It takes either a staggering lead performance or a great plot twist to truly prove that there\u2019s something special to a new miniseries. Netflix\u2019s \u201cEric\u201d is thankfully one that has both of these aspects tethered to it, for better and sometimes for worse. The series begins with Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mad genius-like puppeteer, filming an episode of his hit “Sesame Street”-esque show. On the sidelines, his son Edgar (Ivan Howe) watches with rapt attention, even though he\u2019s seen the show being filmed a million times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At first glance, it appears that father and son are close, but as they walk home after the show is filmed, it’s clear they are anything but. Despite connecting due to their love for the arts, Vincent doesn\u2019t seem particularly interested in having a relationship with his son. He cuts him off when he speaks, and while Edgar\u2019s mother, Cassie (Gaby Hoffmann), showers their child with forehead kisses, Vincent seems incapable of treating him with anything other than contempt. He\u2019s despondent with not only his child but his wife, and they both know it. It\u2019s clear they both harbor resentment towards him and that all comes to a head one morning when Edgar leaves for school alone instead of waiting for his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That night, Edgar is reported missing, a catalyst that will change more than just the lives of the Anderson family. With his son missing, Vincent descends into a self-sabotaging fit of alcoholism and substance abuse that gives way to hallucinations of a 7-foot-tall talking puppet. This isn\u2019t just any puppet, though; it\u2019s the titular \u201cEric,\u201d whom Edgar had created to not only save his father\u2019s show from its low ratings but to connect with Vincent in the only way he knew how to. The puppet begins to haunt Vincent like his son\u2019s memory, forcing him to reconcile with his misdeeds as a father, husband, and human being. Vincent\u2019s journey to find his son also becomes a journey to heal from his childhood trauma, which has only been amplified by the city he lives in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In \u201cEric,\u201d New York is a city crumbling under the weight of the people who are supposed to protect it. From crooked cops to politicians unfit for the job, Edgar\u2019s disappearance gives way to the coverup of other disappearances and even murders. As the story gets more bloated, the main characters slide back into the shadows, and supporting characters take their place. It\u2019s a welcome change, as Vincent\u2019s descent into madness becomes more middling to watch as the show moves along.<\/p>\n
When one character disappears, another takes their place equally as fast. Many of them are revealed to be not only just as important as Vincent and Edgar, but perhaps even more. When it comes to the series\u2019 themes of government and corruption, the side characters come to represent these ideas more than the main characters do. It makes these characters all the more interesting, which is great but hinders finding the main characters compelling. Frankly, there are more interesting characters in \u201cEric\u201d than Vincent and his family, and while the show seems to understand this at times, it struggles with it as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the show progresses, Vincent takes a back seat to Michael Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III), the lead detective in Edgar\u2019s missing person case, who slowly becomes the show’s leading man. His obsession with finding Edgar stems from a previous missing person case that went unsolved, leading Michael down some of the most exciting paths the show has to offer. His obsession with a seedy club called Luxe pulls him into darker corners, and it becomes clear that it’s not just the club but its owner, Ali Gator (Wade Allain-Marcus), that he\u2019s genuinely interested in. One night, when Michael goes home after working on Edgar\u2019s case, we glimpse his inner life. There on his bed lies William (Mark Gillis), a slightly older and sickly man, who Michael eventually embraces. Here, Michael\u2019s life begins to unfold before the audience and quickly becomes the most enthralling aspect of the show.<\/p>\n
Each time McKinley Belcher III is on screen, sauntering through each scene with a confident swagger warranted of an old Hollywood star, it\u2019s impossible to take your eyes off him. He expertly balances the roughness of Michael\u2019s outer persona with the tenderness he shows to his partner, William. His position as a Black gay cop during the AIDS crisis is, frankly, the most fascinating aspect the show has to offer. He struggles with finding a balance between these two aspects of his life, and Belcher III\u2019s resolve within that plot arc\u00a0makes him the standout.<\/p>\n
It feels as if the creators also realized that Michael\u2019s eyes are a far more interesting point of view to view this story through, but, unfortunately, they realized it too late. For a time, Vincent is a fascinating narrator, but as the various mysteries the show is playing with begin to unravel, his point of view feels redundant. On the other hand, Michael\u2019s story continues to be the series\u2019 saving grace. From watching his heart-wrenching homelife to seeing him slowly uncover more than just Edgar\u2019s disappearance, the show truly shines when he’s on-screen, even if\u00a0the constant switching in POV hinders the pacing.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It takes either a staggering lead performance or a great plot twist to truly prove that there\u2019s something special to a new miniseries. Netflix\u2019s \u201cEric\u201d is thankfully one that has both of these aspects tethered to it, for better and sometimes for worse. The series begins with Vincent Anderson (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mad genius-like puppeteer, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[46,37],"class_list":["post-1175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thriller-movies","tag-netflix","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us.celebrity2000.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}