MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Eric Episode 1 Review
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
Eric Episode 1
Series created by: Abi Morgan
Featuring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffman, Dan Fogler, McKinley Belcher III
Synopsis: Successful puppeteer Vincent Anderson (Cumberbatch) hits a brick wall professionally as ratings on his TV show dip. Distracted by this, he allows his son Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe) to walk to school by himself, against the wishes of his wife Gaby (Hoffman). Edgar never makes it to school. A manhunt is now on, led by Detective Michael Ledroit (Belcher).
Review: Netflix seems to have developed complications to its marketing problem. At first, it was a simple case that the majority of their movies and TV shows appeared on the streaming service with little to no fanfare, ensuring absolutely no one actually knew about them. Eric boasts the talents of Benedict Cumberbatch, an actor whose talent and presence were both near-ubiquitous just a few years ago, and Abi Morgan, whose other credits include The Iron Lady and Shame, meaning she is no slouch either. Yet it’s through sheer happenstance that I came across this show.
And even when I did, the complication arises that I had absolutely no idea what Eric is supposed to be. Trailers promised a confusing cornucopia of genres that didn’t seem to mesh.
Watching the show, various options are splayed out in front of the viewer, but fortunately in a way that feels a lot more natural. Is it a character study of a talented yet aggressive man? A vibrantly-coloured dark comedy featuring an imaginary character, akin to the outstanding yet underseen Happy? A drama of a detective trying to uncover secrets whilst trying to keep his own? It seems to be all three of these and more. Can Eric juggle all of these, plus the main plot line of a missing child?
Hopefully […] the show is able to keep its stamina up and juggle the myriad character arcs and plotlines.
After a few hiccups with expositional dialogue (has anyone in real life ever really said, “You’re a master in your field” in casual conversation?) we have our setup. Vincent’s puppet show, Good Day Sunshine, is a veritable institution, but this seems to only bring negatives with none of the positives. Ratings are down and the team must come up with a new character or feature to grab their audience; Vincent arrogantly believes they can simply carry on with how they do things.
At this point the important question is asked: Has Cumberbatch’s American accent improved? Having previously appeared as an English person doing an American accent in the likes of Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange and the Walrus of Time, in Eric his performance seems more at ease. Even when surrounded by thick New York accents, Cumberbatch never seems out of place. In fact, he fits right in and the rest of the show seems to lean into Cumberbatch’s talents with general voicework, if not with accents.
Vincent is certainly not our hero. His parenting is at-best absent (constantly referring to his own son as ‘the kid’), but when he does interact with Edgar he frequently lambasts him for perceived failings. The sequence where Vincent seems to show that he’s actually listened to Edgar, but then destroys his son’s attempt at a pitch, is heartbreaking and played incredibly well.
Featuring characters more broken and twisted than a rejected, mothballed puppet.
Tension is effortlessly built in the early sequences, as the viewers know something none of the characters do: at some point, Edgar is going to get kidnapped. This tension, however, persists and even builds further when Edgar arrives at home. At first this seems an unusual choice, but with how Edgar’s home life plays out in retrospect seems the perfect choice.
Reviews of Eric so far seem mixed at best, but this first episode does its job, introducing the characters and giving hints at what’s to come. It leaves me feeling intrigued about this show featuring puppets and perfidious police. Hopefully, as said before, the show is able to keep its stamina up and juggle the myriad character arcs and plotlines, featuring characters more broken and twisted than a rejected, mothballed puppet. Plus, according to Netflix’s marketing, there’s nothing else on, so I may as well stick with it.
Eric is available to stream on Netflix.
Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on movies and TV shows whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter or listen to the podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai.
