THE OUTSIDER: El Cuco Explained | Origins, Abilities, Meaning And Season 2 Theories
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Published 2020-03-13
#TheOutsider #StephenKing #ElCuco
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Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I'm your host Deffinition aka your Insider on The Outsider and with the show finally wrapping up it's time to take a look at the big bad of the series.
That is El Cuco.
Throughout this video we'll be discussing what exactly the creature is, where it comes from and what it represents.
There will be Heavy spoilers so if you haven't seen the show yet then I highly suggest that you turn off now as there will be some big things spoiled.
El Cuco Explained
Ok so though The Outsider is set in 2018, the villainous creature that the show centres around actually can be traced back all the way to 469 BC.
El Cuco goes by many similar sounding names such as Coca, Cuca, Cucuy or Coolio. That last ones a joke, primarily though the beast is known as Coco which roughly translates to Coconut.
We'll get into why this is important in a bit but the creature is a mystical ghost monster that is equivalent to the bogeyman.
I'll be referring to it as El Cuco throughout the rest of the video to keep in line with the show but just bear in mind that there are many names for it.
In Spain, South America and Portugal where the phrase Coco itself originates from, the creature is used by parents to discourage their children from behaving badly.
There are several poems and lullabies about the creature which all centre around the same theme, that if their children do not go to sleep then El Cuco will come for them.
This is mirrored throughout the show and when conducting research on the beast, Holly Gibney crosses paths with several people that discuss where the creature originates from.
At it's core though El Cuco is a child eater that can take the shape of a shadow or a guardian angel to lure in children. This aesthetic is seen in the HBO adaptation and Stephen King book when the creature mimics the appearance of Terry Maitland, a well respected pillar of the community.
In the legend upon gaining access to a child's room will hide in a closet or under their bed and wait until they go to sleep. El Cuco will either devour them on the spot or spirit the child away to it's lair but either way it's a death sentence for them. Luckily though it only does this to disobediant children so remember kids, do what your mother says.
Where the show and book differ from the legend is that El Cuco doesn't really seem to care if you've been good or bad.
Holly comes across a woman who knows of the beast and they say the following:
"All the old cultures have the bad habit of turning truth into fairytales. When we tell our children El Cuco, we say, if you you misbehave, it will take you away and eat you. What we should tell them is: it doesn't matter either way; it takes what it wants . . . . It can look like a person if it needs to be, but it's not. In this day and age we find it so difficult to believe in anything that we can't explain."
So, once the creature has it's eye on you, it's very difficult to get away.
Coconut Meaning
Now why the creatures name is coconut is rather simple. In the past, Coconuts were thought to look like skulls and the name El Coco was given because many imagined the monster to have a skull like face.
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All Comments (21)
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Make sure you check out our breakdown of the finale here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygyXTPj74Gk
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I'm not a big fan of Jason Bateman but his 2 episode arch was incredible and his "I taught him how to bunt" monologue was the best work of his career and that scene actually made me cry.
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El cuco transforms every 27 days and penny wise wakes up every 27 years.
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“I’m here to talk to you about the El Cuco initiative” - Ralph
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Attempt to murder to Terry Maitland? He did lol I couldn't believe Jason Bateman was dead 10 min into ep2
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Thank you for posting great videos about this series. I appreciate you!
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This is definitely helpful and explains makes things much more open. Thanks!
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I wish I could watch this show for the first time again it was so damn good
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great channel! I'd love to see a video of your top shows/movies to binge watch during quarantine lol
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Great video man, thanks for uploading it
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Loved the show and love your commentary😊
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Great video Deff, interesting stuff 👍🏽
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Heavy Heavy Spolier: John Wick is the OG El Cuco!!!!!
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Season 2 already confirmed??! This is a nice!
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There are definitely monsters among us. Love King! I still think Holly has some version of the shine. This makes a lot of sense with how she convinced them of El Cuco and Jack at the end. Every King book has someone with a form of the shine!
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The question needs to be asked: How the hell do we go to sleep when our parents tell us a scary ass story before we go to sleep?
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Thanks for this.... what i love about this is that we know some things but most about el cuco is still a mystery
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I read the book, It's slightly different.
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Great video bud!
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Thanks! Glad that this showed up as I was searching El Cuco. Don't know about Outsider but I am now reading If it Bleeds.
