Tamika’s nightmare in episode 5, “Tear-Drinker”, of Stephen King’s The Outsider on HBO offers an important clue to the tear-drinker’s motives.
Last week’s episode of The Outsider continued to offer more clues into the mysterious child killings. While Ralph (Ben Mendelsohn) refuses to believe anything supernatural could be going on, Holly (Cynthia Erivo) is becoming convinced something more sinister is happening. As Holly delves further into the legend of El Cuco, the shape-shifter that feeds on people’s grief, she is beginning to put the pieces together of what they are dealing with. As she does, she comes to think of this supernatural being as the “tear-drinker.”
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While the investigation continues, Tamika (Hettienne Park), a police officer who works at the station with Ralph, has a dream in which the tear-drinker takes her newborn baby. When she wakes up, she discovers the crib is empty, but is relieved to find the baby with dad on the porch. Although, so far, Tamika’s story has only been a side plot, her nightmare likely points to her further involvement in the story.
The Outsider: Tamika’s Nightmare Explained
What’s interesting about Tamika’s dream is that it stands out from what’s happening with the rest of the characters. After being shot in the leg during the shooting that killed Terry Maitland, one of several characters killed in the premiere, she gives birth to her baby and everything seems to be going well on her side of things. The fact that The Outsider has now appeared to her in a dream could be foreshadowing for possibly horrible things to come. Is the “tear-drinker” after her baby? Or is Tamika only having nightmares because her colleague, Jack, is acting strange? Either way, something sinister is going on, and the scene serves to build tension in this slow-burn of an episode.
What The Outsider Says About Grief & The Tear-Drinker
Later in the episode, the tear-drinker appears to Jeannie Anderson. It tells her the same thing it told the Maitland girl: her husband should stop the investigation, or they will both die. The question here is, if The Outsider really wants to stop the investigation, why not just kill Ralph Anderson and be done with it? The tear-drinker, after all, appears to feed on grief, and both Ralph and Jeannie are filled with it over the death of their son.
It may be that the tear-drinker lingers around the family of the children it kills to feed on a certain kind of grief. Ralph and Jeannie’s grief is older, and they’ve both become accustomed to it. The sadness they experience has become a part of their lives, and they deal with it in their own way. This may make it harder for the tear-drinker to come after them. In fact, although The Outsider has some classically horrific moments, such as Tamika’s dream, it is the grief of Ralph and Jeannie that is carrying the series. Their struggle is truly heartbreaking.
