Can We Talk About Harlen Coben’s The Stranger Now?

The Cast Knocked it Out of the Park

While soccer, or football to the Brits, took centre stage, a baseball analogy best suits the casting and performances in ‘The Stranger:’

The cast knocked their performances out of the park.

Jennifer Saunders imitated a Thelma and Lousie line for comic effect. Still, her performance as Heidi, a drama debut, proved useful in giving Johanna the motivation to go after her killer. Speaking of Johanna, Siobhan Finnerman put Mrs. O’Brien in the dust thanks to ‘Happy Valley’ and adds to her body of work balancing a copper brain with hidden vulnerability. Anthony  Stewart Head excelled in another dickish father figure role as Adam’s father and I swear he got cast because someone thought you know smirks can be a genetic trait passed down from father to son.

Mike Tripp (Brendan Fellows) reminds me of The Porter character in Macbeth, cracking jokes in the middle of bloody intrigues before sometimes turning serious at his memory gaps following the rave. Even small parts showed the care paid in casting, making it look less like acting and more like actual human emotion. It also helps many of the cast, including some of the names, look like ordinary people, something US productions fail to do in the name of a ‘look.’

Bringing us to the 6’2 reason ‘The Stranger’ immediately got added to Netflix watch lists.