After watching Quibi’s The Stranger, I’m convinced that I never want to leave my house alone ever again. Especially at night.
With each passing episode, I find myself even more terrified than before. And that was certainly the case with The Stranger‘s fourth hour, “10:00 PM,” where this sociopath has turned the tables so abruptly that Clare is left as the guilty-looking one.
We picked up immediately where the last hour left off — Clare being choked through the elevator by Carly — and after some fight, she manages to break free and get the hell out of there. With dog in tow, Carly heads for her car and drives as far away as she can from a place that’s no longer safe.
It’s crazy how Carly seems to be in two places at once — how he anticipates her next move, or sometimes even knows what she’s going to do before she does it.
Which is why I remain convinced that Carly had planned this, to some degree. He doesn’t strike me as someone that would go in unprepared. Yes, she’s a stranger. But he’s done his homework, perhaps in the last six days since she arrived. How else would he know seemingly everything about her?
Clare pulled over to call 9-1-1, but they were conveniently busy. Because of course. So she ventured into a bathroom at this nearby safe house, or something, to collect herself. Which is when her mom called, and Clare proceeded to tell her how this psychopath is trying to kill her.
Whatever response I expected, hearing her mom tell her “not this again” was certainly not on my list. Clare promises that it’s not like last time — what happened last time, I wonder. But it doesn’t matter, her mom has her mind made up. There’s no one Clare can trust — not even her family — other than herself.
The interesting thing is the “this isn’t last time” part, which indicates that something happened in Clare’s past. Something where she raved on about something manic and no one believed her.
Which is why I’m brought back to the hunch that Carly had this thing planned from the start. He knew that no one would believe her — the police, the Orbit representative and even her family. He knows something that he’s not letting on — but I think we’ll learn soon enough that he’s been in this from the start.
All I know, is that I will forever be terrified of someone walking into a bathroom — when I’m alone — after that scene where Carly was standing outside the stall and proceeded to drive the knife from Clare’s apartment into the stall door. Blood and all.
Thinking it could be used as a weapon, Clare grabbed the knife and left the bathroom and the safe house. But not before some people noticed she was carrying a knife.
All I kept thinking, was that there was blood on that knife. And my mind immediately went to her dog, and I almost sobbed. But that would be too predictable, and not something that Carly would do. Instead, he had killed a man — and everyone assumed it was Clare. So, naturally, she high-tailed it out of there.
As she drove away, she got a call from a private number — Carly of course. He does that creepy thing that he does, where he tells her something that only someone in the car would know — how she still has blood on her head. Turns out, he’s using the camera on her phone to spy on her — to see her, to hear her, to track her location. It’s easy for him.
I’m sorry, this is where I would ditch that phone and grab a burner phone.
And then, the million-dollar question from Clare: “Why are you doing this?”
Clare has the unfortunate luck to be different from the others — yes, others — that Carly has performed this sick game on. And I’m sure it goes without saying, that those “others” are dead.
Carly foolishly underestimated Clare. Unlike the others, she actually grew under the extreme duress, including crashing the car to get away. He’s impressed, in a sick way. But he’s also entertained, in an even sicker way.
This is a game to him. He knows, in the end, how it’ll end. With him killing her. And I’m just hoping that Clare continues to underestimate him — including killing him before he kills her.
The Stranger airs new episodes weekdays on Quibi.
