In addition to
starring as Terry
Maitland, Jason Bateman
also directed the first two
episodes of The Outsider.The Letter For
The King
Please mister postman
Release Out now
Showrunners Alex Holmes, Charles Martin,
Felix Thompson
Cast Amir Wilson, Ruby Serkis, Gijs Blom
Distributor Netflix
Certificate PG
Format
It’s no surprise after the success
of Game Of Thrones that we should
expect a slew of binge-worthy fantasy
TV series. First Netflix delivered The
Witcher and now it brings us The Letter For
The King.
Being much tamer (no swearing, no nudity,
very minimal blood) than the aforementioned
two series, The Letter For The King is aimed at a
younger crowd and is based on a very successful
Dutch novel named De Brief Voor De Koning by
Tonke Dragt (though it wasn’t translated into
English until 2013).
The story follows Tiuri (Amir Wilson,
His Dark Materials) who inadvertently gets
lumbered with a secret letter that must be
The Outsider:
Season One
Stranger with my face
Release Out now
Showrunner Richard Price
Cast Ben Mendelsohn, Jason Bateman,
Cynthia Erivo, Paddy Considine,
Mare Winningham, Bill Camp
Distributor Sky Atlantic/HBO
Certificate 15
Format VODRichard Price, crime fiction king
and veteran of shows like The Wire and
The Night Of, might seem an odd fit
for a supernatural Stephen King novel
but his perspective makes The Outsider what it
is. There’s no glorying in the iconography of the
King catalogue, no winking cameos, and although
uncannily intuitive PI Holly Gibney also features in
Mr Mercedes, she’s played by a different actor. This
series is grounded, focused and plays its horror as
real as it possibly can.
Which is exactly how a show that spends so
much time on Ben Mendelsohn’s beleaguered
Detective Ralph Anderson trying to come terms with
the idea of a supernatural monster we know exists
from early on keeps such a tight grip through itsten episodes. The first few hours unwrap the horror
slowly: a young boy has been savagely murdered,
and overwhelming evidence points towards little
league coach and family man Terry Maitland
(Jason Bateman). But Terry couldn’t have done it, he
was out of town with his family. Can someone be in
two places at once?
It’s not until the season’s halfway mark that a
name is given to what Ralph and Holly (Cynthia
Erivo) are chasing, but the grief and trauma left
by its actions are made immediately explicit.
These characters are lost and suffering, and it’s
compelling watching them face the possibility that
something unbelievable may be the cause of their
pain. The fact that the cast is so ridiculously strongobviously helps, as tension is routinely built simply
by cutting to Paddy Considine’s haunted Claude
Bolton scratching his arm.
While the show does spin its wheels occasionally,
the bigger genre moments are where it wobbles,
with a screeching monster in Karyn Kusama’s
otherwise brilliant episode feeling particularly
unnecessary. However, as the season builds to its
grand finale it all comes together, the real and the
unreal, as a rag-tag group of woefully unprepared
people head into the woods to face a monster.
Jonathan Hatfull
delivered to the king to stop an imminent threat
to the kingdom by the king’s wayward son.
Along the way Tiuri hooks up with charming,
ballsy Lavinia (Ruby Serkis – who’s dad, Andy
Serkis, also appears, and the two bring along
some of the funnier moments to the series) as
well as a group of young knights who have also
been tasked with retrieving the letter (though
for the wrong reasons). Together they trek across
the three kingdoms with many-a-foe in pursuit
to deliver the cargo. But as their quest gets more
perilous, unassuming Tiuri realises just how
important he is to the future of the kingdom...
Written by Will Davies (How To Train Your
Dragon), TLFTL finds its stride after a couple of
clunky opening episodes and it quickly settles
into a fun, if somewhat middling, series.
Our lead core group of young knights are
charismatic (imagine if the Stranger Things
gang became Knights of the Round Table) and
there is plenty of witty dialogue to go around.
The magical element is interesting too, if not
fully developed, and there are some wonderful
stand-out moments, namely a lovely exposition-
filled cartoon segment later on in the series.
However, it’s hard to feel overly invested intheir journey once it seems that almost every
episode follows a ‘get-in-trouble-get-out-of-
it’ path. However, there are enough nice side
moments, diverse characters and interesting
world-building to stave off that fantasy-sized
hole in our hearts.
Rachael Harper