Secondric is that rare sight—a truly original Netflix original. The six-episode series, written by Abi Morgan (“The Iron Lady,” “Split”), stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Vincent, the gifted puppeteer on the Sesame Street-style show “Sunny Day” 》The creative force behind. When his nine-year-old son Edgar (Ivan Maurice Howe) disappears on his way to school, Vincent is convinced that if he brings to life the new puppet Edgar invented for the show, his son will return. Home. Entering the proceedings is a 7-foot-tall Muppets Meet Monster Inc. creation named Eric, unseen by others and voiced by Cumberbatch, who follows Vincent as he navigates his hopes, fears, guilt and total The embodiment of broken mental health.
Understandably, Cumberbatch Meets the Muppets has been the focus of much of the publicity. But in reality, Eric the puppet is a relatively small part of Eric’s show, and not the most effective one. As you’d expect, Cumberbatch’s Vincent is a mesmerizingly malignant narcissist who’s almost obsessed with his own talent before he turns to alcohol in response to Edgar’s disappearance, and here he is After two incidents, he suffered a psychological breakdown. His already rocky marriage to Cassie (Gaby Hoffman, strikingly thin) falls apart further under the pressure, and his colleagues begin to abandon him. He has become estranged from his wealthy parents and even, somewhat unbelievably, turned down the reward money they offered for Edgar’s safe return.
The central tension quickly dissipates as we learn Edgar’s whereabouts, and the missing child storyline becomes just another slight oddity in what would otherwise be a distracting pile of The storyline – just one story among many, rather than the main consideration for the series as you’d traditionally expect.
Instead, the drama begins to swell, then spread, touching not just marital breakdown, intergenerational conflict, addiction, infidelity, grief, loss and psychological breakdown, but also municipal corruption (we live in the glamorous, seedy 1980s There is almost no institution or person in New York that is not receptive in some way). It includes racial bias and politics, child abuse, the drug and homelessness crises, and systemic homophobia, which has taken on new life in the gay community with the emergence of HIV and AIDS.
The bond through which most of them meet is NYPD Detective Michael LeDroit (McKinley Belcher III), a closeted black gay man who cares for his dying partner at home . The depth and tenderness of their relationship, sketched out in just a few scenes, is heartbreaking. Ledroit is convinced that the scene at Lux, a seedy local nightclub run by the sleazy ex-con Gator, was darker than what went on at ex-con-run nightclubs in New York in the 1980s. He gradually becomes involved with Gate and the criminal police officers who haunt the place. When Edgar disappears, he is drawn back to the case of another missing child – a black boy, Marlon Rochelle, whose mother, Cecil (Adepero Oduye), spent a year Time struggles to garner even a fraction of the attention from the police or media that Edgar’s disappearance naturally draws attention to.
There’s no doubt that Cumberbatch will win the award for portraying Vincent’s descent into hellish despair and madness, and rightfully so. But Belcher’s performance was equally astonishing. He was a quietly commanding presence, the epitome of calm professionalism, yet simmering with all kinds of anger, until he returned home a loving and beloved companion – devoted to his boyfriend, but still grieving to deny future developments for him.
Eric starts off strong, although the main focus is on Edgar’s whereabouts (the pre-digital era aspect of the proceedings is very harrowing, as Ryder Ruitt slowly sifts through the CCTV footage, patiently waiting for the child’s T. blood test results) shirt and gradually building up his list of suspects), the unraveling of Vincent and the filling in of Ledroit’s backstory works well. But soon, the sheer number of plots, social issues, themes, and characters began to produce diminishing returns. Even Eric is effectively sidelined and never seems to have more substance to the story than what we get from Vincent (perhaps, in Eric’s absence, Cassie might be given more things to do).
You can see why Eric attracted such a strong cast (in addition to Cumberbatch, Hoffman, and Belcher, there’s also Clark Peters as Edgar’s building’s possibly suspicious janitor, and in a minor role Role players are equally powerful). The series is an ambitious swing, which is a great thing in itself – and if it fails, that makes it an equally admirable attempt.
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