The Stranger: Season 1 Episode 1 to 3 [Series Premiere] – Recap/ Review with Spoilers

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“The Stranger” should be the flagship for Quibi as each cliffhanger makes it’s daily release schedule a blessing.

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Created By		Veena Sud
Directed By		Veena Sud
Written By		Veena Sud
Aired (Quibi)		4/13/2020
Genre(s)		Horror
Introduced
Clare	Maika Monroe
Carl E	Dane DeHaan

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Plot Overview (Episodes 1 to 3)

Clare, a young woman from Kansas who moved to LA to make it as a rider, drives for the ride-sharing app “Orbit.” This job is fairly new for her since she only got to LA days ago, but with pulling up to a mansion in the hills, she is excited about the person who enters her car. He is this guy named Carl E, who is dressed like he works in Silicon Valley. However, he reveals that, if anything, he is a sociopathic murderer.

Highlights

You Don’t Want It To End

Nearly every episode, thus far, ends with a cliff hanger, and when we say we’re glad we waited to watch this – let me tell you. I can’t imagine having to wait almost 24 hours, or a week, for the next part since it always ends at a point where you are left thinking, “Oh s***!”

Clare Is Built Up Enough, For You To Fear For Her Life

And what allows for such a reaction is you like Clare. While we only learn a handful of things about her, like where she is from and her dreams, Monroe gives Clare this innocence that you buy into. The kind that makes you open to the idea of this not being a horror show/ split up movie and you just watching Clare live the dream. Which isn’t done too often within the horror genre since usually it is very villain and gore focus (at least what we usually watch). So to have a lead grab hold of you so quickly, it is a rare feat and quite a treat.

Dane DeHaan Makes For The Perfect Villain

I mean this in the nicest way – DeHaan looks like someone you’d expect to play a villain. It’s like not being able to see Will Smith as anything, but the hero or a model turned actress as anything but a love interest – it is what it is. But, I will admit, part of what does bring Carl E down as a villain is he has some incel type of rhetoric. Mind you, him talking about killing a whole family, that was shocking but made him noteworthy. However, his whole Nancy Pelosi equality speech? It sounded awkward in ways I just can’t help but laugh at, in retrospect.

Overall

Continue To Watch? – Binge

First Impression: Optimistic

We won’t pretend that sometimes we are too quick to write things off. However, the plus and minus for Quibi is the buy-in is low. An episode is 8 minutes, if that, and that makes it hard for you to settle on an opinion with just one episode. Instead, you just find yourself watching one after another to the point you feel so deep in, you figure you minas well finish it.

But, in the case of “The Stranger,” it isn’t so much a “hate-watch” or something you’d watch since you caught up on your favorite shows, this has the potential to become one of your favorites.

 

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