The crux is simple: the powers that be behind The Outsider felt that the audience would feel Ralph's emotional connection to the the crimes at handthe grisly, terribly crimesmore strongly if he himself was mourning the unrelated death of a person extremely close to him, his own son. And with this come the failings of so many other grizzled heroes that we've seen through the years; in his depression, the show's Ralph turned to drinking. And as the latest episode of the show depicted, in his streak of alcoholism, Ralph also became violent; HBO's Ralph witnesses, and eventually involved himself, and ended a nasty bar fight. He also has the added TV trope of a refusal to reflect on himself within his own job-ordered therapy.
We need to be absolutely clear: one doesn't need a personal tragedy to feel a "stronger connection" to the crimes that are being depicted. This isn't any run-of-the-mill Law and Order: SVU or even Criminal Minds case: this is borderline worse than anything even True Detective or Sharp Objects have shown on screen. For those watching, you know, but for anyone not keeping up, the instigating murder at the center of The Outsider centers on the murder and mutilation of a young boy, along with a tree branch sodomizing and possible cannibalization. It's grisly even in the source material, and the fact that the show's team felt the need to add an extra layer of tragedy to incentivize it for the lead character is eyebrow raising at the very least.
The fact that HBO's show felt the need to deepen Ralph's own connection to the central case feels like something of a disconnect. In King's book, Ralph is plenty investedand as a reader, I totally bought into his investmentwithout the added layer of tragedy. Putting Ralph more into the cliched trope of tired, grieving, situationally violent cop, is one of the weaker choices the show has made, and one that rings empty; the darkness and death is everywhere already.
In fact, if the show had kept Ralph's character motivations the same as the book, it would've been something to set The Outsider aside from some of the other crime shows that have leaned so heavily on their protagonists being broken; it's part of what makes King's Ralph such an appealing and relatable character. He's not the hard boiled detective who does all sorts of things that no one can ever imagine themselves doinghe's a dad, a guy who recognizes his mistakes, and someone who stands out from the True Detective type that we see so often.
But the HBO series, clearly, felt that wasn't the case. None of this is to speak to the performance that Ben Mendelsohn is giving as Ralphas always, he's fantastic in the role. Physically, he's nothing like the hulking, "big as a house" Ralph that King describes in his book, but Mendelsohn does a great job of capturing the warmness and sad intensity of the character. But if he were allowed to be more like he is in the booka good dad, a good husband, and a lawman who above all else wants to do the right thingwithout the added level of a personal tragedy laying over his head, the series could've been better for it.