CinemaBlind’s Review – 90%
Benedict Cumberbatch is finally back on the small screen with an original mystery drama miniseries created by Abi Morgan. Eric is set in the 1980s New York and it follows the story of Vincent, a puppeteer whose nine-year-old son Edgar suddenly disappears. Struggling with substance abuse Vincent convinces himself that he will be reunited with Edgar with the help of a seven-foot-tall puppet created by his son before he disappeared.
Eric is too many things at once sometimes it’s true crime, sometimes it’s a detective thriller, sometimes it’s social realism, and the rest of the time it’s just Vincent hallucinating a seven-foot-tall blue monster and somehow all of it works. We have to praise BAFTA and Emmy winner Morgan (The Iron Lady) for creating such an intense dramatic series with so many themes coming up organically in a story that draws you in and doesn’t let go until it’s finished.
Morgan also did a wonderful job at creating the look and feel of the ’80s New York as you do feel that this is not the New York of today. Everything is dirty and loud, cramped-up apartments (that’s true even today), and the dreaded subway.
Cumberbatch is the star of the series and at this time we can’t say anything about his brilliance that hasn’t been said before. Because Vincent is a hard character to like as he can be a cruel man to the people closest to him including his son but Cumberbatch sells his grief with enough conviction that you have to like him. Cumberbatch is not new to playing unlikable characters and making them likable.
While Cumberbatch is the star of the series, the real standout performance in Eric is McKinley Belcher III‘s closeted gay Black cop Michael Ledroit, who sells the anger within his character so well that it’s magnetic to watch. Gaby Hoffmann also does a wonderful job as Vincent’s wife who is just tired and angry at Vincent. While Hoffmann isn’t given as much as Cumberbatch and Belcher III to do in the series, she brings depth to the series that helps the series to feel relatable.
So, in conclusion, Eric is a wonderful show that reminds us why original stories are so necessary and it kind of made me respect Netflix a bit more for taking a chance on this series with a big star like Cumberbatch because if somebody pitched me a mystery drama series with a hallucinated seven-foot-tall blue monster in it, I would not be able to sink millions into it. As I said Eric is so many things and because of the wonderful writing all of it works and all of it makes us feel for these characters however unlikable they may be.
Eric is coming out with all of its episodes at once on Netflix on May 30, 2024. Check out the trailer for the series below: